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significant way. Deeper AR integration in classrooms can be imagined easily—perhaps the teacher is able to annotate parts of the student’s periodic table or even guide them through the experiment remotely in real-time—but to reach real, practical integration takes a series of smaller steps to figure out the best way to design such apps that are productive and valuable, and not just novel. There’s a world of possibilities when it comes to AR; MyLab makes a small but real step in that direction.The World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) is helping biotech run the latest war in Ukraine. Make no mistake that what is happening in the Ukraine now is deeply tied to the interests of Monsanto, Dow, Bayer, and other big players in the poison food game.
Monsanto has an office in Ukraine. While this does not shout ‘culpability’ from every corner, it is no different than the US military’s habit to place bases in places that they want to gain political control. The opening of this office coincided with land grabs with loans from the IMF and World Bank to one of the world’s most hated corporations – all in support of their biotech takeover.
Previously, there was a ban on private sector land ownership in the country – but it was lifted ‘just in time’ for Monsanto to have its way with the Ukraine.
In fact, a bit of political maneuvering by the IMF gave the Ukraine a $17 billion loan – but only if they would open up to biotech farming and the selling of Monsanto’s poison crops and chemicals – destroying a farmland that is one of the most pristine in all of Europe. Farm equipment dealer, Deere, along with seed producers Dupont and Monsanto, will have a heyday.
In the guise of ‘aid,’ a claim has been made on Ukraine’s vast agricultural riches. It is the world’s third largest exporter of corn and fifth largest exporter of wheat. Ukraine has deep, rich, black soil that can grow almost anything, and its ability to produce high volumes of GM grain is what made biotech come rushing to take it over.
As reported by The Ecologist, according to the Oakland Institute:
“Whereas Ukraine does not allow the use of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in agriculture, Article 404 of the EU agreement, which relates to agriculture, includes a clause that has generally gone unnoticed: it indicates, among other things, that both parties will cooperate to extend the use of biotechnologies. There is no doubt that this provision meets the expectations of the agribusiness industry. As observed by Michael Cox, research director at the investment bank Piper Jaffray, ‘Ukraine and, to a wider extent, Eastern Europe, are among the most promising growth markets for farm-equipment giant Deere, as well as seed producers Monsanto and DuPont’.”
The nation WAS Europe’s breadbasket – and now in an act of bio-warfare, it will become the wasteland that many US farmlands have become due to copious amounts of herbicide spraying, the depletion of soil, and the overall disruption of a perfect ecosystem.
The aim of US government entities is to support the takeover of Ukraine for biotech interests (among other strategies involving the prop-up of a failing cabalistic banking system that Russia has also refused with its new alignment with BRICS and its own payment system called SWIFT). This is similar to biotech’s desired takeover of Hawaiian islands and land in Africa.
The Ukraine war has many angles that haven’t been exposed to the general public – and you can bet that biotech has their hands in the proverbial corn pie.The 1972 Chevrolet Corvette was an interesting car, but it was a car that would respond nicely to some well thought out improvements. The original shark nosed Corvette was a car that set whole new standards for American car aesthetics. But what if someone decided to gently improve on those aesthetics and significantly improve the technical design and construction? In what might best be described as a labour of love someone has done just that with a 1972 Chevrolet Corvette and produced something that is at once unique and extraordinary.
The car that has been created is a car that is guaranteed to turn heads not simply because of its appearance, but because of the dramatic changes lurking under the body work.
A new chassis has been created and a new suspension with components by Heidt’s. This includes their Super Ride fully independent suspension with inboard disc brakes and a Ridetech air suspension system which enables adjustable ride height.
The front suspension is also, of course fully independent and air adjustable.
The engine is a supercharged LS2 mated to a six speed manual transmission, a “real” gearbox, not a paddle shift, so the driver can fully enjoy the six speed transmission experience.
In short. this is a car that is likely to get you reaching for your cheque book, if you have a cool US$250,000 available that you would like to part with. Or it may inspire you to dream up a wish list of things you might like to do to a barn find Corvette you’ve acquired for a fraction of that sum.
For those reaching for their cheque book, and for those reaching for their notebook to plan their own custom car here is the list of custom features of this car:
LS 2 Engine
6 Speed Transmission
Magna Super Charger
Tube Chassis – manufactured by SRIII Motorsports (all welds completely body worked and painted to perfection)
Suspension – Heidts Super Ride Independent Rear Suspension
Suspension – Heidts Stainless Steel front Suspension
Suspension -Air Ride Technology
Chrome Power Rack & Pinon
Billet Serpentine System by Street Performance
Electric Doors
Electric Power Windows
Electric Power Brakes
Brakes – Front Disc by Wilwood
Brakes – Rear In-Board by Wilwood
Stainless Steel Fuel Tank by Rock Valley
Vintage Air System
Wheels – Billet Aluminum Torque Thruster II (Front 17” / Rear18”) by American Racing
Auto Meter Gauges
Stainless Steel Headers – Chromex by Street Performance
Fabricated Items: The following parts were fabricated (hand-made) – one off items
Custom Made Stainless Steel Exhaust System – Chromex by Street Performance
Custom Made Fiber Glass Fender Well Engine Bay Panels
Custom Made Fiber Glass Rear Engine Bay Panels
Custom Made Fiber Glass Engine Covers
Custom Made 4” Air Intake System (Chrome)
Custom Made Radiator Cover (Chrome)
Custom Made Electric Hood Actuators
Custom Made Stainless Steel Hood Strut Rods
Custom Power Steering Reservoir (Chrome)
Custom Made Roll Bar (Chrome)
C6 Power Seat – Modified
Custom Made Fiber Glass Center “Waterfall” Console
Custom Made Fiber Glass Speaker Box
Custom Made German Quality Carpet
Front & Rear Bumpers re-designed to fit (Chrome)
Custom Leather Color Interior
Custom PPG Exterior Paint
You will find the Hemmings sale page for this car if you click here.
You will find the car’s home page if you click here.
And the YouTube video can be found if you click here.
Jon Branch is the founder and senior editor of Revivaler and has written a significant number of articles for various publications including official Buying Guides for eBay, classic car articles for Hagerty, magazine articles for both the Australian Shooters Journal and the Australian Shooter, and he’s a long time contributor to Silodrome. Jon has done radio, television, magazine and newspaper interviews on various issues, and has traveled extensively, having lived in Britain, Australia, China and Hong Kong. His travels have taken him to Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Japan and a number of other countries. He has studied the Japanese sword arts and has a long history of involvement in the shooting sports, which has included authoring submissions to government on various firearms related issues and assisting in the design and establishment of shooting ranges.BioWare Discusses Mass Effect Conclusion, ME3 has “Many Different Endings”
We’re literally days away from the epic launch of Mass Effect 3 and anticipation for the game couldn’t be higher. BioWare has assured gamers that this trilogy capper will provide the satisfying conclusion that rounds out the story of Commander Shepard. In order to craft an experience that really delivers on this promise, BioWare has had to fashion numerous different endings that hinge on the choices made by the player over the course of the entire series.
In a recent interview with 360 Magazine, the game’s producer Mike Gamble and discussed how the studio approached the story of ME3.
There are many ways to end Shepard’s story, right? I wouldn’t necessarily say ending Shepard’s story means one thing or the other, like life or death or whatever. It comes to a conclusion and how you get to that conclusion. There a risks involved in how you get there or how you completely not get there. As in the previous games, you’ll make a decision and you’ll see the outcome and there are huge risks to all of those decisions. It’s not cut and dry. There are many different endings. We wouldn’t do it any other way. How could you go through all three campaigns playing as your Shepard and then be forced into a bespoke ending that everyone gets? But I can’t say any more than that…
Gamble went on to shed some light on the controversial corporation Cerberus and its role in the third installment.
Cerberus are very bad, but they have their own reasoning. Obviously, you’ll have to play Mass Effect 3 to find out where that reasoning lies and whether or not you agree with it actually. The troops have been modified and Cerberus has a new approach to dealing with the Reaper threat and Shepard can agree with that or not, but the Illusive Man has his ways. Without giving too much away, in many respects, his interactions with Shepard in ME2 served his purposes at that time. They also served Shepard’s at the time, provided him with a new ship, a new life, but now things are different. The Reapers are here, old alliances change and new ones form.
Mass Effect 3 launches next week on March 6th.Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Grant Hackett's family pleaded for him to make contact
Former Olympic swimming champion Grant Hackett has been found by police in Australia's Gold Coast after going missing.
Hackett, 36, was on Wednesday arrested and released without charge after becoming agitated at his parents' home.
On Thursday, his father appealed for help finding him, saying he was "disturbed" and needed urgent help.
Nev Hackett later told local media his son had messaged his mother to say he was safe.
"He's spoken to police. He's actually hiding because he's very, very embarrassed about all this," he told reporters.
Family pleads for help
Before his disappearance, Hackett was last seen at a hotel, according to local media.
Nev Hackett said his son had missed an appointment with his lawyer and the family was "extremely worried".
"When we spoke to him several hours [ago], he just hung up when we asked him where he was," he said.
"Grant, let us know where you are, we love you, and we want to help you," he said.
Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Hackett is a two-time Olympic champion in the 1,500m freestyle
Local media reported Hackett indicated he would seek help after being released from police custody on Wednesday.
His brother, Craig Hackett, said the former Olympian was "a danger to himself".
On Thursday, Hackett had posted a picture of himself on Instagram sporting a black eye. It was unclear when the image was taken.
Hackett, who won gold medals in the 1,500m freestyle and 4x200m freestyle relay at Sydney 2000 and in the 1,500m freestyle at Athens 2004, had a long-standing rivalry with compatriot Ian Thorpe.
He returned to the pool last year to make an unsuccessful bid to qualify for the Rio Olympics.
He was questioned by airport police in Melbourne last April after allegedly assaulting a male passenger over a reclined seat on a flight. Hackett said he had been drinking in the wake of his Olympic disappointment and publicly apologised.
Hackett has previously admitted he became dependent on a sleep medication.
The swimmer flew to the United States in 2014 to spend time in a rehab centre after he was spotted topless and disoriented in the lobby of a Melbourne casino.Review: The Frightnrs, 'Nothing More To Say'
Note: NPR's First Listen audio comes down after the album is released. However, you can still listen with the Spotify playlist at the bottom of the page.
toggle caption Courtesy of the artist
Not to open on a down note, but the arrival of The Frightnrs' debut album, Nothing More To Say, is a bittersweet affair. The group's lead singer, Dan Klein, died from ALS earlier this summer, and much of the album was recorded after he was diagnosed last fall. His piercing, wailing tone feels all the more plaintive as a result, but even if Nothing More To Say marks a career cruelly curtailed, the album's release also represents a dream fulfilled.
The Frightnrs' sonic inspiration comes from rocksteady, the late-'60s dance craze that married American R&B melodies to Jamaican ska rhythms. The groove is languid yet irresistible; as rocksteady pioneer Alton Ellis described in the song that gave the style its name, it makes you want to "shake your shoulders, everything in time."
To perfect their sound, The Frightnrs' members teamed with Victor "Ticklah" Axelrod and Daptone Records, neither a stranger to reworking past styles for the present moment. Ticklah's had a long history with Antibalas, the Afro-funk-inspired orchestra, and Daptone is best known as the home of the retro-soul powerhouse Sharon Jones And The Dap-Kings. Together, pianist Chuck Patel, his brother (and bassist) Preet and percussionist Rich Terrana pull together a simple, sparse-but-snappy set of riddims that Ticklah purposefully keeps lo-fi, as if these songs might have been discovered in a dusty Kingston studio closet.
Their first single all together came out last year: a phenomenal cover of Etta James' heartbreak classic "I'd Rather Go Blind," which somehow isn't overshadowed by its original. The full-length Nothing More To Say expands on that earlier potential with nearly a dozen more songs about tortured romances and unrequited love, including "Gotta Find A Way," "Trouble In Here" and "Nothing More To Say." One of the best in the bunch is "Looking For My Love," a dubbed-out track filled with soaring vocals and doo-wop harmonies that recalls the sweet soul touch of rocksteady giants such as The Techniques or The Paragons.
Unsurprisingly, Klein looms largest here, thanks in part to his keening voice. He wrote several songs on the album, including "Till Then," where his terminal condition is barely buried in the subtext of lines such as, "Pretending that I'm fine / I'm only lying all the time / I've crossed the line from melancholy into madness." It's impossible to enjoy The Frightnrs' opus without also imagining, "What if?" and though the group plans to stay together and possibly rotate in new vocalists, Klein's absence will undoubtedly be felt. At least the band was able to see its collective vision through on this one sublime effort.By Jonathan Amos
Science reporter, BBC News
Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play. Advertisement Europe is set to launch one of its most challenging space missions to date. The Goce satellite will map minute variations in the pull of gravity experienced across the planet. Scientists will use its data to improve their understanding of how the oceans move, and to frame a universal system to measure height anywhere on Earth. The super-sleek spacecraft will go into orbit on a modified intercontinental ballistic missile from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in north-west Russia. Lift-off for the Rockot vehicle is timed for 1421 GMT on Monday. This is the most beautiful satellite that has ever been built
Reiner Rummel, Technical University of Munich 'Cruise control' for spacecraft 'Space arrow' to map Earth's tug Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play. Most satellites launched into space are ugly boxes. The European Space Agency's (Esa) Goce satellite is very different. "This is the most beautiful satellite that has ever been built - and for good reason," enthused one of the scientists who conceived the mission, Reiner Rummel, from the Technical University of Munich, Germany. Goce's striking good-looks are a requirement of the extremely testing environment in which it will have to operate. The arrow shape and fins are necessary to keep the spacecraft stable as it flies through the wisps of air still present at an altitude just under 270km. This orbit is much lower than for most Earth observation missions but will be essential if Goce is to sense the very subtle gravity anomalies that exist across the planet. "Our current knowledge of the Earth's gravity is incomplete," explained Danilo Muzi, Esa's Goce programme manager. "Gravity is the force we experience daily; it keeps our feet on the ground. But there is this general misconception that it is constant everywhere on the globe, which is not true. If we go to the North Pole we will weigh more than if we are at the equator." This extraordinary phenomenon is explained in part by the shape of the planet. It is not a perfect sphere - it is flatter at the poles, fatter at the equator. Its interior layers are also not composed of uniform shells of homogenous rock - some regions are thicker or denser. Goce data will be used to construct an idealised surface called a geoid
More details
This leads to an irregular distribution of mass; and as everything that has mass is pulled by gravity, its tug becomes irregular, too. The variations, though, are minuscule - almost imperceptible. Meeting the measurement challenge in itself resulted in two years' delay for the Gravity Field and Steady-State Ocean Circulation Explorer (Goce). Engineers have had to work through immense technical difficulties. At the heart of the spacecraft is a device known as a gradiometer. "This is a very complex instrument," said Andrea Allasio, who led the production of the satellite at Thales Alenia Space in Italy. "It is, for sure, the most sophisticated gradiometer which has ever been prepared for a satellite." It consists of three pairs of "proof masses", or accelerometers. They are aligned at 90 degrees, across each axis. The entire set-up is mounted inside an ultra-stable casing. As Goce bumps through the Earth's gravity field, the accelerometers will sense the fantastically small disturbances. "We have one comparison that we often make," explained Rune Floberghagen, Esa's Goce mission manager. "Imagine a snowflake, which has a fraction of a gram, slowly falling down on to the deck of a supertanker. The acceleration that the supertanker experiences from that snowflake is comparable to the sensitivity of our instrument," he told BBC News. There is however a potential showstopper: the low altitude Goce must fly to get the detail it seeks in the gravity signal. The constant buffeting the satellite receives from the residual air still present in the thermosphere would ordinarily drown out the data. So Goce employs an ion engine to maintain a steady path - a sort of cruise control. The engine is throttled up and down, producing exquisite levels of thrust by accelerating charged atoms of xenon through nozzles at the rear of the spacecraft. "We are an enabling technology on this mission; it couldn't happen without us," said Neil Wallace from Qinetiq, the UK technology firm which supplied the engine. "But then this mission has many such technologies." GRAVITY FIELD AND STEADY-STATE OCEAN CIRCULATION EXPLORER 1. The 1,100kg Goce is built from rigid materials and carries fixed solar wings. The gravity data must be clear of spacecraft 'noise' 2. Solar cells produce 1,300W and cover the Sun-facing side of Goce; the near side (as shown) radiates heat to keep it cool 3. The 5m-by-1m frame incorporates fins to stabilise the spacecraft as it flies through the residual air in the thermosphere 4. Goce's accelerometers measure accelerations that are as small as 1 part in 10,000,000,000,000 of the gravity experienced on Earth 5. The UK-built engine ejects xenon ions at velocities exceeding 40,000m/s; Goce's mission will end when the 40kg fuel tank empties 6. S Band antenna: Data downloads to the Kiruna (Sweden) ground station. Processing, archiving is done at Esa's centre in Frascati, Italy 7. GPS antennas: Precise positioning of Goce is required, but GPS data in itself can also provide some gravity field information
Goce's quest is to produce a snapshot of the Earth's gravity field at an unprecedented resolution. The data will inform a multitude of science disciplines: understanding how the mass of ocean waters circulate, moving heat around the planet, will assist climate prediction a better knowledge of the way mass is distributed inside the Earth will be useful to those who study geo-hazards such as volcanoes and earthquakes and because gravity defines what is meant by "up", "down" and "level", the new data can underpin a truly universal system to compare heights the world over Goce is the first of Esa's Earth Explorers, a series of spacecraft that will provide quick answers to key environmental questions. Six missions have so far been approved; a seventh is in discussion. All will use cutting-edge space technology to acquire their data. Cryosat has been re-built and will launch later this year
Europe ice mission failure probed The Goce mission has experienced a series of frustrating delays. It was sent to Plesetsk in August last year and should have orbited in September, but the satellite was then held on the ground because of niggling concerns about the readiness of its launcher system. The ghost that haunts this mission is the Cryosat satellite. The Esa spacecraft built to map the world's ice fields was supposed to be the first Earth Explorer but it was destroyed on launch in 2005 when its Rockot failed and ditched in the Arctic Ocean. "From the information we have seen from Eurockot (operator) and Khrunichev (manufacturer), we have seen they have done extensive testing," said Danilo Muzi. "On the basis of all the testing that has been done, and the fact that these tests were successful, then the confidence in the good status of the launcher has been restored," he told BBC News. Goce will be put into a sun-synchronous orbit, meaning the spacecraft will be kept in daylight for a sustained period of time. The Breeze-KM upper-stage booster will release Goce at an altitude of about 285km. The satellite will then gradually fall to its operational altitude of 263km, where its ion engine will maintain a steady orbit for the science campaign. Two major data-gathering periods are planned, each lasting about six months. The first should start in early September after all the in-orbit testing is complete. The mission will probably be extended if sufficient xenon is left, although some propellant will be needed to take the spacecraft safely out of the sky in a controlled burn-up over ocean waters. GRAVITY FIELD AND STEADY-STATE OCEAN CIRCULATION EXPLORER 1. Goce senses tiny variations in the pull of gravity over Earth 2. The data is used to construct an idealised surface, or geoid 3. It traces gravity of equal 'potential'; balls won't roll on its'slopes' 4. It is the shape the oceans would take without winds and currents 5. So, comparing sea level and geoid data reveals ocean behaviour 6. Gravity changes can betray magma movements under volcanoes 7. A precise geoid underpins a universal height system for the world 8. Gravity data can also reveal how much mass is lost by ice sheets
Jonathan.Amos-INTERNET@bbc.co.uk
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StumbleUpon What are these? E-mail this to a friend Printable versionTekken Mobile announced for iOS, Android
Available today in Canada.
Bandai Namco has announced a new Tekken game for iOS and Android devices simply titled Tekken.
Pre-registration is currently available at the game’s official website. The more people who register, the more in-game rewards players will receive when the game launches. The game was soft-launched via the iOS App Store today in Canada, meaning Canadian residents can start playing today.
Here’s an overview of the game, via Bandai Namco:
About Tekken, the world’s most successful fighting game franchise has been brought to mobile! Join Paul, Kazuya, Xiayou, Law, Panda, Nina, and all other famous fighters to engage in an intuitive, deep combat system featuring fighting techniques from all around the world. Take on the role of the Dojo Master, collecting, upgrading and battling with your favorite fighters from the legendary Tekken franchise! What’s your next move? Tekken Features Collect over 100 characters with unique fighting styles
Upgrade and unlock over 20 unique special moves for each fighter
Battle it out in Unique Game modes including Story Mode missions, online versus battles in Dojo Challenge and rotating Live Event challenges! Story Mode – Explore the world of Tekken Join the legendary fighter, Kazuya Mishima, as he battles against his toughest adversary yet! Battle through a map-based campaign featuring unique encounters and specialized and powerful bosses.
Build specialized teams to take down unique missions
Explore dynamic battle maps to uncover compelling challenges and rewards Dojo Challenge – Online Versus Battles Build a team and battle against your friends and the community in this online versus mode
Players build teams of attackers and defenders to compete in monthly seasons for unique rewards
Ranked ladders allow players to progress and measure up against the best players in the world
Players record and upload their own in-game fighting styles into the AI of their dojo, giving them an authentic feel Live Events – Brand new content to experience daily Live events feature daily, weekly and monthly rotating content. A fresh experience every time you play!
Special themed events will provide unique experiences and encounters
Rare characters and content available during Special Events
Watch the announcement trailer below.Paul Manafort and Corey Lewindowski (Photos: Screen capture)
The New York Times dropped a bombshell Sunday night revealing an expose on Donald Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort’s ties to Ukraine.
According to the story, Manafort’s work was consulting for Ukraine’s political party in power. Investigators say the network Manafort is associated with was once used to steal assets and control elections in the country. The ties to Russia and Ukraine came under attack when the FBI found that Russian government hackers were responsible for the hacking of the Democratic National Committee. Interestingly, the DNC staffer who was researching Paul Manafort’s ties to Russia had his personal data targeted.
Their expose “offers new details of how he mixed politics and business out of public view and benefited from powerful interests now under scrutiny by the new government in Kiev.”
“He understood what was happening in Ukraine,” the Times quotes Vitaliy Kasko, a former senior official with the general prosecutor’s office in Kiev. “It would have to be clear to any reasonable person that the Yanukovych clan, when it came to power, was engaged in corruption.”
Adding, “It’s impossible to imagine a person would look at this and think, ‘Everything is all right.’”
Manafort has been doing international consulting since the 1980s, particularly for dictators, including Viktor F. Yanukovych who was removed after an uprising in Ukraine before fleeing to Russia two years ago.
Since leaving, investigators have looked into practices under Yanukovych and found what they called the “black ledger,” a list of names and how much cash was doled out to them. The ledger was in a third-floor room of the Party of Regions headquarters along with two giant safes filled with $100 bills.
“This was our cash,” Taras V. Chornovil, the former party leader told the Times. Though he claims it was the sketchy financial dealings that caused him to leave the party. “They had it on the table, stacks of money, and they had lists of who to pay.”
Over the course of five years, Manafort’s name appears 22 times totaling $12.7 million.
“Paul Manafort is among those names on the list of so-called ‘black accounts of the Party of Regions,’ which the detectives of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine are investigating,” the statement outlines. “We emphasize that the presence of P. Manafort’s name in the list does not mean that he actually got the money, because the signatures that appear in the column of recipients could belong to other people.”
The investigation continues detailing questionable off-shore companies that investigators say was used to launder public money that was stolen by a corrupt government.
It wasn’t long before Trump loyalist and paid CNN shill Corey Lewandowski tweeted the story. Lewandowski and Manafort were notorious for infighting on the Trump campaign while Lewandowski was at the helm. He’s also spent the last few months, since being fired from the Trump campaign, attacking Manafort in the media, including calling for Manafort’s immediate dismissal after Melania Trump’s plagiarism scandal at the Republican National Convention.
Secret Ledger in Ukraine Lists Cash for Donald Trump’s Campaign Chief https://t.co/7bh7iIHHaY — Corey Lewandowski (@CLewandowski_) August 15, 2016
Fans of Trump didn’t take it well.
@CLewandowski_ wtf is this Corey? Trying to cause drama? — Houston for Trump (@HoustonforTrump) August 15, 2016
@HoustonforTrump @CLewandowski_ It’s an odd move for a guy who wants to elect Trump. Work to help damage his campaign manager? Odd move. — Geoff ‘Zag’ Keene (@geoffkeene) August 15, 2016
According to The Hill, many jumped on board the Lewandowski train, agreeing that the relationship doesn’t look good for Manafort.
“ok so now even the WSJ is being a bitch at least we still have corey at CNN to do damage contr…”@hunterwalk https://t.co/4B2RgCSdew — darth™ (@darth) August 15, 2016
former Trump campaign manager openly knifing his successor -> https://t.co/VYlssfDg4f — Alex Altman (@aaltman82) August 15, 2016
Doesnt really feel like Lewandowski and Manafort parted on the best of terms. https://t.co/B4C5X6yktu — Jennifer Palmieri (@jmpalmieri) August 15, 2016
Others pointed out the hypocrisy of the Trump campaign and his loyalists, declaring that they seem to love the media when they’re giving him free advertising and promoting his campaign. The second they begin investigating, however, it’s time to ban them all.
Fairly remarkable tweet-retweet combo from the one and only Corey Lewandowski. cc: @nytimes pic.twitter.com/526yKMk9jh — Matt Pearce (@mattdpearce) August 15, 2016
Piece on Manafort in Times is very interesting – more fascinating, tweeted out moments after posting by Lewandowski https://t.co/JJFvxSUkNe — John Santucci (@JTSantucci) August 15, 2016
Others joined in, simply to watch the show and mock:
Revenge isn’t a bad dish when served hot either, am I right, @CLewandowski_? — Warren Leight (@warrenleightTV) August 15, 2016
Not gonna lie, I’m watching @CLewandowski_ and Paul Manafort fight over the Ukraine story in the @nytimes …. pic.twitter.com/MeokqlhO6m — (((Charles Young))) (@CharlieYoungEsq) August 15, 2016
Stay tuned for more recommendations from Corey’s summer reading list. https://t.co/jsVXFa9WTH — Brian Fallon (@brianefallon) August 15, 2016
when you can’t wait to tweet it https://t.co/dw4SIGFNl1 — Kate Bennett (@KateBennett_DC) August 15, 2016
I could be wrong, but I think Cory Lewandowski just did this to Paul Manafort. #PutinTrump pic.twitter.com/sXohbzLyrn — Cornelia (@PaladinCornelia) August 15, 2016
Corey Lewandowski's hurt feelings are the breakout star of this election — Erin Gloria Ryan (@morninggloria) August 15, 2016
Corey Lewandowski and Paul Manafort are both equally awful people. It's impossible to choose which one to root for. https://t.co/RRXV8HcOu2 — Russell Drew (@RussOnPolitics) August 15, 2016
Notable here is that Lewandowski isn't some disgruntled ex-staffer. He's also actively advising Trump. Tight ship. https://t.co/EJC9aW5XPJ — Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) August 15, 2016CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The Browns have expressed interest in Bengals guard Kevin Zeitler and Cardinals safety Tony Jefferson among other free agents, league sources have told cleveland.com.
Jefferson, however, is set to sign with the Ravens on Thursday, according to ESPN and NFL Network, which reported that he left more money on the table from the Browns.
Others on the Browns radar heading into free agency Thursday include Jaguars safety Johnathan Cyprien and Texans cornerback A.J. Bouye, who's expected to remain in the AFC South.
With Jefferson off the table, the Browns might make a harder push for Cyprien, who's started the past four seasons for the Jaguars.
Zeitler, 27, is a natural fit for the Browns because he played for coach Hue Jackson in Cincinnati and knows the system. But the five-year veteran, 27, won't come cheap.
According to spotrac.com, he'll command something in the neighborhood of five years, $57.9 million, for an average of about $11.5 million a year. That would put him right up there in terms of yearly average with nine-time Pro Bowler Joe Thomas. It would be tied for third-highest behind Joe Haden ($13.5 million) and Jamie Collins ($12.5 million).
Zeitler would likely step right in and start for the Browns at right guard, where incumbent John Greco is recovering from Lisfranc foot surgery. Left guard Joel Bitonio is recovering from the same surgery but expects to be ready for the season.
Zeitler has been a fixture for the Bengals at right guard since he was drafted in the first round out of Wisconsin in 2012. Multiple teams have been linked to Zeitler, including the Jaguars and Colts.
Zeitler recently told Sirius XM NFL radio, "I love Cincinnati, but I'm open to anything. It's an exciting time."
Scratch Tyrod Taylor off the Browns' list
As for Jefferson, 25, the Browns had a legitimate shot to land him, but he opted for the Ravens instead. The Cardinals didn't want to pay him what he'll get on the open market. Spotrac.com estimated Jefferson's value at about $5.77 million a year, but a source told cleveland.com he's looking for at least $8 million a year coming off his first year as a full-time starter.
Jefferson started 14 of his 15 games in 2016, recording 96 tackles, two sacks, two forced fumbles, and five passes defensed. Signed as an undrafted rookie out of Oklahoma in 2013, he started seven games in 2015 and eight in 2014.
Cyprien, 26, recorded 128 tackles, one forced fumble and four passes defensed in 2016.In a newly released clip from an interview Olivia Wilde did with Billy Eichner in October 2013, the actress comments on that very TMI remark she made about her sex life with Jason Sudeikis, and discovers it's much harder to differentiate the musings of John Mayer and cartoon skunk Pepé Le Pew than one might think.
At Glamour's These Girls event a few days before her interview with Eichner, it was reported that Wilde said that she and Sudeikis "have sex like Kenyan marathon runners.”
Well, Wilde was misquoted. "I said, 'We f--k like Kenyan marathon runners," she told Eichner, adding that the comment was only said as a joke at a private performance.
Moving along with the interview, Eichner asked the 30-year-old actress to decide whether certain quotes belong to John Mayer or Pepé Le Pew:
"One nice thing, is the game of love is never called on account of darkness."
"Everyone should have a hobby, don't you think? Mine is making love."
"I'm half of a boy, but twice the man."
"I really don't want to be a hunk."
"Never underestimate the recuperative powers of a woman."What do you suppose is more likely to get you banned from a tech conference: Endorsing violence against your political opponents? Or writing abstract blog posts critical of egalitarian theory?
Contentious as the latter may be, common sense tells us that it is much less troublesome than the former. But common sense seems to be in short supply at Strangeloop, an annual tech conference in Missouri.
Earlier this month, we reported on Strangeloop’s disinvitation of Curtis Yarvin, a software engineer who also writes political tracts under the pen name “Mencius Moldbug“. Although Yarvin was booked to give a purely technical presentation, a number of complaints from people who objected to his political writings caused him to be disinvited from the conference. a decision that has attracted criticism from both liberal and conservative commentators.
The chief complaint of Moldbug’s opponents is his contribution to the “Dark Enlightenment” a movement of right-wing bloggers and Silicon Valley boffins who are known for their highly detailed critiques of age-old progressive values. Many of their conclusions, in particular their rejection of both egalitarianism and democracy, are highly controversial. Together with Nick Land, a former philosophy lecturer at the University of Warwick, Moldbug is seen as one of the founders of the movement.
Strangeloop has said that Moldbug’s views would be a “distraction” at the conference. But as I have discovered, many of of his critics hold views that are just as extreme —if not more so.
For example, Steve Klabnik, one of the attendees who pushed hardest for Moldbug’s disinvitation |
LLENN discovered that some players were annoyed by her ambushes and had begun forming a subjugation party to identify her. Feeling guilty, LLENN stopped ambushing players and decided to only hunt monsters.
SECT.2 - LLENN and Pitohui Edit
One day, a female player approached LLENN as she was window shopping, and offered to treat her to some tea. The two went to a restaurant where they had a friendly conversation over tea and cake, and listed each other as friends. After they finished the tea and cake, LLENN revealed that she was looking to buy a new gun, and Pitohui decided to show her to a good shop that she knew of. In the shop, Pitohui recommended a P90, which immediately captivated LLENN, and she decided to buy it despite its high price.
The two formed a squadron and began hunting monsters together. Due to Pitohui's interest in guns, she would always bring a different gun each time they met and would often talk about them. Though, as LLENN did not know much about Pitohui, she decided to ask Pitohui about her hobbies on one occasion. As this led to an awkward situation, LLENN attempted to change the topic, but Pitohui decided to suggest meeting in real life if LLENN managed to beat her in a fight, and made LLENN promise that she one day would do so.
SECT.3 - Squad Jam Edit
Back on January 18, 2026, Pitohui and LLENN continued their conversation about the Squad Jam tournament. Pitohui explained that the tournament was hosted due to the request and sponsorship of a novelist who enjoyed watching Kirito and Sinon fight as a team during the third Bullet of Bullets. Pitohui then told LLENN that she should participate in the tournament, but Pitohui also revealed that she herself would not be able to participate, thus she offered to contact an acquaintance of hers to participate in her place. As LLENN was reluctant to join the tournament, Pitohui explained that the tournament would give her the opportunity to vent her emotions and told LLENN to make a decision by Wednesday.
In the real world, Karen contemplated whether she should continue playing Gun Gale Online and participate in the Squad Jam tournament, or use the opportunity to quit the game before it became too hard to do so. Unable to reach a decision, Karen decided to consult her friend Miyu and was advised to use a coin toss to decide if she was equally split between the two options. Miyu also reminded Karen that they had been planning to go to Kanzaki Elza's concert if Miyu got the tickets, and as the odds of that happening were fifty-fifty, Karen decided to have that serve as the coin toss for her decision.
January 27, 2026, just one day before the registration deadline for the Squad Jam tournament, was the day that Karen would know the results of Miyu’s efforts. As she was walking home from university, Karen passed by six girls from an attached high school, when one of them suddenly spoke to her and commented about her height. Enraged, Karen rushed home, where she received a message from Miyu that she was unable to get the tickets. Karen then immediately messaged Pitohui that she would take part in the tournament.
On January 30, 2026, Karen logged into Gun Gale Online and met up with Pitohui at a bar in SBC Glocken. Pitohui's acquaintance was still busy with real life affairs, thus the two girls talked about the tournament and its rules while they waited. Once they were done, Pitohui revealed that LLENN would be designated as the leader of their team, shocking LLENN. At that moment, Pitohui's acquaintance stepped into the room.
SECT.4 - A Man Named M Edit
SECT.5 - The Beginning of the Tournament Edit
SECT.6 - The Beginning of the Battle Edit
SECT.7 - A Battle Against Pros Edit
SECT.8 - Trap Edit
SECT.9 - M's Battle Edit
SECT.10 - LLENN and M Edit
SECT.11 - Death Game Edit
SECT.12 - This Last Battle of Mine Edit
SECT.13 - Battle to the Death Edit
SECT.14 - Later Developments Edit
Gallery Edit
References EditSince 1922, the Royal British Legion (the largest veterans’ organisation in the UK) has been employing disabled veterans to make the Remembrance poppies that it sells as part of its annual charity appeal. I grew up close to the Richmond riverside, where the Poppy Factory sits close to the Royal Star and Garter Home, a hospital for wounded soldiers opened by the British Red Cross in 1916. In a way, the Poppy Appeal was a local charity. I remember poppies as being just one of many charity appeals that my mum would encourage us to give to during street collections: Oxfam, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, a charity in Kingston named after Princess Alexandra that I helped to shake tins for outside the Bentalls Centre although I have no recollection now of what it did…
My mother hates war and militarism, but usually or always donated to the Poppy Appeal, and to the Royal Air Force Benevolent Fund in memory of her dad – my grandfather – who had been an RAF pilot during the Second World War. (I’m using the past tense because, now that I don’t live with her, I couldn’t say whether she still wears a poppy or not.) His war experiences had effects on the family that stayed with her and will stay with her for the whole of her life. I’m not able to say what her reasons were, or what memories might have been going through her mind, when she saw the appeals’ symbols and dropped a coin into the tin. But when I think about poppy-wearing now, whatever approach I want to take has to get past those things I was able to observe about my mother: this symbol had at least some potential to accommodate many experiences, many memories, and many views on war.
For the last few years a lot of my Twitter timeline on and around Remembrance Sunday has been taken up with different views on wearing and displaying the Remembrance poppy. To many people I follow, the poppy today appears as an uncritical celebration of the UK’s current wars and of a pervasive militarism that has made them possible. Some prefer to wear the white poppy, which was adopted by the Peace Pledge Union in 1933 as an explicit ‘challenge to the continuing drive to war’. The white poppy is much harder to find – in Richmond in the 1980s, I’d never seen one – and is explicitly directed against the state-driven meanings that its creators identify in the red poppy:
the question lingers: if the dead are said to have ‘sacrificed’ their lives, then why weren’t the living, who came out of the same danger, being suitably honoured and cared for by the state that sent them into it? The language of Remembrance, in the light of that, looks more like propaganda than passion.
Many people on my timeline talked about friends and relatives who had been harmed by war – some who had chosen to take part and others who had no choice. A number of arguments criticised the idea of the military hero that is part of the public culture of Remembrance: does treating soldiers as heroes by virtue of their service blind us to the crimes that some commit? Do all soldiers, just by choosing to be soldiers, in fact commit a crime? Are there circumstances in which a person choosing not to fight alongside British soldiers, or indeed choosing to fight against them, could also be a hero? Some of the people making these arguments rejected the symbol of the poppy altogether. Some others of them chose to wear it anyway.
But then, when many people display the same symbol, who can tell the varying reasons for displaying it that they may have? Walking down the street, each person may have a different, unique and intimate reason for wearing it; but watching the crowd there is an impression of uniformity, that everyone is expressing belief and commitment to a common cause. The nature of that common cause is in the eye of the observer. You may see nationalism. You may see sadness. You may see imperialism. You may see pacifism. You may see political conformity. The symbol masks the differences, yet perhaps it also leaves space within a crowd for different thoughts about it.
The political anthropologist David Kertzer gives the example of a political rally in Italy in his book Ritual, Politics and Power (1988). A crowd attends, carrying symbols of the political party – in this case, banners and flags. To an observer and even to each other, the common symbols show a crowd that has gathered in support of the party’s values. The performance of togetherness is real, but it tells the observer nothing about each person’s motivation for being there or any person’s interpretation of the party’s programme. In fact, each person in the crowd may have their own understanding of what the rally is and what the party is saying. It’s the symbol that makes the group make sense when it is looked at.
So the poppy, or any similar symbol, is contradictory. On one hand, it has many different meanings, some of which contend with each other. On the other hand, whoever wears a symbol can never fully control how the symbol will be read.
Poppyfication
The poppy I remember from the limited sphere of British public life I was aware of in the 1980s kept quieter about itself than today’s poppy. Poppy Appeal advertising, in line with the general trend of charity marketing in the West, plays ever more on the emotions of the public: in 2012, one poster near where I lived had the slogan ‘Military families pin their hopes on you’ (which just makes me think: what about the government?) The Royal British Legion’s slogan that year, ‘Shoulder to shoulder with those who serve’, evoked for me Tony Blair’s statement about UK/US relations on 9/11 and felt uncomfortably associated with contemporary wars that have had shaky public support – an unfortunate choice for an organisation whose mission has a broader historical span. And then there is the showbusiness. Isn’t there the showbusiness. The Poppy Appeal has had an official charity single for several years. X Factor contestants and judges all wear poppies in the run-up to Remembrance Sunday, and in 2008 and 2010 the show released group singles featuring all contestants to raise money for Help for Heroes, a newer charity for wounded soldiers and veterans that was founded in 2007. (Mariah Carey’s Hero and David Bowie’s Heroes, for the record.)
This level of showbusiness involvement in Remembrance felt new in Britain in 2012, when I wrote the original version of this post. The end result reminds me of Croatian showbusiness during and after the war of independence in 1991-95, when at certain points practically every professional musician participated in campaigning and commemoration under the auspices of the state broadcaster, HRT. The 1990s showbusiness calendar contained many annual pop festivals (live competitive song contests, often open-air) that producers had inherited from the Yugoslav system and repurposed. The inaugural edition of a new festival, Melodies of the Croatian Adriatic (Melodije Hrvatskog Jadrana) in 1993 was remembered by music critics for several years afterwards as an epitome of HRT’s wartime nationalism: many of the audience tickets had been distributed to Croatian soldiers who attended in uniform, and the presenter read out soldiers’ telegrams before the performance by Drazen Zecic, a singer who was himself in the Croatian Army. (The fact that Zecic won the audience vote was unsurprising.) For several years after the end of the war, the Croatian Army operated its own televised pop festival in which all contestants had to be serving or former military personnel. Hardly a public commemoration, or political rally, in Croatia goes past without a free pop concert in a public square. These examples end up as my reference point when I think about the ‘poppyfication’ of entertainment in the UK – not as a way of presenting this politicisation of entertainment as non-British, but as a reminder to think in a broader way about how politics, television and popular music are connected.
There have always been connections between Britain’s modern popular music industry and the military: musicians can be hired to perform at military bases in the UK and abroad (Katherine Jenkins, the latest musician to be termed ‘Forces’ sweetheart’ in the press, is probably the highest-profile musician to regularly play for troops in Afghanistan), and will earn royalties if their songs are played on the Forces broadcaster, BFBS. What’s new – or rather, what’s revived – is the extent to which war and the military are referenced in the music they make and the promotional texts written about them, particularly when musicians have personal associations with the British military.
When James Blunt released his first album in 2004, his Army service as a junior officer in Kosovo was a curiosity, explaining one of his album tracks but not structuring his career as a whole. In contrast, careers of newer musicians with military backgrounds have been explicitly military-themed: the music of the Military Wives choir, formed by a BBC project in 2011, is rooted entirely in the members’ experiences as the wives of deployed troops. (Indeed, underneath the surface there’s more to say about the challenges of being a military spouse or partner than the showbusiness text has tended to make space for.)
In 2012 especially, the choir was heavily involved in commemorative events such as the Royal British Legion’s Festival of Remembrance, and performed at the send-off of a group of Royal Marines taking part in a fundraising march. There’s ample room to read this as an example of the militarisation of everyday life, which feeds on very engrained (and heteronormative) concepts of what it means to be a soldier and a soldier’s spouse.
Yet this isn’t the only perspective from which the convergence of entertainment and commemoration has been criticised. During the 2012 Festival of Remembrance, a former commander of British forces in Afghanistan, Richard Kemp, grumpily expressed the view that light music was not appropriate for a solemn occasion:
Since when has the Festival of Remembrance been subsumed by popular culture as opposed to the dignified tribute to which we were accustomed? — RICHARD KEMP (@COLRICHARDKEMP) November 10, 2012
Festival of Remembrance. RT @BrynBella “agreed. Things ain’t what they used to be. I am half expecting a phone vote any minute.” — RICHARD KEMP (@COLRICHARDKEMP) November 10, 2012
Part of that year’s Festival of Remembrance was Jonjo Kerr, a member of the Yorkshire Regiment who reached the X Factor finals in 2011 and deployed to Afghanistan with his company in 2012, but not before recording a duet with the Military Wives, who accompanied his performance at the Royal Albert Hall.
The nucleus of the entertainment/military complex in the UK seems to be X Factor and the complex of producers around it. Gary Barlow, chief judge in 2012 in the absence of Simon Cowell, also co-ordinated the official song for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, featuring the ‘Commonwealth Band’ of musical theatre stars and the Military Wives again. Although this set of activities is of obvious use to the state, the military, the monarchy, and the non-state organisations that work in support of them, its origins are with a privately-owned television station, ITV, rather than with the public BBC. There’s more that could probably said about the implications of this network for thinking about the relationship between popular music, politics and the state.
What does this have to do with wearing a poppy?
The thoughts and memories about wearing a poppy that I began this post with have to do with people wearing them. Increasingly, though, it feels as if institutions wear them too. And this is very different territory. After the launch of the Poppy Appeal, a season that itself seems to get longer every year, politicians and broadcast personalities wear poppies on every public appearance, as if they’ll be taken to task for not doing so – and, with the Daily Mail around, they probably will be. The sentiment is summed up in this 2012 billboard from the Royal British Legion, which towered over a nearby parade of shops for several weeks: a poppyless suit lapel with the slogan ‘Something missing?’
Even if this coerciveness was always inherent in the Poppy Appeal, as one line of pacifist criticism suggests, the explicitness of coercion in this image was new. In me, it induced a level of discomfort that I haven’t felt about this symbol before. I’d bought a poppy in most recent years, and worn it or not worn it depending on whether it will stay on my coat. At least, I hadn’t made the conscious decision not to buy one; until that year, when on thinking about it I decided not to.
This doesn’t mean that I may never buy one again, or that I’d argue that somebody who bought one that year shouldn’t have. It’s more to do with what it means to make a choice. If I buy and wear a poppy every year, there’s a point at which it stops being a choice that I review each year, and becomes more of a personal tradition. I do have items I wear every day without thinking any more about why I wear them, but none of them are symbols of a collective identity or a public appeal. When something has as much meaning attached as a Remembrance poppy, I want to have thought deeply about why I’ve chosen to wear it, and for the choice to wear it to mean anything, I also have to be able to conceive of the choice not to. That year it felt like time for me to choose not to.
The evening before I wrote the original version of this post, Kent Police announced that they had arrested a man for posting an image of a burning paper poppy on Facebook. I’d planned the post before I heard about it, but the news (the latest in a growing number of arrests for ‘malicious telecommunications’ using Facebook or Twitter) increases my discomfort at the coerciveness of the contemporary poppy even further. Is the poppy now so sacred and unquestionable that depicting its burning on a social network must be considered a crime? If so, that too must feed into my choices in future years about whether or not to display one, as it will feed into the choices of other people’s. And sacred symbols are not really something I like to display.
The more the meaning of the poppy is fixed (and I recognise some people believe that it has always been fixed in this way), the more it shuts down space to identify with and express other meanings, that at least until now used to be attached to it.
Since 2012, these tendencies seem only to have intensified. The official Royal British Legion memorial single in 2014 exemplified them: a cover version of Eric Bogle’s No Man’s Land (The Green Fields of France) which casts Joss Stone as the bereaved lover of ‘Private William McBride’ but omits Bogle’s last, most pacifist verses. (Bogle’s measured response is ‘irritated’ but still has hope that Stone’s version can ‘make some people reflect, perhaps for the first time, on the true price of war’.)
The backdrop to one sequence of the video is an early stage of the Tower of London’s installation Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red, created by the ceramicist Paul Cummins. Between August and October 2014, volunteers placed 888,246 ceramic poppies around the Tower, each one representing a ‘British or Colonial military fatality’ of the First World War’. (In comparison, a map created by the Quakers estimated that to represent all the war’s dead irrespective of national origin would need 19,500,000 poppies laid out as far as Buckingham Palace.)
The installation has exceeded expectations for visitor numbers and sparked calls for the poppies to be left there for longer (a response with some resonances of the calls to leave behind the sea of flowers placed outside Kensington Palace after Princess Diana’s death in 1997). Like any commemoration on this scale, it’s an event which has involved thousands of people and deserves to be understood in a nuanced way. The Tower’s aim to create ‘a location for personal reflection’ has more than succeeded, and groups of visitors will have been able to use it to have their own conversations about how to remember the War.
More problematic in some quarters has been the decision to sell the poppies for £25 and the proportion of the proceeds that will eventually reach Forces charities – though even these reservations would pale in comparison beside multinational arms companies’ sponsorship of parts of the official Poppy Appeal.
A striking example of the poppy as reflex, meanwhile, came from the X Factor’s results show on Remembrance Sunday, where the remaining contestants and a children’s choir sang Take That’s Never Forget in front of thousands of digital poppies. The poppy symbol here seemed almost a ritualised acknowledgement; the show can’t go on without it, but neither can the format be disrupted on anything more than a surface level.
Remembrance Sunday is just one component of British national identity, and of some other national identities where war memory has mingled with Britain’s – in Canada, where the current government has also been accused of politicising Remembrance, or in Australia and New Zealand, where 11 November takes second place to a separate commemoration of veterans on Anzac Day. But the problem of the poppy points to a much wider question about how we use and interpret symbols of any kind: similar debates emerged, for instance, around national symbols such as the Union Flag during the London Olympics and Paralympics. These are symbols that have been created for official purposes, in support of aims with which a member of the public might or might not agree. Yet is it possible for people to use them in ways that express or communicate personal meanings that may be very different – may even contradict those official aims?
It may not always work. But I want to believe that the possibility, at least, exists. Because I also believe that the creators of culture don’t get the final say in what their creations mean to people, and that’s the only way that I can find to reconcile those beliefs.
Still. The more that institutions wear the poppy, the less room there is for individuals to choose to do so.
A version of this text originally appeared on Catherine’s website.
Cover photo credit: THE CANADIAN PRESS IMAGES/Graham HughesThe video will start in 8 Cancel
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This is the moment a trio of ‘abusive’ revellers are thrown out of a nightclub after allegedly trying to approach United’s Marouane Fellaini and his brother, Mansour.
A recording of the incident, which happened at around 4am at popular celebrity nightspot Mahiki in London earlier this week, has now emerged.
Security at the nightclub acted quickly to kick out the three fans who are understood to have caused trouble.
One of the Manchester United midfielder’s representatives denied any wrongdoing on Fellaini’s part. They said that the three men had been abusive towards the player and his brother.
A source at Mahiki told the Sun: “Fellaini and his brother were in the club most of the evening.
“They were with friends in a private area. Some guys went over for autographs and generally bothered them.
“It was late on, about 4am, and the door-staff stopped anything happening and kicked the others out.”
Fellaini wasn’t part of the team which lost 2-1 to Sunderland at the Stadium of Light on Saturday.
After the match, Van Gaal said that Fellaini had not been selected because of fatigue.
When asked if Fellaini was injured, the Dutchman said: “More or less. He has played a lot of matches in a row. I have to rotate.
“Rested rather than injured, but of course, you are then close to being injured.”
A source close to Fellaini said: “Marouane and his brother were approached by a group of guys who were abusive towards them, security in the club stepped in and removed these guys from the club.”Box of toilet seat covers
A toilet seat cover or toilet sheet is a disposable piece of paper shaped like the toilet seat itself that can be placed on the seat by its user. Its purpose is to protect the toilet's user from germs that may be resting on the seat by creating a protective barrier.
Terminology [ edit ]
Confusingly, the term is also sometimes used for decorative covers for the toilet seat, or even the toilet seat lid, if present. These covers generally do not serve a sanitary purpose, and may even pose difficulties with cleaning and sanitization if they are made of porous materials or are unsuitably shaped. The descriptive qualifier "disposable" is added to clarify the intended use of some toilet seat covers.
Use [ edit ]
A toilet seat cover dispenser with instructions, aboard a bus in North America
Toilet seat covers are generally held in a dispenser, allowing the users to access one cover at a time, without making unnecessary contact with additional toilet seat covers.
While toilet seat covers give public toilet users a sense of security, studies have shown they do not necessarily protect a toilet user from disease. For example, if a toilet user is negligent enough to place a toilet-seat cover while the seat is still wet with liquid waste the fluids can soak through the cover and make contact with the user.[1]
Orientation [ edit ]
There has been much debate among those who use toilet covers, regarding the orientation of said toilet seat cover. The proper way to place a cover on a toilet seat is to place the side with the flap toward the front of the toilet, with the flap going in the toilet to prevent "splashing" forward. Most public toilet seats are "U" shaped with an exposed rim in the front; the flap prevents particles and germs from collecting there.[citation needed]
Laws [ edit ]
Automatic self-renewing toilet seat cover (New Orleans)
In 2009, legislators in Maine rejected legislation that would have required toilet-seat covers be placed in all restrooms. The bill was referred to the Committee on Health and Human Services, but eventually filed without further action being taken to enact the law.[2]
History [ edit ]
In 2007, businesswoman Jacquie Edwards of Newtonmore developed a biodegradeable toilet seat cover.[3]
References [ edit ]It was inevitable that the armed militia standoff in Oregon would eventually become the subject of homoerotic fan fiction. And now that time has arrived.
The Twitter hashtag #BundyEroticFanFic is the funniest thread you will read all day. You don’t even have to be super-into homoerotic fiction or armed militias to enjoy the social media twist into which this news story has stumbled.
Colin Meloy of the Portland-based band, The Decemberists began the trend this past Tuesday:
“They huddled together for warmth. The cold of Ammon’s Ruger 22 against Brian’s naked thigh sent a thrill up his spine.” #bundyeroticfanfic — colin meloy (@colinmeloy) January 6, 2016
“Jason pressed Jed against a rack of “Birds of Oregon” books; his breath was sweet with jerky. Somewhere, an egret cried” #bundyeroticfanfic — colin meloy (@colinmeloy) January 6, 2016
“‘It ain’t snacks I’m hungry for, Trevor.’ Ryan’s heart was beating wildly beneath the quilted flannel of his shirt.” #bundyeroticfanfic — colin meloy (@colinmeloy) January 6, 2016
From there, an inspired public tweeted forth:
“Don’t cry Ammon, they did this at Valley Forge; for warmth…and for freedom.” #bundyeroticfanfic @colinmeloy — LeftDial (@LeftDial) January 6, 2016
@colinmeloy With his hand on Ryan’s chest, he felt the passion beneath his pocket-sized copy of the US Constitution. #bundyeroticfanfic — ⭐Maisbikkja (@Maisbikkja) January 6, 2016
Atop a bluff, Ammon undid his trousers to relieve himself. From behind came Jed. “Let me hold it. Your hands are cold” #BundyEroticFanFic — alex walentin (@alexWalentin) January 6, 2016
@colinmeloy “Not on top of my copy of Atlas Shrugged,” he almost said. He let it happen. Someone passed him using the US flag as a towel. — Boozy Hobo (@Boozy_Hobo) January 6, 2016
#bundyeroticfanfic Ammon hesitated. “Isn’t this against the laws of nature?” “Laws?” panted Dwight, “We make our own laws, Ammon.” — Remittance Girl (@remittancegirl) January 7, 2016
Behold the entire thread.What is ‘War is Boring’?
War Is Boring is a collective of journalists writing about war. I launched War Is Boring as a WordPress blog in 2007. In 2013 we moved to a new platform — Medium.com.
WiB seems to have a critical, and independent, voice on military aviation subjects- how do you maintain this seeming impartiality?
We do not serve advertisers in the defense industry, and we also have imaginations and integrity. We know who we work for — our readers, not the government. Not the arms industry.
F-35: what should happen?
Should: cancel it. The Air Force should reopen the F-22 line and rebuild A-10s, F-15s and F-16s while doubling down on long-range drones. The Marines should buy F/A-18E/Fs and replace Harriers with helicopters. The Navy should buy more F/A-18s until it can develop a new fighter. Foreign customers should switch to other, less costly planes.
What do you see as the most important trends in military aviation technology at the moment?
Drones, drones, drones and drones.
Which airframe or systems are most over-rated, and which are the most under-rated?
Overrated — the V-22. Too complex, can’t lift enough. Underrated — the A-10. Flexible, survivable and very cost-effective.
What are the most common misconceptions about aerial warfare?
The most common misconception about aerial warfare is that “stealth” is actually one thing and that it always works. Stealth is actually a range of technologies, design principles and operational methods that have serious limitations and can be countered cheaply by an imaginative enemy.
How do you feel about the status of USAF A-10s?
Congress is doing the right thing in keeping them. The Air Force should be ashamed of itself for the lies, excuses and propaganda it’s promulgated in trying to retire the plane.
Which of your articles has generated the most audience feedback?
By far our coverage of the F-35 is our most popular. See here
AdvertisementsToday is the day that Hangouts finally loses SMS support. We were warned by Google about it months ago when Hangouts started showing a warning that it would no longer support the feature. But, as of today, it's finally set to happen. For anyone who isn't on Project Fi or Google Voice — both of which will continue to support SMS in Hangouts — this is the end of an era.
Many people, myself included, made the final push into Hangouts over other services when SMS support was added. The integrated conversations made it much easier to keep short communications together in one place. So far there's no word on if SMS support will be coming to Allo. Now that Hangouts support for SMS is finally over, we aren't really left with a clear migration method. Anyone that might have made use of it will have to either deal with using two separate apps again or move over to a new service.
If you are looking for recommendations, Google's stock Android Messages isn't so bad. But, if you've been enjoying having SMS and chats merged, that isn't really a solution. Allo is always an option. But, that's the same issue from the other side, you'd still need to find a way to send SMS messages. There's always Facebook Messenger or Signal, which both provide a combined SMS and chat solution. Each has its disadvantages, though. The latter doesn't have quite the same feature set that Hangouts did, and the former is a Facebook product.
Either way, it's closing time. You might have just enough left to send one last SMS before the lights are shut off. If you still plan on using Hangouts for chats going forward, make sure you've updated to the latest version over at Google Play or APKMirror.That protester has a bag of medical marijuana on his head. In 2011, supporters of medical marijuana protested the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency prosecuting people in compliance with state medical marijuana laws. Justin Sullivan/ Getty Images
It's a bird... it's a plane... it's... Captain Cannabis! OK, Captain Cannabis isn't a real superhero. However, medical cannabis advocates in Colorado, the most recent U.S. state to decriminalize the possession of small amounts of marijuana, have joked about creating one, based on a caricature of Denver police chief candidate Robert White. White had a false positive test for marijuana more than 25 years ago and says that he has never used drugs, so he's not really the best choice for a medical cannabis champion.
These same medical cannabis advocates -- the Medical Marijuana Assistance Program of America -- were also the butt of a joke on "Saturday Night Live" in early 2011. "Weekend Update" anchor Seth Meyers drew comparisons between the organization's efforts to get rural doctors to consider prescribing medical cannabis and "a guy selling weed out of a trailer" [source: Huffington Post]. Both of these news stories reflect many people's attitudes toward medical cannabis and the legal issues surrounding it -- that it's all a big joke.
It may seem like medical cannabis use started back with California's Prop 215, or the Compassionate Use Act, in 1996. That's when California law first allowed for the legal use of marijuana as recommended by doctors. However, it's far from the first time that cannabis has been used for therapeutic purposes. So what's the difference between the stuff that a doctor legally recommends to a patient to help with a medical condition and the herb purchased illegally for the purposes of intoxication? Part of it is the name.
Medical cannabis includes not only parts of the plant but also synthesized versions of the active chemical compounds present in cannabis, known as cannabinoids. When it comes to the legal issues, the difference between medical cannabis and marijuana is whether it has been recommended by a physician for a documented medical problem. If you're talking about the plant, though, when you get right down to it, there's no difference between the actual substances. Cannabis is the scientific name; marijuana comes from Mexican Spanish.
Numerous scientific studies over the decades, and around the world, have documented the therapeutic value of using cannabis to treat a host of illnesses and conditions. However, plenty of people have refuted those studies, claiming that they're inconclusive, there's a placebo effect at work or that it's just an excuse to get high. Critics also cite the potentially negative side effects of using cannabis as a medication.
Despite its controversy now, cannabis has been used medically for a very long time. Let's go way back -- as in, thousands of years back -- to look at the role cannabis played in ancient civilizations.Connor Wickham and Emanuele Giaccherini could not have picked a better moment to remind everyone of the adage about form being temporary but class permanent.
Between them the England Under-21 striker and the Italy winger cost Sunderland virtually £17m before being widely written off as embarrassingly expensive mistakes. How wrong can you be? In the past three games Wickham has scored five times, with three of those goals created by Giaccherini, who has also registered one himself.
Partly thanks to this duo, Sunderland hauled themselves out of the bottom three on Sunday, with Wickham's latest brace supplemented by Giaccherini's shot and Fabio Borini's penalty on a day when fine, courageous refereeing on Phil Dowd's part left Cardiff reduced to 10 men following Juan Cala's sending-off late in the first half. By the final whistle Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's side had sunk to the bottom of the Premier League with survival looking highly unlikely.
For a man who, until this month, had scored only one Premier League goal in the three years following his £8.1m move from Ipswich, Wickham is clearly hellbent on making up for lost time.
His fourth goal in under two weeks arrived courtesy of a corner won by Adam Johnson and taken by Seb Larsson. When the ball bounced up off the ground, the striker was well positioned at the far post to sneak in front of Kévin Théophile-Catherine and direct a clever, technically extremely difficult, header into the opposite top corner.
After seeing far too many false Wearside dawns Gus Poyet refrained from celebrating; instead the Uruguayan stood still, sticking his hands deep in his pockets.
Sunderland's manager would have been quietly encouraged by the increasing effectiveness of Lee Cattermole and Jack Colback in central midfield. Colback especially made life tough for Gary Medel and when the Cardiff enforcer's challenge sent him crashing to earth it earned Medel a most unwelcome, style-cramping, booking.
The next card on display was red. As Wickham surged on to Colback's cute header and into the area Cala, the last defender, tugged the striker's shirt back. Creditably Wickham resisted the temptation to collapse in a heap, merely stumbling inside the area and leaving Dowd to play advantage.
Once that attacking move broke down the referee pointed to the penalty spot and flourished the red card. It was excellent officiating but the penalty still had to be converted. For the second successive weekend Borini stepped forward to the spot and for a second time the Liverpool loanee scored, on this occasion using his right foot to defy David Marshall, who dived the correct way but could not quite make a save.
Many among the almost 46,000 strong crowd probably had to pinch themselves. Supporting a Sunderland side who had last won a home Premier League game back in January, when Stoke City were narrowly defeated, is not a pursuit for the faint-hearted but this was turning into the equivalent of the sudden dawning of a gloriously hot sunny day amid a miserable, cold, wet summer.
Medel dropped back into a |
I love photo books, but traveling away from home all year during my 100 City project makes it difficult to pick up many new ones. Still, I make sure I have a few purchased online waiting for me when I visit home over the holidays. So, in honor of it being that time of year again, I compiled a list of photo books published in 2017 that should appeal to any street photographer. (Click here to check out 2016’s list)
Since it is the holidays, photo books do make a great gift for any photographer too. And if that photographer is you, even better. Gift yourself.
So here’s 20 photo books published in 2017 that are definitely worth checking out.
20 Photo Books from 2017 for Street Photographers
“A two- volume publication, one volume featuring Harry Gruyaert’s photographs of Los Angeles and Las Vegas in 1981, the other his photographs taken in Moscow in 1989. At a time when the world was politically divided into East and West, Magnum photographer Harry Gruyaert’s quest for light and sensuality led him to capture the colors of two very different worlds: the vibrant glitziness of Las Vegas and Los Angeles in 1981, and the austere restraint of Moscow in 1989 just before the fall of the Soviet Union. The resulting photographs form a striking record of a remarkable era. Including an essay by writer, curator, and artist David Campany, this two-volume publication reproduces almost 100 photographs from the series, nearly seventy of which are being published for the very first time. With each volume presented in a half slipcase, Harry Gruyaert: East/West offers an in-depth look at one of the world’s foremost photographers in two unique and contrasting locations, at a historically critical moment.”
“In 1967, The Museum of Modern Art presented New Documents, a landmark exhibition organized by John Szarkowski that brought together a selection of works by three photographers whose individual achievements signaled the artistic potential for the medium in the 1960s and beyond: Diane Arbus, Lee Friedlander and Garry Winogrand. Though largely unknown at the time, these three photographers are now universally acknowledged as artists of singular talent within the history of photography. The exhibition articulated a profound shift in the landscape of 20th-century photography, and interest in the exhibition has only continued to expand. Yet, until now, there has been no publication that captures its content. Published in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the exhibition, Arbus Friedlander Winograndfeatures full-page reproductions of the 94 photographs included in the exhibition, along with Szarkowski’s original wall text, press release, installation views and an abundance of archival material. Essays by curator Sarah Hermanson Meister and critic Max Kozloff, who originally reviewed the exhibition for The Nation in 1967, critically situate the exhibition and its reception, and examine its lasting influence on the field of photography.”
“Fred Herzog is best known for his unusual use of color photography in the 1950s and 1960s, a time when art photography was almost exclusively associated with black-and-white imagery. In this respect, his photographs can be seen as prefiguring the New Color photographers of the 1970s. The Canadian photographer worked largely with Kodachrome slide film for over 50 years, and only in the past decade has technology allowed him to make archival pigment prints that match the exceptional color and intensity of the Kodachrome slide, making this an excellent time to reevaluate and reexamine his work. This book brings together over 230 images, many never before reproduced, and features essays by acclaimed authors David Campany, Hans-Michael Koetzle and artist Jeff Wall. Fred Herzog is the most comprehensive publication on this important photographer to date.”
4. Buzzing at the Sill by Peter van Agtmael
“Buzzing at the Sill is Peter van Agtmael’s exploration of the United States in the shadow of the post 9/11 wars. A sequel to his critically acclaimed Disco Night Sept. 11, it begins on a dusk flight over an anonymous landscape, moving unsentimentally- and sometimes surreally- into images of race, class, war, memory, torture, nationalism, family, and place. The images have a troubled beauty that avoids polemic and cliché. Short texts throughout explore the experiences that led to this distinct vision. In the back, a text booklet folds seamlessly out to further describe the context behind the images- revealing hidden history, personal stories, and detailed background. At a troubling historical moment when many wonder how well they know and understand America, Buzzing at the Sill reveals the little seen margins of the country, from coast to coast, city to country, and everything in between.”
“In 1977, photographers Larry Sultan (1946–2009) and Mike Mandel (born 1950) published a book that would radically transform both photography and the photobook canon―a book described by Martin Parr, in The Photobook: A History, as “one of the most beautiful, dense and puzzling photobooks in existence, an endless visual box of tricks.” Sultan and Mandel sifted through thousands of photographs in the files of the Bechtel Corporation, the Los Angeles Police Department, the Jet Propulsion Laboratories, the US Department of the Interior, Stanford Research Institute and a hundred other corporations, American government agencies and educational, medical and technical institutions. They were looking for photographs that were made and used as transparent documents and purely objective instruments―as evidence, in short. Selecting 59 of the best, they published these images with the care you would expect to find in a high-quality art photography book, issuing them in 1977 in a simple, limited-edition volume titled Evidence. Long established as a photobook classic and a seminal example of conceptual photography, Evidence was reissued as a facsimile edition in 2004 by D.A.P. with a new spread of images and a group of black-and-white illustrations selected by the artists from an archive of photographs that were not included in the original book, plus a commissioned essay by Sandra Phillips. Today both this reissue and the original 1977 publication are exceptionally rare and command high prices. D.A.P. now reprints the 2004 edition of Evidence, making available to a general readership a truly pioneering and canonical photobook.”
“Stephen Shore’s Uncommon Places is indisputably a canonic body of work―a touchstone for those interested in photography and the American landscape. Remarkably, despite having been the focus of numerous shows and books, including the eponymous 1982 Aperture classic (expanded and reissued several times), this series of photographs has yet to be explored in its entirety. Over the past five years, Shore has scanned hundreds of negatives shot between 1973 and 1981. In this volume, Aperture has invited an international group of fifteen photographers, curators, authors, and cultural figures to select ten images apiece from this rarely seen cache of images. Each portfolio offers an idiosyncratic and revealing commentary on why this body of work continues to astound; how it has impacted the work of new generations of photography and the medium at large; and proposes new insight on Shore’s unique vision of America as transmuted in this totemic series.”
“This book presents three independent bodies of work by Henry Wessel (born 1942), each being a precise sequence arranged to give the viewer the experience of what it felt like to pass through the territory described. The first series, Traffic, shows Wessel’s photos of drivers stuck in traffic as he commuted in the early 1980s from Richmond, California, to San Francisco in the morning rush hour. Wessel records the determination, impatience and blank boredom of his fellow drivers as they navigate a daily drill that seems at times daunting and hopeless. Sunset Park is Wessel’s series of night photos of the modest working-class neighborhood of Sunset Park in Santa Monica. Over four years in the mid-1990s, Wessel captured the nocturnal transformation of suburbia into a strange, sometimes eerie, landscape. In his words, “you can’t help but notice how the world is reconfigured by the lights at night. The spot lighting of particular areas, the lack of ambient light, the unnatural way that shadows are cast, all take us to an unfamiliar place….” Wessel’s final series, Continental Divide, takes the viewer on a ride from the dense, suburban flatlands of the Midwest, up across the Rocky Mountains, and down into the sparse desert landscape of the American West. Wessel depicts its houses, shacks, street corners and the highway, reminding us of the inherent aesthetics of the everyday.”
“The photographs in STREET were taken by Carrie Boretz in New York City from the mid-1970s through the 1990s. It is common knowledge that the city was on rocky ground for many of those years but these are not pictures filled with drama or strife. Instead Boretz was always more interested in the subtle and familiar moments of everyday life in the various neighborhoods where she lived, before much of the graffiti was scrubbed away and the city sanitized and reborn to what it has since become. For so many living in and visiting New York today, it is forgotten or altogether not known how different so many parts of the city were during that time. Many of these pictures show the reality of the streets then, where every day workers, the homeless, the affluent, and tourists all shared the common space, providing examples of how one of the greatest cities in the world was one often filled with contradictions. But there is also a timeless element to these images as children still play in the parks, streets, and schoolyards, commuters still face the elements daily as they wait, there are still regular demonstrations and parades, and the whole spectrum of the joys and pitfalls of humanity are still visible most anywhere a person looks. For Boretz nothing was scripted, it all played out right before her. As Patti Smith said, “You need no rationale, no schooling. It’s love at first sight. You see something and you have to capture it. Instinctive, bang, you feel one with it.” Indeed, Boretz doesn’t have a philosophy about shooting other than trusting her instinct: she saw, she shot, she moved on, always looking for moments that made her heart beat faster. It was the continual rush of knowing that at any time she could come upon something real and beautiful. That is why and how she shot and why and how her STREET is so special.”
“Slant Rhymes is a photographic conversation between two renowned authors and artists, Magnum photographer Alex Webb and poet and photographer Rebecca Norris Webb. Selected from photographs taken during the Webbs’ nearly 30-year relationship (a friendship evolving into a marriage and creative partnership), this group of 80 photographs is laid out in pairs—one by Alex, one by Rebecca—to create a series of visual rhymes that talk to one another, often at a slant and in intriguing and revealing ways. “Sometimes we find our photographic slant rhymes share a similar palette or tone or geometry,” writes Alex Webb in the introduction to the book. “Other times, our paired photographs strike a similar note—often a penchant for surreal or surprising or enigmatic moments—although often in two different keys.” In this volume, the artists’ photographs—many of which are published here for the first time—are interwoven with short text pieces by the Webbs. A deeply personal book, beautifully produced as an intimate clothbound edition with a tipped-on cover, Alex Webb and Rebecca Norris Webb: Slant Rhymes is an unfinished love poem, told at a slant.”
“Imagined as a sequel to the Old and New Testaments of the Bible by Magnum photographer Jonas Bendiksen, The Last Testament features visual accounts and stories of seven men around the world who claim to be the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. Building on biblical form and structure, chapters dedicated to each Jesus include excerpts of their scriptural testaments, laying out their theology and demands on mankind in their own words. Through Bendiksen’s personal testimonies and intimate portraits, The Last Testament investigates the boundaries of religious faith, and a world in need of salvation, yearning for a new prophet. Whether escaping an angry mob in the streets with the Jesus of Kitwe, joining a Messianic birthday pilgrimage in Siberia, or witnessing the End of Days with Moses in South Africa, Bendiksen immerses himself among the disciples of each Jesus. He takes at face value that each is the one true Messiah returned to Earth, to forge an account that’s both a work of apocalyptic journalism and of a compelling artistic imagination.”
“Martin Parr has been taking photographs of Scotland for more than 25 years. From tourists on the rainy streets of Edinburgh to agricultural shows in Orkney and the Outer Hebrides, Parr approached Scotland with his inimitable eye, building up a huge archive of photographs in the process. Wry and affectionate, simultaneously attuned to local color and the universality of human eccentricity, Parr’s photographic vision finds the magnificent absurdity in everyday life. Though Parr is a prolific creator of photobooks, his archive of Scottish images has remained largely unpublished; in fact, his Scottish photographs represent his largest unpublished body of work to date. Martin Parr: Think of Scotland collects these images together for the first time on the occasion of his solo exhibition at the newly reopened Aberdeen Art Gallery. In Think of Scotland, readers can find the expected visual iconography of Scotland―the Highland Games, the stunning landscapes, the bagpipers―but all given that unique Parr twist that transforms the expected and the banal into something outlandish and unfamiliar.”
“Tria Giovan first traveled to Cuba in 1990. She returned 12 times over the next 6 years, shooting over 25,000 images. Immersing herself in Cuba’s history, literature and politics, Giovan photographed interiors of homes and businesses, city streets, landscapes and, most of all, the people, creating a compelling body of work that captured the subtleties and layered complexities of day-to-day life in Cuba. Twenty years after the publication of her first book of Cuban photographs, Cuba: The Elusive Island, Giovan has returned to these images, rediscovering in them a record of a Cuba that no longer exists. Tria Giovan: The Cuba Archive selects 120 of these images, many of which have never before been shown. Giovan reveals Cuba at a pivotal point in its fascinating history and bears witness to an inimitable, resilient and complex country and people. Raised in the Caribbean, New York–based photographer Tria Giovan (born 1961) has published her work in Aperture, Esquire, Harpers, Travel & Leisure and Vogue, among many other publications. Her most recent monograph, Sand, Sea, Sky: The Beaches of Sagaponack, was published by Damiani in 2011. Her work has been exhibited internationally and is in the permanent collections of The Museum of Modern Art, The Brooklyn Museum and the New York Public Library, among others. Photographs from The Cuba Archive will be featured in a 2017–18 exhibition on Cuba at the Annenberg Space for Photography, Los Angeles.”
“In 1977 William Eggleston released Election Eve, his first and most elaborate artist’s book, containing 100 original prints in two leatherbound volumes, housed in a linen box. It was published by Caldecot Chubb in New York in an edition of only five, and has since become Eggleston’s rarest collectible book. This new Steidl edition recreates the full original sequence of photos in a single volume, making it available to the wider public for the first time. Election Eve contains images made in October 1976 during Eggleston’s pilgrimage from Memphis to the small town of Plains, Georgia, the home of Jimmy Carter who in November 1976 was elected 39th President of the United States. Eggleston began photographing even before he left Memphis and depicted the surrounding countryside and villages of Sumter Country, before he reached Plains. His photos of lonesome roads, train tracks, cars, gas stations and houses are mostly empty of people and form an intuitive, unsettling portrait of Plains, starkly different from the idealized image of it subsequently promoted by the media. The book includes a preface by Hollywood screenwriter (The Mummy, 1999), director (Gotham, 1988) and author Lloyd Fonvielle.”
“Mysterious, introspective, fiercely private, and self-taught, street photographer William Gedney (1932–1989) produced impressive series of images focused on people whose lives were overlooked, hidden, or reduced to stereotypes. He was convinced that photography was a means of expression as efficient as literature, and his images were accompanied by writings, essays, excerpts from books, and aphorisms. Gedney avoided self-promotion, and his underrepresented work was largely unknown during his short lifetime. He died at the age of fifty-six from AIDS. William Gedney: Only the Lonely, 1955–1984 is the first comprehensive retrospective of his photography. It presents images from all of his major series, including eastern Kentucky, where Gedney lived with and photographed the family of laid-off coal miner Willie Cornett; San Francisco and Haight-Ashbury, where he attached himself to a group of disaffected youth, photographing them as they drifted from one vacant apartment to the next during the “Summer of Love”; early photo-reportage of gay pride parades in the eighties; Benares, India, Gedney’s first trip abroad, during which he obsessively chronicled the concurrent difficulty and beauty of daily life; and night scenes that, in the absence of people and movement, evoke a profound universal loneliness. The most complete overview of Gedney’s work to date, this volume reveals the undeniable beauty of a major American photographer.”
15. Candy/A Good and Spacious Land by Jim Goldberg/Donovan Wylie
“In this two-volume set, two artists and two writers explore the concept of the “model city” through the lens of New Haven, Connecticut. This collaboration grew out of a 2013 joint residency at the Yale University Art Gallery by acclaimed photographers Jim Goldberg (b. 1953) and Donovan Wylie (b. 1971). In Candy, Goldberg uses Super 8 film stills, images of New Haven’s urban landscape, Polaroid portraits, and collaged archival material to create a layered reflection on 20th-century American cities that the artist calls a “photo-novel.” A Good and Spacious Land, with photographs by Wylie, examines topographic changes resulting from the construction of the I-95/I-91 highway interchange in New Haven and connects a contemporary American interpretation of the “promised land” to the underlying biblical narrative. The accompanying text in both volumes includes narratives woven throughout the images as well as essays reflecting on the photographs’ symbolism, social import, and historical contexts.”
“The first publication to situate the work of Richards in the long photographic tradition that merges personal artistic vision with documentary practice. Eugene Richards (b. 1944) is a documentary photographer known for his powerful, unflinching exploration of contemporary social issues from the early 1970s to the present. This handsome book is the first comprehensive and critical look at Richards’s lifelong achievements. Reproduced in tritone and color, the extraordinary images in this volume explore complicated and controversial subjects, including racism, poverty, drug addiction, cancer, aging, the effects of war and terrorism, and the erosion of rural America. The authors of the book situate Richards’s work in the long photographic tradition that merges personal artistic vision with documentary practice, following in the tradition of W. Eugene Smith and Robert Frank.”
17. Pictures from Home by Larry Sultan (reprint)
“First published in 1992 to wide critical acclaim, Pictures From Home is Larry Sultan’s pendant to his parents. Sultan returned home to Southern California periodically in the 1980s and the decade-long sequence moves between registers, combining contemporary photographs with film stills from home movies, fragments of conversation, Sultan’s own writings and other memorabilia. The result is a narrative collage in which the boundary between the documentary and the staged becomes increasingly ambiguous. Simultaneously the distance usually maintained between the photographer and his subjects also slips in an exchange of dialogue and emotion that is unique to this work. Significantly increasing the page count of the original book, this MACK design of Pictures From Home clarifies the multiplicity of voices – both textual and pictorial – in order to afford a fresh perspective of this seminal body of work. Emphasising the cinematic motion of the family’s home videos, the Super-8 film stills have been newly digitised and magnified, with select scenes running full-bleed across double-page spreads. Meanwhile, Sultan’s photographs of his parents as they go about their daily lives – against the quintessential backdrop of the Reagan-era American dream – are supplemented with previously unpublished images. Most significantly, the book honours Sultan as the oft-hailed ‘King of Colour Photography’.”
18. Mean Streets: NYC 1970-1985 by Edward Grazda
“The black and white photos in Mean Streets, collected here in print for the first time, offer a look at the infamously hardscrabble NYC in the 70s and 80s captured with the deliberate and elegant eye that propelled Grazda to further success. In the late 1970s and early 80s, the institutions of power in New York had failed. A bankrupt city government had sold its power over to the banks, and the financiers’ severe austerity programs gutted the city’s support systems. Most of the city’s traditional industries had already left, and those power brokers in charge of the new system retreated to their high rises and left the streets to the hustlers, preachers, and bums; the workers struggling to get by; and a new generation of artists who were squatting in the empty industrial buildings downtown and bearing witness to the urban decay and institutional abandonment all around them. For the tough and determined, the quick and the gifted, the prescient and the prolific, a cheap living could be scratched out in the mean streets. Renowned photographer Edward Grazda began his career in that version of NYC. The black and white photos in Mean Streets, collected here in print for the first time, offer a look at that desolate era captured with the deliberate and elegant eye that propelled Grazda to further success. It’s a version of New York that has been all but scrubbed clean in the financially solvent years that have followed, but the character of the city has been indelibly marked by the scars of those years.”
“Raghubir Singh (1942–1999) was a pioneer of color street photography who worked and published prolifically from the late 1960s until his death in 1999 at age 56. His vivid, intensely hued photographs capture rural and urban India and iconic depictions of Indian culture though a truly cosmopolitan approach that succeeded in blending East and West. This richly illustrated volume studies in depth the full breadth of Singh’s work, situating it at the intersection of Western modernism and traditional South Asian modes of picturing the world. The book showcases 90 of his photographs, including some previously unpublished images, in counterpoint both with the work of his contemporaries and with images of traditional South Asian artworks that inspired his practice.”
“Helen Levitt’s earliest pictures are a unique and irreplaceable look at street life in New York City from the mid-1930s to the end of the 1940s. There are children at play, lovers flirting, husbands and wives, young mothers with their babies, women gossiping, and lonely old men. A majority of these photographs have never been published. Other pictures included in this book are now world-famous, now part of the standard history of photography. Together they provide a record of New York not seen since Levitt’s pioneering solo show at The Museum of Modern Art in 1943. Levitt’s photographs are in some of the best photography collections in America, including: The Met, MoMA, The Smithsonian, Museum of Fine Arts Houston, and the Art Institute of Chicago.”
Bonus: Compilations
100 Great Street Photographs by David Gibson
“This celebration of contemporary street photography—in all its edgy, strange, beautiful, haunting, colorful, and humorous glory—brings together the work of a new generation of talented artists. Over the past few decades, the long tradition of street photography has been wholly transformed by the proliferation of digital cameras, the Internet, and smartphones. A new generation of photographers have embraced this modern technology to capture the world around us in a way that is un-staged, of-the- moment, and real. Exploring this rich seam of emergent and exciting street photography, the 100 photographs featured in this book—the majority of which are previously unpublished and taken in the last few years—are presented on double-page spreads along with commentary about the work and its creator. Curated by David Gibson, a street photographer and expert in the genre, this stunning book offers a truly global collection of images. Gibson’s insightful introduction gives an insider’s overview of street photography, illuminating its historic importance and its renaissance in the digital age.”
“Celebrating Magnum’s photographic excellence in this captivating book, readers will travel around the globe with the world’s finest photographers through 365 images. Featuring new and iconic images, this follow-up to Prestel’s highly successful A Year in Photography: Magnum Archive includes some of the most striking photography ever collected in one volume. As readers flip the pages they will find themselves traveling from west to east across the globe. Each country is represented in three or four images captured by a single photographer. While renowned figures such as Robert Capa, Bruce Davidson, and Martin Parr are included, readers will also find younger photographers such as Olivia Arthur, Alessandra Sanguinetti, and Mikhael Subotzky, all of whom present dazzling new views of our changing world. Shining a light on the human condition in every corner of the globe, this compilation exemplifies Magnum founder Henry Cartier-Bresson’s vision of ‘a community of thought, a shared human quality, a curiosity about what is going on in the world, a respect for what is going on and a desire to transcribe it visually.'”
Hopefully, you all can find something to add to your photo library, or someone else’s. And if you have any books from 2017 to add to the list, please comment them below!An American child grows up in a married household in the suburbs. What are the chances that his family keeps a gun in their home?
The probability is considerably higher than residents of New York and other big cities might expect: about 40 percent of married households reported having a gun in their home, according to the exit poll conducted during the 2008 presidential election.
But the odds vary significantly based on the political identity of the child’s parents. If they identify as Democratic voters, the chances are only about one in four, or 25 percent, that they have a gun in their home. But the chances are more than twice that, almost 60 percent, if they are Republicans.
Whether someone owns a gun is a more powerful predictor of a person’s political party than her gender, whether she identifies as gay or lesbian, whether she is Hispanic, whether she lives in the South or a number of other demographic characteristics.
It will come as no surprise to those with a passing interest in American politics that Republicans are more likely to own guns than Democrats. But the differences have become much more stark in recent years, with gun ownership having become one of the clearest examples of the partisan polarization in the country over the last two decades.
In 1973, about 55 percent of Republicans reported having a gun in their household against 45 percent of Democrats, according to the General Social Survey, a biennial poll of American adults.
Gun ownership has declined over the past 40 years — but almost all of the decrease has come from Democrats. By 2010, according to the General Social Survey, the gun ownership rate among adults that identified as Democrats had fallen to 22 percent. It remained at about 50 percent among Republican adults.
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The 2008 poll makes clear that gun ownership is deeply embedded in political identity, and vice versa. (Unfortunately, the question on gun ownership was dropped from the 2012 national exit poll.) Some other variables, like race or where a voter lives, also strongly predict gun ownership. But the differences between the parties remain even after accounting for these characteristics.
White voters were substantially more likely to own guns than Hispanics or blacks. But white Republicans were more likely to own guns than white Democrats.
And based on demographic inertia, the differences seem likely to grow over time.
About 35 percent of Democratic voters age 65 and older reported having a gun in their home, against about 25 percent of those ages 18 to 29. But gun ownership rates bore little relationship to age among Republican voters, and were constant at about 55 percent among all age groups. That might suggest that gun ownership will continue to decline among Democrats while holding steady among Republicans, further increasing the partisan gap.
Gun ownership rates are highest in rural areas, where guns are more likely to be used for hunting as well as personal protection. A slight majority of Democratic voters in rural areas said they had a gun in their home, according to the survey, although the rate was somewhat higher, 65 percent, among rural Republicans.
In urban areas, 40 percent of Republican voters said they had a gun in their home, while 20 percent of Democrats did.
The differences are most apparent in suburban areas. There, 58 percent of Republican voters said there was a gun in their household, against just 27 percent of Democrats.
Having school-age children in the household did not significantly affect gun ownership rates, either positively or negatively. A majority of Republican-voting parents of minor children had a gun in their home, while only about one in four Democratic-voting parents did.
In other respects, the profile of gun owners defies some of the stereotypes that urban liberals might assign to them. For example, despite President Obama’s comments in 2008 about voters who “cling to guns and religion,” the two qualities are not strongly correlated. Slightly more than 40 percent of voters who said they attended church weekly or more often reported having a gun in their home, about the same percentage as among those who attend religious services just a few times a month or a few times a year. And gun ownership rates are highest among the middle class, rather than the poor. Households making $50,000 to $100,000 per year were slightly more likely to own guns than those that made a little bit less or a little more. (However, gun ownership rates are inversely correlated with educational attainment.)
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Perhaps last weekend’s mass shooting in Newtown, Conn., will serve to diminish the partisan split in attitudes toward guns; early polls on Newtown find relatively modest differences between Democrats and Republicans on what they see as the causes of the shooting. Then again, following the initial aftermath, the partisan divide in attitudes toward guns has seemed only to accelerate after similar past events, as at Columbine High School in 1999.
It might seem strange that ownership of a single household object is so strongly tied to voting behavior and broader political attitudes in America. But America is an outlier relative to other industrialized nations in its gun ownership rates. Whatever makes this country so different from the rest of the world must surely be reflected in the differences in how Democrats and Republicans see the nation.The body of a young stowaway was found inside a compartment near the wheel well of a US air force cargo plane that had landed in Germany, leading to questions about the security of an aircraft that had made several stops in Africa.
Air force personnel found the boy’s body on Sunday night after seeing an orange cloth in a small opening next to the landing gear during a detailed inspection of the C-130J aircraft when it landed at Ramstein air base. When they tugged on the wet cloth they discovered it was attached to a boy in the compartment, officials said.
The Pentagon’s press secretary, Rear Admiral John Kirby, said the stowaway was a black male who may have been from Africa. The plane was on a routine mission in Africa and had made stops in Senegal, Mali, Chad, Tunisia and Naval Air Station Sigonella in Sicily before arriving at Ramstein.
A senior US official said on Tuesday that initial indications suggested the boy climbed aboard in Mali. The official was not authorised to speak publicly about an incident under investigation and requested anonymity.
“Security is going to be looked at here. Obviously it would be,” Kirby said. “We try to provide as much security as we can for our aircraft when they’re operating in remote locations and this will all be part of the investigation.”
Some of the airfields where the planes landed were very remote and the security was not always up to the standards followed in the US and other nations, Kirby said. It was unclear how the boy managed to get into the compartment.
“We’ll learn what happened here and if there’s corrective action that needs to be taken, we’ll take it,” he said.
The body was not detected in routine pre-flight and post-flight checks during the trip but was found during a more detailed maintenance inspection of the cargo plane, said Kirby. The body was turned over to German authorities for an autopsy and possible identification.
Tests for communicable diseases had proven negative, Kirby said. An Ebola outbreak in west Africa has killed at least 670 people, the largest outbreak in history with deaths blamed on the disease in Sierra Leone, Liberia, Guinea and Nigeria.
In April a Somali immigrant survived a flight from San Jose international airport in California to Hawaii stowed away in the wheel well of a Boeing 767 commercial airliner.Target is ditching boys’ and girls’ labels on toys after the store says customers were raising concerns about unnecessary gender-based signs.
In an statement posted to their website on Friday, Target announced they were moving away from gendered signs in stores.
“Over the past year, guests have raised important questions about a handful of signs in our stores that offer suggestions based on gender,” the posting read.
Related: Trans lawyer builds career fighting for the poor
Molly Snyder, a spokeswoman for Target, told NBC News the ways that people shop are continually evolving and changing.
“We tried to look at what makes sense and what doesn’t,” Snyder said.
For apparel, the signs will stay. But in departments including Toys, Home and Entertainment, Target says suggesting products by gender is “unnecessary.”
“We heard you, and we agree,” the statement said. “Right now, our teams are working across the store to identify areas where we can phase out gender-based signage to help strike a better balance.”
The store said they will also remove references to gender by no longer including the use of pink, blue, yellow or green paper on the back walls of shelves.
Changes will start to be seen in stores over the next few months, the company announced.
This story originally appeared on NBCNews.comApril 29, 2016 Election 2016: Rain may dampen Pennsylvania, Maryland primaries this Tuesday
By By Kevin Byrne, AccuWeather.com Staff Writer April 29, 2016, 7:01:18 AM EDT
As the 2016 presidential primary season heads into the final stretch, the focus will remain on the northeastern United States on Tuesday, April 26, as five more states hold their respective primaries.
Voters in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Rhode Island, Delaware and Connecticut will cast their votes for both Republican and Democratic presidential candidates, and rain is expected across the region.
"Periods of rain will dampen Connecticut and Rhode Island on Tuesday, but some drying may settle in late in the day," AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Andy Mussoline said. "Thunderstorms can erupt across central and southern Pennsylvania, Maryland and Delaware."
It will be cool across Connecticut and Rhode Island, while very warm conditions prevail across southern Pennsylvania, Maryland and Delaware.
Daytime highs will reach the 50s F across Rhode Island, Connecticut and northern Pennsylvania. Highs farther south will reach the 60s and 70s across the remainder of Pennsylvania while Maryland and Delaware soar into the 70s and 80s.
Weather conditions do have an impact on some voters, but it's usually the air temperature that influences people's decision of whether to head to the polls or not, rather than precipitation, AccuWeather Business Intelligence Manager Rosemary Radich previously said.
For the next slate of primaries, AccuWeather Meteorologist and Business Intelligence Analyst Tim Loftus used L2 to examine weather trends and voter data in election seasons for each state dating back to 1996.
Here is an outlook of how weather factors could play a role in voter behavior on Tuesday.
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Check AccuWeather MinuteCast® before heading to the polls
Record number of countries to sign historic Paris Agreement on Climate Change on Earth Day
Connecticut Warmer air, in particular when temperatures are abnormally higher in the morning, will prompt more voters to head to the polls, Loftus said.
Lotus found that when morning low temperatures are 10 degrees above normal, this would significantly increase turnout in the state. “This impacts the ages between 55 to 64 the most,” he added
Delaware
Voters in Delaware are most impacted when conditions are cloudy and windy. If conditions turn out to be warm, calm and sunny, a higher voter turnout could be expected compared to 2012, particularly for 55- to 64-year-olds.
“However, 25- to 34-year-olds would likely have a lower turnout when there are more minutes of sunshine,” Loftus said.
Maryland
Voters in the state are positively impacted by pleasant weather, which is defined by comfortable conditions or temperatures above 60, along with a average daily cloud cover at or below 30 percent, Loftus stated.
However, some rain could dampen parts of Maryland on Tuesday.
“Democrats are particularly sensitive to temperature and enjoy their election day to be relatively warm,” Loftus said.
Voter turnout is most negatively impacted when stormy weather precedes election day. Additionally, Loftus' data indicated that higher relative humidity, which is correlated with rainfall, was shown to have a negative impact on Maryland voters from ages 45 to 54.
Pennsylvania
Rain and cloud cover is expected across much of Pennsylvania, and the weather conditions could be a significant factor in limiting voter turnout.
"Cloud cover and precipitation deter voters in the age group categories 35 to 44 and 25 to 34 respectively," Loftus said. "If conditions stay dry and the cloud cover is less, we can expect more Pennsylvanians to head to the polls."
Near-normal or above-normal temperatures would mean a higher turnout for the Democrats. They should also promote a higher turnout compared to 2012 when low temperatures were lower than they are expected this year, Loftus explained.
Wind is one of the more significant weather metrics when it comes to Pennsylvania and has previously shown to have a negative impact to overall turnout.
"If windy conditions occur on election day, this would likely cause a lower turnout compared to 2012," Loftus said.
Rhode Island
Like in Maryland, voters in Rhode Island are most affected when it’s stormy prior to election day. If the weather is inclement before the polls open, this would likely reduce the number of voters compared |
some users in the US and around the world are still experiencing outages, including those who regained service around 6:00pm.
Update 9:00pm EDT: 95 minutes after the site started to sputter it looks like most of those users who lost service have now regained it, though there are still reports of outages.
Update 8:46pm EDT: 80 minutes after the outage began we’re hearing reports that users in the United Staes, Brazil and Tunisia and likely other locations lost service, but the site seems to be coming back to life for others, including me.
I removed the previous update, it was from 2010.The FBI has increased the reward to $5 million for the “safe return” of former FBI agent Robert Levinson, who disappeared in Iran while on a CIA mission eight years ago today. Tuesday will be his 67th birthday.
FBI Director James Comey announced the increase on the bureau’s website, saying it is “long past time for Bob to come home.”
Levinson's family said in a statement to ABC News, "Every year on this date, we remind the world that Bob's case is still not resolved and that this husband, father than grandfather is still not home where he belongs."
"But we, his family, have been reminded every single day of the past eight years because of the enormous hole in our lives that will only be filled when Bob is back with us. We need to see him, hear his voice, and hold him," the statement said.
New Pictures of Ex-FBI Agent Kidnapped in Iran
Family of Robert Levinson, American Held In Iran, Says He Was Spying for the CIA
What About Other Americans Held Abroad?
Levinson, who served more than two decades with the FBI before retiring, was kidnapped from Kish Island off Iran’s southern coast on March 9, 2007. For years the U.S. government said Levinson was working at the time as a private investigator, but in December 2013 Levinson’s family acknowledged he was, in fact, working as a kind of freelance “spy” for a rogue CIA operation.
“The CIA sent Bob Levinson to Iran to do an investigation on its behalf,” family attorney David McGee said then.
McGee told ABC News at the time the CIA and the FBI betrayed Levinson as it tried to hide the fact that he had a long-term relationship with the CIA, spying on Iran’s nuclear program and on the Lebanese terror group Hezbollah in the rogue operation.
“[R]ather than acknowledge what they had done and try and save Bob’s life, they denied him,” McGee said.
The day Levinson was outed as spy for the CIA, then-White House Press Secretary Jay Carney declined to discuss the case, beyond saying Levinson was “not a U.S. government employee” when he was kidnapped. The CIA declined to comment on “any purported affiliation,” and only said, “The U.S. government remains committed to bringing him home safely to his family.”
Officials at the CIA and the White House National Security Council declined to comment for this report.
Levinson was last seen in so-called "proof of life" images in early 2013. He was wearing an orange jumpsuit, draped in chains and holding various signs, one of which said, "Help me."
The Iranian government has denied holding Levinson, but American officials have repeatedly said they suspect that at the very least, Iranian government officials know where he is.
Levinson has been held in captivity longer than any other American, according to the FBI. In 2012 the FBI announced a $1 million reward for information on Levinson’s location.
"We urge the governments of Iran and the United States to work together to resolve this case and send Bob home, so he can live the rest of his life quietly, surrounded by the family that loves him," the family statement today said.ES News Email Enter your email address Please enter an email address Email address is invalid Fill out this field Email address is invalid You already have an account. Please log in or register with your social account
A British Airways flight packed with holidaymakers on their way from Gatwick to Crete had to make an emergency landing after the smell of “cannabis” filled the plane.
Flight BA2552 had to return to Gatwick after around an hour-and-a-half because of the pungent stench.
Father-of-two Stuart Barnes, 40, told the paper: “We were four rows from the back and the whole back of the plane stank. The smell was unmistakable.”
Mr Barnes said: “There was a faint smell when we got on.
“We were told that they hoped when they put the air conditioning on it would clear, but it got even stronger.
“You could tell straightaway what it was.”
After a diversion over Paris, the plane was sent back to London where the 174 travellers on board had an hour-long wait for a replacement flight on Thursday morning, The Sun reported.
Fire crews were also sent on board to investigate the overpowering odour.
Simon Skinner posted on Twitter: “British Airways flight to Heraklion turned back after nasty smell.
“Disappointed holidaymakers, chance to excel with rapid turnaround?”
Hundreds of other travellers stuck in Crete by the ensuing disruption faced delays of up to six hours, the paper reported.
A British Airways spokeswoman said no evidence of cannabis or anybody smoking cannabis was found on board.
She added: "Our pilot returned the aircraft to Gatwick as a precaution following reports of an unidentified strong smell in the cabin.
"We are sorry for the delay to our customers' journeys."Nestle USA announced Nov. 8 it is voluntarily recalling limited quantities of Nestle NESQUIK Chocolate Power in the 10.9, 21.8 and 40.7 ounce canisters.
The product was distributed nationally and no other flavors or varieties are inlcuded in the recall.
According to the FDA release, Nestle will stop distributing the canisters because it was "was notified by an ingredient supplier, Omya Inc. that it has issued a recall of certain lots of its ingredient, calcium carbonate due to possible presence of Salmonella. Calcium carbonate is used in NESQUIK as an ingredient. There have been no reports of any illnesses or adverse health effects associated with the affected product.
Check the FDA release for more information on UPC and prodcution codes of NESQUIK Chocolate Powder
To ensure the safety of consumers, Nestlé is recalling selected NESQUIK Chocolate Powder. The recall is limited to the following sizes, UPC and production codes of NESQUIK Chocolate Powder:E.J. Dionne claims that “the attacks on [Robert] Mueller push us closer to the precipice.” But if we’re close to the precipice now, where were we 20 years ago when Ken Starr was relentlessly attacked by Democrats and their media pals while he investigated Bill Clinton?*
Don’t expect an answer from Dionne. He’s not intellectually honest enough even to mention Starr in his rant.
But charges of hypocrisy against one party and its backers can often be turned around. Yes, the response of Democrats generally, and Dionne in particular, to attacks on Mueller is inconsistent with their posture during the Ken Starr era. But did Starr staff up with conservatives and Republicans? If so, did Republicans criticize him for doing so, as they now criticize Mueller for loading up with Hillary Clinton supporters and other partisan Democrats?
Many members of Starr’s staff were Republicans. Some of them, young and relatively unknown at the time, have become important conservative players. Alex Azar, now Secretary of HHS, was on Starr’s staff. So was Brett Kavanugh, now a judge on the D.C. Circuit and a leading contender for the next Supreme Court vacancy (if it opens up while Trump is president).
Rod Rosenstein also worked for Starr. He has gone on to serve under Republican and Democratic administration but is, and was, a Republican.
However, according this Washington Post article from 1998, Republicans did not dominate Starr’s team:
A look at voters’ rolls and interviews with members of Starr’s staff indicate that many, if not most, of the lawyers on this investigation are registered Democrats.
The most prominent Democrat was Sam Dash of Watergate fame. He worked for Starr from 1994 through 1997 with a one-year break in between.**
Ray Jahn, who prosecuted Jim McDougal, was a registered Democrat. He testified that he told Starr when he was hired that he hoped to find evidence exonerating Bill Clinton.
Karen Immergut, who questioned Monica Lewinsky, was a longtime Democrat when she went to work for Ken Starr. She re-registered as an independent upon taking that position.
Mark Tuohey was one of Starr’s first hires. At the time, the Washington Post reported:
Tuohey is well-known in local Democratic Party circles...He is close to some Clinton administration officials, including Associate Attorney General Jamie S. Gorelick, and last year hosted a party for Attorney General Janet Reno at his Washington home.
The Post added that Tuohey’s selection, and that of two other prosecutors, was intended in part to allay fears that Starr’s investigation would be a partisan affair.
Show me the counterparts to Dash, Jahn, Immergut, and Tuohey among the lawyers Mueller brought in for his investigation. I don’t believe they exist. Show me evidence of anything approaching the ideological/partisan balance the Washington Post found when it looked at Starr’s team. I know it doesn’t exist.
Mueller, to be sure, is a Republican. But dislike for Trump is pretty common among GOP establishment figures (and Mueller is nothing if not “establishment”). In any case, the partisan imbalance on his staff renders comparisons to Starr’s team inapt. Remember this the next time some “Democratic strategist” tells Laura Ingraham that this or that member of Starr’s team clerked for Justice Scalia or belonged to the Federalist Society.
There are additional distinctions between the two investigations that undermine attempts to deflect criticism over the partisanship of Mueller’s staff by citing Starr’s operation. Here’s a key one: Starr investigated a banking scandal, a suicide, and later a sex scandal. Mueller is investigating an election.
Specifically, he’s investigating claims by one party that the other party’s candidate broke the law in his pursuit of the presidency. Partisan affiliation therefore means more in Mueller’s investigation than it did in Starr’s.
It would be objectionable for a team of lawyers from one party to handle the investigation of non-political wrongdoing by a president from another party. (As we have seen, Ken Starr didn’t let this happen).
It is far worse for a team of lawyers from one party, here the Democrats, to handle the investigation of allegations, pushed as an article of faith by that party, that a Republican presidential candidate worked with a hostile foreign government to defeat Hillary Clinton in an election. Now we’re talking about an alleged political crime — one that goes to the core issue of which political party should, by rights, hold power.
Mueller should have made sure that his team of lawyers was not dominated by partisan Democrats — i.e., those who gave money to Democratic presidential candidates. Mueller did not do so.
Worse, Mueller selected lawyers who donated to Hillary Clinton, and in one case a lawyer who has represented the Clinton Foundation. According to the book Shattered: Inside Hillary Clinton’s Doomed Campaign by Jonathan Allen and Amie Parnes, within 24 hours of Hillary’s concession speech, Team Clinton began pushing the theme that Trump colluded with the Russians and that the collusion cost her the presidency.
Mueller’s investigation was opened to investigate the collusion claim. It can be viewed as the fruit of Team Clinton’s labor (and the FBI’s).
As I said when I first wrote about Mueller’s staffing decisions, the presence on his team of lawyers who have donated to Democrats is not problematic in itself. It’s unrealistic to expect a prosecutor to assemble a large or even mid-size team that does not include financial contributors to Dems.
But contributors to Clinton’s 2016 campaign are different matter. As bitter as the Clintonistas are about losing the election (or rather having it “stolen” by the Russians) — and as focused on attributing the defeat to collusion between Trump and Putin — it seems unconscionable that attorneys who backed Clinton financially would be on a team that is investigating alleged collusion between Trump and Putin.
Ken Starr’s investigation posed no such problems. Starr wasn’t investigating claims that Bob Dole was robbed in the 1996 election.
The other major distinction between Starr and Mueller arises from Mueller’s friendship with James Comey. Mueller and Comey go way back. They were comrades-in-arms.
Comey may be a key witness, perhaps the key witness, if (as seems likely) Mueller investigates “obstruction of justice” by Trump. There was no analogue to this problem in Starr’s investigation. No one claimed that Starr was even casually acquainted with Jim McDougal, Jim Guy Tucker, Webb Hubbell, Monica Lewinski, Linda Tripp, or any other witness or player in that investigation.
Mueller nonetheless may turn out to be an even-handed prosecutor in this matter. We’ll see.
But two things are already clear. First, raising questions about Mueller and his team hasn’t brought us anywhere near “the precipice.” The questions are legitimate. Second, there is no genuine argument that Ken Starr’s probe of Bill Clinton was plagued by bias and potential conflicts of interests the way Mueller’s is.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________
* Remember how the media camped outside of Starr’s house every morning and filmed him getting his newspaper, or taking out the trash, or getting into his car? Why hasn’t the media staked out Mueller’s residence?
** Dash resigned from Starr’s team in 1998 after Starr complied with the demand of the House Judiciary Committee that he testify before it. Starr was told that if he did not comply, he would receive a subpoena.
Dash claimed that this was some sort of “separation of powers” violation. The claim was absurd, but need not be addressed here. The point is that Starr selected for his team a very high profile Democrat who had been through the Watergate wars on the Democrats’ side.
By the way, I’m told that when Dash saw the video of Bill Clinton’s false testimony regarding Monica Lewinsky, he told fellow members of Starr’s team that Clinton should be removed from office.FILE PHOTO - A sign protesting a recent North Carolina law restricting transgender bathroom access is seen in the bathroom stalls at the 21C Museum Hotel in Durham, North Carolina May 3, 2016. REUTERS/Jonathan Drake/File Photo
(Reuters) - The governing board for U.S. college athletics said on Monday it will move seven championship sporting events out of North Carolina to protest a state law it deems discriminatory to transgender individuals.
It is illegal for anyone in the state to use a public restroom that does not match the gender they were assigned at birth.
The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) cited the law in its decision to relocate the events, which include the first two rounds of the “March Madness” men’s basketball playoffs.
Two months ago the National Basketball Association moved its 2017 pro All-Star Game from North Carolina to New Orleans for the same reason.
Access to public restrooms, locker rooms and changing areas has become a flashpoint in the battle over transgender rights in the United States as the North Carolina law has sparked boycotts by a number of corporations and entertainers.
North Carolina Republican Party spokeswoman Kami Mueller said the NCAA decision was “so absurd it’s almost comical,” according to a statement posted on Twitter.
The governing board said it was also stripping North Carolina of soccer, golf, tennis, lacrosse and baseball events, and would determine new locations for those competitions in the near future.
The NCAA also pointed to North Carolina statutes that it said override local laws designed to prevent discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.
It said its decision was in line with NCAA policy that bans championships in states that display the Confederate battle flag of the U.S. Civil War or authorize sports wagering and at schools that use “hostile or abusive” Native American imagery.We managed to snag confirmation of the upcoming 5.1 update to Lollipop just a few hours ago, but our tipster has already found one of the more obvious changes to the user interface. Google has tweaked the behavior of the Wi-Fi and Bluetooth settings toggles/widgets from the Lollipop Quick Settings menu to allow users to connect to networks or devices without going into the full-page settings menu.
If that's a little confusing, here's how it works right now: when you lower the notification shade to the Quick Settings menu, you can either toggle Wi-Fi or Bluetooth on or off by tapping their respective icons, or tap the word "Wi-Fi" or "Bluetooth" instead to go to their respective menu pages.
In 5.1 the Wi-Fi and Bluetooth text includes a little arrow pointing down, indicating expandable functionality. Touch the text on an upgraded phone or tablet and you'll open a small list of the closest Wi-Fi networks or Bluetooth devices. This allows you to make or switch connections without leaving your current app. If you need to go to the full settings menu you can tap "more settings," or just hit done when you're, you know, done.
This isn't an earth-shattering change, but it's a welcome one for people who are constantly flitting between different Wi-Fi networks. It also makes the built-in functionality a little more obvious - the dual toggle/shortcut behavior in Android 5.0 was a little confusing, especially since the Wi-Fi and Bluetooth settings worked differently than the other toggles.Excerpt: 'Elizabeth Cady Stanton'
Elizabeth Cady Stanton: An American Life
By Lori D. Ginzberg
Hardcover, 272 pages
Hill and Wang
List Price: $25
Chapter 1: The Two Worlds of Elizabeth Cady
To hear Elizabeth Cady Stanton tell it, Johnstown, New York, where she was born in 1815, was a place of comfort and convention, privilege and patriarchy. Her parents, Daniel and Margaret Livingston Cady, were devoted to family, tradition, and the Federalist Party. They were strict and stodgy, and their children were raised according to old-fashioned norms of childhood, religion, class — and, especially, gender. Church, school, and family taught only "that everlasting no! no! no!" and conspired to enforce "the constant cribbing and crippling of a child's life." It struck the young Elizabeth Cady that "everything we like to do is a sin, and... everything we dislike is commanded by God or someone on earth." Only with her sister Margaret's complicity was she able to get over her "infantile fear of punishment" in order to have fun. It was a perfect setting against which to rebel, and, as Elizabeth Cady Stanton recalled fondly, she rebelled with gusto.
Provincial it was, but the world of Elizabeth Cady Stanton's birth, while it seemed only to reinforce the traditional, pastoral life her father enjoyed, was far from static. The inhabitants of the town, an 1824 gazetteer reported, "seem to be very industrious and intent on keeping pace, in every improvement, with the progress of things around them" and, indeed, Johnstown was a local center for the industrial changes that had skirted other small towns. The nation's first glove and mitten factory had been founded there, in about 1808, and manufacturing was at the heart of Johnstown's economy; the very air of Stanton's childhood must have smelled of progress. Nor was the local elite of long standing. The family and Episcopal church congregation of Johnstown's founder, Sir William Johnson, all Loyalists, had left for Canada after the Revolution, leaving an open door for the likes of Daniel Cady.
For all their sense of established respectability and community leadership, the Cadys were, like most white residents of Upstate New York, new blood. Daniel Cady had been born in Columbia County in 1773, studied law in Albany, and moved the forty miles to Johnstown in 1798. Margaret Livingston, a dozen years his junior, had been born in the Hudson Valley to Revolutionary War hero James Livingston and his wife, Elizabeth Simpson Livingston. Although their own Elizabeth believed that the laws, norms, and values that structured men's and women's lives in her childhood were unchanging and unchallenged, Daniel and Margeret Cady had already seen changes of various kinds. Not all of these were progressive in nature. Churches that had shown some openness to women's speech in the mid-eighteenth century were, by the early nineteenth, reasserting traditional forms of male authority. Near Margaret Cady's birthplace, Dutch traditions that had given married women greater property rights had been largely superseded by more stringent English common law that declared the whole of a woman's inherited property her husband's. Even in politics, the barriers of sex had been less rigid, less seemingly absolute, in 1800 than they would be during Elizabeth Cady's youth. In New Jersey, women who owned property could vote until 1807, when the legislature restricted suffrage to white men, reflecting a growing consensus that women had no role in political life. Indeed, the Revolution itself, while underscoring the political equality of greater numbers of white men, saw a narrowing of elite women's conventional access to public authority. Daniel Cady, stubbornly conservative, wished to hold on to what authority he had gained (cultural, familial, political, and economic) as long as possible.3
Historians tend to mark 1815, the end of the War of 1812, and the year of Elizabeth Cady's birth, as the start of a new era in American history. It was a time that would, before too long, seethe with changes in law, religion, trade, politics, transportation, class structures, and, of course, ideas about women. Vast changes would take place that the Cadys could not possibly imagine or predict. Indeed, among Elizabeth Cady Stanton's generation of Americans would be the first women to attend college, once Oberlin formally admitted them in 1837; the first female doctors, once sisters Emily and Elizabeth Blackwell earned their medical degrees; and an astonishing array of female speakers, antislavery reformers, writers, editors, labor activists, educators, and, of course, advocates of woman suffrage.
But before imagining the change that would occur, consider the world, and the rules, into which these women, citizens of the United States, were born. In 1830, when Elizabeth Cady was fifteen, the common-law notion of coverture — that is, the idea that wives were "covered" by their husbands' protection — virtually defined the laws of marriage. Once they married, women could not own or inherit property, sign a contract, or pursue their business interests in court. Although women tended to bear somewhat fewer children than they had a century earlier, childbearing was still frequent and deadly. Legal divorce, as opposed to less formal desertion, was rare, and custody of minor children went to the husband, who essentially "owned" their labor. The opportunities for middle- and upper-class women to live independently of men — whether husbands, fathers, or brothers — were few indeed, and it would not be until the very late nineteenth century that significant numbers of them could do so. Unmarried women paid taxes just as men did, but they could not vote for the representatives who set their tax rates or give advice about how those taxes were spent. Women could not serve on a jury, though they were tried often enough for crimes; nor could they speak out about such crimes in most religious assemblies. They were barred both from men's colleges and from a wide array of occupations — and not surprisingly, those they dominated, such as domestic service and prostitution, were among the lowest paid. In cities, new commercial markets presented both opportunities and pitfalls for women; they ran shops and small manufactories, operated millinery businesses, opened schools, and did the grueling work that the growing upper classes expected of seamstresses, servants, and nursemaids. But if these enterprising women married, their wages were no longer their own, but their husbands'. Over the next century, much of this — first and mostly among the upper and middle classes — would change. In the meantime, for all the rhetoric about the common man, Elizabeth Cady's world was in many respects characterized by greater restriction, reinforced hierarchies, and frequent declarations that what America needed was more stability and tradition, not less.
The Cadys, who married in 1801, when Margaret was sixteen, flourished in Johnstown and in this larger world, living in a large house on a corner of Main Street. Aided by his ties to Margaret's brother-in-law, the fabulously wealthy Peter Smith, Daniel Cady established himself as a lawyer, landowner, state legislator, and judge. In the year of Elizabeth's birth, his neighbors elected him to Congress, where he served one term. The couple had eleven children, of whom only six would survive childhood; the only son among those, Eleazar, would die at twenty.
The Cady family's economic privilege and social authority are nearly invisible threads running through Stanton's recollections, unquestioned and, to Stanton, unproblematic. It was, rather, her father's intransigence about gender that formed the core of the story Elizabeth Cady Stanton told about her childhood. Her most vivid, and oft-repeated, story was that of a brilliant, boisterous, rebellious little girl, eleven years old, whose only living brother, Eleazar, had just died. How dark the household must have seemed. Distraught, she crawled into her father's lap, seeking to give and receive comfort. But her grieving, distracted father put his arm around her and sighed, "Oh, my daughter, I wish you were a boy!" The sting of the father's remark, whether spiteful or unfeeling or simply careless, lingers. Every girl who has yearned to impress an accomplished or demanding father, every woman who has felt the slight of being thought less promising than her brothers, can relate to the insult. Elizabeth Cady, as it turned out, had more than enough reserves of self-esteem to survive the slap, though she never forgot it; not only was she as brilliant as the boys and men around her, but she knew it. She was, as one historian puts it, "singularly unaffected with psychological insecurity," and she quickly put her extraordinary self-confidence to work. The child, as the woman later recalled, vowed to make her father happy by being all a son could have been, thus providing a rationale for her grand ambitions. But the political moral that she took from this childhood affront was the germ of something even larger: her recognition that society's preference for and pride in boys dwarfed girls' lives, limited their opportunities, and were used to justify the denial of woman's rights. She took this insult very personally indeed.
Is it possible to sympathize, however grudgingly, with Judge Cady? There is every evidence that he loved his daughters, and even in sighing over the limitations of Elizabeth's sex, he surely knew that this one was especially bright. But the man had just lost his only living son, at an age when the young man's promise was evident but his path not clearly marked, and at a time when a man such as the judge could reasonably rest his ambitions for succession only on boys. Surely he envisioned Eleazar, who had just graduated from Union College, following in his footsteps, perhaps joining him in the law office or at court. It is possible to read Daniel Cady's comment to his daughter not simply as a putdown, though it surely was that, but also as an acknowledgment that her intellect and her wit would in fact have found more expansive arenas if she had been a boy. Elizabeth's father was neither so wrong nor uniquely old-fashioned in feeling a twinge of regret that this gifted child was a girl, for in the judge's world, and pretty much everyplace else, the barriers that limited her sex were real indeed.
To hear Stanton tell it, she spent her girlhood days trying to impress her learned father, live up to the standards set by her brother, and learn from the law students who wandered through the house. That the household was not composed exclusively of men seems largely to have escaped her notice. There is little of Margaret Livingston Cady in her daughter's account, and her appearances are generally fairly passive. To her daughter, Mrs. Cady was simply "a tall, queenly looking woman," a female enforcer of the "Puritan ideas," and the reason that "fear, rather than love, of God and parents alike, predominated" in the household. It was she, presumably, who often placed the young Elizabeth "under punishment for what, in those days, were called 'tantrums'" but that Stanton insisted were "justifiable acts of rebellion against the tyranny of those in authority." But Margaret Cady demonstrated both a strong will and the capacity to change; years later, in 1867, she signed a woman suffrage petition and was, according to her granddaughter Harriot, "a dyed-in-the-wool Abolitionist," even a "Garrisonian extremist." However distant and disciplined she may have been, it was not Elizabeth Cady Stanton's "queenly" mother alone who upheld the family's conservative attitudes. Unfortunately, neither Stanton's account nor other historical documents offer clues about what ambivalence Margaret Cady might have felt about her rebellious daughter.
If, in Stanton's recollections, Judge Cady embodied the hard-line patriarchal attitudes that shaped his daughter's rebellion, Mrs. Cady was the regal exemplar of discipline, and Elizabeth Cady's younger sister Margaret was her "fearless and self-reliant" companion, the other women in the Cady household appear largely as the enforcers of conventional attitudes about women's place. Sister Harriet Cady, later Eaton, maintained a tight grip over Elizabeth Stanton's decisions even late in life, and often made the Stanton children miserable with restraint. Tryphena, the eldest, was conservative to her very bones. Not only would she oppose her younger sister's radical proclamations and actions, but, as Harriot Stanton Blatch recalled, " 'Aunty By' had a leaning to the southern side in Civil War days." Even Margaret Cady was, as her granddaughter recalled, "much freer and finer... without the aunts weaving nets of convention about her."
Gender conventions were not the only vestiges of tradition in the Cady household. Among Stanton's most quoted reminiscences are stories about the "three colored men, Abraham, Peter, and Jacob, who acted as menservants in our youth." Peter in particular evoked the "most pleasant recollections," for Stanton recalled that the little girls followed him to "the negro pew" at their otherwise all-white church, to celebrations of the Fourth of July, and on various river-rafting expeditions. But Peter Teabout was not simply a "manservant"; he was a slave — and he likely remained one until 1827, when the last slaves were finally, grudgingly, emancipated in the state of New York.
Daniel Cady was hardly unique in holding slaves in Montgomery County, New York. Johnstown's founder, Sir William Johnson, had brought slaves to central New York in the mid-eighteenth century, and by the time the Cadys arrived, revolutionary declarations of liberty notwithstanding, the practice of holding people in bondage had expanded. Five hundred and eighty-eight enslaved African Americans lived in the county in 1790, and 712 in 1810; by 1820, when Elizabeth Cady was five, 40 percent of the 152 African Americans in Johnstown still lived as slaves. Only in 1799 had the state legislature passed a law for gradual, and compensated, emancipation; a very few years before Elizabeth's birth, an African American man or woman in her county remained almost twice as likely to be a slave as to be free. Finally, on July 4, 1827, slavery was ended in New York. African Americans, refusing to have their day of emancipation eclipsed by their white neighbors' own independence, pointedly waited until the following day, the fifth of July, to hold celebrations around the state.
Stanton never mentioned that day of emancipation, neither to re.ect on its implications for her father nor to consider its meaning for the supposedly greatly cherished Peter. Is it unfair to have expected an eleven-year-old to notice? By her own account she was an unusually alert child, exceptionally sensitive to injustice and matters of law. Even as a young girl, she claimed, she found in the restrictions on married women's property ownership deeply personal insults, and had plotted to cut them out of her father's legal tomes. Certainly she seethed when one of the judge's law students, Henry Bayard, upon being shown Elizabeth's new Christmas gifts, teased, "if in due time you should be my wife, those ornaments would be mine." Surely a young woman who could be so vexed about some coral trinkets would be affected by the knowledge that a beloved companion and chaperone of her youth was himself her father's property.
Furthermore, it is hard to imagine that the momentous emancipation day passed her by entirely. The young Elizabeth Cady was enthralled with public events, and loved "attending court" with Peter, learning about the law, and participating in the "numerous and protracted" gatherings surrounding each Fourth of July. One wonders how she could have remained untouched by the celebrations and fêtes that took place in honor of emancipation. She felt no qualms, then or later, about criticizing her father's adherence to convention where the status of women was concerned. But her sensitivity to injustice and her outrage at the laws of property seem not to have extended to Peter Teabout and the other enslaved men in the Cady household.
Like many ambitious young girls, Elizabeth Cady chose men as her role models. Feeling slighted by her father, whom she revered, and apparently unimpressed with what her mother could teach her, she turned to her neighbor, Presbyterian pastor Simon Hosack, for guidance. Apparently he enjoyed the little girl's company, and tolerated her frequent visits and unceasing questions. When Eleazar died, and Elizabeth decided "that the chief thing to be done in order to equal boys was to be learned and courageous," Rev. Hosack agreed to tutor her in Greek and Latin. Horseback riding, the child's measure of heroism itself, she would have to learn on her own. In Stanton's recollection, Hosack thought nothing of dropping his other duties to teach a grieving little girl Greek, and she soon outstripped the local boys, winning prizes for her accomplishments. Her father, "evidently pleased," nevertheless repeated, "Ah, you should have been a boy!" and the child ran to Hosack for solace. Only he, she recalled, offered the "unbounded praises and visions of [her] future success" that she so desperately wanted.
As hard as Elizabeth was working to persuade her father that she was "as good as a boy," her student years at the Johnstown Academy actually allowed her to be one of them. Until she graduated at sixteen, she was "the only girl in the higher classes of mathematics and the languages," and relished as well the "running races, sliding downhill, and snowballing" in which there was "no distinction of sex." When upon graduation the boys left for Union College, the young Elizabeth Cady's "vexation and mortification knew no bounds." Later she believed that her thwarted ambition made her more determined to.ght the suppression of women; at the time, she was simply furious at being left behind.
If the young Elizabeth had not later turned that exclusion into a philosophy of woman's rights, we might simply shrug at her teenage self-absorption. After all, the child was indulged in her rebellions, had found an otherwise busy adult to teach her Greek and sing her praises, and enjoyed the attention of young men who were willing to argue with her on all subjects. And although she was barred from Union College, she was hardly deprived of a formal education. In 1830 she entered Emma Willard's school, the Troy Female Seminary, and there received the best education available to girls — not merely a "fashionable" one, as she later sneered.
For all the constraints on women in Elizabeth Cady's youthful world, there had been dramatic change in the area of girls' education.
Throughout the nation, a lively conversation about female education — about women's abilities to reason and to learn, which subjects were most appropriate for their "sphere," and what women should actually "do" with their learning — infused discussion in newspapers, parlors, and pulpits. Philosophers of female education — Catharine Beecher and Mary Lyon, most famously — insisted that schools could simultaneously expand girls' intellect and train teachers and missionaries for the larger good, while sustaining women's traditional place in a gendered world. Their students gathered in schools and literary societies to test the proposition that women's intellects were, in fact, equal to men's. Even as she griped about her father's limited expectations, Elizabeth Cady lived at a time when female academies were offering girls of her class much of what was being provided to their brothers.
The Troy Female Seminary had had a rocky start at its founding in 1814, but by 1821, when the city of Troy granted it $4,000 in funding, it was solidly launched as a premier educator of elite and middle-class girls. The school's founder, Emma Willard, one of the pioneering educators of her generation, introduced these young women to a rigorous academic education, balancing intellectual achievement with a conventional approach to women's domestic roles. The school served as a model, and indeed a training ground, for the next generation's founders and professors of women's colleges. Elizabeth Cady's own classmates were, like her, the daughters of the elite and professional classes; her younger sisters, Margaret and Catherine, would follow her there in 1834 and 1835, respectively. The school's catalogue of its early graduates reads like a "Who's Who" of the daughters and, later, wives of lawyers, politicians, and merchants. Frances Miller, who later married politician William Henry Seward, had attended the school a decade earlier, as had her sister Lazette, later lawyer Alvah Worden's wife. Their father, like Elizabeth Cady's, was an Upstate New York judge, and they, too, would move into antislavery and political circles; both Miller sisters, by all accounts, were the intellectual equals of their prominent husbands.
But Elizabeth Cady liked boys, and she thought the prospect of an all-girls school "dreary and profitless." She admired boys' energy, envied |
Championship. The season, however, was marred by the deaths of Ayrton Senna (witnessed by Schumacher, who was directly behind in 2nd position) and Roland Ratzenberger during the San Marino Grand Prix, and by allegations that several teams, but most particularly Schumacher's Benetton team, broke the sport's technical regulations.[40][41]
Schumacher won six of the first seven races and was leading the Spanish Grand Prix, before a gearbox failure left him stuck in fifth gear. Schumacher finished the race in second place.[42] Following the San Marino Grand Prix, the Benetton, Ferrari and McLaren teams were investigated on suspicion of breaking the FIA-imposed ban on electronic aids. Benetton and McLaren initially refused to hand over their source code for investigation. When they did so, the FIA discovered hidden functionality in both teams' software, but no evidence that it had been used in a race. Both teams were fined $100,000 for their initial refusal to cooperate. However, the McLaren software, which was a gearbox program that allowed automatic shifts, was deemed legal. By contrast, the Benetton software was deemed to be a form of "launch control" that would have allowed Schumacher to make perfect starts, which was explicitly outlawed by the regulations. However, there was no evidence to suggest that this software was actually used.[43]
At the British Grand Prix, Schumacher was penalised for overtaking on the formation lap. He then ignored the penalty and the subsequent black flag, which indicates that the driver must immediately return to the pits, for which he was disqualified and later given a two-race ban. Benetton blamed the incident on a communication error between the stewards and the team.[44] Schumacher was also disqualified after winning the Belgian Grand Prix after his car was found to have illegal wear on its skidblock, a measure used after the accidents at Imola to limit downforce and hence cornering speed.[45] Benetton protested that the skidblock had been damaged when Schumacher spun over a kerb, but the FIA rejected their appeal because of the pattern of wear and damage visible on the block.[46]
These incidents helped Damon Hill close the points gap, and Schumacher led by a single point going into the final race in Australia. On lap 36 Schumacher hit the guardrail on the outside of the track while leading. Hill attempted to pass, but as Schumacher's car returned to the track there was a collision on the corner causing them both to retire.[47] As a result, Schumacher won a very controversial championship, the first German to do so (Jochen Rindt raced under the Austrian flag). At the FIA conference after the race, the new World Champion dedicated his title to Ayrton Senna.[48]
In 1995 Schumacher successfully defended his title with Benetton. He now had the same Renault engine as Williams. He accumulated 33 more points than second-placed Damon Hill. With teammate Johnny Herbert, he took Benetton to its first Constructors' Championship and became the youngest two-time World Champion in Formula One history.[49]
The season was marred by several collisions with Hill, in particular an overtaking manoeuvre by Hill took them both out of the British Grand Prix on lap 45, and again on lap 23 of the Italian Grand Prix. Schumacher won nine of the 17 races, and finished on the podium 11 times. Only once did he qualify worse than fourth; at the Belgian Grand Prix, he qualified 16th, but nevertheless went on to win the race.
Ferrari (1996–2006) [ edit ]
In 1996, Schumacher joined Ferrari, a team that had last won the Drivers' Championship in 1979 and the Constructors' Championship in 1983, for a salary of $60 million over 2 years. He left Benetton a year before his contract with them expired; he later cited the team's damaging actions in 1994 as his reason for opting out of his deal.[50] A year later Benetton employees Rory Byrne (designer) and Ross Brawn (Technical Director) joined Ferrari.[51]
Ferrari had previously come close to the championship in 1982 and 1990. The team had suffered a disastrous downturn in the early 1990s, partially as its famous V12 engine was no longer competitive against the smaller, lighter and more fuel efficient V10s of its competitors. Various drivers, notably Alain Prost, had given the vehicles labels such as "truck", "pig", and "accident waiting to happen".[52] Furthermore, the poor performance of the Ferrari pit crews was considered a running joke.[27] At the end of 1995, though the team had improved into a solid competitor, it was still considered inferior to front-running teams such as Benetton and Williams.[53] Schumacher declared the Ferrari 412T good enough to win the Championship.[54]
Schumacher, Ross Brawn, Rory Byrne, and Jean Todt (hired in 1993), have been credited as turning this once struggling team into the most successful team in Formula One history.[55][56] Three-time World Champion Jackie Stewart believes the transformation of the Ferrari team was Schumacher's greatest feat.[57] Eddie Irvine also joined the team, moving from Jordan.[58] During winter testing, Schumacher first drove a Ferrari, their 1995 Ferrari 412 T2, and was two seconds faster than former regulars Jean Alesi and Gerhard Berger had been.[59]
"It was not a race. It was a demonstration of brilliance." Stirling Moss about Schumacher at the 1996 Spanish GP[60]
Schumacher finished third in the Drivers' Championship in 1996 and helped Ferrari to second place in the Constructors' Championship ahead of his old team Benetton. He won three races, more than the team's total tally for the period from 1991 to 1995. Early in the 1996 season the car had reliability trouble and Schumacher did not finish six of the 16 races. He took his first win for Ferrari at the Spanish Grand Prix, where he lapped the entire field up to third place in the wet.[18] Having taken the lead on lap 19, he consistently lapped five seconds faster than the rest of the field in the difficult conditions.[59] In the French Grand Prix Schumacher qualified in pole position, but suffered engine failure on the race's formation lap.[61] However at Spa-Francorchamps, Schumacher used well-timed pit-stops to fend off Williams's Jacques Villeneuve. Following that, at Monza, Schumacher won in front of the tifosi.
Michael Schumacher and Jacques Villeneuve vied for the title in 1997. Villeneuve, driving the superior Williams FW19, led the championship in the early part of the season.[62] However, by mid-season, Schumacher had taken the championship lead, winning five races, and entered the season's final Grand Prix with a one-point advantage. Towards the end of the race, held at Jerez, Schumacher's Ferrari developed a coolant leak and loss of performance indicating he may not finish the race.[63] As Villeneuve approached to pass his rival, Schumacher attempted to provoke an accident, but got the short end of the stick, retiring from the race. Villeneuve went on and scored four points to take the championship. Schumacher was punished for unsportsmanlike conduct for the collision and was disqualified from the Drivers' Championship.[64][65]
In 1998, Finnish driver Mika Häkkinen became Schumacher's main title competition. Häkkinen won the first two races of the season, gaining a 16-point advantage over Schumacher. Schumacher then won in Argentina and, with the Ferrari improving significantly in the second half of the season, Schumacher took six victories and had five other podium finishes. Ferrari took a 1–2 finish at the French Grand Prix, the first Ferrari 1–2 finish since 1990, and the Italian Grand Prix, which tied Schumacher with Häkkinen for the lead of the Drivers' Championship with 80 points, but Häkkinen won the Championship by winning the final two races. There were two controversies; at the British Grand Prix Schumacher was leading on the last lap when he turned into the pit lane, crossed the start finish line and stopped for a ten-second stop go penalty. There was some doubt whether this counted as serving the penalty, but, because he had crossed the finish line when he came into the pit lane, the win was valid. At Spa, Schumacher was leading the race by 40 seconds in heavy spray, but collided with David Coulthard's McLaren when the Scot, a lap down, slowed in very poor visibility to let Schumacher past. After both cars returned to the pits, Schumacher leaped out of his car and headed to McLaren's garage in an infuriated manner and accused Coulthard of trying to kill him.[66] Coulthard admitted five years later that the accident had been his mistake.[66]
Schumacher's efforts helped Ferrari win the Constructors title in 1999. He lost his chance to win the Drivers' Championship at the British Grand Prix at the high-speed Stowe Corner, his car's rear brake failed, sending him off the track and resulting in a broken leg.[67] During his 98-day absence, he was replaced by Finnish driver Mika Salo. After missing six races he made his return at the inaugural Malaysian Grand Prix, qualifying in pole position by almost a second. He then assumed the role of second driver, assisting teammate Eddie Irvine's bid to win the Drivers' Championship for Ferrari.[68] In the last race of the season, the Japanese Grand Prix, Häkkinen won his second consecutive title. Schumacher would later say that Häkkinen was the opponent he respected the most.[69]
2000–2004: World Championship years [ edit ]
Schumacher won his fourth World title in 2001
During this period Schumacher won more races and championships than any other driver in the history[70] of the sport. Schumacher won his third World Championship in 2000 after a year-long battle with Häkkinen. Schumacher won the first three races of the season and five of the first eight. Midway through the year, Schumacher's chances suffered with three consecutive non-finishes, allowing Häkkinen to close the gap in the standings. Häkkinen then took another two victories, before Schumacher won at the Italian Grand Prix. At the post race press conference, after equalling the number of wins (41) won by his idol, Ayrton Senna, Schumacher broke into tears.[71] The championship fight would come down to the penultimate race of the season, the Japanese Grand Prix. Starting from pole position, Schumacher lost the lead to Häkkinen at the start. After his second pit-stop, however, Schumacher came out ahead of Häkkinen and went on to win the race and the championship.[72]
In 2001, Schumacher took his fourth drivers' title. Four other drivers won races, but none sustained a season-long challenge for the championship. Schumacher scored a record-tying nine wins and clinched the World Championship with four races yet to run. He finished the championship with 123 points, 58 ahead of runner-up Coulthard. Season highlights included the Canadian Grand Prix, where Schumacher finished 2nd to his brother Ralf, thus scoring the first ever 1–2 finish by brothers in Formula One;[73] and the Belgian Grand Prix in which Schumacher scored his 52nd career win, breaking Alain Prost's record for most career wins.[74]
In 2002, Schumacher used the Ferrari F2002 to retain his Drivers' Championship. There was again some controversy, however, at the Austrian Grand Prix, where his teammate, Rubens Barrichello was leading, but in the final metres of the race, under team orders, slowed down to allow Schumacher to win the race.[75] The crowd broke into outraged boos at the result and Schumacher tried to make amends by allowing Barrichello to stand on the top step of the podium. At the United States Grand Prix later that year, Schumacher dominated the race and was set for a close finish with Barrichello. At the end he slowed down to create a formation finish with Barrichello, but slowed too much allowing Barrichello to take the victory.[76] In winning the Drivers' Championship he equalled the record set by Juan Manuel Fangio of five World Championships. Ferrari won 15 out of 17 races, and Schumacher won the title with six races remaining in the season, which is still the earliest point in the season for a driver to be crowned World Champion.[77] Schumacher broke his own record, shared with Nigel Mansell, of nine race wins in a season, by winning eleven times and finishing every race on the podium. He finished with 144 points, a record-breaking 67 points ahead of the runner-up, his teammate Rubens Barrichello. This pair finished nine of the 17 races in the first two places.[78]
Schumacher broke Juan Manuel Fangio's record of five World Drivers' Championships by winning the drivers' title for the sixth time in 2003, a closely contested season. The biggest competition came once again from the McLaren Mercedes and Williams BMW teams. In the first race, Schumacher ran off track, and in the following two, was involved in collisions.[79][80][81] He fell 16 points behind Kimi Räikkönen. Schumacher won the San Marino Grand Prix and the next two races, and closed within two points of Räikkönen. Aside from Schumacher's victory in Canada, and Barrichello's victory in Britain, the mid-season was dominated by Williams drivers Ralf Schumacher and Juan Pablo Montoya, who each claimed two victories. After the Hungarian Grand Prix, Michael Schumacher led Montoya and Kimi Räikkönen by only one and two points, respectively. Ahead of the next race, the FIA announced changes to the way tyre widths were to be measured: this forced Michelin, supplier to Williams and McLaren among others, to rapidly redesign their tyres before the Italian Grand Prix.[82] Schumacher, running on Bridgestone tyres, won the next two races. After Montoya was penalised in the United States Grand Prix, only Schumacher and Räikkönen remained in contention for the title. At the final round, the Japanese Grand Prix, Schumacher needed only one point whilst Räikkönen needed to win. By finishing the race in eighth place, Schumacher took one point and assured his sixth World Drivers' title, ending the season two points ahead of Räikkönen.[83]
In 2004, Schumacher won a record twelve of the first thirteen races of the season, only failing to finish in Monaco after an accident with Juan Pablo Montoya during a safety car period when he briefly locked his car's brakes. He clinched a record seventh drivers' title at the Belgian Grand Prix. He finished that season with a record 148 points, 34 points ahead of the runner-up, teammate Rubens Barrichello, and set a new record of 13 race wins out of a possible 18, surpassing his previous best of 11 wins from the 2002 season.[84]
Rule changes for the 2005 season required tyres to last an entire race,[85] tipping the overall advantage to teams using Michelins over teams such as Ferrari that relied on Bridgestone tyres.[86] The rule changes were partly in an effort to dent Ferrari's dominance and make the series more interesting.[27] The most notable moment of the early season for Schumacher was his battle with Fernando Alonso in San Marino, where he started 13th and finished only 0.2 seconds behind the Spanish driver.[87] Less than halfway through the season, Schumacher said "I don't think I can count myself in this battle any more. It was like trying to fight with a blunted weapon.... If your weapons are weak you don't have a chance."[88] Schumacher's sole win in 2005 came at the United States Grand Prix. Before that race, the Michelin tyres were found to have significant safety issues. When no compromise between the teams and the FIA could be reached, all but the six drivers using Bridgestone tyres dropped out of the race after the formation lap.[89] Schumacher retired in six of the 19 races. He finished the season in third with 62 points, fewer than half the points of World Champion Alonso.[90]
2006 became the last season of Schumacher's Ferrari career. After three races, Schumacher had just 11 points and was already 17 points behind Alonso. He won the following two races. His pole position at San Marino was his 66th, breaking Ayrton Senna's 12-year-old record.[91]
Schumacher was stripped of pole position at the Monaco Grand Prix and started the race at the back of the grid. This was due to his stopping his car and blocking part of the circuit while Alonso was on his qualifying lap; he still managed to work his way up to 5th place on the notoriously cramped Monaco circuit. By the Canadian Grand Prix, the ninth race of the season, Schumacher was 25 points behind Alonso, but he then won the following three races to reduce his disadvantage to 11. After his victories in Italy (in which Alonso had an engine failure)[92] and China, in which Alonso had tyre problems,[93] Schumacher led in the championship standings for the first time during the season. Although he and Alonso had the same point total, Schumacher was in front because he had won more races.[93]
The Japanese Grand Prix was led by Schumacher with only 16 laps to go, when, for the first time since the 2000 French Grand Prix, Schumacher's car suffered an engine failure. Alonso won the race, giving himself a ten-point championship lead. With only one race left in the season, Schumacher could only win the championship if he won the season finale and Alonso scored no points.[94]
Before the Brazilian Grand Prix, Schumacher conceded the title to Alonso.[95] In pre-race ceremonies, football legend Pelé presented a trophy[96] to Schumacher for his years of dedication to Formula One.[97] During the race's qualifying session, Schumacher had one of the quickest times during the first session and was fastest in the second session; but a fuel pressure problem prevented him from completing a single lap during the third session, forcing him to start the race in tenth position.[98] Early in the race Schumacher moved up to sixth place. However, in overtaking Alonso's teammate, Giancarlo Fisichella, Schumacher experienced a tyre puncture caused by the front wing of Fisichella's car.[99] Schumacher pitted and consequently fell to 19th place, 70 seconds behind teammate and race leader Felipe Massa. Schumacher recovered and overtook both Fisichella and Räikkönen to secure fourth place. His performance was classified in the press as "heroic",[100] an "utterly breath-taking drive",[101] and a "performance that... sums up his career".[102]
2007–2009: retirement at Ferrari [ edit ]
BMW Sauber with "Thanks Michael" messages towards Michael Schumacher on the back of their cars, Schumacher and Peter Sauber worked together in sports cars before entering F1 in 1992
While Schumacher was on the podium after winning the 2006 Italian Grand Prix, Ferrari issued a press release stating that he would retire from racing at the end of the 2006 season.[103] Schumacher confirmed his retirement.[8] The press release stated that Schumacher would continue working for Ferrari. It was revealed on 29 October 2006 that Ferrari wanted Schumacher to act as assistant to the newly appointed CEO Jean Todt.[104] This would involve selecting the team's future drivers. After Schumacher's announcement, leading Formula One figures such as Niki Lauda and David Coulthard hailed Schumacher as the greatest all-round racing driver in the history of Formula One.[105] The tifosi and the Italian press, who did not always take to Schumacher's relatively cold public persona, displayed an affectionate response after he announced his retirement.[106]
2007: Ferrari adviser [ edit ]
He attended several Grands Prix during the season. Schumacher drove the Ferrari F2007 for the first time on 24 October at Ferrari's home track in Fiorano, Italy. He ran no more than five laps and no lap times were recorded. A Ferrari spokesman said the short drive was done for the Fiat board of directors who were holding their meeting in Maranello.[107]
Schumacher at Finali Mondiali celebrations in the F2007
During the 2007 season Schumacher acted as Ferrari's adviser and Jean Todt's'super assistant'.[108] On 13 November 2007 Schumacher, who had not driven a Formula One car since he had retired a year earlier, undertook a formal test session for the first time aboard the F2007. He returned in December 2007 to continue helping Ferrari with their development programme at Jerez circuit. He focused on testing electronics and tyres for the 2008 Formula One season.[109]
2008: Ferrari road car development [ edit ]
In 2007, former Ferrari top manager Ross Brawn said that Schumacher was very likely and also happy to continue testing in 2008; Schumacher later explained his role further saying that he would "deal with the development of the car inside Gestione Sportiva" and as part of that "I'd like to drive, but not too often".[110]
During 2008 Schumacher also competed in motorcycle racing in the IDM Superbike-series, but stated that he had no intention of a second competitive career in this sport.[111] He was quoted as saying that riding a Ducati was the most exhilarating thing he had done in his life, the second most being sky diving.[112]
2009: planned Massa substitution [ edit ]
In his capacity as racing advisor to Ferrari, Schumacher was present in Budapest for the Hungarian Grand Prix when Ferrari driver Felipe Massa was seriously injured after being struck by a suspension spring during qualifying. As it became clear that Massa would be unable to compete in the next race at Valencia, Schumacher was chosen as a replacement for the Brazilian driver[113] and on 29 July 2009, Ferrari announced that they planned to draft in Schumacher for the European Grand Prix and subsequent Grands Prix until Massa was able to race again.[114] Schumacher tested in a modified F2007 to prepare himself[115] as he had been unable to test the 2009 car due to testing restrictions. Ferrari appealed for special permission for Schumacher to test in a 2009 spec car, but Williams, Red Bull and Toro Rosso were against this test.[116][117] In the end, Schumacher was forced to call off his return due to the severity of the neck injury he had received in a motorcycle accident earlier in the year.[118] Massa's place at Ferrari was instead filled by Luca Badoer and Giancarlo Fisichella.[119]
50th Birthday Commemoration [ edit ]
The Ferrari Museum in Maranello Italy is planning an exhibition, that will commence on his birthday and span a few months "both as a celebration and a mark of gratitude to the most successful Prancing Horse driver ever." [120]
Mercedes (2010–2012) [ edit ]
In December 2009 it was announced that Schumacher would be returning to Formula One in the 2010 season alongside fellow German driver Nico Rosberg in the new Mercedes GP team.[121] The new Mercedes team was their first majority involvement in an F1 team since 1955. Schumacher stated that his preparations to replace the injured Massa for Ferrari had initiated a renewed interest in F1, which, combined with the opportunity to fulfil a long-held ambition to drive for Mercedes and to be working again with team principal Ross Brawn, led Schumacher to accept the offer once he was passed fit.[121][122] After a period of intensive training medical tests, it was confirmed that the neck injury that had prevented him driving for Ferrari the year before had fully healed.[121] Schumacher signed a three-year contract, reportedly worth £20m.[121]
Schumacher's surprise return to F1 was compared to Niki Lauda's in 1982 aged 33 and Nigel Mansell's return in 1994 at age 41. Schumacher turned 41 in January 2010 and his prospects with Mercedes were compared with the record set by the oldest F1 champion Juan Manuel Fangio who was 46 when he won his fifth championship.[121]
2010: return from retirement [ edit ]
Schumacher practising for the Malaysian Grand Prix from which he retired with a faulty wheel nut
Schumacher's first drive of the 2010 Mercedes car – the Mercedes MGP W01 – was at an official test in February 2010 in Valencia. He finished sixth in the first race of the season at the Bahrain Grand Prix. After the Malaysian race, former driver Stirling Moss suggested that Schumacher, who had finished behind his teammate in each of the first four qualifying sessions and races, might be "past it".[123] Many other respected former Formula One drivers thought otherwise, including former rival Damon Hill, who warned "you should never write Schumacher off".[124] GrandPrix.com identified the inherent understeer of the Mercedes car, exacerbated by the narrower front tyres introduced for the 2010 season, as contributing to Schumacher's difficulties.[125] Jenson Button would later claim that Mercedes's 2010 car was designed for him, and that their differing driving styles may have contributed to Schumacher's difficulties.[126]
Mercedes upgraded their car for the Spanish Grand Prix where Schumacher finished fourth. At the Monaco Grand Prix Schumacher finished sixth after passing Ferrari's Fernando Alonso on the final corner of the race when the safety car returned to the pits. However, he was penalised 20 seconds after the race by the race stewards dropping him to 12th. The stewards judged the pass to be in breach of the FIA's sporting code. Mercedes's differing interpretation of the regulation would later lead to it being clarified by the FIA.[127]
In Turkey, Schumacher qualified fifth, and finished fourth in the race, both his best results since his return. In European Grand Prix in Valencia, Schumacher finished 15th, the lowest recorded finish in his career.[128] In Hungary, Schumacher finished outside the points in eleventh, but was found guilty of dangerous driving at 180 mph (290 km/h) while unsuccessfully defending tenth position against Rubens Barrichello. As a result, he was demoted ten places on the grid for the following race, the Belgian Grand Prix, where he finished seventh, despite starting 21st after his grid penalty.
At the season finale in Abu Dhabi, Schumacher was involved in a major accident on the first lap, which occurred after a spin. In recovering from the incident Vitantonio Liuzzi's car collided with Schumacher, barely missing his head.[129][130] Nobody was hurt in the crash, but Schumacher said the crash had been "frightening".[131]
He finished the season 9th with 72 points. Before, it had happened only in his début in 1991 that he finished without a win, pole position, podium or fastest lap.
2011 [ edit ]
Schumacher's first points of 2011 were scored in Malaysia, he later came sixth in Spain and had a strong race at the Canadian Grand Prix finishing fourth, after running as high as second in a wet race. Schumacher was passed late in the race by eventual winner Jenson Button.[132]
Schumacher clashed with Vitaly Petrov in Valencia, and with Kamui Kobayashi in Britain, and marked the 20th anniversary of his Formula One début at the Belgian Grand Prix. Despite starting last in Belgium, Schumacher raced well and finished fifth. Schumacher again raced well in Italy, duelling with Lewis Hamilton for fourth place. The Japanese Grand Prix saw Schumacher lead three laps during the race, marking the first time he had led a race since 2006.[133] In doing so, he became the oldest driver to lead a race since Jack Brabham in 1970.[134]
At the Indian Grand Prix Schumacher started well and finished fifth after overtaking Rosberg at the end of the race. Schumacher diced again with Rosberg in Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, battling over sixth position on the first lap. Schumacher finished the season in eighth place in the Drivers' Championship, with 76 points.[135]
2012: final season [ edit ]
Schumacher climbs out of his car after spinning off during the final practice session at the Australian Grand Prix. He retired from the race with gearbox problems.
Schumacher was again partnered by Rosberg at Mercedes for the 2012 season.[136] Schumacher retired from the inaugural race of the season Australian Grand Prix, and scored a point in the second race in Malaysia.[137] In China Schumacher started on the front row alongside Rosberg on pole, but retired due to a loose wheel after a mechanic's error during a pit stop.[138]
After causing a collision with Bruno Senna in Spain, Schumacher received a five-place grid penalty for the Monaco Grand Prix. Schumacher was fastest in qualifying in Monaco; but started sixth owing to his penalty.[139] He later retired from seventh place in the race.[140]
At the European Grand Prix, Schumacher finished third in the race, his only podium finish since his return to F1 with Mercedes. At the age of 43 years and 173 days, he became the oldest driver to achieve a podium since Jack Brabham's second-place finish at the 1970 British Grand Prix. Further records were set by Schumacher in Germany, where he set the fastest lap in a Grand Prix for the 77th time in his career, and in Belgium where he became the second driver in history to race in 300 Grands Prix.[141]
Schumacher's indecision over his future plans in F1 led to him being replaced by Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes for the 2013 season.[142] In October 2012, Schumacher announced he would retire for a second time at the conclusion of the season.[143] The following week he was quoted as saying: "There were times in the past few months in which I didn't want to deal with Formula One or prepare for the next Grand Prix."[144] The season and his 21-year F1 career concluded with the 2012 Brazilian Grand Prix, in which Schumacher finished seventh. He placed 13th in the 2012 Drivers' Championship.[145]
Helmet [ edit ]
Schumacher, in conjunction with Schuberth, helped develop the first lightweight carbon helmet. In 2004, a prototype was publicly tested by being driven over by a tank; it survived intact.[146] The helmet keeps the driver cool by funneling directed airflow through fifty holes.[147] Schumacher's original helmet sported the colours of the German flag and his sponsor's decals. On the top was a blue circle with white astroids.[148] From the 2000 Monaco Grand Prix, in order to differentiate his colours from his new teammate Rubens Barrichello, Schumacher changed the upper blue colour and some of the white areas to red.[149] For the Brazilian Grand Prix race of 2006 (at the time intended to be his final Grand Prix), he wore an all-red helmet that included the names of his ninety-one Grand Prix victories.[150] For the 2011 Belgian Grand Prix, Schumacher's 20th anniversary in Formula One, he wore a commemorative gold-leafed helmet.[151] The helmet, very similar to his current helmet, included the year of his début to the present, and the years of his seven World titles. For the 2012 Belgian Grand Prix, Schumacher's 300th Grand Prix appearance, he wore a special platinum-leafed helmet with a message of his achievement.[152]
Honours [ edit ]
Turns 9–10 of the Nürburgring were renamed after Schumacher in 2007.
Schumacher was honoured many times during his career. In April 2002, for his contributions to sport and his contributions in raising awareness of child education, he was named as one of the UNESCO Champions for sport,[153] joining the other eight, which include Pelé, Sergey Bubka and Justine Henin. He won the Laureus World Sportsman of the Year award twice, in 2002 and 2004 for his performances in the 2001 and 2003 seasons respectively. He also received nominations for the 2001, 2003, 2005 and 2007 awards.[154] He shares the record for having the second-most nominations for the award with Roger Federer with six nominations, and is eclipsed only by Tiger Woods who has been nominated seven times. He holds the distinction of having the most nominations for a motorsport athlete, (Fernando Alonso has been nominated only twice, Sebastian Vettel three times, and Valentino Rossi five times) and being the only motorsport athlete to have won the award more than once.[155]
In honour of Schumacher's racing career and his efforts to improve safety and the sport, he was awarded an FIA Gold Medal for Motor Sport in 2006.[156] In 2007, in recognition of his contribution to Formula One racing, the Nürburgring racing track renamed turns 8 and 9 (the Audi and Shell Kurves) as the Schumacher S,[157] and a month later he presented A1 Team Germany with the A1 World Cup at the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport 2007 awards ceremony.[158] He was nominated for the Prince of Asturias Award for Sport for 2007, which he won both for sporting prowess and for his humanitarian record.[159][160]
In 2008, the Swiss Football Association appointed long-time Swiss resident Schumacher as the country's ambassador for the 2008 European football championship.[161]
On 30 April 2010, Schumacher was honored with the Officier of Légion d'honneur title from French prime minister François Fillon.[162]
On 13 November 2014, Schumacher was awarded the Millennium Trophy at the Bambi Awards.[163]
Racing controversies [ edit ]
Championship-deciding collisions [ edit ]
Going into the 1994 Australian Grand Prix, the final race of the 1994 season, Schumacher led Damon Hill by a single point in the Drivers' Championship. Schumacher led the race from the beginning, but on lap 35 he went off track and hit the wall with his right side wheels,[164] returning to the track at reduced speed, and with car damage, but still leading the race. At the next corner Hill attempted to pass on the inside, but Schumacher turned in sharply and they collided. Both cars were eliminated from the race and, as neither driver scored, Schumacher took the title.[165] The race stewards judged it a racing accident and took no action against either driver, but public opinion is divided over the incident, and Schumacher was vilified in the British media.[166][167][168]
At the 1997 European Grand Prix at Jerez, the last race of the season, Schumacher led Williams's Jacques Villeneuve by one point in the Drivers' Championship. As Villeneuve attempted to pass Schumacher at the Dry Sac corner on lap 48, Schumacher turned in and the right-front wheel of Schumacher's Ferrari hit the left sidepod of Villeneuve's car. Schumacher retired from the race as a result, but Villeneuve finished in third place, taking four points and so becoming the World Champion.[164] The race stewards did not initially award any penalty, but two weeks after the race Schumacher was disqualified from the entire 1997 Drivers' Championship after an FIA disciplinary hearing found that his "manoeuvre was an instinctive reaction and although deliberate not made with malice or premeditation. It was a serious error."[65] Schumacher accepted the decision[169] and admitted having made a mistake.[170] Schumacher's actions were widely condemned in British, German, and Italian newspapers.[166][170] This made Schumacher the only driver in the history of the sport, as of 2018, to be disqualified from a Drivers' World Championship.[171]
Team orders [ edit ]
Historically, team orders have always been an accepted part of Formula One. However, in the final metres of the 2002 Austrian Grand Prix, Schumacher's teammate, Rubens Barrichello, slowed his car under orders from Ferrari to allow Schumacher to pass and win the race.[75] Although the switching of positions did not break any actual sporting or technical regulation, it angered fans and it was claimed that the team's actions showed a lack of sportsmanship and respect to the spectators. Many argued that Schumacher did not need to be "given" wins in only the 6th race of the season, particularly given that he had already won four of the previous five Grands Prix, and that Barrichello had dominated the race weekend up to that point. At the podium ceremony, Schumacher pushed Barrichello onto the top step,[75] and for this disturbance, the Ferrari team incurred a US$1 million fine.[172] Later in the season at the end of the 2002 United States Grand Prix, Schumacher slowed down within sight of the finishing line, allowing Barrichello to win by 0.011 seconds, the 2nd closest margin in F1 history. Schumacher's explanation varied between it being him "returning the favour" for Austria (now that Schumacher's title was secure), or trying to engineer a dead-heat (a feat derided as near-impossible in a sport where timings are taken to within a thousandth of a second).[173] The FIA subsequently banned "team orders which |
ARY_PREFERRED)
For replica sets, read_preference can take the following values:
PRIMARY – This is the default setting and route all reads to the replica set primary. If the primary is unavailable for some reason a read operation would produce an error or exception.
This is the right setting if it is important to never return stale data.
This is the right setting if it is important to never return stale data. PRIMARY_PREFERRED – Reads are normally sent to the primary, but if it is unavailable operations read from secondary members instead.
A use case for this might be if you are using MongoDB as backend for a web service that shows some kind of information to a customer. You want to make sure that the information that is shown is up to date but in case of a primary failover you believe it is more important to show some data, stale or not.
A use case for this might be if you are using MongoDB as backend for a web service that shows some kind of information to a customer. You want to make sure that the information that is shown is up to date but in case of a primary failover you believe it is more important to show some data, stale or not. SECONDARY – Reads are only allowed on secondary members of the replica set. If no secondaries are available a read operation would give an error or exception.
This might be useful for example if you have a heavy read load but it is important that these read operations never interfere with the write operations.
This might be useful for example if you have a heavy read load but it is important that these read operations never interfere with the write operations. SECONDARY_PREFERRED – Reads are normally routed to a secondary, but if no secondary is available read operations are sent to the primary. (This is how reads are handled when slave_okay is set to True).
A use case for this is when you are not that concerned with reading stale data and want to distribute the read operations over all set members.
A use case for this is when you are not that concerned with reading stale data and want to distribute the read operations over all set members. NEAREST – Reads are performed on the nearest available set member, disregarding if it is a primary or secondary member. Nearness is determined by periodically sending pings to all members and measuring the response time.
This could be useful when you have a very read heavy application and want to minimize network latency and do not care if the data might be stale or not.
Note that all preferences other than PRIMARY could give stale data.
Using the default PRIMARY read preference is often to limiting and could in many cases be replaced by at least PRIMARY_PREFFERED. If you for example are using MongoDB as backend for a web service, it might often be better to risk presenting stale data to the frontend then no data at all as could be the case if the primary became unavailable.A day after celebrating International Day of Happiness, Pharrell Williams is continuing his 'Happy' streak with a new T-shirt collaboration.
The producer has teamed up with Peace Love World to launch a collection of limited-edition tees inspired by his Oscar-nominated tune.
The 'Happy' T-shirt features PLW's smiley face brand wearing the iconic Vivienne Westwood "Buffalo" hat with the tagline, "Happiness is the truth."
The shirts come in sizes small to extra-large for men, women and children. You can pre-order them now at all Peace Love World's online store ranging in prices from $25 to $45. The tees are also available at Billionaire Boys Club.
If you are still in the happy spirit, Skateboard P has another collection of T-shirts available at Uniqlo.
A limited run of 500 'i am Other' tees are now available for $19.90 at Uniqlo's webstore. The full line will be previewed on March 31 with the collection available worldwide on April 14.AMSTERDAM — The Dutch government said on Wednesday it wanted to ban tourists from buying cannabis in “coffee shops,” where hash is on sale legally, as part of a national crackdown on drug use.
The Netherlands has one of Europe’s most liberal soft drug policies and its coffee shops are a popular tourist attraction, especially in Amsterdam and border cities near Belgium and Germany.
But some cities near the border with Belgium have clamped down on drug tourism, and the Dutch minister for security and justice confirmed Wednesday a wider crackdown after coalition parties agreed to push for a ban in September.
The government, which took office last month, has agreed to limit the sale of cannabis to Dutch residents to curb crime linked to its production and trading.
FULL REUTERS STORY FOLLOWS BELOWIn the six months that I’ve known Tara Reich, the only thing that I’ve seen crossover has been this watch. She tells me how she stalked it on e-bay, how she tried to keep her voice calm on the phone. When it finally came, she wore it for a few days at work, and then it disappeared, presumably into her house.
I need to see where this watch lives.
# # #
I travel to her house on a Saturday. Her parents’ Stillwater house is comfortingly strewn with art detritus. Her mom is locally famous for drawing bears; her dad is an antique dealer; her brother makes armor; and Tara used to excel at model horses, which are everywhere.
But this isn’t what I’m here to see. I’m here to see her current drug.
I’m here for her closets. I have no idea where Reich keeps her daily jeans and cookie monster T-shirts, because when she opens the doors her closets are literally bursting with custom-made couture jumpsuits, gowns, jackets, coats, six-inch heels and gorgeous wigs—all built by her.
It’s really unbelievable. She pulls out books and books of photos. There is some kind of magic here: Tara in photo after photo is taller, shinier, perfect. In her bedroom, there is this red wig, fishtail braided to perfection. I flip the pages of the photo book. Tara’s already spread out her current project in the living room, watching anime. Her own hair is jammed in a bun, out of her way.
There is something here about Reich’s art that is so absolutely removed from what I would do if I had her skills. If I could braid like that, I would braid my own damn hair. If I made that perfect red jumpsuit, I would wear it to the bar, or try to sell it. All I can see is possibilities for hotness and cash. Sure, Reich has made some money along the way, but talk with her and you immediately see it is about that moment that she puts it on, and it’s perfect. She studies fabrics and HD screen shots like a scientist, getting closer and closer, discovering a seam and a hidden rivet. Her drug is perfecting screen ready, gorgeous replicas. It is somehow so much more noble.
I don’t linger long. Saturday is a typical work day for Reich. At home surrounded by her uber creative family and friends, Reich is making gorgeous objects, like it was her job.
Click on the image to go into gallery mode. Use left and right keys to scroll through.
On the way to the Bikery in Stillwater.
The watch: a “Storm, Junior” as worn by Oswin Oswald on Doctor Who.
The Bikery.
Watching Escaflowne while cutting out the Oswin dress on the floor.
Two sergers.
Fishtail braid.
Tara Reich getting ready to do some draping.
You and I might not know her, but Tara Reich is internet famous. Her work is easy to find, coming up in the top image results for most of the characters she tackles.
Reich as Asuka
Neon Genesis Evangelion
As faceless Rose Tyler, Doctor Who
Idris, Doctor Who
Black Mage Paine, Final Fantasy X-2
Freya, Final Fantasy IX
# # #Breaking News Emails Get breaking news alerts and special reports. The news and stories that matter, delivered weekday mornings.
Dec. 2, 2013, 7:10 PM GMT By Ben Popken
The breakout hit at Wal-Mart on "Black Friday" wasn't a mega TV, sleek tablet or the latest giggling Elmo. It was towels.
It's a sign of the times that consumers battered by a recovery that has boosted corporate profits but has done little to raise their own bottom lines are reduced to scrapping over basic bathroom supplies.
The retailer announced it had sold 2.8 million towels during the shopping event, which this year started even earlier at 6 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day. The textile sales outpaced the 300,000 bicycles, 1.4 million tablets, and 2 million televisions sold during the period, and also beat last year's towel sales by 1 million.
For $1.74, single bath towels and six-packs of washcloths were available. For the washcloths, that breaks down to $.29 per towel.
"We've seen at-home items like towels and sheets and even Rubbermaid Tupperware become popular on Black Friday at our stores," said Wal-Mart spokeswoman Deisha Barnett. "A lot of people are either hosting guests for the weekend or preparing for guests for the holiday season."
Wal-Mart said the top sellers for the day in-store and online were big screen televisions, iPad minis, laptops, XBOX ONEs, PS4's and the Call of Duty Ghosts video game.
Reports of physical struggles to snag the deals lit up on social media.
One YouTube video showed 15-20 shoppers at a Wal-Mart in Bloomingdale, Ill., held at bay by a police officer and three Wal-Mart employees until the store gave the signal to start on Thursday.
"It was like ESPN in Wal-Mart," said Anthony Schullo, a twenty-year-old student at North Central College who taped the incident and uploaded it online. Shoppers hustled and grabbed the towels and other items, shouting "go get it!"
The aisle was filled with adrenalin and anticipation beforehand, said Schullo. He said Wal-Mart employees asked everyone to stand back from the display until the appointed time. Customers chided and sniped anyone who got too close, getting agitated when other shoppers broke the rules and grabbed the merchandise before the 6 p.m. kickoff.
In another video, a man propped up by another man left the scene of Wal-Mart towel sale clutching his stomach.
"This is an example of one video being used to talk about what's happening across the country," said Wal-Mart's Barnett, who noted the retailer's over 4,000 stores serve more than 22 million on Thanksgiving Day. "We have had some of our safest Black Friday events we've seen at Wal-Mart."
Shoppers also took to Twitter to report incidents.
"The idea of people fighting over towels is pretty outrageous," said Louis Hyman, an assistant professor in the Labor Relations, Law, and History department at Cornell University.
"It's something that you imagine most people have. It's not the equivalent of a Cabbage Patch Doll. They're not fighting over a PS4 (game console). They're fighting over towels."
The popularity of the bathroom commodity during a day usually associated with big-ticket gadget purchases and trendy toys reflects the country's low levels of consumer credit card borrowing and stagnant wage growth over the past few years, he said. Consumer credit card debt is down 17 percent from its July 2008 pre-recession high. And wages, on an inflation-adjusted basis, peaked in 1973.
"They have neither wages nor credit, so this is what people can afford to get," said Hyman.
Contact Ben Popken via ben.popken@nbcuni.com, @bpopken, or benpopkenwrites.com.This website is meant to be a resource for researchers and scholars interested in the Vajrayana tradition. It will also feature information on closely related traditions such as the Natha sampradaya and non-dual Saivism. There will be an archive of digital documents consisting primarily of scholarly articles, dissertations, and (to a limited extent) practice materials.
These articles have been archived for private study, scholarship, or research. Under no circumstances are any of these documents to be sold or used for commercial purposes. Nor should any of these materials be reproduced and distributed. Although there are some public domain materials here, most documents are subject to copyright law. It is the responsibility of individuals to make sure that their use of this site, and the materials contained on it, is in compliance with copyright law. The materials archived here are not to be used for any purpose other than private study, scholarship, or research. If you agree to only use the materials here for private study, scholarship, or research please visit The ArchiveAnchorage mayor announces run against Ted Stevens
Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich announced that he is forming a Senate exploratory committee in preparation for a campaign against Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), a race that would set up a political battle between an iconic figure in Alaska politics against one of the rising Democratic stars statewide.
"After months of hearing from Alaskans across our state urging me to run for the United States Senate, I have taken a significant step in that direction. I have formed the Mark Begich for Senate Exploratory Committee," Begich said in a statement.
“So many have urged me to run for the Senate that I believe I owe it to them and to all Alaskans to explore whether I can help move our entire state forward. Alaskans want bipartisan, practical problem-solving from their federal government and they’re not getting it now.”
The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee has been recruiting Begich for the last several months, believing he has the best chance of unseating Stevens. Begich’s father, who was a congressman, died in a 1972 plane crash while campaigning in Alaska.
The National Republican Senatorial Committee, anticipating Begich’s campaign, has recently set up a website titled begichbaggage.com, designed to alert voters about Begich’s political record. It is still under construction.
A December Research 2000 poll, commissioned by the liberal website Daily Kos, showed Begich defeating Stevens, 47 percent to 41 percent, in a head-to-head contest.
Stevens, who has served in the Senate since 1968, filed for re-election last Thursday, but is fending off allegations of ethical misconduct that are threatening to derail his decades-long political career.
Last July, the FBI raided one of his homes as part of a wide-ranging corruption investigation into ties between Alaska politicians and the oil services giant VECO. The company allegedly provided labor for renovations to the senator’s home in Girdwood, Alaska — a charge that Stevens has refuted.
Stevens faces self-funding businessman David Cuddy in the Republican primary, which will be held August 26.
And Begich still has to win his party’s nomination, where he is set to face former state Rep. Ray Metcalfe.Stripper Falsely Accused Eagles WR Nelson Agholor of Rape Because She Was Underpaid By Him
Video Playback Not Supported
On Friday, Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver Nelson Agholor was accused of sexually assaulting a stripper at Cheerleaders Gentlemen’s Club. From the beginning, it was reported that Agholor felt he was being set up.
#Eagles source intimating that Nelson Agholor feels like he was “set up” — Benjamin Allbright (@AllbrightNFL) June 10, 2016
As more details came out, it looked as if the stripper was upset about not being paid a certain amount of money and screamed rape for a quick money grab.
NJ.com has the details:
“The source told NJ Advance Media that Agholor and a dancer at Cheerleaders Gentlemen’s Club in South Philadelphia agreed to go to a private room for an hour on Thursday afternoon, but the dancer left shortly after the two entered the room. The person with knowledge of the incident said Agholor had agreed to pay the woman $1,400 for their time in the private room, but the dancer left before the agreed upon time and Agholor paid her $800. The person said the dancer wanted the full amount. The dancer left the bar, was picked up by a friend, and the person said she never informed management of the alleged rape. According to the same source, multiple dancers have told management that Agholor did nothing wrong, including a dancer who was with another Eagles’ player throughout the night.”
Agholor has other strippers coming to his defense, and the fact that she never informed anybody in the club of a rape pretty much screams that she was upset about not getting the $1400. This was a clear cash grab that didn’t work out as she had hoped.
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Share ThisA mere 13 months ago, the Houston Astros selected Alex Bregman with the second pick in the amateur draft. Tonight, he’ll suit up for the Astros, after he gave Houston no choice but to call him up to the show. The 22-year-old hit.311/.412/.589 in the minors this year, including a.356/.387/.685 showing during his 17-game pit stop at Triple-A. Last season, his junior one at LSU, Bergman slashed.323/.412/.535 and, unsurprisingly, had little issue adapting to life in the pros. He closed out his draft year by hitting a strong.290/.358/.408 across two levels of A-ball.
Bregman pairs exceptional contact ability with ample power and a good walk rate, making him an all-around offensive threat. Bregman owns a minuscule 10% strikeout rate as a professional, yet has still managed a.200 ISO. Very few hitters possess Bregman’s combination of contact and power.
As if that weren’t enough, Bregman also provides value through means other than his hitting. The Astros have given him time at several positions this year in anticipation of his promotion, but he’s a shortstop by trade. That suggests he could be a fine defender at just about any place further down the defensive spectrum. He’s also swiped 20 bases in his year as a professional player, indicating good (or, at least, usable) speed.
As you probably imagined, my newly re-vamped KATOH system is head-over-heels for Bregman. He’s easily the top prospect in the land according to my math. Both KATOH (which considers stats only) and KATOH+ (which also incorporates prospect ranks) peg him for more than 17 WAR over his first six years in the big leagues.
To put some faces to Bregman’s statistical profile, let’s go ahead and generate some statistical comps for the hot-hitting shortstop. I calculated a weighted Mahalanobis Distance between Bregman’s Double-A and Triple-A numbers this season, and every season at those levels since 1991 in which a shortstop or third baseman recorded at least 400 plate appearances. In the table below, you’ll find the 10 most similar seasons, ranked from most to least similar. The WAR totals refer to each player’s first six seasons in the major leagues. A lower “Mah Dist” reading indicates a closer comp.
Please note that the Mahalanobis analysis is separate from KATOH. KATOH relies on macro-level trends, rather than comps. The fates of a few statistically similar players shouldn’t be used to draw sweeping conclusions about a prospect’s future. For this reason, I recommend using a player’s KATOH forecast to assess his future potential. The comps give us some interesting names that sometimes feel spot-on, but they’re mostly just there for fun.
Very few players do all of the things Bregman does as well as he does. Everything about his stat line suggests he could be an excellent hitter. Throw in his defensive prowess, and it’s almost impossible not to see star potential in his profile. As you can see from the case of Adam Piatt — who had very Bregman-like stat line coming up — nothing is guaranteed in the world of prospects. But they don’t make ’em much better than Bregman. He should be good in 2016, and has the chance to be something special in a couple years time.Russian journalist Saveli Nikolaev, known for his criticism of Putin’s interference in the American election, is reported to have been found dead on the streets of Moscow after running at 1200 km/h into an innocent, non-moving bullet.
“We are deeply saddened by this unbearable tragedy, and our thoughts are with the family of the bullet during this troubling time”, said a government official at a press conference scheduled three days earlier, “Nikolaev’s death, on the other hand, should be seen as an example of how a journalist’s research can so often lead them to carelessly run backwards at roughly the speed of sound into a motionless, pointy, metal object”.
This comes only two weeks after journalist Eva Lagounov, who advocated positive Russian involvement in NATO, was found to have accidentally fallen down an elevator shaft onto a syringe of polonium.
Investigators were at first adamant that the death was not suspicious, and merely an unavoidable accident that could happen to anyone and everyone, especially those who aren’t careful. However, the case has now been classified as suicide, given that multiple notes expressing a desire to take his own life were sent via Nikolaev’s email in the hours following the incident.
Investigators searching Nikolaev’s house reported that they found several documents from Nikolaev retracting every negative thing he had ever reported about Putin and the Russian government. Absolutely no files corroborating allegations that US President-elect Donald Trump is a compromised agent of Russian interest were found in a hidden safe in the basement.
Following the press conference, journalists were encouraged to spend time with their loved ones and think about the things that really mattered in life.Disclaimer: Monty Oum and Rooster Teeth own RWBY.
Bound to Crimson Wings
Chapter 1: Of Dragons and puppies.
Weiss Schnee was feverish with excitement. It was early morning the day of her Beacon initiation, and her first day on her journey as a true Huntress. She could feel it thrumming headily in her blood, a call to prove herself as more than just a Schnee. She would prove herself apart from the dark legacy of her family name, and the onus of being the heir of most hated (and successful) company in the world.
And it would all start here, at Beacon. She could almost taste the magic in the air, the arcane energies dancing across her skin like an ethereal wind. This was single largest collection of magic wielders on Remnant, apart from the Magehold in Mystral. But it wasn't like that collection of stuffy, self-important scholars; this was where the greatest warriors in the world were trained.
What set it apart from thousands of combat schools and military colleges, or even the various armed forces themselves was a simple, but essential requirement.
Magic.
Great warriors without magic existed, of course, as even the superhuman abilities granted to those trained to utilise such mystical energies could be outdone through sheer skill, or intelligence, or any number of factors really. But it was irrefutable that those without the ability to use magic could not reach the same heights of speed, strength, or endurance. Without magic, one could simply not reach the same heights of power; it was the way of the world.
And that is not to speak of the actual use of magic; the oft-fabled ability to weave spells, to reach into the realm of the impossible, to grasp and alter the very nature of the world around you. The schools of magic were many, with more being discovered every day, just as it was with its counterpart in Science. Beacon was one of the pre-eminent schools of magic in the world, going hand in hand with their training as warriors. This academy produced the most exceptional men and women on Remnant, the pinnacle of the human and faunus races, the Hunters.
But again, this is not what truly set Beacon apart. Dual combat and magic schools existed elsewhere in the world, of course. Hunters were needed all over the world. It would be silly to entrust one school with such a massive overlap in applicants, magic wasn't so rare that all those who wielded it whom also wished to be warriors could fit into one school, after all.
No, what set Beacon apart were the familiars.
This is what Weiss was truly excited for. Long ago, during the last Great War with the Grimm, the various intelligent magical races came together to form a pact in order to protect the world. They vowed they would all periodically send some of the best and brightest of their races to the greatest mage-warrior academy in the world, Beacon. It was hoped that these chosen could then find a suitable partner, human or faunus (and not another 'primal' race, as the human and faunus vastly outnumber the other magical species) and become Bonded.
Not all Hunters were Bonded, but all Bonded were Hunters. To be chosen as Bonded, to be partnered with a magical being, was the utmost honour and an immense responsibility. Few were considered, and even fewer actually selected. To become Bonded was to gain a life-long partner, your closest ally, often described as the other half of your very own soul.
Weiss would be lying if she said she did yearn to be chosen. Not for the power, or the prestige. She had magical and physical ability in spades, she could be just as powerful as any Bonded even if she did not have her own partner. She did not need the prestige, she was already part of the upper-class, rich beyond measure and far more famous than she cared to be.
No, Weiss wanted to Bond because she was lonely, and to have a friend that she could share her heart with unreservedly would be the single most wonderful gift she could ever ask for. To shatter the bonds of isolation that had been chained to her for her entire life, to finally cast them aside would be…
Well, it would suffice to say that nearly the entire reason Weiss wished to be a Hunter was so that could have the opportunity to become Bonded. She could not wait. And luckily, no more did she have to.
The consideration ceremony had begun.
Blake Belladonna watched the various Hunter prospectives file into the chamber for the consideration ceremony. The chamber was a large, empty, windowless room built of heavy stone. It was all illuminated by the brackets of torches on the walls, providing light but doing little to dispel the oddly weighty darkness of the chamber. The flickering lights of the fire caused the shadows in the room to dance, deepening and growing lighter randomly. The air was musky, a mix of dust and lingering scents of incense; and when she really focused, she even caught the subtle and ominous scent of blood.
It was quite melodramatic, all medieval in a cultish sort of way in Blake's opinion. There was ostentatiously nothing special about the room, aside from the size, so she didn't really understand the need for the rather intensely mysterious atmosphere.
But it did make for quite the scene, at least. What with such a large row - at least forty odd people - of initiates armed to the teeth, and nervous as all hell. It seemed the oddly oppressive feeling in the room provided by the unyielding stone strange shadows was getting to some of them.
Blake had a sneaking suspicion that whomever chose this setup did so in part because it was amusing to watch. She certainly found it so. Then again, as a faunus, Blake had never held any sort of fear for the darkness. The world yielded its secrets to her at night just as easily as it did for a human during the day.
Her eyes widened in surprise when an orange haired girl walked in. She was was wearing functional battle clothes in eye-watering shade of pink, and carried a hammer so incredibly large that Blake had no doubt it weighed more than she did. The girl didn't even seem slightly bothered by her huge weapon, and Blake resolved then and there to never challenge the girl's monstrous strength, readily apparent in her nonchalant handling of gigantic mass of deadly metal. But that wasn't what caught her eye, no, it was the creature that walked beside the girl.
'Wisdom Shadow', 'Night Watcher', or more commonly known as one of the Yinzihui.
On all fours, it stood at shoulder height to the girl, and was easily at least twelve feet long. It's sleek fur was black as night, a common feature of its race. It's long, feline body rippled visibly as it walked, a testament to the deadly array of powerful muscles packed beneath it's skin. For all intents and purposes it looked like an exceptionally large - most assuredly beautiful - panther. The gleam of startling intelligence in it's magenta eyes told a different story, however.
The Yinzihui were a race of magical beings that drew their power from the night, flourishing under the watchful eye of the shattered moon. Most Yinzihui took the form of big cats with almost uniform black coloration, though some might choose other forms, with avian counterparts being the second most popular choice. They were - as were all joined under the Beacon pact - intensely magical beings, with an array of possible abilities outnumbered by only humans and faunus. It was safe to assume that a Yinzihui's powers would be inclined toward the shadows in one form or another, but not always true. They were the only 'primal' race capable of wielding any type of magic, the same as the faunus and humans. It wasn't unheard of for a Yinzihui to take up different magic, such as elementalism or transmutative magics, there have even been recorded cases of Yinzihui specialising in light magic, which was a close to the antithesis to their race as one could get.
The reason Blake was able to positively identify it as a Yinzihui, apart from the fact that a regular panther could never possibly grow to such a size, was due to how every single shadow in the room seemed to shudder and stretch - even if only slightly - toward it.
It was extremely unusual to see a Bonded prospective, as the duo must have become partners even before the Beacon consideration ceremony. The only way for this to have occurred was for the two to have met beforehand, in the outside world, in whatever lives they had lived before attending Beacon. Unusual to be sure, but also impressive. Blake would bet they would do extremely well during initiation. She was about to resume looking over the initiates when a man with grey hair in a green suit walked toward the group holding a small engraved fallwood and bronze box.
Ozpin, the Arch-Mage and Headmaster of Beacon.
"Greetings, initiates." He greeted politely, coming to a stop about five metres away from the centre of the group. "You are here to undergo the consideration ceremony. This ceremony dates back to the first days of the pact, and has been used for centuries. It has served us well for an untold number of years, and not once have we ever found fault in it." He informed the completely silent group, every member of the Headmaster's audience paying rapt attention. "Why do I tell you this now? Because you are about to undertake it. If you are not chosen, it is by no means the fault of the ceremonial test. You must accept that you will not find a Bonded here at Beacon." Ozpin said gravely, scanning his eyes down the crowd. "We do not have time to play games, if you are not of the considered, you will move onto standard initiation to be partnered with a non-primal. You may find yourselves on a team with a Bonded pair, and if you do remember that jealousy and discrimination will not be tolerated. The primal magical races are human and faunus' most trusted allies, and you will show them the respect they deserve. They are all intelligent, sentient beings - in fact, I dare say you will find them perfectly capable of being your intellectual superior... if perhaps a bit different. You would do well to remember this." Ozpin completed strictly, scowling lightly to emphasise the seriousness of his words. Not that Blake was going to argue with him, it was common knowledge that looking down on the primal races did not end well.
Intelligent beings often developed pride, after all. And hurting the pride of, for example, the twelve foot magical panther with razor sharp claws that were probably longer than her fingers could end badly.
"The ceremony is simple," Ozpin began, hefting his box and getting Blake's wavering attention back. "you must simply channel magic into one of these." Ozpin said, flipping open the lid of the box, reaching inside, and pulling out an egg sized black stone. "You will begin channeling magic as soon as you have selected a stone, and you will return it as soon as I ask for it. Failure to comply will result in the immediate cessation of your consideration. Understood?" He asked, getting a great many nods, and some few audible affirmatives. "Good, let us begin." He said.
Blake soon realised she would be one of the last to receive a stone, as she was standing near the opposite end of where Ozpin began as he moved down the line. The second thing she noticed, after the third initiate had received his stone, was that the stones were not uniform in colour, the previous having been an intense orange. Her musings stopped as she watched Ozpin reach the orange haired girl with the laughing eyes and her Yinzihui partner, and was slightly surprised to note he gave them both a small smile and a simple 'Congratulations'. He'd gotten a snappy salute from the boisterous ginger, and a disturbingly human-like affirmative hum from the Yinzihui.
The third thing Blake realised - and by far the oddest - was that the box was bigger on the inside, as a rather tall wolf faunus had his hand up to his shoulder in a container the size of a shoe box. Which made sense considering the large number of stones it had to hold. It was extremely impressive magic, as any manipulation of space or time was not to be taken lightly.
Eventually Ozpin reached Blake, and she stepped forward to grab a stone from the box. Dipping her hand in, her fingers trailed lightly over what felt like a river of pebbles, smooth and cool to the touch. She reached to grab one an- no... that wasn't right. She frowned when she dropped the stone that had felt entirely wrong. Narrowing her eyes Blake channeled some raw magical energy into her hand, undiluted and unaltered, pure mana. With a large slap she felt a stone collide with the palm of her hand, seemingly summoned from within. This time the stone felt completely fine, in fact it seemed perfect for reasons that Blake couldn't quite put into words.
With a bemused expression she stepped back, staring slightly at the stone. Ozpin had a knowing look in his eyes, giving Blake the slightest of grins, before he moved downward again. She immediately dismissed the strange Headmaster, and set to her task. She summoned her magic in its base form, pure energy coloured a purple so deep it was almost black and allowed it to flow into the stone. The stone itself was a bright yellow in colour, flecked through with mote of red, and it seemed to glow when she poured her magic into it, accepting the outflow easily.
She was lucky she'd worked so hard to bring her initial atrociously small magical reserves to such a decent level. She wasn't a powerhouse, not by a long shot, but she had more energy than your average initiate. And she was proud of that seeing as she'd been gifted with downright negligible amount of magic, almost not worth pursuing, and had worked incredibly hard to improve it to the level where she stood above the majority of her peers. So, whilst channeling raw power into the stone for a full three minutes wasn't easy, it wasn't exactly taxing either.
Ozpin gingerly took the stone from her, placing it back within the box with the utmost care. Blake returned her attention to the line, now staring at the few people after her that had yet to return their stones. One in particular caught her attention. She'd noticed how everyone's stones had glowed, probably due to the magical energy they were being pumped full of, but his practically shined.
The tallish blonde boy with blue eyes was staring intently at his very bright stone. Blake narrowed her eyes, before focusing on him. Suddenly, her mouth felt very dry. She hadn't sensed it earlier, probably due to the rate at which the stone was absorbing his power, but the amount of magic he was pouring into it was ludicrous. In the ten seconds she'd observed him he'd pushed as much magic into his bright-white rock as she'd managed in three minutes.
She was sweating very lightly from the exertion. If she was to guess she would be able to put up with half an hour or so of channeling her mana like she had been. This boy had done three minutes of her level of output in ten seconds. That means in the three minutes required, he'd summoned eighteen times the amount of power she'd done. That was nearly twice her total reserves. And he didn't look even the slightest bit bothered, not even the smallest sheen of sweat was visible on his brow.
It was rather frightening, to be honest. To have that much magic... well, she couldn't imagine it. She doubted she'd ever come close. If he wasn't so goofy looking she'd say some people have all the luck.
Ozpin approached him, taking his stone with an amused expression. He looked up at the blonde boy, who was shifting around uneasily at all the stares he was getting, no doubt the other initiates noticing his ridiculous level of magical power. Ozpin merely shook his head slightly as he walked to stand in front of the line once more.
"Thank you all. Now that we have completed the first stage, I will be leaving for a few moments." Ozpin said. "Feel free to sit down, you shall wait until I return." With that, he stood true to his word, striding through a door at the opposite end of the chamber without further ado.
Blake sighed, repressing her fluttering nerves. As much as she wished otherwise she could not deny that the entire experience was unnerving on some level. Yes, she had gotten into Beacon on her own merits, on a scholarship no less. But none of that would matter if she did not pass initiation. Her future hinged on this mornings upcoming event, and it had been weighing heavily upon her for some time now.
And if she was being completely honest with herself - which she'd long ago started committing herself to - she was also anxious about the consideration ceremony. She didn't doubt that a human - if they weren't a bigot - or a faunus could make for an excellent teammate and companion, but there was a surety that came with being Bonded, a level of understanding and trust that was said to be nigh on unbreakable. And frankly, the mystique of being partnered with a a primal, someone so completely out |
cops' account, says she had no pot
New York police say they've found no evidence corroborating a claim by actress Amanda Bynes that she was sexually harassed after police were called to her apartment.
"A credible civilian witness who was with the officers throughout told investigators that none touched Ms. Bynes inappropriately or otherwise engaged in misconduct at any time," a NYPD Internal Affairs representative said.
The incident is the latest in a series of run-ins with the law for Bynes, who had a squeaky-clean image as a teen actress.
Officers were called Thursday to her building in Manhattan's theater district after her building manager reported the 27-year-old was smoking an "illegal substance" in the lobby, police said.
Bynes had headed back to her apartment by the time police arrived, but she let officers in when they knocked on the door, they said. Once inside, the officers noticed a bong and other marijuana paraphernalia sitting on a coffee table, which Bynes immediately started to throw out a window, police said.
Police charged her with tampering with physical evidence, reckless endangerment and criminal possession of marijuana. The endangerment stems from the possibility that the tossed paraphernalia could have hit someone below.
JUST WATCHED See Amanda Bynes taken into custody Replay More Videos... MUST WATCH See Amanda Bynes taken into custody 01:08
According to media reports, she appeared in court Friday and was then released until her next appearance in July.
Taking to Twitter to make her case, Bynes said the police account is "all lies." Her story is that she was "sexually harassed by one of the cops the night before last" -- the same police officer who, she wrote, ended up arresting her.
Bynes said she had opened her window "for fresh air" and didn't throw out any drug paraphernalia. She insisted the officer lied when he said she did. Then, she alleged of the officer in her apartment, "He slapped my vagina. Sexual harassment. Big deal."
Bynes said she was handcuffed, "which I resisted... then I was sent to a mental hospital. Offensive."
"The cop sexually harassed me, they found no pot on me or bong outside my window," Bynes tweeted. "That's why the judge let me go."
Bynes has a DUI case pending in Southern California, while a pair of separate hit-and-run charges against her were dismissed late last year. Earlier this month, the actress was sentenced to three years' probation for driving on a suspended license.
A young teenager when she burst on the scene as the lead in Nickelodeon's "The Amanda Show," Bynes also starred alongside Jennie Garth in the sitcom "What I Like About You." She later scored roles in movies, including "Hairspray" and "Easy A."As Trump is a particularly divisive candidate, it is safe to suppose that most—or at least many—of them strongly opposed him. The media, however, focused on the person who got the largest number of votes—which means Trump. On the Democratic side of the ledger, the media similarly poured its attention on Hillary Clinton, ignoring Bernie Sanders until widespread enthusiastic support forced a change.
The source of the problem
An election is nothing but an invented device that measures the electorate’s support of the candidates, ranks them according to their support, and declares the winner to be the first in the ranking.
The fact is that majority voting does this very badly.
With MV, voters cannot express their opinions on all candidates. Instead, each voter is limited to backing just one candidate, to the exclusion of all others in the running.
Bush defeated Gore because Nader voters were unable to weigh in on the other two. Moreover, as we argue further on, majority voting can go wrong even when there are just two candidates.
The point is that it is essential for voters to be able to express the nuances of their opinions.
What is to be done? Use majority judgment
Majority judgment (MJ) is a new method of election that we specifically designed to avoid the pitfalls of the traditional methods.
MJ asks voters to express their opinions much more accurately than simply voting for one candidate. The ballot offers a spectrum of choices and charges voters with a solemn task:
To be the President of the United States of America, having taken into account all relevant considerations, I judge that this candidate as president would be a: Great President | Good President | Average President | Poor President | Terrible President
To see exactly how MJ ranks the candidates, let’s look at specific numbers.
We were lucky to find on the web that the above question was actually posed in a March Pew Research Center poll of 1,787 registered voters of all political stripes. (It should be noted that neither the respondents nor the pollsters were aware that the answers could be the basis for a method of election.) The Pew poll also included the option of answering “Never Heard Of” which here is interpreted as worse than “Terrible” since it amounts to the voter saying the candidate doesn’t exist.
As is clear in the table below, people’s opinions are much more detailed than can be expressed with majority voting. Note in particular the relatively high percentages of voters who believe Clinton and especially Trump would make terrible presidents. (Pew reports that Trump’s “Terrible” score increased by 6 percent since January.)
Using majority judgment to calculate the ranked order of the candidates from these evaluations or grades is straightforward. Start from each end of the spectrum and add percentages until a majority of voters’ opinions are included.
Taking John Kasich as an example, 5 percent believe he is “Great,” 5+28=33 percent that he is “Good” or better, and 33+39=72 percent (a majority) that he is “Average” or better. Looked at from the other end, 9 percent “Never Heard” of him, 9+7=16 percent believe he is “Terrible” or worse, 16+13=29 percent that he is “Poor” or worse, and 29+39= 68 percent (a majority) that he is “Average” or worse.
Both calculations end on majorities for “Average,” so Kasich’s majority-grade is “Average President.” (Mathematically, the calculations from both directions for a given candidate will always reach majorities at the same grade.)
Similarly calculated, Sanders, Clinton, and Cruz all have the same majority-grade, “Average President.” Trump’s is “Poor President,” ranking him last.
To determine the MJ ranking among the four who all are rated “Average,” two more calculations are necessary.
The first looks at the percentage of voters who rate a candidate more highly than his or her majority-grade, the second at the percentage who rate the candidate lower than his or her majority-grade. This delivers a number called the “gauge.” Think of it as a scale where in some cases the majority grade leans more heavily toward a higher ranking and in others more heavily toward a lower ranking.
In Kasich’s case, 5+28=33 percent evaluated him higher than “Average,” and 13+7+9=29 percent rated him below “Average.” Because the larger share is on the positive side, his gauge is +33 percent. For Sanders, 36 percent evaluated him above and 39 percent below his majority-grade. With the larger share on the negative side, his gauge is -39 percent.
A candidate is ranked above another when his or her majority-grade is better or, if both have the same majority-grade, according to their gauges (see below). This rule is the logical result of majorities deciding on candidates’ grades instead of the usual rule that ranks candidates by the numbers of votes they get.
When voters are able to express their evaluations of every candidate—the good and the bad—the results are turned upside-down from those with majority voting.
According to majority judgment, the front-runners in the collective opinion are actually Kasich and Sanders. Clinton and Trump are the trailers. From this perspective the dominant media gave far too much attention to the true trailers and far too little to the true leaders.
Tellingly, MJ also shows society’s relatively low esteem for politicians. All five candidates are evaluated as “Average” presidents or worse, and none as “Good” presidents or better.
Majority voting’s failure with two candidates
But, you may object, how can majority voting on just two candidates go wrong? This seems to go against everything you learned since grade school where you raised your hand for or against a classroom choice.
The reason MV can go wrong even with only two candidates is because it does not obtain sufficient information about a voter’s intensity of support.
Take, as an example, the choice between Clinton and Trump, whose evaluations in the Pew poll are given in the first table above.
Lining up their grades from highest to lowest, every one of Clinton’s is either above or the same as Trump’s. Eleven percent, for example, believe Clinton would make a “Great” president to 10 percent for Trump. Trump’s percentages lead Clinton’s only for the Terrible’s and Never Heard Of’s. Given these opinions, in other words, it’s clear that any decent voting method must rank Clinton above Trump.
However, majority voting could fail to do so.
To see why, suppose the “ballots” of the Pew poll were in a pile. Each could be looked at separately. Some would rate Clinton “Average” and Trump “Poor,” some would rate her “Good” and him “Great,” others would assign them any of the 36 possible couples of grades. We can, therefore, find the percentage of occurrence of every couple of grades assigned to Trump and Clinton.
We do not have access to the Pew poll “ballots.” However, one could come up with many different scenarios where the individual ballot percentages are in exact agreement with the overall grades each received in the first table.
Among the various scenarios possible, we have chosen one that could, in theory, be the true one. Indeed, you can check for yourself that it does assign the candidates the grades each received: Reading from left to right, Clinton, for example, had 10+12=22 percent “Good,” 16+4=20 percent “Average,” and so on; and the same holds for Trump.
So what does this hypothetical distribution of the ballots concerning the two tell us?
The first column on the left says 10 percent of the voters rated Clinton “Good” and Trump “Great.” In a majority vote they would go for Trump. And moving to the tenth column, 4 percent rated Clinton “Poor” and Trump “Terrible.” In a majority vote this group would opt for Clinton. And so on.
If you add up the votes in each of these eleven columns, Trump receives the votes of the people whose opinions are reflected in four columns: 10+16+12+15=53 percent; Clinton is backed by the voters with the opinions of columns with 33 percent support; and 14 percent are undecided. Even if the undecided all voted for Clinton, Trump would carry the day.
This shows that majority voting can give a very wrong result: a triumphant victory for Trump when Clinton’s grades are consistently above his!
A bird’s-eye view
Voting has been the subject of intense mathematical research since 1950, when the economist Kenneth Arrow published his famous “impossibility theorem,” one of the two major contributions for which he was awarded the 1972 Nobel Prize.
This theorem showed that if voters have to rank candidates—to say, in other words, who comes first, second and so forth—there will inevitably be one of two major potential failures. Either there may be no clear winner at all, the so-called “Condorcet paradox” occurs, or what has come to be called the “Arrow paradox” may occur.
The Arrow paradox is familiar to Americans because of what happened in the 2000 election. Bush beat Gore because Nader was in the running. Had Nader not run, Gore would have won. Surely, it is absurd for the choice between two candidates to depend on whether or not some minor candidate is on the ballot!
Majority judgment resolves the conundrum of Arrow’s theorem: neither the Condorcet nor the Arrow paradox can occur. It does so because voters are asked for more accurate information, to evaluate candidates rather than to rank them.
MJ’s rules, based on the majority principle, meet the basic democratic goals of voting systems. With it:
Voters are able to express themselves more fully, so the results depend on much more information than a single vote.
The process of voting has proven to be natural, easy, and quick: we all know about grading from school (as the Pew poll implicitly realized).
Candidates with similar political profiles can run without impinging on each other’s chances: a voter can give high (or low) evaluations to all.
The candidate who is evaluated best by the majority wins.
MJ is the most difficult system to manipulate: blocs of voters who exaggerate the grades they give beyond their true opinions can only have a limited influence on the results.
By asking more of voters, by showing more respect for their opinions, participation is encouraged. Even a voter who evaluates all candidates identically (e.g., all are “Terrible”) has an effect on the outcome.
Final grades—majority-grades—enable candidates and the public to understand where each stands in the eyes of the electorate.
If the majority decides that no candidate is judged an “Average President” or better, the results of the election may be rescinded, and a new slate of candidates demanded.
It is a practical method that has been tested in elections and used many times (for judging prize-winners, wines, job applicants, etc.). It has also been formally proposed as a way to reform the French presidential election system.
Reform now
It should come as no surprise that in answer to a recent Pew poll’s question “Do you think the primaries have been a good way of determining who the best qualified nominees are or not?” only 35 percent of respondents said yes.
Democracies everywhere are suffering. Voters protest. Citizens don’t vote. Support for the political extremes are increasing. One of the underlying causes, we argue, is majority voting as it is now practiced, and its influence on the media.
Misled by the results of primaries and polls, the media concentrates its attention on candidates who seem to be the leaders, but who are often far from being deemed acceptable by a majority of the electorate. Majority judgment would correct these failings.
This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.Product Description
Shipping cost is calculated using dimensional weight instead of actual weight. Due to USPS size restrictions, this item is only available to ship by UPS or Fedex Ground for all domestic orders. International customers will be notified at the time of shipping if this item needs to ship via a different method than chosen.
Hasbro licensee ThreeA and the world renowned online collectibles shop BigBadToyStore proudly present Transformers Generation One Nemesis Prime! This BigBadToyStore Special Edition is only available from BBTS.com!
Transformers G1 Nemesis Prime stands 16 inches tall, includes over 30% die-cast metal detailing, 59 points of articulation, and features LED illuminated details, a variety of accessories, and incredibly detailed weathered paintwork!
The dark mirror of Optimus Prime, a twisted clone of the Autobot leader imbued with all his strength, abilities, and intellect, but lacking all moral restraint and compassion. Nemesis Prime serves only the World Eater Unicron and carries within him the Dead Matrix, possibly the only thing in the universe that can destroy the ancient Primus. Nemesis Prime’s brutality is known and feared by Autobot and Decepticon alike!When it come to child support, Kailyn Lowry is taking it slow, a family insider tells HollywoodLife.com EXCLUSIVELY. Here’s why she hasn’t asked Chris Lopez to start handing over his cash for Baby Lo.
Kailyn Lowry, 25, is trying not to push her luck when it comes to her relationship with Chris Lopez. A family insider tells HollywoodLife.com EXCLUSIVELY that Kailyn is choosing not to ask Chris for child support for their newborn baby, only known as Baby Lo, as she’s more concerned that he stays present as a father. “Right now, all Kailyn wants is for Chris to be an active part of their son’s life, and she doesn’t want to scare him away by demanding money from him — even though it’s his legal responsibility,” the insider tells us. They added that Kailyn is “financially sound right now”, too, meaning she is fully capable to care for all three of her children without the additional help.
“Right now the most important thing as far as Kaitlyn is concerned is Chris bonding with his baby,” the insider continued. “Because she’s had two boys before she has pretty much all she requires for a newborn baby, aside from diapers.” But that doesn’t mean Chris is totally in the clear when it comes to the financial responsibility of being a parent. “At some point in the future Kailyn will undoubtably raise the subject with Chris, but for now she really doesn’t want to rock the boat,” the insider explained. “So she’s keeping silent on the subject of child support.” While most people may not understand Kailyn’s decision, we think it’s extremely impressive that she is more concerned about Chris building a relationship with his son than anything else. This speaks volumes about her as a mother, and will definitely pay off in the end when Baby Lo and his father have an unbreakable bond.
Tell us, HollywoodLifers — What do YOU think about Kailyn not requesting for Chris to pay child support? Do YOU think she should be asking for child support for their baby? Comment below, let us know.Case: Gregory v. Burnett, Court of Appeals, 6th Circuit 2014
What happened:
The facts viewed in a light most favorable to Gregory are that around 3:00 p.m. on April 4, 2009, Gregory was taking his granddaughter to lunch in his pickup truck. Gregory drove down his driveway/Gregory Lane when he observed a vehicle that he believed was being driven by Lt. Burnett in the middle of Levi Branch Road, about 65 feet away. Gregory stopped his truck while still on Gregory Lane and shut off the engine. Gregory contends that because Lt. Burnett had stopped him without reason three times before, all since mid-February 2009, Gregory had installed a video camera in his truck so that he would have proof that Lt. Burnett was illegally stopping him and harassing him. After turning the engine off, Gregory unfastened his seatbelt so that he could reach up and activate the video camera. Lt. Burnett motioned for Gregory to pull out onto Levi Branch Road, but Gregory did not and waved his hand for Lt. Burnett to keep driving. Gregory’s video, which is in the record, captured Lt. Burnett pulling up alongside Gregory’s truck, approaching Gregory’s driver-side window, and asking for his driver’s license. While reaching for his driver’s license, Gregory pointed a finger at Lt. Burnett and said that he was tired of being harassed. At that point, Lt. Burnett opened Gregory’s truck door, pointed at Gregory, and warned that if Gregory continued to point at him, he would take him to jail. Lt. Burnett told Gregory that his truck windows were tinted and that he was not wearing his seatbelt.
The video captures the following exchange beginning when Lt. Burnett approached Gregory after pulling his vehicle alongside Gregory’s truck:
BURNETT: What’s a going on?
GREGORY: Taking the kid to town to get something to eat.
BURNETT: Do you have your driver’s license?
GREGORY: Yeah.
BURNETT: Can I see them?
GREGORY: I’m sitting here on my own property.
BURNETT: Well, no, you’re not. Because that’s marked right here [pointing to the “Gregory Lane sign,”] and you don’t have a seat belt on. Let me see your driver’s license.
GREGORY: Buddy, I’m sitting here on my own property and ain’t bothering nobody. I ain’t got out on the public road.
BURNETT: Let me see your license.
GREGORY: I’m gonna let you see my license, but I’m just about tired of being harassed by you, now.
BURNETT: Jump on out here. You point your finger at me, I’m gonna take you to jail.
GREGORY: I’m just telling you. Well, take me to jail there and lock me up.....
GREGORY: The gun’s over here, and here’s the license for it.
BURNETT: Let me see your insurance.
GREGORY: I’ll tell you this: You’re gonna quit this harassment.
BURNETT: Do what?
GREGORY: You’re gonna quit this harassing me, because I ain’t done nothing illegal.
BURNETT: Well, let’s see here. Your window is tinted. And you’re getting ready to get out here [pull out onto Levi Branch Road], and you didn’t have your seat belt on. So I can stop you now. Okay?
GREGORY: Where you see my windows tinted at? Where you see my windows tinted at?
BURNETT: Look right here. Look right here. You can’t even see through that.
GREGORY: Well, I can’t help it that you got them dark glasses on and can’t see nothing.
BURNETT: I’ll tell you what. I’m gonna take you to jail for menacing.
Lt. Burnett arrested Gregory, searched him, and placed him in the back of his police vehicle. The arrest was for menacing, but Burnett gave Gregory citations for a seatbelt violation and disorderly conduct.
Gregory spent about three hours in jail before being released on his own recognizance. Gregory appeared for arraignment and an order setting a jury trial date was entered. However, after Bell County Prosecutor Neil Ward viewed the video of the incident, he decided not to prosecute. The parties (the Commonwealth of Kentucky and Gregory) later agreed to a dismissal without prejudice.Bernie Sanders, long known for his anti-war positions, raised a red flag Sunday on the rhetoric coming from GOP circles about Mideast crises.
On Sunday, Sanders said he is "very concerned about a lot of the war talk that I am hearing from my Republican colleagues who apparently have forgotten the cost of war and the errors made in Afghanistan and Iraq."
Sanders, the independent senator who is challenging former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination, has run a campaign more focused on economic equality in the U.S. than his foreign policy vision. But in an interview with NBC's "Meet the Press" Sunday, he talked about how the U.S. should address the ongoing refugee crisis being created by instability in Syria.
"I think really the issue now is not who is at fault, the issue is now what we do," Sanders said when asked by host Chuck Todd whether the policies of former President George W. Bush or President Obama were to blame. "What we do is bring the region together."
Sanders said countries like Saudi Arabia and Turkey are going to "have to get their hands dirty and are going to have to get on the ground" to fight the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). He said the U.S., Britain, France and other allies should be "supportive," but he does not believe in putting American troops into combat there.
"I disagree that the United States should have combat troops in that area. I fear very much that we will be in perpetual warfare in that region. I do not want to see that occur," he said.
Bernie Sanders explains why he’s different from Hillary Clinton
Sanders voted against the war in Iraq, a position he often mentions when asked to compare his candidacy with Clinton's. He has only voted in favor of U.S. military action twice: Once to intervene in the Kosovo during the humanitarian crisis created by the Bosnian War in the 1990s, and another time to authorize the war in Afghanistan.
"I believed that Osama bin Laden needed to be captured, needed to be brought to trial," he said.
But it was that reflection that led Sanders to criticize his colleagues for "war talk."
"What I believe," he said, "is that the most powerful military on Earth, the United States of America, that our government should do everything that we can to resolve international conflict in a way that does not require war. Sometimes using military force is necessary. But I think it should be the last resort, not the first resort."
He did say the U.S. should be a part of the response to the hundreds of thousands of Syrians that have fled the war and are seeking refuge.
"Europe, the United States, and by the way countries like Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, must address this humanitarian crisis. People are leaving Iraq, they're leaving Syria with just the clothes on their backs. The world has got to respond. The United States should be part of that response," he said.The ASP.NET MVC team is in the final stages of finishing up a new "Preview 4" release that they hope to ship later this week. The Preview 3 release focused on finishing up a lot of the underlying core APIs and extensibility points in ASP.NET MVC. Starting with Preview 4 this week you'll start to see more and more higher level features begin to appear that build on top of the core foundation and add nice productivity.
There are a bunch of new features and capabilities in this new build - so much in fact that I decided I needed two posts to cover them all. This first post will cover the new Caching, Error Handling and Security features in Preview 4, as well as some testing improvements it brings. My next post will cover the new AJAX features being added with this release as well.
Understanding Filter Interceptors
Action Filter Attributes are a useful extensibility capability in ASP.NET MVC that was first added with the "Preview 2" release. These enable you to inject code interceptors into the request of a MVC controller that can execute before and after a Controller or its Action methods execute. This enables some nice encapsulation scenarios where you can easily package-up and re-use functionality in a clean declarative way.
Below is an example of a super simple "ScottGuLog" filter that I could use to log details about exceptions raised during the execution of a request. Implementing a custom filter class is easy - just subclass the "ActionFilterAttribute" type and override the appropriate methods to run code before or after an Action method on the Controller is invoked, and/or before or after an ActionResult is processed into a response.
Using a filter within a ASP.NET MVC Controller is easy - just declare it as an attribute on an Action method, or alternatively on the Controller class itself (in which case it will apply to all Action methods within the Controller):
Above you can see an example of two filters being applied. I've indicated that I want my "ScottGuLog" to be applied to the "About" action method, and that I want the "HandleError" filter to be applied to all Action methods on the HomeController.
Previous preview releases of ASP.NET MVC enabled this filter extensibility, but didn't ship with pre-built filters. ASP.NET Preview 4 now includes several useful filters for handling output caching, error handling and security scenarios.
OutputCache Filter
The [OutputCache] filter provides an easy way to integrate ASP.NET MVC with the output caching features of ASP.NET (with ASP.NET MVC Preview 3 you had to write code to achieve this).
To try this out, modify the "Message" value set within the "Index" action method of the HomeController (created by the VS ASP.NET MVC project template) to display the current time:
When you run your application you'll see that a timestamp updates each time you refresh the page:
We can enable output caching for this URL by adding the [OutputCache] attribute to the our Action method. We'll configure it to cache the response for a 10 second duration using the declaration below:
Now when you hit refresh on the page you'll see that the timestamp only updates every 10 seconds. This is because the action method is only being called once every 10 seconds - all requests between those time intervals are served out of the ASP.NET output cache (meaning no code needs to run - which makes it super fast).
In addition to supporting time duration, the OutputCache attribute also supports the standard ASP.NET output cache vary options (vary by params, headers, content encoding, and custom logic). For example, the sample below would save different cached versions of the page depending on the value of an optional "PageIndex" QueryString parameter, and automatically render the correct version depending on the incoming URL's querystring value:
You can also integrate with the ASP.NET Database Cache Invalidation feature - which allows you to automatically invalidate the cache when a database the URL depends on is modified (tip: the best way to-do this is to setup a CacheProfile section in your web.config and then point to it in the OutputCache attribute).
HandleError Filter
The [HandleError] filter provides a way to declaratively indicate on a Controller or Action method that a friendly error response should be displayed if an error occurs during the processing of a ASP.NET MVC request.
To try this out, add a new "TestController" to a project and implement an action method that raise an exception like below:
By default when you point your browser at this URL, it will display a default ASP.NET error page to remote users (unless you've gone in and configured a <customErrors> section in your web.config file):
We can change the HTML error displayed to be a more friendly end-user message by adding a [HandleError] attribute to either our Controller or to an Action method on our Controller:
The HandleError filter will catch all exceptions (including errors raised when processing View templates), and display a custom Error view response when they occur. By default it attempts to resolve a View template in your project called "Error" to generate the response. You can place the "Error" view either in the same directory as your other Controller specific views (for example: \Views\Test for the TestController above), or within the \Views\Shared folder (it will look first for a controller specific error view, and then if it doesn't find one it will look in the shared folder - which contains views that are shared across all controllers).
Visual Studio now automatically adds a default "Error" view template for you inside the \Views\Shared folder when you create new ASP.NET MVC Projects starting with Preview 4:
When we add a [HandleError] attribute to our TestController, this will by default show remote users an html error page like below (note that it picks up the master page template from the project so that the error message is integrated into the site). You can obviously go in and customize the Error view template to display whatever HTML and/or friendlier customer error message you want - below is simply what you get out of the box:
To help developers, the default Error view template provided by the new project template in Visual Studio is written to display additional error stack trace information when you are browsing the application locally:
You can turn this off either by deleting the code from the Error view template, or by setting <customErrors> to "off" inside your web.config file.
By default the [HandleError] filter will catch and handle all exceptions that get raised during the request. You can alternatively specify specific exception types you are interested in catching, and specify custom error views for them by specifying the "ExceptionType" and "View" properties on [HandleError] attributes:
In the code above I'm choosing to display custom error views for SqlExceptions and NullReferenceExceptions. All other exceptions will then use the default "Error" view template.
Authorize Filter
The [Authorize] filter provides a way to declaratively control security access on a Controller or Action method. It allows you to indicate that a user must be logged in, and optionally require that they are a specific user or in a specific security role in order to gain access. The filter works with all types of authentication (including Windows as well as Forms based authentication), and provides support for automatically redirecting anonymous users to a login form as needed.
To try this out, add an [Authorize] filter to the "About" action in the HomeController created by default with Visual Studio:
Declaring an [Authorize] attribute like above indicates that a user must be logged into the site in order for them to request the "About" action. When non-logged-in users attempt to hit the /Home/About URL, they will be blocked from gaining access. If the web application is configured to use Windows based authentication, ASP.NET will automatically authenticate the user using their Windows login identity, and if successful allow them to proceed. If the web application is configured to use Forms based authentication, the [Authorize] attribute will automatically redirect the user to a login page in order to authenticate (after which they'll have access):
The [Authorize] attribute optionally allows you to grant access only to specific users and/or roles. For example, if I wanted to limit access to the "About" action to just myself and Bill Gates I could write:
Typically for all but trivial applications you don't want to hard-code user names within your code. Instead you usually want to use a higher-level concept like "roles" to define permissions, and then map users into roles separately (for example: using active directory or a database to store the mappings). The [Authorize] attribute makes it easy to control access to Controllers and Actions using a "Roles" property:
The [Authorize] attribute does not have a dependency on any specific user identity or role management mechanism. Instead it works against the ASP.NET "User" object - which is extensible and allows any identity system to be used.
AccountController Class
I mentioned above that the [Authorize] attribute can be used with any authentication or user identity management system. You can write or use any custom login UI and/or username/password management system you want with it.
To help you get started, though, the ASP.NET MVC Project Template in Visual Studio now includes a pre-built "AccountController" and associated login views that implement a forms-authentication membership system with support for logging in, logging out, registering new users, and changing passwords. All of the views templates and UI can be easily customized independent of the AccountController class or implementation:
The Site.master template also now includes UI at the top-right that provides login/logout functionality. When using forms-based authentication it will prompt you to login if you are not currently authenticated:
And it displays a welcome message along with a logout link if you are authenticated on the site:
Clicking the Login link above takes users to a Login screen like below that they can use to authenticate:
New users can click the register link to create new accounts:
Error handing and error display is also built-in:
The AccountController class that is added to new projects uses the built-in ASP.NET Membership API to store and manage user credentials (the Membership system uses a provider API allowing any back-end storage to be plugged-in, and ASP.NET includes built-in providers for Active Directory and SQL Server). If you don't want to use the built-in Membership system you can keep the same AccountController action method signatures, View templates, and Forms Authentication ticket logic, and just replace the user account logic within the AccountController class. For the next ASP.NET MVC preview release we are planning to encapsulate the interaction logic between the AccountController and the user identity system behind an interface - which will make it easier to plug-in your own user storage system (without having to implement a full membership provider) as well as to easily unit test both it and the AccountController.
Our hope is that this provides a nice way for people to quickly get started, and enable them to have a working end to end security system as soon as they create a new project.
Testing TempData
One last improvement to touch on in this first preview 4 post is some improvements being made on the Controller class that allow you to more easily unit test the TempData collection. The TempData property allows you to store data that you want to persist for a future request from a user. It has the semantic of only lasting one future request (after which it is removed). It is typically used for MVC scenarios where you want to perform a client-side redirect to change the URL in the browser, and want a simple way to store scratch data.
With previous ASP.NET MVC Previews you had to mock objects in order to test the TempData collection. With Preview 4 you no longer need to mock or setup anything. You can now add and verify objects within the Controller's TempData collection directly within your unit tests (for example: populate a controller's TempData property before calling its action method, or verify that the action updated the TempData after the action returned). The actual storage semantics of the TempData collection is now encapsulated within a separate TempDataProvider property.
Conclusion
Hopefully the above post provides a quick look at a number of the new features and changes coming with ASP.NET MVC Preview 4. My next post on ASP.NET MVC Preview 4 will cover the new AJAX functionality that has been added, and demonstrate how to take advantage of it.
Hope this helps,
ScottFriday, July 25, 2014
On 26 June 2014, the following matter was referred to the Finance and Public Administration References Committee for inquiry and report by the 27 October 2014:
the prevalence and impact of domestic violence in Australia as it affects all Australians and, in particular, as it affects: women living with a disability, and women from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander backgrounds; the factors contributing to the present levels of domestic violence; the adequacy of policy and community responses to domestic violence; the effects of policy decisions regarding housing, legal services, and women‘s economic independence on the ability of women to escape domestic violence; how the Federal Government can best support, contribute to and drive the social, cultural and behavioural shifts required to eliminate violence against women and their children; and any other related matters.
Submissions closing date is 31 July 2014. The reporting date is 27 October 2014.
The committee will not be considering or examining any material that relates solely to personal cases or grievances. The committee process is not a forum to resolve these issues but to explore the adequacy of policy responses and the effects of policy settings regarding housing, legal services and women’s economic independence on their ability to escape violence.
Committee Secretariat contact:
Senate Finance and Public Administration Committees
PO Box 6100
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600
Phone: +61 2 6277 3439
Fax: +61 2 6277 5809
fpa.sen@aph.gov.au
http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Finance_and_Public_Administration/Domestic_ViolenceHere she goes again.
Whoopi Goldberg, on a Thursday broadcast of “The View,” weighed in on Pepsi’s controversial ad featuring Kendall Jenner. The ad, which premiered on Monday and was pulled two days later, received criticism for appropriating social justice movements, including Black Lives Matter, for profit.
During the “Hot Topics” segment of the show, Goldberg declared that while she didn’t think the video was executed well, she didn’t find it offensive.
“Listen, now, there are some things where you can say, ‘Hey, you need to be more sensitive,’ but this ain’t one of them,” Goldberg said. “ |
. We’ll see you next week with more community, strategy, and technology. Until then, LET’S GET IT!Daniel Ricciardo will be the first driver to use the upgraded Renault engine at this weekend’ Brazilian Grand Prix at Interlagos.
The Australian will fit one of the new power units to his Infiniti Red Bull Racing car ahead of free practice, thus taking a ten-place grid penalty as a result.
Renault had been developing its power unit this season, and used eleven of its twelve development tokens ahead of the race in the United States last month, but both Red Bull and sister team Scuderia Toro Rosso declined the offer to use them.
The team will weigh up the whether to allow Ricciardo’s team-mate Daniil Kvyat to also run the new unit, with a decision on the Russian’s engine likely to be made ahead of Saturday’s running in Brazil.
Both drivers are well-beyond their allotted four power units of 2015, and will accumulate penalties for any new engine fitted to their cars for the remainder of the season.
The upgrades made by Renault are focused on the Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) and to the turbocharger, with a view to the 2016 season, although the partnership between Renault and the Red Bull family is likely to cease at the end of the season.Image copyright Weibo
A well-known Chinese climber has died while performing one of his trademark daredevil skyscraper stunts.
Wu Yongning had amassed thousands of followers on the social network Weibo for his dramatic short videos showing him perched atop tall buildings without the use of safety equipment.
Concern grew among his fans when he stopped posting updates in November.
It has now emerged that he died after falling from a 62-storey building in the city of Changsha.
Chinese media report that he was participating in a challenge to win a substantial amount of prize money.
The 26-year-old died on 8 November, but his death was only confirmed by his girlfriend in a post on Chinese social media a month later.
So-called "rooftopping" - climbing extremely tall city buildings without safety equipment - has become increasingly popular across the world in recent years.
Mr Wu's posts on Weibo warned his viewers not to imitate his dangerous performances. He had martial arts training, and had previously taken part in some television and film productions.
But it was his rooftop posts which brought him significant attention on social media - and, according to local media reports, proved more lucrative.
Image copyright Weibo Image caption Wu Yongning posted videos of his climbs to Chinese social platform Weibo
A family member was quoted as saying he was participating in a "rooftopping" challenge with 100,000 yuan (£11,300) at stake in prize money, though the nature of the competition and its sponsor was unclear.
"He planned to propose to his girlfriend (the day after the challenge)," the South China Morning Post quoted his step-uncle as saying.
"He needed the money for the wedding, and for medical treatment for his ailing mother."
On Weibo, friends and fans had a mixed reaction to the news.
Fellow rooftopper Charlie_7U posted a photo taken with Mr Wu, saying: "He went a bit over the top, always trying things that are beyond his ability".
"I have even saved him once... we stopped playing together," he added.
Another user asked: "Why would you seek attention in such a dangerous way, just for your fans?
"I became speechless after I found out from news that you were doing all that to pay for your ill mother's hospital treatment. You are one of those people in this world, you will do anything for your loved ones, absolutely anything."
The rooftopping trend is popular across the world in heavily developed cities. Despite safety concerns, many climbers insist that the use of safety equipment detracts from the experience.
"The moment you start wearing safety equipment is the moment you've got doubt and when you've got doubt, that's when things can go wrong," UK climber James Kington told the BBC last year.
"It completely changes the way you look at things. You see everything as a possibility rather than walls restricting you."App Security – The painful invisible challenge that we love to hate | In DevOps, Security In Dev | By By Pierre
We fought on the security frontline at Apple for about ten years. Our mission was simple: to attack products using any means necessary and then work on the fixes with development teams when applicable. We discovered hundreds of vulnerabilities and often had to deal with the usual Developers Vs Security conflict.
The unfortunate reality with application security is that most vulnerabilities discovered cannot be fixed on time, and vulnerable code is often released before developers have a chance to fix it. Fair decision, but releasing vulnerable products is not something that you can feel comfortable about. These experiences highlight the current limitation of manual security assessments with continuous development.
We’ve often heard developers should write secure code. Security bugs are just a subset of common bugs, and we all agree that writing reliable code is always better than writing buggy code. Fair enough, but who writes code without any bug?
Security experts and developers have almost no intersection and often have misaligned priorities. The approach, the vision, and the respective skills rarely overlap. One of the most important thing to understand is: not all developers love software security. Just hang out in meetups and ask. This is quite an unfortunate statement for security addicts like us.
Everyone has good reasons to ignore application security [pick up yours]:
“I am running out of time.” “… And anyway, my app framework is secure enough.” “… And what sort of attackers would target me btw?” “… Anyway, don’t worry, I run a security assessment every year!”
Exposure to attacks is generally related to the success of your company. Most people who experienced security issues have probably raised one or two of these objections in the past.
Developers embed various technologies into their applications to enhance reliability: performance monitoring, exceptions handling, logging facilities. What about security?
Why developers hate security
Developers are running out of time to build their own features, and most of them just don’t consider spending hours on invisible things that won’t directly benefit to their customers. Writing reliable, maintainable, and fast code is already a challenge. Security is a pretty thankless task that is often left behind. Let’s check some of the symptoms:First published Tue Apr 30, 2002; substantive revision Mon Jun 11, 2018
Almost everything that we know about Zeno of Elea is to be found in the opening pages of Plato’s Parmenides. There we learn that Zeno was nearly 40 years old when Socrates was a young man, say 20. Since Socrates was born in 469 BC we can estimate a birth date for Zeno around 490 BC. Beyond this, really all we know is that he was close to Parmenides (Plato reports the gossip that they were lovers when Zeno was young), and that he wrote a book of paradoxes defending Parmenides’ philosophy. Sadly this book has not survived, and what we know of his arguments is second-hand, principally through Aristotle and his commentators (here we draw particularly on Simplicius, who, though writing a thousand years after Zeno, apparently possessed at least some of his book). There were apparently 40 ‘paradoxes of plurality’, attempting to show that ontological pluralism—a belief in the existence of many things rather than only one—leads to absurd conclusions; of these paradoxes only two definitely survive, though a third argument can probably be attributed to Zeno. Aristotle speaks of a further four arguments against motion (and by extension change generally), all of which he gives and attempts to refute. In addition Aristotle attributes two other paradoxes to Zeno. Sadly again, almost none of these paradoxes are quoted in Zeno’s original words by their various commentators, but in paraphrase.
Before we look at the paradoxes themselves it will be useful to sketch some of their historical and logical significance. First, Zeno sought to defend Parmenides by attacking his critics. Parmenides rejected pluralism and the reality of any kind of change: for him all was one indivisible, unchanging reality, and any appearances to the contrary were illusions, to be dispelled by reason and revelation. Not surprisingly, this philosophy found many critics, who ridiculed the suggestion; after all it flies in the face of some of our most basic beliefs about the world. (Interestingly, general relativity—particularly quantum general relativity—arguably provides a novel—if novelty is possible—argument for the Parmenidean denial of change: Belot and Earman, 2001.) In response to this criticism Zeno did something that may sound obvious, but which had a profound impact on Greek philosophy that is felt to this day: he attempted to show that equal absurdities followed logically from the denial of Parmenides’ views. You think that there are many things? Then you must conclude that everything is both infinitely small and infinitely big! You think that motion is infinitely divisible? Then it follows that nothing moves! (This is what a ‘paradox’ is: a demonstration that a contradiction or absurd consequence follows from apparently reasonable assumptions.)
As we read the arguments it is crucial to keep this method in mind. They are always directed towards a more-or-less specific target: the views of some person or school. We must bear in mind that the arguments are ‘ad hominem’ in the literal Latin sense of being directed ‘at (the views of) persons’, but not ‘ad hominem’ in the traditional technical sense of attacking the (character of the) people who put forward the views rather than attacking the views themselves. They work by temporarily supposing ‘for argument’s sake’ that those assertions are true, and then arguing that if they are then absurd consequences follow—that nothing moves for example: they are ‘reductio ad absurdum’ arguments (or ‘dialectic’ in the sense of the period). Then, if the argument is logically valid, and the conclusion genuinely unacceptable, the assertions must be false after all. Thus when we look at Zeno’s arguments we must ask two related questions: whom or what position is Zeno attacking, and what exactly is assumed for argument’s sake? If we find that Zeno makes hidden assumptions beyond what the position under attack commits one to, then the absurd conclusion can be avoided by denying one of the hidden assumptions, while maintaining the position. Indeed commentators at least since Aristotle have responded to Zeno in this way.
So whose views do Zeno’s arguments attack? There is a huge literature debating Zeno’s exact historical target. As we shall discuss briefly below, some say that the target was a technical doctrine of the Pythagoreans, but most today see Zeno as opposing common-sense notions of plurality and motion. We shall approach the paradoxes in this spirit, and refer the reader to the literature concerning the interpretive debate.
That said, it is also the majority opinion that—with certain qualifications—Zeno’s paradoxes reveal some problems that cannot be resolved without the full resources of mathematics as worked out in the Nineteenth century (and perhaps beyond). This is not (necessarily) to say that modern mathematics is required to answer any of the problems that Zeno explicitly wanted to raise; arguably Aristotle and other ancients had replies that would—or should—have satisfied Zeno. (Nor shall we make any particular claims about Zeno’s influence on the history of mathematics.) However, as mathematics developed, and more thought was given to the paradoxes, new difficulties arose from them; these difficulties require modern mathematics for their resolution. These new difficulties arise partly in response to the evolution in our understanding of what mathematical rigor demands: solutions that would satisfy Zeno’s standards of rigor would not satisfy ours. Thus we shall push several of the paradoxes from their common sense formulations to their resolution in modern mathematics. (Another qualification: we shall offer resolutions in terms of ‘standard’ mathematics, but other modern formulations are also capable of dealing with Zeno, and arguably in ways that better represent his mathematical concepts.)
If there are many, they must be as many as they are and neither more nor less than that. But if they are as many as they are, they would be limited. If there are many, things that are are unlimited. For there are always others between the things that are, and again others between those, and so the things that are are unlimited. (Simplicius(a) On Aristotle’s Physics, 140.29)
This first argument, given in Zeno’s words according to Simplicius, attempts to show that there could not be more than one thing, on pain of contradiction: if there are many things, then they are both ‘limited’ and ‘unlimited’, a contradiction. On the one hand, he says that any collection must contain some definite number of things, or in his words ‘neither more nor less’. But if you have a definite number of things, he concludes, you must have a finite—‘limited’—number of them; in drawing this inference he assumes that to have infinitely many things is to have an indefinite number of them. On the other hand, imagine any collection of ‘many’ things arranged in space—picture them lined up in one dimension for definiteness. Between any two of them, he claims, is a third; and in between these three elements another two; and another four between these five; and so on without end. Therefore the collection is also ‘unlimited’. So our original assumption of a plurality leads to a contradiction, and hence is false: there are not many things after all. At least, so Zeno’s reasoning runs.
Let us consider the two subarguments, in reverse order. First are there ‘always others between the things that are’? (In modern terminology, why must objects always be ‘densely’ ordered?) Suppose that we had imagined a collection of ten apples lined up; then there is indeed another apple between the sixth and eighth, but there is none between the seventh and eighth! On the assumption that Zeno is not simply confused, what does he have in mind? The texts do not say, but here are two possibilities: first, one might hold that for any pair of physical objects (two apples say) to be two distinct objects and not just one (a ‘double-apple’) there must be a third between them, physically separating them, even if it is just air. And one might think that for these three to be distinct, there must be two more objects separating them, and so on (this view presupposes that their being made of different substances is not sufficient to render them distinct). So perhaps Zeno is arguing against plurality given a certain conception of physical distinctness. But second, one might also hold that any body has parts that can be densely ordered. Of course 1/2s, 1/4s, 1/8s and so on of apples are not dense—such parts may be adjacent—but there may be sufficiently small parts—call them ‘point-parts’—that are. Indeed, if between any two point-parts there lies a finite distance, and if point-parts can be arbitrarily close, then they are dense; a third lies at the half-way point of any two. In particular, familiar geometric points are like this, and hence are dense. So perhaps Zeno is offering an argument regarding the divisibility of bodies. Either way, Zeno’s assumption of denseness requires some further assumption about the plurality in question, and correspondingly focusses the target of his paradox.
But suppose that one holds that some collection (the points in a line, say) is dense, hence ‘unlimited’, or infinite. The first prong of Zeno’s attack purports to show that because it contains a definite number of elements it is also ‘limited’, or finite. Can this contradiction be escaped? The assumption that any definite number is finite seems intuitive, but we now know, thanks to the work of Cantor in the Nineteenth century, how to understand infinite numbers in a way that makes them just as definite as finite numbers. The central element of this theory of the ‘transfinite numbers’ is a precise definition of when two infinite collections are the same size, and when one is bigger than the other. With such a definition in hand it is then possible to order the infinite numbers just as the finite numbers are ordered: for example, there are different, definite infinite numbers of fractions and geometric points in a line, even though both are dense. (See Further Reading below for references to introductions to these mathematical ideas, and their history.) So contrary to Zeno’s assumption, it is meaningful to compare infinite collections with respect to the number of their elements, to say whether two have more than, or fewer than, or ‘as many as’ each other: there are, for instance, more decimal numbers than whole numbers, but as many even numbers as whole numbers. So mathematically, Zeno’s reasoning is unsound when he says that because a collection has a definite number, it must be finite, and the first subargument is fallacious. (Though of course that only shows that infinite collections are mathematically consistent, not that there any physically exist.)
… if it should be added to something else that exists, it would not make it any bigger. For if it were of no size and was added, it cannot increase in size. And so it follows immediately that what is added is nothing. But if when it is subtracted, the other thing is no smaller, nor is it increased when it is added, clearly the thing being added or subtracted is nothing. (Simplicius(a) On Aristotle’s Physics,139.9) But if it exists, each thing must have some size and thickness, and part of it must be apart from the rest. And the same reasoning holds concerning the part that is in front. For that too will have size and part of it will be in front. Now it is the same thing to say this once and to keep saying it forever. For no such part of it will be last, nor will there be one part not related to another. Therefore, if there are many things, they must be both small and large; so small as not to have size, but so large as to be unlimited. (Simplicius(a) On Aristotle’s Physics, 141.2)
Once again we have Zeno’s own words. According to his conclusion, there are three parts to this argument, but only two survive. The first—missing—argument purports to show that if many things exist then they must have no size at all. Second, from this Zeno argues that it follows that they do not exist at all; since the result of joining (or removing) a sizeless object to anything is no change at all, he concludes that the thing added (or removed) is literally nothing. The argument to this point is a self-contained refutation of pluralism, but Zeno goes on to generate a further problem for someone who continues to urge the existence of a plurality. This third part of the argument is rather badly put but it seems to run something like this: suppose there is a plurality, so some spatially extended object exists (after all, he’s just argued that inextended things do not exist). Since it is extended, it has two spatially distinct parts (one ‘in front’ of the other). And the parts exist, so they have extension, and so they also each have two spatially distinct parts; and so on without end. And hence, the final line of argument seems to conclude, the object, if it is extended at all, is infinite in extent.
But what could justify this final step? It doesn’t seem that because an object has two parts it must be infinitely big! And neither does it follow from any other of the divisions that Zeno describes here; four, eight, sixteen, or whatever finite parts make a finite whole. Again, surely Zeno is aware of these facts, and so must have something else in mind, presumably the following: he assumes that if the infinite series of divisions he describes were repeated infinitely many times then a definite collection of parts would result. And notice that he doesn’t have to assume that anyone could actually carry out the divisions—there’s not enough time and knives aren’t sharp enough—just that an object can be geometrically decomposed into such parts (neither does he assume that these parts are what we would naturally categorize as distinct physical objects like apples, cells, molecules, electrons or so on, but only that they are geometric parts of these objects). Now, if—as a pluralist might well accept—such parts exist, it follows from the second part of his argument that they are extended, and, he apparently assumes, an infinite sum of finite parts is infinite.
Here we should note that there are two ways he may be envisioning the result of the infinite division.
First, one could read him as first dividing the object into 1/2s, then one of the 1/2s—say the second—into two 1/4s, then one of the 1/4s—say the second again—into two 1/8s and so on. In this case the result of the infinite division results in an endless sequence of pieces of size 1/2 the total length, 1/4 the length, 1/8 the length …. And then so the total length is (1/2 + 1/4 + 1/8 + … of the length, which Zeno concludes is an infinite distance, so that the pluralist is committed to the absurdity that finite bodies are ‘so large as to be unlimited’.
What is often pointed out in response is that Zeno gives us no reason to think that the sum is infinite rather than finite. He might have had the intuition that any infinite sum of finite quantities, since it grows endlessly with each new term must be infinite, but one might also take this kind of example as showing that some infinite sums are after all finite. Thus, contrary to what he thought, Zeno has not proven that the absurd conclusion follows. However, what is not always appreciated is that the pluralist is not off the hook so easily, for it is not enough just to say that the sum might be finite, she must also show that it is finite—otherwise we remain uncertain about the tenability of her position. As an illustration of the difficulty faced here consider the following: many commentators speak as if it is simply obvious that the infinite sum of the fractions is 1, that there is nothing to infinite summation. But what about the following sum: \(1 - 1 + 1 - 1 + 1 -\ldots\). Obviously, it seems, the sum can be rewritten \((1 - 1) + (1 - 1) + \ldots = 0 + 0 + \ldots = 0\). Surely this answer seems as intuitive as the sum of fractions. But this sum can also be rewritten \(1 - (1 - 1 + 1 - 1 +\ldots) = 1 - 0\)—since we’ve just shown that the term in parentheses vanishes—\(= 1\). Relying on intuitions about how to perform infinite sums leads to the conclusion that \(1 = 0\). Until one can give a theory of infinite sums that can give a satisfactory answer to any problem, one cannot say that Zeno’s infinite sum is obviously finite. Such a theory was not fully worked out until the Nineteenth century by Cauchy. (In Cauchy’s system \(1/2 + 1/4 + \ldots = 1\) but \(1 - 1 + 1 -\ldots\) is undefined.)
Second, it could be that Zeno means that the object is divided in half, then both the 1/2s are both divided in half, then the 1/4s are all divided in half and so on. In this case the pieces at any particular stage are all the same finite size, and so one could conclude that the result of carrying on the procedure infinitely would be pieces the same size, which if they exist—according to Zeno—is greater than zero; but an infinity of equal extended parts is indeed infinitely big.
But this line of thought can be resisted. First, suppose that the procedure just described completely divides the object into non-overlapping parts. (There is a problem with this supposition that we will see just below.) It involves doubling the number of pieces after every division and so after \(N\) divisions there are \(2^N\) pieces. But it turns out that for any natural or infinite number, \(N\), \(2^N \gt N\), and so the number of (supposed) parts obtained by the infinity of divisions described is an even larger infinity. This result poses no immediate difficulty since, as we mentioned above, infinities come in different sizes. The number of times everything is divided in two is said to be ‘countably infinite’: there is a countable infinity of things in a collection if they can be labeled by the numbers 1, 2, 3, … without remainder on either side. But the number of pieces the infinite division produces is ‘uncountably infinite’, which means that there is no way to label them 1, 2, 3, … without missing some of them—in fact infinitely many of them. However, Cauchy’s definition of an infinite sum only applies to countably infinite series of numbers, and so does not apply to the pieces we are considering. However, we could consider just countably many of them, whose lengths according to Zeno—since he claims they are all equal and non-zero—will sum to an infinite length; the length of all of the pieces could not be less than this.
At this point the pluralist who believes that Zeno’s division completely divides objects into non-overlapping parts (see the next paragraph) could respond that the parts in fact have no extension, even though they exist. That would block the conclusion that finite objects are infinite, but it seems to push her back to the other horn of Zeno’s argument, for how can all these zero length pieces make up a non-zero sized whole? (Note that according to Cauchy \(0 + 0 + 0 + \ldots = 0\) but this result shows nothing here, for as we saw there are uncountably many pieces to add up—more than are added in this sum.) We shall postpone this question for the discussion of the next paradox, where it comes up explicitly.
The second problem with interpreting the infinite division as a repeated division of all parts is that it does not divide an object into distinct parts, if objects are composed in the natural way. To see this, let’s ask the question of what parts are obtained by this division into 1/2s, 1/4s, 1/8s, …. Since the division is repeated without end there is no last piece we can give as an answer, and so we need to think about the question in a different way. If we suppose that an object can be represented by a line segment of unit length, then the division produces collections of segments, where the first is either the first or second half of the whole segment, the second is the first or second quarter, or third or fourth quarter, and in general the segment produced by \(N\) divisions is either the first or second half of the previous segment. For instance, writing the segment with endpoints \(a\) and \(b\) as \([a,b]\), some of these collections (technically known as ‘chains’ since the elements of the collection are ordered by size) would start \(\{[0,1], [0,1/2], [1/4,1/2], [1/4,3/8], \ldots \}\). (When we argued before that Zeno’s division produced uncountably many pieces of the object, what we should have said more carefully is that it produces uncountably many chains like this.)
The question of which parts the division picks out is then the question of which part any given chain picks out; it’s natural to say that a chain picks out the part of the line which is contained in every one of its elements. Consider for instance the chain \(\{[0,1/2], [1/4,1/2], [3/8,1/2], \ldots \}\), in other words the chain that starts with the left half of the line and for which every other element is the right half of the previous one. The half-way point is in every one of the segments in this chain; it’s the right-hand endpoint of each one. But no other point is in all its elements: clearly no point beyond half-way is; and pick any point \(p\) before half-way, if you take right halves of [0,1/2] enough times, the left-hand end of the segment will be to the right of \(p\). Thus the only part of the line that is in all the elements of this chain is the half-way point, and so that is the part of the line picked out by the chain. (In fact, it follows from a postulate of number theory that there is exactly one point that all the members of any such a chain have in common.) The problem is that by parallel reasoning, the half-way point is also picked out by the distinct chain \(\{[1/2,1], [1/2,3/4], [1/2,5/8], \ldots \}\), where each segment after the first is the left half of the preceding one. And so both chains pick out the same piece of the line: the half-way point. And so on for many other pairs of chains. Thus Zeno’s argument, interpreted in terms of a repeated division of all parts into half, doesn’t divide the line into distinct parts. Hence, if we think that objects are composed in the same way as the line, it follows that despite appearances, this version of the argument does not cut objects into parts whose total size we can properly discuss.
(You might think that this problem could be fixed by taking the elements of the chains to be segments with no endpoint to the right. Then the first of the two chains we considered no longer has the half-way point in any of its segments, and so does not pick out that point. The problem now is that it fails to pick out any part of the line: the previous reasoning showed that it doesn’t pick out any point greater than or less than the half-way point, and now it doesn’t pick out that point either!)
… whenever a body is by nature divisible through and through, whether by bisection, or generally by any method whatever, nothing impossible will have resulted if it has actually been divided … though perhaps nobody in fact could so divide it. What then will remain? A magnitude? No: that is impossible, since then there will be something not divided, whereas ex hypothesi the body was divisible through and through. But if it be admitted that neither a body nor a magnitude will remain … the body will either consist of points (and its constituents will be without magnitude) or it will be absolutely nothing. If the latter, then it might both come-to-be out of nothing and exist as a composite of nothing; and thus presumably the whole body will be nothing but an appearance. But if it consists of points, it will not possess any magnitude. (Aristotle On Generation and Corruption, 316a19)
These words are Aristotle’s not Zeno’s, and indeed the argument is not even attributed to Zeno by Aristotle. However we have Simplicius’ opinion ((a) On Aristotle’s Physics, 139.24) that it originates with Zeno, which is why it is included here. Aristotle begins by hypothesizing that some body is completely divisible, ‘through and through’; the second step of the argument makes clear that he means by this that it is divisible into parts that themselves have no size—parts with any magnitude remain incompletely divided. (Once again what matters is that the body is genuinely composed of such parts, not that anyone has the time and tools to make the division; and remembering from the previous section that one does not obtain such parts by repeatedly dividing all parts in half.) So suppose the body is divided into its dimensionless parts. These parts could either be nothing at all—as Zeno argued above—or ‘point-parts’. If the parts are nothing then so is the body: it’s just an illusion. And, the argument concludes, even if they are points, since these are unextended the body itself will be unextended: surely any sum—even an infinite one—of zeroes is zero.
Could that final assumption be questioned? It is (as noted above) a consequence of the Cauchy definition of an infinite sum; however Grünbaum (1967) pointed out that that definition only applies to countable sums, and Cantor gave a beautiful, astounding and extremely influential ‘diagonal’ proof that the number of points in the segment is uncountably infinite. There is no way to label all the points in the line with the infinity of numbers 1, 2, 3, …, and so there are more points in a line segment than summands in a Cauchy sum. In short, the analysis employed for countably infinite division does not apply here.
So suppose that you are just given the number of points in a line and that their lengths are all zero; how would you determine the length? Do we need a new definition, one that extends Cauchy’s to uncountably infinite sums? It turns out that that would not help, because Cauchy further showed that any segment, of any length whatsoever (and indeed an entire infinite line) have exactly the same number of points as our unit segment. So knowing the number of points won’t determine the length of the line, and so nothing like familiar addition—in which the whole is determined by the parts—is possible. Instead we must think of the distance properties of a line as logically posterior to its point composition: first we have a set of points (ordered in a certain way, so that there is some fact, for example, about which of any three is between the others) then we define a function of pairs of points which specifies how far apart they are (satisfying such conditions as that the distance between \(A\) and \(B\) plus the distance between \(B\) and \(C\) equals the distance between \(A\) and \(C\)—if \(B\) is between \(A\) and \(C)\). Thus we answer Zeno as follows: the argument assumed that the size of the body was a sum of the sizes of point parts, but that is not the case; according to modern mathematics, a geometric line segment is an uncountable infinity of points plus a distance function. (Note that Grünbaum used the fact that the point composition fails to determine a length to support his ‘conventionalist’ view that a line has no determinate length at all, independent of a standard of measurement.)
As Ehrlich (2014) emphasizes, we could even stipulate that an ‘uncountable sum’ of zeroes is zero, because the length of a line is not equal to the sum of the lengths of the points it contains (addressing Sherry’s, 1988, concern that refusing to extend the definition would be ad hoc). Hence, if one stipulates that the length of a line is the sum of any complete collection of proper parts, then it follows that points are not properly speaking parts of a line (unlike halves, quarters, and so on of a line). In a strict sense in modern measure theory (which generalizes Grünbaum’s framework), the points in a line are incommensurable with it, and the very set-up given by Aristotle in which the length of the whole is analyzed in terms of its points is illegitimate.
The first asserts the non-existence of motion on the ground that that which is in locomotion must arrive at the half-way stage before it arrives at the goal. (Aristotle Physics, 239b11)
This paradox is known as the ‘dichotomy’ because it involves repeated division into two (like the second paradox of plurality). Like the other paradoxes of motion we have it from Aristotle, who sought to refute it.
Suppose a very fast runner—such as mythical Atalanta—needs to run for the bus. Clearly before she reaches the bus stop she must run half-way, as Aristotle says. There’s no problem there; supposing a constant motion it will take her 1/2 the time to run half-way there and 1/2 the time to run the rest of the way. Now she must also run half-way to the half-way point—i.e., a 1/4 of the total distance—before she reaches the half-way point, but again she is left with a finite number of finite lengths to run, and plenty of time to do it. And before she reaches 1/4 of the way she must reach \(1/2\) of \(1/4 = 1/8\) of the way; and before that a 1/16; and so on. There is no problem at any finite point in this series, but what if the halving is carried out infinitely many times? The resulting series contains no first distance to run, for any possible first distance could be divided in half, and hence would not be first after all. However it does contain a final distance, namely 1/2 of the way; and a penultimate distance, 1/4 of the way; and a third to last distance, 1/8 of the way; and so on. Thus the series of distances that Atalanta is required to run is: …, then 1/16 of the way, then 1/8 of the way, then 1/4 of the way, and finally 1/2 of the way (for now we are not suggesting that she stops at the end of each segment and then starts running at the beginning of the next—we are thinking of her continuous run being composed of such parts). And now there is a problem, for this description of her run has her travelling an infinite number of finite distances, which, Zeno would have us conclude, must take an infinite time, which is to say it is never completed. And since the argument does not depend on the distance or who or what the mover is, it follows that no finite distance can ever be traveled, which is to say that all motion is impossible. (Note that the paradox could easily be generated in the other direction so that Atalanta must first run half way, then half the remaining way, then half of that and so on, so that she must run the following endless sequence of fractions of the total distance: 1/2, then 1/4, then 1/8, then ….)
A couple of common responses are not adequate. One might—as Simplicius ((a) On Aristotle’s Physics, 1012.22) tells us Diogenes the Cynic did by silently standing and walking—point out that it is a matter of the most common experience that things in fact do move, and that we know very well that Atalanta would have no trouble reaching her bus stop. |
New York: the state's senior Democratic senator, along with a 27-year-old visa program that offers applicants from dozens of countries a shot at immigrating to the United States.
Mr. Trump singled out Sen. Charles E. Schumer, who, in 1990, sponsored the diversity visa program, through which the alleged attacker in New York, Sayfullo Saipov, is reported to have immigrated to the United States from his native Uzbekistan. In a tweet, the president derided the program as "a Chuck Schumer beauty."
Never mind that Mr. Schumer's legislation establishing the program attracted bipartisan support; or that it was signed into law by President George H.W. Bush, a Republican; or even that Mr. Schumer himself unsuccessfully bargained to end the program, in 2013, in return for a bill granting legal residence to millions of undocumented immigrants already in the United States. Neither the facts nor the normal political imperative to avoid partisanship in the wake of a terrorist attack appeared to move Mr. Trump.
His tweet made it appear that his overriding interest in an assault allegedly backed by the Islamic State is to use it to assail immigration — in this instance, a legal program whose beneficiaries represent a speck in the overall number of immigrants. Managed by the State Department since 1995, the program now grants up to 50,000 visas annually, via a random lottery, to citizens of dozens of countries who would otherwise be mostly overlooked in the annual influx of green-card recipients. In recent years, many of the winners have been from Africa and Eastern Europe.
Having reaped political advantage as a candidate in vilifying illegal immigrants, Mr. Trump has set his sights in office on legal migrants, including refugees, from a handful of mostly Muslim countries, whom he'd like Americans to see as an undifferentiated mass of potentially violent interlopers. Gradually, he is chipping away at what was once a national consensus that immigrants are a critical source of vitality, invention and international appeal.
Like almost any immigration program, the diversity visa lottery is imperfect and susceptible to abuse. The fortunate winners, who represent less than 1 percent of those who have applied annually in recent years, are not uniformly equipped to thrive in this country; many lack an education beyond high school. As Mr. Saipov may turn out to prove, even the extensive vetting required of all who immigrate through the program does not provide an ironclad guarantee that it is impervious to applicants who might seek to harm the United States.
The lottery program might be improved. Still, the fact that more than 11 million people applied for it in fiscal 2016 reflects the magnetic appeal the United States continues to exert around the world. Satisfying a small fraction of that demand, through the lottery or some other legal means, is a powerful tool of public diplomacy in countries whose citizens might otherwise have no hope of coming here.From festive trees in the southern suburbs to a special message on Christmas Day, and even concerts by their boy scouts in Maronite churches, Hezbollah's outreach to Christians in Lebanon this year could hardly be more explicit.
The Loyalty to the Resistance bloc, made up of Hezbollah MPs, released a statement on Christmas Day urging Christians to be optimistic during the season about the situation in Lebanon and the region.
Kassir said Hezbollah's messaging was intended to point out that the danger of radicalism spilling over is one they share with the Christians.
Hezbollah signed a memorandum of understanding with Aoun in 2006, one that offered it a quick path to an alliance with Lebanon's largest Christian community, though it has long tried to woo Christians in the south and the Bekaa Valley.
Sami Nader, the director of the Levant Institute for Strategic Affairs, said Hezbollah is trying to portray itself to the Christians as the alternative to the chaos of ISIS.
But Hezbollah ought to carry out the real sacrifices necessary to preserve the Lebanese state, he said, adding that the public outreach to the Christians during Christmas was closer to "cosmetic".
...Dark Souls creator Hidetaka Miyazaki has confirmed that he will never reveal the true meaning of the game's mysterious Pendant.
In the run-up to the initial release of Dark Souls, Miyazaki recommended that players pick the Pendant as their starting gift at the beginning of the game. Since launch almost all the game's secrets have been revealed by the active user community, but true purpose of the Pendant remains obscure.
"I'm aware that many of you guys are wondering what the meaning of the Pendant is, but let's keep it as a secret," said Miyazaki, speaking to VideoGamer.com at Namco's Gamers Day in Las Vegas. "I can't really answer your question!"
It doesn't sound like he'll be changing his mind any time soon, either.
"I'm not going to answer this question for [the duration of] my life!" he added.
One popular theory is that the Pendant merely exists as a roleplay item.
On the other hand, perhaps someone will discover something once the game comes to PC. Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition is due for release on August 24.By Goth Mohamed Goth
As part of this year’s special commemoration to mark the occasion of May 18 national day, the Government of the Republic of Somaliland plans to raise $10 Million Dollars through fund raising to be used in relocating and resettling 20, 000 internally displaced families, restocking of 12,000 pastoral households with livestock, rehabilitation of 35,000 farms, sinking of 15 deep boreholes and other activities.
The Ministry of Environment and Rural Development marking the occasion of May 18 national day has begun distributing tree seedlings countrywide for planting to help mitigate the effects of droughts.
Mr. Mohamed Elmi Hussein, the director general in Ministry of Environment speaking to reporters at the ministries tree nursery said, “We have distributed 15, 000 tree seedlings for planting in Maroodi Jeh region in the past three days and we have dispatched tree seedlings to all regions for the national tree planting exercise which is due to commence on the 18th of May and which shall run up to the 26th of June.
The director general in Ministry of Environment said his vision was to re-install the rainfall pattern in the country through the planting of trees.
Lastly, Mr. Mohamed Elmi Hussein urged fellow Somaliland citizens to get involved in greening their community and making a difference to your local environment.
https://youtu.be/nUCiGMNNxVMThe more I make my sweet treats, the more I realise how easy some things are to make. I’m not sure why I thought Rocky Road would be hard to make. Probably because they charge so much for it at Darrell Lea.
Admittedly I’m in the middle about my opinion on rocky road. No pun intended. You don’t need a lot of it to be satisfied. But too much and it gets a bit sickly.
Rocky Road is ridiculously easy to make – only four ingredients and doesn’t require any baking.
This one is a peanut butter rocky road that I whipped up this morning. It didn’t make much (half a 15cm x 25cm tin) so if you want to fill the whole tin, double the quantities.
Ingredients:
250g milk chocolate
50g dark chocolate
½ jar peanut butter
250g bag marshmallows
150g salted peanuts
Method:
Melt chocolate and peanut butter. Let it cool slightly.
Add marshmallows and peanuts. Make sure they are coated.
Place in the tin and stick in the fridge for 2 hours.
Take out and cut using a warm knife to serve.
Easy!
AdvertisementsThis year, the eSports market has experienced several changes, has gained a lot of new additions and received a high interest from classical media. Consequently, the eSports market experienced a rapid growth which poses the question what challenges the market will have to face in the upcoming year.
We asked 27 business-, marketing- and eSports experts about their thoughts on the growth of eSports in 2015 and what they expect to be the most interesting developments in the eSports market in the upcoming year.
Here are the responses:
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Craig Keller
Digital Surgeons
eSports Strategist
“This past year was huge for the growth of eSports. The number of people who viewed eSports events had already doubled its total from all of 2014 in October. The production value of events has reached new heights thanks to innovative stage and broadcast production teams pushing the boundaries of their craft. Teams are getting more savvy about how to operate their businesses; becoming content creators and better marketers for the sponsors that fuel their bottom lines. The past year brought more dedicated eSports venues online, increased league standardization, and formalized training facilities for players opened up which have been doing their best to raise the level of competitive play. We saw a huge wave of new brands, such as MTG, making tremendous investments across the entire spectrum of eSports businesses, all looking to carve out their piece of the eSports pie. The eSports industry has only JUST hit its stride and will continue to evolve faster and faster going into 2016.
In the upcoming year, I think that we will see the deluge of brand investments continue as more become aware of eSports and its power as a marketing vehicle. As the eSports adoption lifecyle continues on it will become increasingly important for the brands in the early majority to deploy innovative marketing and monetization strategies when engaging the eSports audience as driving awareness and the right to engage with consumers becomes more competitive. Just as in today’s other highly competitive marketplaces, providing value to fans through authentic storytelling and experiences will remain paramount for eSports brands.
The brands who will win in eSports in 2016 are the ones who best demonstrate an ability to establish a constant dialogue through consistent engagement, and striving to surprise and delight the eSports fan through the experiences they create. By keeping the lines of communication open and delivering value throughout 2016 these brands will continue to enjoy access to the highly passionate, global network of advocates and influencers that make up eSports at a low cost. Big players like Twitch have the opportunity to really open the flood gates for marketers within eSports if we see them unlock better stream analytics and success measurement tools. I personally hope that 2016 brings commerce enabling features to streaming platforms that drive towards shoppable broadcasts. I predict that we will also begin to see an increased focus on digital and see more brands creating experiences that tap into the eSports customer’s context, drawing them in closer through an authentic context-designed engagement rather than creating loud ads that demand attention. I’m sure that 2016 will be the biggest year ever for eSports with the potential to be a paradigm shift for brands, fans, and players alike. It is a truly exciting time to be a part of this emerging marketplace, and I can’t wait to see whats next!”
Follow Craig Keller on twitter and Linkedin.
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Wouter Sleijffers
fnatic
CEO
“The growth in 2015 has more than doubled, and in particular the latter part of 2015 has contributed to that. For example we’ve achieved a larger part of our social media growth over the year in the second half of 2015. Presumably this trend will continue into 2016.
For the upcoming year I’d expect the following significant developments: An acceleration of acquisitions with further steep increase of valuations; At least one new major title breaking through to the top of eSports; Somewhat larger sponsorship deals but merchandising seeing much larger growth; An increase in regulation.”
Follow Wouter Sleijffers on twitter and Linkedin.
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Jason Lake
compLexity Gaming
Founder & CEO
“I think it’s readily apparent to all observers that 2015 was a huge year for eSports in all respects. Larger audiences, bigger prize pots, more investment and increased corporate awareness created a banner year for the industry.
Heading into 2016 I am incredibly bullish on the continued growth of professional gaming. We are going to see investment at higher levels, new exciting brands enter the team market, more television exposure in North America and increasing viewership.
We’ll also witness more and more famous consumer brands marketing in the space and I expect to see the gradual formation of the needed structure (associations, etc) to begin the formalization of the industry.
2016 is going to be an incredibly exciting year across the board.”
Follow Jason Lake on twitter and Linkedin.
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Dennis Gehlen
TaKeTV
CEO / Founder
“The growth in 2015 was crazy like it already was the years before but games like Counter-Strike together with League of Legends put the attendance figures to new records and the overall interest to the “mainstream” market was reached with Majors and events in arenas like the Lanxess Arena or the one in Frankfurt.
More and more companies outside of the hardcore IT segment are joining and bigger Investors are trying to come into the market to be a part of it, which puts more and more money into the whole system.
It has been a great year for eSports but I have the feeling that next year will be even better and bigger and I can’t wait to see where we are going.
For 2016 I have the feeling that Overwatch could be a great addition to the FPS eSportsmarket and can reach good numbers which will attract new people and hopefully also sponsors, but I also think that we will have more and more live events with ticketing and a new way of earning money which just started. It is the same with merchandise which is growing very fast.
The quality of streaming is becoming better every year and it looks more and more like a good TV production, which is also very nice to see and will also bring more viewers to the tournaments.”
Follow Dennis Gehlen on twitter.
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Alex Fletcher
Entiva Group
President
“Gender issues loom large – Expect more focus on the gender gap in eSports to emerge. I expect this to come from outside the community as very few inside it are willing to acknowledge the issues faced by women in competitive gaming. However, with the rise of more female-only teams, e.g. Team Unikrn, these challenges will have to be addressed.
eSports on the big screen– 2016 is shaping up as a big year for eSports programming on TV. Everyone will be watching what TBS does with its CSGO league. However, the bigger picture is more and more TV outlets targeting gamers through eSports. Before the rise of competitive gaming it was too difficult for network executives to understand and package gaming friendly programming. eSports is similar enough to traditional sports to resonate with a more generic audience but also appeal to gamers.
Rise of the eSports franchise – With more venture capital and institutional investors buying eSports teams, the business of running a professional organization is going to undergo notable changes. This will fundamentally change the dynamics between team management, players, coaches and fans. Organizations will be under pressure to monetize their assets which will lead to new business models. This will affect the amount of commercialism present across the community, something which may or may not be greeted with open arms.”
Follow Alex Fletcher on twitter and Linkedin.
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T. Bettina Cornwell
University of Oregon
Edwin E. and June Woldt Cone Professor of Marketing
“My orientation to eSports is from my background in corporate sponsorship research and strategy. Sponsorship has been key in the rapid development of eSports because sponsors contribute to events, teams, travel and prize money and individual endorser contracts. In some markets, major brands are “all in” as sponsors- Samsung in Korea comes to mind. In other markets, major brands are contemplating eSports but are hesitant.
As the world struggles with obesity and relatedly, with sedentary youth populations, brands are wondering about the image their brands will acquire if they acquire eSports sponsorships. There is an analogy to be made with MMA. Major sponsors held back until MMA cleaned up their rules and gained popular momentum. Sponsored eSports competitions are not life threatening marathon, “Ready Player One” exhaustion events but some bad press has kept some investments on hold.
I would argue that the hold is about to be released. More major sponsors beyond the techs like Intel and make-your-own-image types like Redbull will be interested in eSports. Money will flow toward high visual, high emotion events in big venues and dynamic international players that leverage their celebrity base on social media. Viewership is central but brand-building opportunities are often made offline. Next year’s challenge will be to manage growth and the pressures that come with sponsorship investment.”
Follow T. Bettina Cornwell on twitter and Linkedin.
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Thiemo Bräutigam
The eSports Observer
Editor in Chief
“There is no doubt that 2015 was the biggest year in esports history. We reached record breaking viewership numbers and jaw-dropping stacks of price money for our major events. The industry attracted huge attention not only by mainstream media but also by Venture Capital, Fantasy Sports and in Politics. We have seen some success in terms of better regulation and we debated important topics like Women in Esports, Player’s Rights, Salaries, etc.
It was also the year we launched eSports Career and eSports Observer with the goal to become the premier esports business hub in this industry. We grew far beyond our expectations in our first year. We were able to deliver insider knowledge by recognised veterans and experts and evolve into the place-to-be for esports professionals. In 2015 we went all the way from a well-conceived idea to a highly regarded company.
I’m sure that both our own and the industry’s successes will exceed all expectations in 2016.
TV deals are coming in, accompanied by more and more Venture Capital and expertise from other branches of the mass media entertainment industry. 2016 will be the year that esports will break new ground. As a consequence we are in urgent need to tackle topics were we are still behind. We need more diversity, a governing body to intervene in a regulative capacity, better player protection and overall more maturity in the esports industry. I sincerely hope that we are able to consolidate our growth into a healthy and sustainable industry. We can’t allow to let 2016 become the year of the esports bubble.”
Follow Thiemo Bräutigam on twitter and Linkedin.
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Patrick Walker
EEDAR
VP, Insights and Analytics
“eSports continued to grow steadily in in 2015, breaking past the 100MM viewer mark during the year. However, the real growth in 2015 was the increase in the mainstream awareness of eSports. The rapid growth has created excitement even in industries outside of gaming, such as television, fantasy sports, and advertising. In addition, we saw large investments by publishers, venture capital, and advertisers that suggest eSports has a stable, long-term future as a robust segment of the games industry.
eSports is getting the investment that it needs from major companies throughout the supply chain to create a lasting infrastructure. Recent examples of major company investments are the creation of an eSports division by Activision and the announcement of the PS Plus eSports leagues.
The most interesting development in eSports in 2016 will be to see the execution of some of the major initiatives announced in 2015. Activision Blizzard bringing in an established executive from television and eSports leagues to run their new eSports division is clearly a move to fast track eSports growth in their major titles. It will be interesting to see how they grow eSports while balancing the traditional goals of their major IP. For Sony, the creation of a PlayStation eSports league is likely a goal to make eSports competitions more accessible, so players other than professionals are incentivized to participate.”
Follow EEDAR/Patrick Walker on twitter and Linkedin.
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Matthias Remmert
Freaks 4U Gaming GmbH
Attorney/Vice President
“In 2014/2015 eSports experienced a magnificent growth and a high attention out of the gaming sector. On the one hand there were purchases like the MLG/ESL-deal, on the other hand there were events like the ESL One Frankfurt or the ESL One Cologne which set new standards.
The interest from non-gaming-related media/press increased significantly and played a big part in contributing to the acceptance and awareness of eSports within the society. As a consequence, companies out of the gaming sector recognized eSports as an interesting market.
I think the debate about eSports being a ‘real sport’ is something we have to watch out for. Recently, France made the first step by considering eSports to be a real sport and in Germany we have been facing this discussion on a regular basis for years now and I am very curious what it will be like in the following months.
In general, I am very positive about the upcoming year. I expect all players of the market to professionalize even more. Additionally I expect classical media like TV to be more open to integrate eSports content to its program. Last but not least I am very happy the fact that the DreamHack will have its first stop in Germany and that we will trigger the eSports year 2016 in my home country.”
Follow Matthias Remmert on twitter and Linkedin.
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Nicolas Cerrato
gamoloco
Founder & CEO
“The rise of Esports in 2015 has been spectacular but I think it will actually accelerate in the coming years, starting as soon as 2016. The biggest stuff that happened in 2015 regarding the growth of Esports:
Inside Esports, some have found the gold:
Valve’s The International 5 distributing 18.5M dollars in cash prize
The rise and rise and rise of CSGO, perfectly pushed by Valve and ESL, both inside and outside the game
League of Legends keeping its crazy pace
More stadiums and arenas filled around the world than ever
What’s key here is that 2 big studios, Riot Games and Valve, the latter also being the biggest gaming store in the world, have understood how to foster Esports games and how to monetize them in order to take the passion, and the revenue, around their creations to new heights. Over the past 24 months, Valve opened so many golden doors with DOTA2 and CSGO, not so much with gameplay (the masterpiece gameplays of DOTA and CS have been around for a long time) but regarding their community eco-systems.
Following in the foot steps of Riot Games, and going way further even, Valve’s creativity in building community-supported business models is unparalleled and pushes the whole scene upwards. Pro gamers now make a lot of money, they now deserve more social respect than ever, in addition to fans already loving them. As a result, they will attract even more fans, and brands of course.
Outside Esports, big time industry outsiders paying very close attention, making their 1st moves:
MTG buying ESL and DH
Turner announcing its televised CS league, and other major TV channels evaluating how to enter the market
Endemol launching “Legends of Gaming”, a casual, made for Youtube, competitive gaming show with top Youtubers from around the world
The mainstream advertising business, the big players such as Orange and SFR in France, finally moving in or very close to doing it
Despite previous failures, AAA game publishers still all want a piece of Esports
With the recent growth, it’s not only hardcore fans who want a piece of Esports anymore:it’s everyone. Including industry leaders, wealthy companies looking for ways to reach out to a certain demographic have finally stopped thinking “this is nonsense”. Some have started to make their moves.
There will be mistakes, casualites on the way: not everyone will create amazing Esports content or invest in the killer pro gamer supported advertising campaign… But in the end, Esports are finally and definitely moving forward, and it’s not on a tricycle anymore.
In 2016, let the snowball roll
In 2016, the trend will keep going, but with more money invested and more high quality business talent working in Esports. Media companies, TV channels, audiovisual production companies, AAA game publishers and advertising agencies will end up getting it. They will end up understanding how to use the Esports lever to their advantage, they will learn how to produce cool stuff, how to raise the bar. Esports are very hard to crack to these people because the culture has been building for a long time in the dark and they’ve always chose to ignore it up until very recently… They have some catch up to do but in the end some will get it and, bringing their know how as well as financial means to the mix, will help it grow tremendously. That’s why 2015 is still so early stage. We need a few more Mark Cubans taking part in IEM show matches and a couple additional Jens Hilgers talks at IFA before Esports reaches what could tentatively be called cruising speed.
Also, the other major factor for Esports growth, besides building the business, is the passion that very few games can generate among gamers and viewers. League of Legends spurred more than significatn growth by proving there was good business to be done in Esports for a game studio. But with all the respect that I have for this immense game, it is still one for engineer type of people, hardcore geeks. How and when will the Esports audience meet Candy Crush’? When the right game comes out… and at this moment Esports will get a new major boost. It’s hard to predict who will do it, and when, but now the best creative people in the world have a good reason to wonder and work at building the next Esports hit, one that’s truly mainstream, as it will be a bottomless gold pit. Blizzard’s Overwatch could be a step in the right direction, let’s keep an eye on how the action unfolds around that one in 2016.””””””””””””
Follow Nicolas Cerrato on twitter and Linkedin.
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Brandon J Nolte
Esports Entrepreneur
Owner & CEO
“The industries growth over the past year has been stable, it’s been high in numbers, but the growth has come more in the terms of structure and legitimate exposure. In 2016 I expect to see developments in business to business market of eSports along with investor and outside industry mentoring.
The industry is extremely young and with recent investments topping $150 million, I really expect in later of 2016 for more sports professionals to step in and adapt the industry to have higher revenues.
So my three big points for 2016 are: 1) 2016 will be the year of industry adaptation – 2) The industry will offer more consumer goods from organizations in terms of fan gear and tangible goods
– 3) Sponsors will be innovating on how they market through organizations and other opportunities”
Follow Brandon J Nolte on twitter and Linkedin.
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Jaap Visser
ESL
Business Dev. Manager
“2015 was definitely a very interesting year for esports – we’ve seen bigger events being held in bigger venues for steadingly increasing prize pools, and one viewership record was broken after another.
Having seen this amazing growth this year, I’m very excited to see what 2016 will bring. One strong trend I’ve noticed this year – and believe will continue next year – is the growing interest of non-endemic brand in the esports industry. Lifestyle, clothing, FMCG and many other types of brands continue trying to reach the esports fan and seek endorsements of esports superstars. In 2016, professional gaming will definitely get a strong foot in the door with traditional media, and TV broadcast of esports competition will be more of a norm than an exception to it.
One aspect that ESL will focus on strongly will be the user and fan experience at our events and increasing the production value to further match the level of production you can see at traditional sports events. ESL One, IEM and ESL Pro League events will be enriched with a “festival” experience, where an entire array of activities will be added to the core event – as such, interaction with the pro gamers and being a part of the live event will become a key element at all our events.”
Follow Jaap Visser on twitter and Linkedin.
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Patrick Ryan
Esports Maybe
Co-Founder
“The growth of esports in 2015 has been explosive. In 2016, esports will move even further into the mainstream.
Every day when I read through the esports news, there is at least one article from Forbes or Fortune titled something similar to “Esports will be worth more than the NFL by 2018″. This is old news and carries no weight.
The most important thing you need to know about competitive gaming, it is its own thing. It has existed before us and will exist after us. It doesn’t need approval from traditional sports or airtime on ESPN. Advertisers and investment are nice, but the real meat has always existed in the player base and their fans. The world of competitive gaming will continue to grow regardless of the additional attention in 2016.”
Follow Patrick Ryan on twitter and Linkedin.
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Greg Agius
Corsair
Director of Game Marketing
“It’s remarkable that much of the continued growth in eSports is being fueled by the same top 3 games from 2014. Traditionally games come in and out of favor much like movie releases. But clearly eSports fans are taking a very sophisticated view of these games and appreciating them at a very deep level. It’s just like any other sport, same game, but the skill and excitement on offer continues to be compelling to draw ever larger audiences.
For 2016 it will be interesting to see if more mainstream brands start getting involved in a deeper level with eSports. Certainly brands like Coke have already made sponsorship plays. But with the huge audience of valuable M18-34 viewers one would expect deeper participation. When will we see our first Nike ad with an eSports player? When will Gatorade start sponsoring a major team, etc. I think brands like these will play a big role in making eSports even larger in the mainstream.”
Follow Corsair / Greg Agius on twitter and Linkedin.
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Saad Sarwar
Level99
Head of Gameplay
“It’s hard to ‘evaluate the growth of esports’ because there’s so much going on across the world I’m not aware of, but just looking at Europe and North America it’s clear that eSports has picked up tremendously in terms of general public awareness.
This year in reflection has been wonderful for those ‘early believers’ of eSports who risked so much such a long time ago in esports time (10 years back and further). Some of those people’s visions of the future saw realization in 2015 and helped the rest of us maintain perspective on an industry that came from such humble beginnings not too long ago.
Sold out sports stadiums, an $18 million dollar prize pool, the dominance of free to play and the continued liberation of talent in the space have been the headlines I’ve been most wow’d by.
The most interesting development will be watching how existing publishers of esport titles deal with the influx of public attention and growing player base against the threat of competition from new publishers launching titles during a higher visibility ‘era’ than industry peers.
It’ll also be exciting to see whether 2016 will see some form of esports council/regulatory board emerge and what impact that will have on the accepted business practices by teams, tournaments and brands.”
Follow Saad Sarwar on twitter and Linkedin.
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Alexander T. Müller
SK Gaming
Managing Director
“In general 2015 saw the growth of the market increase.
With MTG buying the majority stake of Turtle Entertainment and Dreamhack in total, we have one huge player in the market now. Other media entities will answer to this development in the future for sure.
We also saw Valve adjust their league and tournament structure for both, CS and DotA which will have a huge impact on the future as well.
All in all I strongly believe the growth rate will excelerate in 2016 and the coming years.”
Follow Alexander T. Müller on twitter and Linkedin.
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Rojo Galvín
Ozone Gaming
Brand Manager
““This year we´ve seen an enormous growth of eSports, not only in terms of the industry but also in terms of eSports enthusiasts. There are many market research studies showing that with impressive numbers. So it’s a matter of fact, eSports are real, massive and unstoppable.
There are new titles coming up in 2016, new actors in the market and new business models popping up, therefore it is difficult to predict which direction the development of the industry is going to take.
In my opinion, one of the more important facts defining the development of the eSports market this upcoming year, will be the investment of brands apparently not related with videogames or eSports.
Brands like Coca-Cola, Nissan or Domino’s Pizza are already taking part, but what about fashion brands, or the cosmetics industry for example? Will it be strange to see a financial institution investing in eSports? Why not airlines or railway companies? The opportunities given by esports are extremely diverse and I think that the mentioned companies will no longer be able to turn away from them.”
Follow Rojo Galvín on twitter and Linkedin.
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Martin Klimscha
Hitbox Entertainment
CEO & Co-Founder
“ESports has seen significant growth in 2015, and we will see even more games, tournaments and teams in 2016. The audience for live tournaments will continue to expand rapidly and eventually will rival traditional professional sports. The appeal of eSports is global – unlike many traditional sports — and that’s hugely attractive to publishers, brands and media companies.
In 2016, we’ll see traditional media companies work hard to gain a foothold. However, chat, content sharing, and interactivity are core to the eSports viewing experience so the online media channels, like Hitbox, will continue to lead. We understand the games, the players and how teams and tournaments must be organized to scale with this explosive growth.””
Follow Martin Klimscha on twitter and Linkedin.
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Roger Quiles, Esq.
Roger Quiles, Esq.
Attorney at law
“eSports took some substantial steps forward in 2015. In addition to record setting viewership, one of the most important developments in 2015 was that traditional media outlets got much more involved in eSports. Whether it was ESPN2’s airing of the Heroes of the Dorm tournament, MTG’s acquisition of Dreamhack and ESEA, or TBS’ announcement of a CS:GO league that it will broadcast in 2016, it is undeniable that traditional media outlets are taking the first steps towards bringing eSports into the mainstream media for possibly greater consumption.
In 2016, I’m looking forward to seeing further integration of eSports in traditional media. The eSports business community, as well as the sports business community, will be paying close attention to the TBS CS:GO league to note its successes, failures, and ultimately to see if the substantial eSports viewership translates to television. Regardless of whether eSports has a future on television, partnerships with traditional media outlets may still be fruitful through their substantial online presences.”
Follow Roger Quiles, Esq. on twitter and Linkedin.
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Michael Bister
Turtle Entertainment
Head of Pro Gaming Germany
“2015 was a very interesting year for the eSports business. The developments of 2014 continue and bridge the gap to (an interesting year) 2016.
In 2014, eSports made a huge step: Arenas were filled; prize money increased to millions of dollars; new records were set in terms of attendance figures (online and offline).
In 2015, this development continued and media/press captured it by adding the eSports to its coverage. eSports showed to be a growing and promising market and that 2014 was not just a fleeting star.
2016 will be a year that outclasses everything we have experienced so far. The business will become bigger, faster and more diverse – in every aspect: the demography of viewers/players; the possibilities to integrate partners, the diversity of sponsors; even more spectacular events etc.
Moreover, I am anxious to see the developments I cannot influence directly, meaning the development of players and teams. There is huge potential in the matter of structure, management and other aspects. I think this will become a very important segment. Fan mentalities, players belonging to a team etc.”
Follow Michael Bister on twitter and Linkedin.
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EriK Saler
Liquipedia
Head
“The growth for 2015 was fairly steady. Viewer numbers went up. There was a steady increase in the interest from people and corporations not previously involved in esports. A few new big sponsor brands moving into the market, and more prize money than the previous year. More broadcasts on more TV networks too. There have been some huge deals with companies from outside the industry who have come into it. MTG for example buying DreamHack and ESEA, and a controlling majority of the ESL stocks. And also the deal Virtus Pro got with Alisher Usmanov, a Russian Oligarch.
So for 2016 we can expect more big media companies trying to get into the space to get a piece of the pie and for the current big players to try to get a bigger slice. For example there’s the rumour that Yahoo is looking to buy MLG.
Merchandising is going to become a bigger part too, both for virtual and real goods. Relying mostly on an ad & sponsor model (with the occasional crowd-funding) to get the revenue needed is not going to cut it the more competitive the salaries for players and to give better productions for the viewers.
Which will keep on raising the barrier for a smooth transition between grass-roots organizations and productions to the more professional ones, creating an industry that slowly is becoming more and more a business and less of a passion.”
Follow Erik Saler on twitter.
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Dave Rosenberg
GMR Marketing
Chief Strategic Officer
“The growth of eSports is unique in a world of excessive content, rising sports rights values and increasing Internet penetration. There are few marketing communications opportunities with the continuing potential of eSports. A brand that builds an integrated plan with a long-term view perspective, an authentic message/story and a community engagement strategy could find itself with a tremendous sales and marketing platform. Those brands that continue to over analyze eSports, or question the evaluation of the platforms growth are fundamentally missing the point. What matters is that at every marketing touch point eSports is attracting huge audiences who are passionately engaged in the content. We believe that the brands that focus their attention and resources on defining strategic approaches around both the business and the culture of eSports will be the brands that succeed in this space.
Moving forward, research and measurement will be the most interesting and important development to watch in 2016. There is a need for more quantitative and qualitative measurement in eSports that will allow brands to better evaluate their ability to leverage this channel as a means to engage their target consumer, achieve their marketing and sales objectives and address business and marketing challenges and opportunities. Examples of the need for greater availability of this data include eSports’ digital reach and consumption and the breadth of its global footprint.
Additionally, the development of brand and consumer research and the engagement experience within eSports will provide brands the ability to analyze data and realize the optimal integration for them within the eSports ecosystem. Utilizing these data points and analytics to develop sponsorship and asset evaluation models will ensure that they are investing both effectively and efficiently in eSports opportunities |
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The icons are stored in a resource dictionary so they’re easily accessible by XAML. With some helper code -embedded in an MVVM Icon service- you can make them also easily available to C#. Here’s the basic code:
public static class Icon { public static string GetIcon(string name) { return (string) Windows.UI.Xaml.Application.Current.Resources[name]; } }
You can extend this class with constants or enumerations to avoid typos and get intellisense when referring to icons from code behind.
Here’s how the data from the icon resource dictionary is used in the item template for the menu item:
<DataTemplate x:Key="MenuItemTemplate" x:DataType="vm:MenuItem"> <StackPanel Orientation="Horizontal" Margin="0"> <Border Background="Transparent" ToolTipService.ToolTip="{x:Bind Text}"> <Path x:Name="Glyph" Data="{x:Bind Glyph}" VerticalAlignment="Center" HorizontalAlignment="Center" Height="24" Width="24" Fill="{StaticResource SplitViewForegroundBrush}" Stretch="Uniform" /> </Border> <TextBlock Text="{x:Bind Text}" Margin="12 0 0 0" Foreground="{StaticResource SplitViewForegroundBrush}" VerticalAlignment="Center" /> </StackPanel> </Data |
(IS) group began making inroads into Afghanistan.
The Taliban had continued as recently as July to release official statements in the name of Omar, lionised as a "commander of the faithful" who commanded the loyalties of militants across the region.
"The Taliban had to conceal the death of a leader who had an uncanny power to rally militants around him," Kabul-based military analyst Atiqullah Amarkhil said.
"His name was enough to prevent the Taliban's disintegration."
But the Taliban apparently came under pressure to confirm his death after the Afghan spy agency said he died two years ago in a Karachi hospital following recent reports he had been killed.
AFP
Topics: terrorism, unrest-conflict-and-war, people, afghanistan
First postedApache Marmotta is now a Top Level Apache Project
We are excited to announce that with the recent resolution of the board of directors of the Apache Software Foundation (ASF), the incubating project Apache Marmotta becomes a top-level project of the ASF.
The idea behind Apache Marmotta of providing an Open Platform for Linked Data has been many years in the making. Therefore I would like to take this opportunity to provide a short history of Apache Marmotta.
Short History of Apache Marmotta
The early days: KiWi
The core work on the technology essentially started with a EU funded project called KiWi (Knowledge in a Wiki) in 2008. KiWi investigated the idea of “Semantic Wikis” and aimed at combining easily editable web content with semantic web technologies to provide data to both human and machine users. KiWi was a very successful applied research project: the founding team of Marmotta – Sebastian Schaffert and Thomas Kurz – presented the idea of KiWi and Linked Data at a series of conferences. Highlights have been the 6th European Semantic Web Conference in Heraklion, Greece, in June 2009 where we won the “Best Demonstration Award” and the demo at the International Semantic Web Conference 2010 in Shanghai, China.
In the current source code of Marmotta you can still find some of the components that originated in the KiWi project, most notably the triple store together with its rule-based reasoner and versioning – of course now with several iterations of improvement and code rewriting to make it more stable and reliable so that now it can handle billions of triples with ease.
Teenage Years: Salzburg NewMediaLab and the Linked Media Framework
The next big step after KiWi was the “Salzburg NewMediaLab” starting 2010, where the goal was to bring these technologies from research into real use with selected industry partners. Being a typical research project, KiWi featured many very advanced and experimental ideas that were cool to show but not stable enough to be used by thousands of users. So we decided that we need to take apart the complex KiWi system and take out the technologies that were stable enough. Also, we realised that most companies already have their content management system in place, so it does not make sense to replace it with a new system but rather augment their existing system with semantic technologies. Born was the “Linked Media Framework” or LMF.
The Linked Media Framework took from KiWi the mentioned triple store and the semantic search functionality, and replaced the experimental content analysis of KiWi with the more reliable Apache Stanbol, which was anyways developed in the same team. The result was a sophisticated Linked Data application server, which is now in production use at several partners, e.g. the search engine of SalzburgerNachrichten.
At around this time (summer 2012), we also found out that there is some conceptual work going on at the World Wide Web Consortium regarding the specification of a “Linked Data Platform” that does not only allow read access to a Linked Data server but also would support creating and updating data. In a way, we realised,
they were writing a specification about something quite similar than we had already developed and running. So we decided that it would make sense to separate the Linked Data part from content analysis and search again and publish it as a separate project, as an implementation of the Linked Data Platform.
Growing up: The Apache Way
Realising that this could become a useful tool for a wide range of users and developers out there and seeing the success of Apache Stanbol, we decided that the best way would be to start a second project at the Apache Software Foundation, and contribute our existing code as a starting point. We proposed it as “Apache Linda” (for “LINked DAta”) at the ApacheCon Europe in Sinsheim (Germany) in November 2012. Sergio Fernández presented there our idea, getting good feedback, so a couple of weeks later we finally submitted the proposal for incubation.
While we thought that Apache Linda is the greatest and best name for a project ever, we quickly learned that things are never so easy: over the short history of Computer Science, there have already been several projects called “Linda”, and some of them apparently still raise negative feelings when thinking about them. So we had to find a new and better name. Now, anyone who ever had to think about a good name for a project knows how hard this can be. Long story made short: in the end we decided for “Marmotta”. Why? Because it is the Italian name for an animal that lives in the mountains around us. It digs big tunnel systems underground. It whistles. It is very social. It is very cute. Many Apache projects use animal names. And best of all: there was never a project called “Marmotta”!
So it came that Apache Marmotta became an incubation project at the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) in December 2012. We found great mentors in Andy Seaborne (of Jena), Fabian Christ (of Stanbol) and Nandana Mihindukulasooriya and started moving and polishing our code and clarifying legal issues to conform to the strict ASF guidelines. And we also got our first external committers: Raffaele Palmieri and Peter Ansell (of Sesame).
After 7 failed vote attempts, we finally managed with the first release (3.0.0-incubating) of our software under the roof of the ASF on 24th April 2013. Luckily, the second release (3.1.0-incubating) in October 2013 went much smoother and our mentors were insisting more and more that we leave the podling and graduate as top level project. 😉
Graduation: Apache Marmotta, MSc
After the 3.1.0-incubating release, things suddenly went on quickly. We decided it would be time to attempt graduation, as there were no further issues left to be clarified. We voted for Jakob Frank as Vice President, because he is most familiar with all the guidelines and with his formal background would be a good representative for the project in the ASF board. And Jakob prepared a proposal for the incubator board, which was voted on unanimously. He submitted our proposal for graduation to the ASF board, which decided on 20th November (again unanimously) that we are ready!
The Road Ahead
Plans for the future? Well, after graduation the “the serious side of life” starts. Apache Marmotta is looking for volunteers to join the growing community. Contributions in bug-reports, usage hints, documentation and of course code patches are welcome on any of the project’s mailing lists.SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Sen. Orrin Hatch says he's still considering running for his Utah Senate seat next year but might forgo a run if former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney jumped in.
Hatch told the National Journal on Tuesday that if he could get "a really outstanding person" to run for his seat, such as Romney, then he might step aside.
The senator says he's mentioned it to Romney, who lives in Utah. Messages left with Romney's representatives were not returned.
Hatch said in 2012 that his current term would be his last, but he started reconsidering several years ago.
Hatch's spokesman Matt Whitlock said many people are urging the senator to run again but his main priority is ensuring Utah residents "have the best seat at the table."Zero sympathy. In a statement posted to their website on Friday, Aug. 21, Family Research Council president Tony Perkins slammed Josh Duggar’s “deceitful behavior.” The conservative Christian group’s statement comes after Duggar, a former lobbyist for the FRC, admitted to cheating on his wife, Anna, and having a secret addiction to pornography.
PHOTOS: Biggest cheating scandals ever
“Last night we learned from online reports about allegations concerning Josh Duggar and then read his confession today. We are grieved by Josh’s conduct and the devastating impact of his pornography addiction and marital unfaithfulness,” Perkins statement reads. “Our hearts hurt for his family, and all those affected by Josh’s actions. His deceitful behavior harms his family, his friends, his former coworkers, and the cause he has publicly espoused. Those of us who advocate for family values in the public square are held to a higher standard, and Josh’s failures serve as a painful reminder of the destructive effects of not living with integrity. We are praying for the family.”
PHOTOS: Stars' shocking secrets
The 27-year-old former TLC star resigned from the FRC in May after reports surfaced that he had molested five young girls, including sisters Jill and Jessa Duggar, during his teens. In his resignation letter, Duggar wrote, “In good faith I cannot allow Family Research Council to be impacted by mistakes I made as a teenager” and that he was resigning as executive director.
In his own statement following the Ashley Madison hack on Thursday, Aug. 20, Duggar called himself the “biggest hypocrite ever” and confessed to having extramarital affairs and a secret addiction to pornography. "I am so ashamed of the double life that I have been living and am grieved for the hurt, pain and disgrace my sin has caused my wife and family, and most of all Jesus and all those who profess faith in Him,” his statement read.
PHOTOS: The Duggars
TLC canceled the family’s successful reality show 19 Kids and Counting this past July. Anna has yet to comment.
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Want stories like these delivered straight to your phone? Download the Us Weekly iPhone app now!Rajendra Singh, popularly known as ‘The Water Man of India’ has been awarded the 2015 Stockholm Water Prize Laureate, for his innovative water restoration efforts, improving water security in rural India, and for showing extraordinary courage and determination in his quest to improve the living conditions for those most in need.
Watch this video to listen to his views and thoughts about water conservation:
‘We want water, not healthcare’
Born in 1959, Rajendra Singh studied Ayurvedic medicine and surgery and then went to work in the arid and poor interiors of Rajasthan. His goal was to set up health centers in these areas but upon closer interaction with the locals, he realised that their greatest need was water, not health care. The wells in all surrounding areas were dry, no crops grew and hence there was an exodus of people to the nearby cities. The women, children and elderly were left behind to fend for themselves. Rajendra Singh then dropped the idea of building health centers and decided to focus on water.
Building Water Structures
He teamed up with the villagers and started building traditional mud dams (called johads). After about 20 years of his relentless work, there are now 8,600 johads and other structures that collect water! His work has led to access to water for over 1,000 villages across Rajasthan. As a consequence, many rivers have been replenished and the forest cover has increased too.
Interestingly, Rajendra Singh resorted to thousand-year old methods of collecting rainwater and storing it. These methods were forgotten and discountinued during the British empire’s rule over India, but have now brought water back to the driest state of India.
“When we started our work, we were only looking at the drinking water crisis and how to solve that. Today our aim is higher. This is the 21st century. This is the century of exploitation, pollution and encroachment. To stop all this, to convert the war on water into peace, that is my life’s goal”, says Mr Singh.
He goes on to say:
“Due to the harvesting of rain and recharging groundwater, there is no scope for drought or floods in our area. This work of ours is a way to solve both floods and droughts globally. Therefore we believe the impact of this work is on the local level, national level, the international level and above all at the village level.”
The Award
H.M. King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden, Patron of the Stockholm Water Prize, will present the prize to Rajendra Singh at a Royal Award Ceremony during 2015 World Water Week in Stockholm on 26 August.
About Stockholm Water Prize
The Stockholm Water Prize is a global award founded in 1991 and presented annually by the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI) to an individual, organisation or institution for outstanding water-related achievements. The Stockholm Water Prize Laureate receives USD 150,000 and a specially designed sculpture. H.M. King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden is patron of the prize.
Related ReadingLocal Autonomous Network in ACTION
LAN is a network of autonomous activists and anarchists active in various areas of concerns. There 13 collectives and individuals affiliated to it operate in Makati, Taguig, Baliwag Bulacan, Sapang-Palay Bulacan, Cavite, Muntinlupa and Pasig.
volunteers of Onsite Info Shop and indokumentado Productions are active and witnessed the processes of establishment of LAN can be summarized as follows:
Since the turn of the 21st century, activist groups and collectives who identify themselves as anarchists are sprouting like wild mushrooms in the Philippines. Though, their historical background didn’t take root from the late 19th century anarchism but rather from the 80’s punk phenomena (Pairez, 2010).
During the late 1990s, autonomous activists, anarchist networks and other similar groups were formed and have campaigned against trade liberalization and environmental destruction (e.g. Local Anarchist Network or LAN, Anti-Capitalist Convergence or ACC).
The State violently reacted to the militant actions of some groups in the anti-globalization protests in Seattle during the ministerial meeting of the WTO in 1999. Non-violent protesters were violently dispersed, and the Black Bloc which was said to be instigated by cops became one of the symbols of the anti-globalization movement.
Circles and groups of autonomous activists and anarchists during early and up to mid 2000 dramatically increased; workshops, film screenings, gigs, art events, and discussions were organized, and myriad of zines were independently published in areas of Makati, Manila, Quezon City, Cainta, Pasig, Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna, Lucena, Pagbilao and in various provinces in Mindanao.
Prior to the establishment of Local Autonomous Network, there were campaigns and activities which autonomous activists gathered in “large formation”:
– SAGADA CAMPAIGN
– ANTI-SONA PROTESTS
– ANTI-G8 PROTESTS
– AUTONOMOUS/ANARCHY FESTIVALS
– OCCUPY LUNETA EVENT
– SERIES OF GATHERINGS organized by LAN
– FOOD NOT BOMBS initiated by LAN
During 2006-2008, collectives decreased operations except for a few who managed to maintain info shops or sustain publications. Regular meetings were sustained by few collectives and individuals and pushed small-scale activities.
Until 2010, a gathering happened in Etnikobandido Infoshop participated by people from Cubao, Taguig, Cavite, Muntinlupa, Davao, Samar and Bulacan. They agreed to set up a network that will facilitate sharing of information and skills among affiliated groups/individuals.
This Network provided venue for people and collectives to freely interact on a regular basis through different activities like those mentioned above.
It organized Anarchist Gatherings with specific topics being tackled every meet-up. First was “Organic Evolution to Revolution”; it was followed by Gender Discussion; then a discussion led by an anarchist speaker from Australia, followed by a discussion in Davao about security culture.
Eventually, these groups and collectives agreed to adopt Local Autonomous Network or LAN as a name. Many of the affiliated groups and individuals that are part of the new Local Autonomous Network are new and not part of the “old” LAN (Local Anarchist Network).
Last December, 2012, was the latest assembly of LAN held in Sapang-Palay Bulacan, which was attended by 13 collectives.
—————————————————————————————
CLIMATE CHANGE ACTION
November 2012, contingent of LAN gathered around the vicinity of Luneta Park waiting for their proper timing to join the mobilisation of NGOs and peftist political blocs. The Philippine Movement for Climate Justice staged rally in front of U.S. embassy in relation to U.S.’s commitment to reduce carbon emission.
GMO DISCUSSIONS
as part of sharing information and skills activities of LAN, it organised discussions attended by collectives affiliated to the network and people around the community of Pasig where Etniko Bandido Infoshop.
A resource speaker from SEARICE was invited to facilitate sharing of information with regard to the Topic. A related topic was published in this site discussing the health risk and serious medical conditions connected to GMO products consumption,
AdvertisementsExam time can be stressful. Doesn’t it make you just want to go online and post a series of pictures of mutilated Barbie dolls with captions threatening to butcher your professors?
What?
That’s just one of the allegations against a law school student charged with second-degree harassment and breach of peace. The allegations also include racist emails and harassing professors with bogus complaints…
Anya Bargh, 32, is a student at the University of Connecticut School of Law. Police arrested Bargh last week, based on emails she allegedly sent in February to the Student Bar Association regarding the search for the new law dean. Police claim that Bargh wrote:
“Let’s celebrate diversity by having the next dean NOT be Jewish.”
In and of itself, Bargh might have been able to pass this off as an incredibly off-color joke about affirmative action. After all, affirmative action is still a thing for another few hours before Fisher comes down. Unfortunately for Bargh, police decided this email wasn’t an isolated incident, after it was allegedly followed by ANOTHER anti-semitic email and a jab at an African-American school official.
Now the story sounds less like a conservative commentator making a tone-deaf, offensive joke, like an Elisabeth Hasselbeck, and more like the work of an aggressively racist person, like an Ann Coulter.
The story continues to describe some grading issues:
According to the report, three professors told police they had “bad encounters” with Bargh, because of poor grades, and also because she seems to have misunderstood their attempts to help her as sexual advances. “Bargh has filed complaints against professors when she receives an unacceptable grade, and the professors feel that Bargh is tarnishing their reputations,” the documents state.
Whenever someone describes a grade as “unacceptable,” they should be forced to wear a name tag that says, “HI! I’m An Insufferable Prick.” And accusing three professors of unfairly issuing bad grades so they can make passes at her in their offices? Either UConn Law runs like an amateur porn site, or someone’s a little full of themselves.
Police also discovered a Flickr account featuring mutilated Barbie dolls, meaning that Bargh has an extensive Barbie collection as an adult, which isn’t weird at all. Police claim the Flickr account included comments by Bargh directed at her professors, such as:
I hate you so much I would like to see you butchered.
Oh wow! I didn’t realize Bargh was a regular commenter at ATL.
Video of the news report below:
WFSB 3 Connecticut
UConn Student Sends Nasty Emails to the Wrong Chosen People [The Jewish Press]
UConn Law Student in Hot Water After Comments [WFSB]A proposal to demolish several polluted buildings in East Oakland is under review, but some preservationists say the long-delayed plan would remove historically significant structures without revitalizing the neighborhood.
In the 1920s, General Electric built a factory on a 24-acre site at 5441 International Blvd. The complex has been largely abandoned since 1980, when it was found to be contaminated with highly toxic chemicals. Seven years ago, the city declared the property a public nuisance, but it remains vacant behind a fence.
Officials are now considering GE's latest plan to demolish the buildings, but the Oakland Heritage Alliance, a group that works to preserve cultural and architectural history, wants the corporation to submit a more comprehensive plan for rehabilitating the property.
The former GE factory at 5441 International Blvd.
OHA board member Daniel Levy told Hoodline that the group wants to preserve and restore the buildings and doubts if GE would have left the land vacant for so long if the site wasn't located in a poor neighborhood populated by people of color.
"If this site were in Emeryville, if this site were in San Francisco, would GE take the same approach?" Levy said. "They have the means to do right by the community and they're not choosing to do that in Oakland."
Levy pointed to GE's plans for a new $200 million Boston headquarters, where the company plans to include maker and event spaces, a community work lounge and laboratory space for young companies. The Boston plan also includes rehabilitating two historic brick buildings.
But in Oakland, GE wants to finish demolishing the historic buildings on its property. Beyond that, the company hasn’t said what its plans are.
The main building, with the most historic significance, was once home to radio station KGO. It was built in 1922 and a one-story addition was added in 1927. There were offices in the front of the building and a large factory and warehouse in the back that made switchboards, transformers and motors.
Built for KGO, this building was later converted into a factory. | PHOTO: BAYAREARADIO.ORG
It was that activity that ultimately led to the heavy pollution on the site from polychlorinated biphenyls, a chemical once used as an electrical insulator and coolant that was banned in 1979.
After the site was first found to be contaminated in 1980, GE was ordered to clean it up by state and federal regulators. While the company completed some remediation, a 1993 deed restriction prohibited using the land for residences, hospitals, day care, elder care, raising food or any groundwater extraction, among other prohibitions.
Monitoring and cleanup have continued for years. The city declared the property a public nuisance in 2010, which is when GE applied for a demolition permit to raze all the buildings before learning that the oldest of them are historic, triggering a lengthy review process.
It took years for the city to prepare a draft Environmental Impact Report that gave an overview of the buildings' historical significance but discussed no future uses for the property. The document was reviewed by the city’s Planning Commission in March.
"It seems very clear to us that the EIR is just looking at one part of the project, which is the demolition piece, but it's not really looking at the next piece," Levy said.
"We are here to see this move as quickly as possible, we want to see something done there,” he added. “Even if the buildings must go, we are eager to see this move, but just not at the expense of the community."
Buzz Hines, an attorney who represented GE at the Planning Commission meeting, did not respond to written questions in time for publication.Ireland are a side who seem to relish the sensational one-off victory. Often it is England who feel the heat. Think of the foot-and-mouth game from October 2001 or the final match of this year's Six Nations in Dublin. Can they pull off the big one against Australia here in Auckland on Saturday?
A few months ago Ireland were looking like the danger team of the northern hemisphere. They seemed more than capable of turning over the Wallabies and opening up an enticing World Cup path where they would likely avoid New Zealand, while Australia would be left to face South Africa in the quarter-finals. Four consecutive warm-up defeats to Scotland, England and France twice drained that confidence and belief, while the opening win over the United States will have done little to alleviate the concern among their passionate supporters. Albeit in appalling conditions, the Irish handling was poor and the cutting edge missing.
Australia were arguably the most impressive of all the main contenders in the opening round of fixtures. They weathered a physical start from Italy and, despite the 6-6 half-time score, pulled clear with a classy second-half display. They are Tri-Nations champions, have a host of fabulously talented players to call upon and a very shrewd coach in Robbie Deans.
Ireland lock Paul O'Connell accepts they are firm underdogs. He said: "On form Australia are a long way ahead of us at the moment. They have threats all over the field and we have to starve them of quality ball.
"For us to win, we need a massive performance. In Irish teams, when our emotion and passion is high, we're a better side. Hopefully that will be there in abundance on Saturday. When we put it together for 80 minutes, we are an excellent side that can compete with anyone."The chancellor's Budget gives no clarity on the future of Welsh Government finances, a senior minister has said.
Philip Hammond announced an extra £200m for Wales over four years.
Wales' Finance Secretary Mark Drakeford said it was still not clear how future UK spending cuts of £3.5bn would affect Welsh public services.
Welsh Secretary Alun Cairns said the Welsh Government had the "freedom to invest" extra cash in their priorities.
Mr Cairns also denied the Conservatives had broken a manifesto pledge not to increase National Insurance contributions by raising the rate of National Insurance paid by self-employed workers.
But Guto Bebb, a minister in his department, admitted on BBC Radio Cymru that it did break that promise.
"I believe we should apologise. I will apologise to every voter in Wales that read the Conservative manifesto in the 2015 election," he told Post Prynhawn.
Mr Hammond announced on Wednesday a cash injection of £2bn over three years to tackle problems in the social care sector in England - leading to extra cash for Wales under the Barnett funding formula.
As a result of that and other spending rises, Mr Hammond told MPs that the Welsh Government would get an extra £200m over four years - £150m over three years for day-to-day services and £50m over four years for infrastructure.
The Welsh Government's current annual budget is around £15bn.
The UK Government said it "continues to make good progress" towards a £1.3bn Swansea Bay regional "city deal" of investment funds and looked forward to considering proposals for north Wales.
Mr Cairns told BBC Wales that a city deal for Swansea was 'not ready'.
Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Mark Drakeford says the shadow of Brexit fell right across the Budget
Mr Drakeford said the Welsh Government cabinet would now decide where to spend the extra funds, but he was still concerned about plans for £3.5bn cuts to UK public spending in 2019-20.
"We still have no clarity about these looming cuts, which could result in our budget being reduced by £175m," he said.
"Since 2010, our budget has been cut by 8% in real terms. Today's Spring Budget was yet another missed opportunity to end austerity."
Mr Drakeford said despite budget pressures, the Welsh Government had prioritised funding for social care, and was offering £20m of additional help for small firms facing business rate hikes due to the recent revaluations.
He added that it was "disappointing" the chancellor did not use his Budget speech to confirm backing for the Swansea Bay region city deal, which he claimed was "ready to be signed".
Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption £200m for Wales excellent says Alun Cairns
Welcoming the Budget, Mr Cairns said: "The people of Wales benefit from the stability of a strong UK economy while the £200m increase in funding gives the Welsh Government the freedom to invest in their priorities.
"Strong progress towards a City Deal for Swansea and a growth deal for North Wales will help ensure economic growth is shared across all parts of Wales, while the industrial strategy challenge fund and the new UK-wide 5G innovation network will equip Welsh businesses for the challenges of the future."
He told BBC Wales that he hoped the Welsh Government will spend extra funds from the Budget to help small businesses.
Mr Cairns said support for companies facing higher business rates in Wales was "half as generous" as the scheme offered in England.
The Welsh Government has said, however, that under its business rates relief scheme 50% pay nothing compared to 33% under Spring Budget plans in England.
What was in Spring Budget 2017?
Other than extra Welsh funding, the chancellor announced:
Class 4 National Insurance contributions for self-employed people to increase from current rate of 9% to 10% in April 2018, and 11% in April 2019
£2bn extra over three years to boost social care budgets in England
£435m for firms in England affected by increases in business rates, including £300m hardship fund for worst hit
Cigarettes up 35p for a packet of 20, beer up 2p a pint, cider 1p, whiskey 36p a bottle, still wine 10p
No changes on fuel duty announced
Growth forecast for 2017 upgraded from 1.4% to 2%
Annual borrowing of £51.7bn in 2016-17, £16.4bn lower than forecast
Plaid Cymru Treasury spokesman, Jonathan Edwards MP, said it was a "high tax, low wage budget".
"Taxes are at their highest in a generation and wages are still falling," he said.
UKIP assembly group leader Neil Hamilton claimed the chancellor had declared a "war on jobs" by increasing National Insurance contributions for the self-employed.
"The chancellor should be wielding the axe over the £12bn foreign aid budget. Instead he is hammering the very people who are at the centre of our economic growth," he said.
Welsh Liberal Democrat leader Mark Williams said: "What we've heard today is window dressing from a government that's turned to managing the economic damage Brexit will cause."
He described the extra money for Wales as a "sticking plaster".
Meanwhile council leaders in Wales have said the budget "could have gone further to reverse austerity", warning that most of their discretionary services had been "hollowed out".
The Welsh Local Government Association (WLGA) was keen to see a boost to social care funding as in England, warning of a £92m budget shortfall in Wales.
Flintshire council leader Aaron Shotton, WLGA spokesman on finance, said councils had "worked well with the Welsh Government to ensure that the English social care funding crisis is not replicated here".
"However, the service is now creaking and we are only two years away from a similar crisis," he added.
"What we really need is a long-term solution to the problems posed by an ageing population with more chronic conditions."– via Voice of America
“Since art is essential for human life, it can’t just belong to the few.” – Diego Rivera
In 1931, the fledgling Museum of Modern Art chose Mexican muralist Diego Rivera for its second major show, inviting him to New York to create “portable” murals onsite. Now, some of the works he created in six feverish weeks are again on display at MoMA.
They are aggressive and vibrant, testimony to Rivera’s fascination with Mexican history and his loathing of capitalism.
A communist, Rivera created fiercely political works picturing Mexico’s colonial past and the struggles of indigenous peoples. Indian Warrior, for example, illustrates his anger at Spain’s conquest of Mexico in the 1600s. An Aztec warrior wearing a fearsome Jaguar costume uses a stone knife to cut down a conquistador who lies dead, still encased in his armor.
Rivera also painted scenes of what he saw as capitalist oppression in the U.S. and the struggle for workers’ rights in a rapidly industrializing America.
Read more at Voice of America.
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AdvertisementsAt a recent tour stop in Albany, Glenn Beck made a few announcements that roused the press. Chief among them: he planned sell his Connecticut mansion and leave New York City.
But he also made another, more surprising statement. "I'm going to make sure," Beck told the sold-out crowd, "that Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart don't occupy the space of comedy alone."
Despite his reigning status as resident media melodramatist, Beck has always had an interest in the comedy form. In 2008 he traveled the country with "Unelectable," traipsing around the stage sporting a neon-orange hunting jacket and holding a toy rifle, mocking the liberal view of right-wingers. In 2009, he followed suit with his "Common Sense Comedy Tour," which was simulcast across the country in 440 theaters.
But taking one's act on the road, amidst fans, is different than becoming the conservative version of Stewart or Colbert. Thus far, no successful news comedy show aimed specifically at right-wingers has succeeded. The most prominent failure of recent years was Fox News' "Half Hour News Hour," which "24" producer Joel Surnow attempted to launch in 2007. Two separate publications deemed it "slow torture," and it lasted only 15 episodes before being yanked by producers.
On the "Half Hour News Hour," jokes were delivered to elicit chuckles of acknowledgment, rather than genuine laughs. The attractive hosts simply read off one-liners, "Weekend Update" style, without any real sense of timing or point of view. An example joke: "Barack Obama admitted to doing cocaine in high school. This news sent his approval rating among Democrats PLUMMETING to an all-time low of 99.9 percent." Cue canned laugh track.
Another bit featured a new Barack Obama magazine in the vein of O: The Oprah Magazine aptly named, "B.O.".
Uninspired, Catskills-style political zingers don't tend to fly, no matter the audience. What conservatives haven't picked up on is that "The Daily Show" succeeds because it attempts to lampoon everyone in power -- knocking media elites and pundits from their soapboxes, while trapping politicians in elaborate hypocrisies. If Jon Stewart sat there lambasting everyone on the right side of the aisle with lame, predictable punchlines, viewers would tune out.
Right-leaning comedy shows have thus far positioned themselves as the right's "answer" to "The Daily Show" or "The Colbert Report" (see also the recent press for The Right Network's "Right 2 Laugh"), without realizing that pointing out the point of the joke, makes the joke no longer funny. "The Daily Show" would never market itself to liberals as "A Really Funny Show For Liberals And Liberals, Alone!"
So what are some models on which Beck could might succeed with a news comedy show? Stephen Colbert, whom Beck also named during his Albany appearance, has made a career taking on a blowhard characters, subversively touting a message under the guise of a Bill O'Reilly/Glenn Beck type host. "The Colbert Report" is based entirely around that persona and he milks it for all its worth (to the extent that some conservatives don't realize he's playing a character).
Perhaps Beck could play the Colbert card in reverse. What if he established a character -- perhaps an uber-liberal, Ira-Glass-ish type with skinny jeans, a scarf, and a blazer-over-a-hoodie -- and really stuck to it. His set could be housed in a Brooklyn loft with Tibetan prayer flags. He could have "Garden Burger Breaks" in which he expounded on the joys of dumpster-diving for leftovers behind Trader Joe's.
That's one way to go. Another direction would be to follow the Jeff Dunham model of the loud, offensive neo-con puppeteer. Dunham, who was recently listed by Forbes as one of the highest earning comedians in America, behind Chris Rock and Jerry Seinfeld, has amassed hundreds of millions of dollars in recent years with his no-holds-barred ventriloquist act. His 2009 Comedy Central program, "The Jeff Dunham Show," despite being lambasted by critics, boasted the highest-rated premiere in that channel's history.
Liberal humorist Joel Stein, who offered to write some material for Beck's "Common Sense" tour, noted that Beck had a noticeable penchant for self-deprecation, something most conservatives don't tend to display. "Making fun of yourself implies that you know your message is imperfect," Stein wrote on Time.com.The point of this blog is to advocate for rejuvenation therapies. In principle, it could be written without ever typing the word ‘death’, because rejuvenation is about keeping people healthy, and the indefinite postponement of death is merely a possible consequence of constant good health. In this sense, this and many other posts and articles on Rejuvenaction could be considered off-topic. However, it is not uncommon for people to accept, rather uncritically, the stale cliché according to which life gets its meaning from death, and without the latter, it would not have meaning. If rejuvenation can stave off death and extend lives indefinitely, will these extended lives be utterly meaningless?
No. Time and time again have I said this before, but I still fear that this misconception may be one of the worst enemies of rejuvenation; consequently, I spend much time thinking about its roots and how to debunk it.
Whether life gets its meaning from death or not, people who think it does implicitly admit that life has no meaning per se. In a general sense, this is correct. Life is meaningless, and there’s nothing wrong with it. It is no reason to be depressed, and I have explained why many times: Meaning is not an intrinsic property of anything. To paraphrase a common adage, meaning lies in the head of the beholder, and that’s where you should expect to find the meaning—if any—of anything, life included. In other words, it is up to you to find meaning in your life, and you should neither expect it to have meaning by default, nor let others decide for you what the meaning of your life is. This applies to everything else too. Whenever the meaning of X is being discussed, one should always ask to whom X means what, or who meant what when they did or said X. It goes without saying that, just like life, death has no intrinsic meaning either. My view is that, up to this |
ations. And it has gone out of its way to be solicitous to Russia, especially in shying away from directly criticizing Moscow over its role in the Ukraine conflict.
Ever since Kirill took the helm of the Russian Orthodox Church in 2009, the church has enjoyed increasingly close ties with the Kremlin that critics have dismissed as the de-facto merging of the state and the church.
—
Nataliya Vasilyeva contributed from Moscow.The Kurdish people have become a key element in the Middle-Eastern turmoil, viewed as allies by the US and Iraq and enemies by key US regional ally Turkey. One of the world’s largest ethnic groups without a state, they have a long and turbulent history.
Who are the Kurds?
Kurds originate from a diverse collection of nomadic tribes that lived in western Iran. They crystalized as an ethnic group sometime in the 11th or 12th centuries, but did not put substantial effort into creating a sovereign nation until the late 19th century, instead living as more or less in autonomous principalities.
The Ottoman Empire had the biggest influence on the Kurdish lands and controlled them for a greater part of the time period since 16th century and right until its collapse. Persians had a significant impact of Kurds as well. In modern era the historically Kurdish lands are divided between Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria, where Kurds comprise 10 to 20 percent of the respective countries’ populations. Large Kurdish diaspora live in Armenia, Georgia, Russia, Lebanon, Israel, Germany, France, the UK, Canada and the US. The number of Kurds worldwide is estimated at over 30 million.
Read more
The Kurds are a group noticeably diverse in terms of religion. The majority of Kurds are Sunni Muslims. A minority are Shiites, mostly living in Iran. Up to one million of Kurds living in Iran and Iraq are Yarsan, adherents of a syncretic religion stemming from a mystic branch of Shiite Islam.
Up to 500 thousand, mostly living in Iraq belong to another Islam-influenced syncretic religion, Yazidism, which also incorporates some beliefs of ancient Mesopotamia. They were targeted by the radical Islamist militants operating in Iraq, who consider Yazidis devil worshipers. Some 200,000 Kurds living in Israel are Jewish.
Kurdish nationalism and violence
All four Middle-Eastern countries hosting large Kurdish population have a history of violence connected with Kurdish nationalism, but the extent varies greatly. Iran has the least trouble and was most successful in peacefully integrating its Kurds. They served as cabinet ministers and other senior officials, were represented in the parliament, granted cultural freedoms and otherwise respected both before and after the Islamic revolution of 1979.
There were hostile episodes too. There were Kurdish tribal insurgencies in monarchial Iran in 1926, during World War II and again in 1967. In the first post-revolution years there was a bloody Kurdish uprising in the Islamic Republic, as Kurds felt suppressed by the new government.
In modern Iran, Shiite Kurds are treated better than Sunni Kurds and political activism may result in repercussions. Since 2004 a Kurdish militant group called Party for a Free Life in Kurdistan, which splintered from Turkish militants, has been fighting a guerrilla war against Iran.
Iraq is the opposite example, where Kurds suffered harsh persecution and staged rebellions practically every decade since their territories left Ottoman sovereignty. In the late 1970s Baghdad launched a policy of Arabization of traditionally Kurdish lands, particularly those rich in oil around Kirkuk, seeing it as a way to pacify the unruly people.
The policy went from forceful deportations to mass slaughter during the Iraqi-Iranian war of the 1980s that triggered a new uprising in Iraqi Kurdistan. The Iraqi government used tanks, warplanes and chemical weapons to kill some 180,000 Kurds and sent an estimated 1.5 million fleeing from across the border to Iran and Turkey.
After the US invasion in 2003, Iraqi Kurds grew in power and are now independent from Baghdad in most issues. Their peshmerga militia proved to be an effective fighting force after the terrorist group Islamic State sent the Iraqi army fleeing and sought to expand into Kurd-controlled territories. With the central government distant and struggling with insurgency, Kurds seized the opportunity to get a payback for the injustices of the past by illegally expelling Sunni Arabs.
The conditions for Kurds in Syria went somewhat along the same lines as they did in Iraq, but with much less violence: Damascus used discrimination against Kurds, suppressing their culture and forcing them to take Arab names. It used deportations and the Arabization of Kurdish territories. Since the 1960s hundreds of thousands of Kurds were denied Syrian citizenship.
The start of the war in 2011 weakened the Syrian government’s grip on Kurds, and Damascus and Kurds struck a non-intervention deal. Just like Baghdad left Iraqi Kurds to defend themselves from militants, Damascus did with Syrian Kurds. Unlike Iraqi Kurdistan, Syrian Kurdistan has become a major target for the oldest foe of Kurds – Turkey.
Turkey’s long war with Kurds
Kurds living in Turkey have grudges against their government stretching back to the 19th century, when the Ottoman Empire started centralizing its power. Unsettled by the encroachment on their traditional freedoms by Istanbul, Kurdish landowners started resisting. The first Kurdish uprising that declared independence from the Ottomans and the Persians as its goal came in 1880.
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Kurdish nationalism was fueled further by the rise of secularism and nationalism in the Ottoman Empire and its participation in World War I. In 1916 and 1917 the Turks targeted the Kurds, whom they suspected of collaborating with Russia. After the Ottoman Empire was defeated and partitioned by the winning European powers, Kurds had a chance for self-determination under the Treaty of Sèvres of 1920, but Turkey’s independence war closed that door.
Several uprisings were staged by Kurds in the following decades, to which Ankara responded with martial law, deportations and the resettlement of Kosovar Albanians and Assyrians to Kurdish lands. A short period of thaw and integration in the 1950s was halted by the 1960 military coup in Turkey. The latest Kurdish insurgency associated with the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, started in 1978 and continued on and off since then. Over three decades the conflict has claimed at least 45,000 lives on both sides.
Syria war spillover
The latest and ongoing hostilities between the Turkish military and Kurdish militants are yet another result of the war in Syria and Iraq. In September 2014 Islamic State fighters besieged the Kurdish town of Kobani close to the Turkish border, sending hundreds of thousands of refugees across the border. The town was defended by Syrian Kurdish militia called YPG supported by US airstrikes and US-backed Arab units from the Free Syrian Army.
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While Turkey allowed Kurds, including wounded YPG fighters, cross the border, it would not allow any armed people to go back into Syria to fight against IS militants. The policy – enforced with tear gas and water cannons – prevented fellow Kurdish fighters from Iraq and Turkey help their Syrian fellows or YPG members go back and fight for their homes after recovering in Turkish hospitals. Ankara also wouldn’t allow military supplies sent across the border and tried to pressure the US to stop airdrops of weapons and ammo to Kobani.
The obstruction alienated Kurds and caused worldwide protests. In Turkey, a pro-Kobani protest deteriorated into violence and resulted in dozens of deaths, which arguably triggered an escalation of enmity.
The tension sparked into violence after the bombing of a pro-Kurdish gathering in Suruc in June 2015, a town located just 10 km from Kobani across the border. While IS claimed responsibility for the attack, many Kurds accused the Turkish government of failing to prevent it or even facilitating it.
Some Kurdish radicals conducted retaliative attacks against Turkish police officers and Ankara responded with a massive police and military crackdown. This ended two-year peace talks between Turkey and PKK and launched the third PKK insurgency in Turkey.
Collective punishment
The Turkish military acted en force in Iraq and Syria delivering airstrikes at what are called training camps from Kurdish militants. Kurds rather than IS militants were the preferable targets for Turkish warplanes, judging by the estimated casualties. In Syria, Turkey is also regularly reported as using cross-border artillery fire to attack Kurdish militias.
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Meanwhile at home Ankara launched a massive crackdown on predominantly Kurdish areas in the south-east, imposing indefinite curfews in many Kurdish districts and waging gun, mortar and tank battles against PKK fighters.
The areas are under a government lockdown, with the Turkish government preventing foreign journalists or inspectors from assessing the situation on the ground. Pro-Kurdish activists accuse Turkish forces of numerous violations of human rights, including extrajudicial killings of civilians, torture and other crimes. The Turkish government insists that it only does what it has to do stop Kurdish terrorism, but some activists call it collective punishment of the entire Kurdish people.
The accusations may be consistent with the spree of attacks on pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), the offices and rallies of which were bombed or attacked in other manner ahead of last year’s election.
The escalation of violence in Turkey is also fueled by the growing power of Kurds in Iraq and Syria. This week Syrian Kurds announced the formation of an autonomous federation, a move that brings them closer to a full-fledged independence. In both countries Kurds secured greater autonomy over the past few years by being relentless fighters, and their example cannot but encourage Kurds in Turkey to go the same path rather than seek compromise with an uncompromising Ankara. The mutual antagonism is exactly what makes countries plunge into civil wars, as Syria may attest.Part 2 of A crucial time for Diaspora*
This weekend I received an invitation through Facebook to join Diaspora. I had tried to join Diaspora last year when I learned about their Kickstarter success while writing my book on crowdsourcing, but I couldn’t get in. So of course I was curious and went immediately to sign up. And then I was puzzled. Diaspora looked just like…Google+. Or did Google+ look just like Diaspora? — Aliza Sherman, Google+ meet Diaspora – or maybe you know them already?
Yeah really. Dan Tynan, in Will the real anti-Facebook please stand up?, comments that “Given that G+ emerged some seven months after Diaspora went public, I’m guessing Google was taking notes.” Sure, the basic idea of having Aspects (in Diaspora) or Circles (in Google+) to organize your acquaintances isn’t new,* but G+’s web layout sure looks a heckuva lot like Diaspora’s.
What’s that they say about the sincerest form of flattery?
And conveniently enough, a large corporation has just spent millions of dollars on a “field test” that offers plenty of learning for Diaspora*. Thanks, Google!
So last week I started asking people what they thought Diaspora* could learn from Google+. Since then Kathy, Helena, Greg, Amy, Stephen, Gretchen, Dan, Paul, Andreas, David, Cindy, Geeky, powlsy, Drew, Terry, Sylvia, Edward, Anne, Hrafn, Shiyiya, Cavlec, Wiring, Madeleine, @PRC_Amber, @blakereidm, Arvind, Dan, and many others came up with new suggestions and refined the list in discussions on Google+, Dreamwidth, Diaspora, Twitter, earlier draft, and email. Thanks to everybody who got involved! As usual, the majority of the good ideas came from others; all of the clunkers and mistakes are mine.
The Diaspora* team’s getting a ton of feedback these days — 130 responses just since yesterday. Feedback from early users and passionate supporters is a sign that they want you to succeed, and the best roadmap to improving the product. At the same time, though, there’s only so many hours in the day; and my guess is the team’s list of tasks to accomplish is already more than full.
So I’ve tried to concentrate here on a handful of areas with fairly immediate impact that won’t add much work for the core team and where the community can do the bulk of the heavy lifting. Without further ado, here they are.
1. Focus on the “new user experience”
Google+ got 25,000,000 people to sign up in the first few weeks, but only a few million stayed. In the comments to the fascinating “feedback Friday” thread community manager Natalie Villalobos kicked off last month, a lot of people talk about how difficult the experience is for new people, especially if their friends aren’t there yet. Where are the discussions happening? How do you meet others? Who’s interesting to follow?
Diaspora’s got the same challenges — even moreso, because it’s so hard to find good help information. There are good resources out there on Diasporial and elsewhere (Eloísa Valdes has a nice short list), but no way for new people to discover them. And as Twitter and now Google+ are discovering, a “suggested users list” is fraught with peril.
A few straightforward things could help a lot here:
have a “welcome” message for each new user, pointing them to resources and giving some suggestions for getting started. Ideally this would be something that’s easy for individual pod administrators to customize to add their own twist to it.
more awareness of and easier access to the #help hashtag. Perhaps a link in the top right menu?
since a lot of people still have most of their friends on Facebook, publicize Friendrika and other ways of bridging the gap
create a volunteer-led “welcoming committee” to greet new users, help them through the inevitable gotchas, and answer questions*
2. Make it easier for people to extend the system and host their own pods
Different people prefer different ways of interacting with the system — dense information vs white space; text-heavy vs. image-heavy; comments expanded or contracted by default; and so on. From very early on, Chrome extensions like G+me, Plus Minus, Auto-colorizer, and the all-important Troll remover make a huge difference in Google+’s usability. Some good examples and instructions — as well as better visibility for the extensions people are already working on — could unleash the same creativity in the Diaspora* world.**
One of Diaspora*’s big advantages over Google+ is that people can install it themselves and run small pods for friends, families, clubs, churches, or roller derby teams. But for people to really take advantage of it, the installation needs to be as easy as WordPress*** and ideally offer “one-click” installation — on Amazon, Heroku, and eventually ISP as well. There are lots of sysadmins and IT professionals in the early Diaspora* community who have a much better idea about what’s needed on this front than I do. Is there a way for a working group of them to take the lead here?
3. Get ready for trolls, hate speech, harassment, and spammers
Remember when Google thought that its odious “real name” policy would cut down on bad behavior?
Hahahahahaha.
Soon enough, just like every other online site, there was plenty of ugliness — and unlike Live Journal, Dreamwidth, Slashdot, or even the old Usenet groups with their killfiles, there aren’t any good tools to deal with it. But as weak as Google’s moderation tools and processes for reporting harassment are, they’re still a step up on Diaspora*. So far, nothing’s been implmented in Diaspora*; the vague description of what’s planned for pre-bata makes it seem like it’s repeating Google+’s mistakes (see Kee Hinckley, Linda Lawrey, and Lauren Weinstein for the problems with this approach).
This would be a great place to follow Dreamwidth’s model for community-driven discussion and design and come up with a better specification before the team implements something ineffective. And not to sound like a broken record or anything, but it would be great to have the equivalent of Troll Remover for Diaspora.
As for spammers, all those pretty women just out of college who love to advertise Southwest Air are going to discover Diaspora* soon enough. What’s the strategy to deal with spammers signing up on open pods? What happens when spammers start to set up pods of their own and add people to their aspects? And are pods vulnerable to spammers hacking into them? If the “privacy friendly social network” turns into a spam factory, it’ll be a huge blow to D*’s momentum.
Once again, this seems like an opportunity for the community to take the lead. There are plenty of early Diasporans who have hosted forums or run blogs and other sites that have dealt with spam. And while I haven’t seen a lot of security experts there so far, a lot of hackers support Diaspora*’s goals, and I have to believe that reaching out to them could help with security testing as well. Even something as simple as a weekly “hack this pod” contest could start getting the community involved in discovering problems before the spammers do.
4. Reach out to the people Google’s ignoring
It’s a huge challenge for any new social network these days to attract an audience. There are so many sites out there already … who has time for one more? So it makes sense to start by working with people whose needs aren’t getting met today. Google+’s core demographics are techies, 20-45 year old guys, affluent “kids and cabernet” couples, and social media experts. Diaspora*’s likeliest successes are with everybody else.
More specifically, the estimated 40% of people online who prefer “screen names” or pseudonyms are an really good target audience right now. Geek Feminism’s excellent list of Who is harmed by a “Real Names” policy and the “Who’s affected?” list on My Name is Me can be the basis of a great outreach and recruiting plan.
It’s not rocket science to reach out to a community — especially if there some passionate early adopters already on Diaspora*. A few basics:
Work with people in the community to come up with scenarios and personas highlighting showing how Diaspora* helps with the challenges people have today
Blog posts and articles from people within the community to raise awareness
Lists of people within the community who are already on Diaspora* to help newcomers get involved
Set up a virtuous cycle by providing ways for the community to influence the design and development of future versions of the product
Set up a pod specifically for this community
Women (who are 25 times more likely to be harassed online than men), LGBTQs (at risk for bullying or worse — and already likely to look on Diaspora* favorably because gender is a text field), and activists could be good groups to start with. There are lots of other possibilities as well.
An interesting next few months …
Needless to say, these suggestions are only the tip of the iceberg. There’s a ton of stuff that needs to be done on the product side, including dealing with questions about security.. And there’s plenty of marketing as well. In a comment on an earlier draft of this post, Dan Tynan suggested “Get Robert Scoble to be your cheerleader. Or Om Malik, or Guy Kawasaki, or one of those other guys.” Indeed! And maybe also some women …
Will the Diaspora* team and community step up to the challenge? I’m optimistic. As I said in A crucial time for Diaspora*
There are plenty of people (including me!) who are passionate about what open-source distributed social networks mean for intellectual freedom. And just as importantly, there are plenty of people (also including me!) whose social networking needs aren’t being met right now.
One way or another, it’ll be an interesting time for Diaspora* over the next few months. Stay tuned!
jon
image from Giorgio * via Diaspora*
* Ardith Goodwin is piloting this on Google+; free-association.net, and no doubt other sites, have used similar approaches in the past.
** Speaking of which, even a limited read-only API that’s likely to change over time can lead to exciting apps like Mohamed Mansour’s Stream+, developed and released the same day Google published their API. I realize that API design is challenging, but at this there’s a lot of value in something that’s temporary and “good enough”.
*** Cindy Brown suggested WordPress as a model on G+; Dan Patterson goes into more detail in a comment on Read Write Web, andKingston Stockade Football Club Fan Contest
Stockade FC fans are looking for a group name — and they need your help!
This contest is now closed!
Thanks for joining us at the Stockade FC tryouts at Dietz Stadium on Saturday, March 19, for the official announcement on the new fan club name — The Dutch Guard!
And congratulations to our grand prize winner, Elizabeth White of Kingston, who scored herself two passes — graciously hand-modeled above by team chairman and founder Dennis Crowley himself — to the Stockade Football Club’s inaugural season.
Want to buy season passes? Ask your friendly barkeep at Keegan Ales in Kingston: www.keeganales.com.
To buy sweet Stockade FC merch and stay updated on team news, visit www.stockadefc.com.
How to vote: Select the star ( ) next to your favorite of the three options below, which were nominated by Kingston Stockade FC Supporter Group’s Facebook fans.
What if I don’t like those? Suggest a new name in the box provided. Make sure you select the star ( ) next to that option!
How the group name is chosen: The name that receives the most votes or write-ins wins, and will be announced March 19 at KSFC’s first public try-out sesh.
What’s in it for me? Bragging rights — and TWO season passes to the Kingston Stockade Football Club. Everyone who voted for the winning group name is entered into a random drawing on March 21.
About Kingston Stockade Football Club: Established by Foursquare founder Dennis Crowley, Kingston Stockade FC is a new soccer team based in Kingston, New York. Read our exclusive Q&A with Crowley here.The March for Science will take place in Washington, D.C., on April 22, 2017.
Updated April 20, 2017: The March for Science in Washington D.C. has released a list of speakers and special guests who will be at the event, although a schedule of when those people will be appearing has not yet been released. See below for more details.
On April 22 (Earth Day), scientists and science advocates will gather in Washington, D.C., for the first-ever March for Science, as a show of support for science, science research and funding for science. For space fans considering attending the march in Washington, D.C., or one of the satellite marches, here are a few things to know.
Details about the March for Science in Washington, D.C., can be found on the March for Science main website. The event will feature a slate of speakers, including science outreach guru Bill Nye, who is one of three honorary co-chairs for the event.
As of April 20, satellite marches are scheduled to take place in over 370 cities around the country and 140 additional locations worldwide. You can find a complete list of satellite march locations on the March for Science website. [Bill Nye Has an Exclusive 'Science Is Universal' Shirt for the March for Science]
What is the March for Science?
The March for Science "will be a call for politicians to implement science-based policies, as well as a public celebration of science and the enormous public service it provides in our democracy, our economy and our daily lives," declared the March for Science organizers on the event's mission website.
The March for Science was first proposed on a Reddit message board in January, following the success of the Women's March on Washington, D.C. That event also spawned dozens of satellite marches worldwide, drawing millions of supporters. Support for the March for Science has also been motivated by significant cuts to national science programs proposed by the Trump administration, as well as concerns that the president is not committed to fighting climate change by curbing the country's greenhouse gas emissions.
"The application of science to policy is not a partisan issue," reads part of the mission statement for the march. "Anti-science agendas and policies have been advanced by politicians on both sides of the aisle, and they harm everyone — without exception. Science should neither serve special interests nor be rejected based on personal convictions. At its core, science is a tool for seeking answers. It can and should influence policy and guide our long-term decision-making."
Why should space fans attend the March?
Many people view the March for Science as a way for members of the scientific community and the general public to show policy makers and the world that science needs political and financial support. Over 100 scientific member organizations and societies, including the American Astronomical Society, have stated their support for the March for Science.
"We unite as a diverse, nonpartisan group to call for policy makers to champion and fund science that upholds the common good and to advocate for evidence-based policies in the public interest at local, state and national levels," said the website for the Los Angeles satellite march.
In addition, some of the satellite marches will feature speakers connected to space science.
The Los Angeles satellite march boasts an impressive list of speakers, including Allison Schroeder, the Academy Award-nominated screenwriter of "Hidden Figures"; Sean Carroll, a theoretical physicist at the California Institute of Technology and author of multiple popular books about cosmology; and Farisa Morales, an astrophysicist and professor at California State University, Northridge, and Moorpark College in California, who also worked at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory on the Spitzer Space Telescope. In San Francisco, Adam Savage, co-host of the "MythBusters" TV show, will join the slate of speakers. Updated April 20, 2017: Garrett Reisman, former NASA astronaut and current director of space operations at SpaceX, will be driving an electric hummer leading the march to City Hall in Los Angeles, the Los Angeles march organizers told Space.com.
Updated April 20, 2017: At the March for Science in Washington, D.C., the morning program will be cohosted by Questlove, best known as the bandleader for the musical group The Roots, and science communciator Derek Muller, creator of the YouTube channel Veritasium. Six additional speakers have been announced for the event, including James Balog, founder of the Extreme Ice Survey and Earth Vision Institute, and Megan Smith, the first female U.S. Chief Technology Officer and Assistant to the President under Barack Obama.
Many of the other satellite marches have yet to announce their speaker lineups, so keep an eye on the specific march websites for updates.
Do I need a ticket to attend one of the marches?
No tickets are required for the March for Science in Washington, D.C., but the organizers are encouraging people to register if they plan to attend, so the organizers can anticipate the size of the crowd. You can also use the March for Science registration page to register for satellite marches.
What time is the march?
The Washington, D.C., March for Science kicks off at 9 a.m. with a series of "teach-ins." During these presentations, "scientists, educators and leaders from a wide variety of disciplines will discuss their work, effective science communication strategies and training in public advocacy," according to the website.
The D.C. main-stage rally program begins at 10 a.m., and the march itself begins at 2 p.m. Details about the route that the march will take have not yet been released. For more information about accessibility, what to bring and where to find food, water and bathrooms, visit the March website.
Satellite marches will follow their own timelines, so check the individual march websites or Facebook pages for details about when to show up and other practical information.
For even more information about the March for Science, check out this article from our sister site, Livescience.com.
Follow Calla Cofield @callacofield. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.Proposition 65 (formally titled The Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986) is a California law passed by direct voter initiative in 1986 by a 63%–37% vote. Its goals are to protect drinking water sources from toxic substances that may cause cancer and birth defects and to reduce or eliminate exposures to those chemicals generally, for example in consumer products, by requiring warnings in advance of those exposures.
Introduction [ edit ]
Proposition 65 is administered by Cal/EPA's California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA).[1] Proposition 65 regulates substances officially listed by California as having a 1 in 100,000 chance of causing cancer over a 70-year period or birth defects or other reproductive harm in two ways. The first statutory requirement of Proposition 65 prohibits businesses from knowingly discharging listed substances into drinking water sources, or onto land where the substances can pass into drinking water sources. The second prohibits businesses from knowingly exposing individuals to listed substances without providing a clear and reasonable warning.[2]
An official list of substances covered by Proposition 65 is maintained and made publicly available. Chemicals are added to or removed from the official list based on California's analysis of current scientific information. All substances listed show their known risk factors, a unique CAS chemical classification number, the date they were listed, and, if so, whether they have been delisted.[3]
1986 Protest against Proposition 65
Proposition 65 remains politically controversial even after more than 30 years, in large part because, in effect, it puts the burden of proof on business instead of government to make a key scientific determination about safety levels for specific cancer- and birth defect-causing chemicals that the businesses are knowingly exposing members of the public to.[4] According to the California Environmental Protection Agency, "Proposition 65 has... increased public awareness about the adverse effects of exposures to listed chemicals.... [and] provided an incentive for manufacturers to remove listed chemicals from their products.... Although Proposition 65 has benefited Californians, it has come at a cost for companies doing business in the state."[5] The law has also been criticized for the proliferation of "bounty hunter" lawsuits. Attorneys have collected more than two-thirds of the money paid by businesses to settle Proposition 65 lawsuits since 2000.[6][7]
Proposition 65's effectiveness also remains controversial despite its documented accomplishments, with some pointing out the lack of any studies suggesting a decrease in cancer rates in the state.[8]
Rationale and enumerated rights [ edit ]
In addition to amending the California Health and Safety Code, Proposition 65 contained the following language in the 1986 ballot initiative:[9]
SECTION 1. The people of California find that hazardous chemicals pose a serious potential threat to their health and well-being, that state government agencies have failed to provide them with adequate protection, and that these failures have been serious enough to lead to investigations by federal agencies of the administration of California's toxic protection programs. The people therefore declare their rights:
(a) To protect themselves and the water they drink against chemicals that cause cancer, birth defects, or other reproductive harm.
(b) To be informed about exposures to chemicals that cause cancer, birth defects, or other reproductive harm.
(c) To secure strict enforcement of the laws controlling hazardous chemicals and deter actions that threaten public health and safety.
(d) To shift the cost of hazardous waste cleanups more onto offenders and less onto law-abiding citizens.
The people hereby enact the provisions of this initiative in furtherance of their rights.
The Legislature's 2003 amendments to Proposition 65 contained the statement that the changes "further the purposes of the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986."[10]
Enforcement [ edit ]
Enforcement is carried out through civil lawsuits against Proposition 65 violators. These lawsuits may be brought by the California Attorney General, any district attorney, or certain city attorneys (those in cities with a population exceeding 750,000). Lawsuits may also be brought by private parties "acting in the public interest," but only after providing notice of the alleged violation to the Attorney General, the appropriate district attorney and city attorney, and the business accused of the violation.
A Proposition 65 Notice of Violation must provide adequate information to allow the recipient to assess the nature of the alleged violation. A notice must comply with the information and procedural requirements specified in regulations. A private party may not pursue an enforcement action directly under Proposition 65 if one of the government officials noted above initiates an action within sixty days of the notice. After 2003, private enforcers must also serve a certificate of merit (statement of expert consultation(s) supporting belief of reasonable and meritorious private action) as a means of preventing frivolous enforcement actions.
A business found to be in violation of Proposition 65 is subject to civil penalties of up to $2,500 per day for each violation. In addition, the business may be ordered by a court of law to stop committing the violation.[11] Other penalties may apply, including unfair business practices violations as limited under California Proposition 64 (2004).
Businesses can become compliant by learning upfront whether or not their products contain chemicals that match the current Proposition 65 list of 910 chemicals. Users can do this by searching in a Microsoft Excel[12] chemical list or a website offering the search by chemical name or CAS Number.[13] Product manufacturers may also learn if a chemical in their products has been removed from the Proposition 65 list, such as saccharin, removed December 2010.[14] Alternatively, they can post generic Prop 65 warnings just in case their products contain any listed chemicals.
Accomplishments [ edit ]
Proposition 65 has caused large numbers of consumer products to be reformulated to remove toxic ingredients, as documented in settlements of enforcement actions.[15] The law's author has noted that many more product reformulations have taken place "invisibly," because of Proposition 65's incentive to reduce toxic exposures in advance of enforcement, and that product reformulations have benefitted consumers nationwide, not just in California.[16]
In the law's first 10 years of operation, emissions of its listed chemicals into the air were reduced much more in California (~85%) than in the rest of the U.S.(~50%), as tracked by the U.S. Toxics Release Inventory.[17] California's air emissions during the same period of other toxic chemicals, also tracked by TRI but not on the Proposition 65 list, declined by only the national average,[18] strongly indicating that Proposition 65 was the cause of the difference.
Proposition 65 has also caused government and industry to cooperate on scientific issues of chemical risk, resulting in risk-based standards for 282 toxic chemicals in the law's first few years of operation, an accomplishment described by a Governor's Task Force as "100 years of progress [by federal standards] in the areas of hazard identification, risk assessment, and exposure assessment." [19]The existence of clear numerical standards has significantly assisted efforts to comply with the law, and to enforce it in situations of non-compliance.
Notably, nearly all of the reductions in toxic exposures caused by Proposition 65 have occurred in areas also subject to federal laws and regulations intended to control toxic chemicals, reductions which those federal controls had failed to achieve.[20]
It has also started a cottage industry of frivolous lawsuits against any and all products marketed in California, effectively making all products sold liable for litigation. The upshot being that many products are now labeled with the warning though that product may not necessarily be carcinogenic or cause reproductive harm. [21].
Warning label [ edit ]
California Proposition 65 Warning
The following warning language is standard on products sold in California if they contain chemicals on the Proposition 65 list and the amount of exposure caused by the product is not within defined safety limits.
WARNING: This product contains chemicals known to the State of California to cause cancer and birth defects or other reproductive harm.
The wording can be changed as necessary, so long as it communicates that the chemical in question is known to the state to cause cancer, or birth defects or other reproductive harm. For exposures from other sources, such as car exhaust in a parking garage, a standard sign might read: "This area contains chemicals known to the State of California to cause cancer, or birth defects or other reproductive harm".[22]
Abuse [ edit ]
A vague Prop 65 warning sign at Disneyland Resort
Some businesses in the state post similar notices on their premises, even when they have not evaluated the actual level of risk from a listed chemical they know is present.[23] Warning signs are often posted at gas stations,[24] hardware suppliers,[25] grocery stores, drug stores, medical facilities, and many other businesses.[26][27] Government agencies,[28] parking garages, hotels,[27] apartment complexes,[29] retail stores,[30] banks, and restaurants[31] also post warning signs because of the possibility of hazardous chemicals being present in everyday items or the nearby environment. Some large businesses, such as utility companies, mail a Prop 65 notice to all customers each year to warn them of dangerous substances like natural gas[32] or the sand used in sandblasting.[33]
There is no penalty for posting an unnecessary warning sign.[34] Because of the overuse of the vague warning, the ubiquitous signs ultimately communicate very little information to the end user.[24][35] This problem has been recognized by California courts,[36][37] advocates,[24][38] and businesses.[27]
Political controversy over the law, including industry attempts to have it preempted by federal law, have died down, although preemption bills continue to be introduced in the U.S. Congress, most recently H.R. 6022 [39] (introduced June 6, 2018). However, enforcement actions remain controversial. Most of the Proposition 65 complaints are filed on behalf of straw man plaintiffs by private attorneys, some of whose businesses are built entirely on filing Proposition 65 lawsuits.[36][40][41]
Proposition 65 has also been criticized because the majority of settlement money collected from businesses has been used to pay plaintiffs' attorney fees.[42] Businesses paid over $14.58 million in attorney fees and costs in 2012, 71% of all settlement money paid.[43]
Labeling requirements conceded the reality that listing and classifying substances did not help the consumer if the contents of a purchase were unknown. At the same time, there were no other labeling requirements to support the proposition. Industry critics and corporate defense lawyers charge that Proposition 65 is "a clever and irritating mechanism used by litigious NGOs and others to publicly spank politically incorrect opponents ranging from the American gun industry to seafood retailers, etc."[44]
In addition, because the law allows private citizens to sue and collect damages from any business violating the law, there have been cases of lawyers and law firms using Proposition 65 to force monetary settlements out of California businesses.[45] The Attorney General's office has cited several instances of settlements where plaintiff attorneys received significant awards without providing for environmental benefit to the people of California, resulting in the requirement of the Attorney General's approval of pre-trial Proposition 65 settlements.[46] The Attorney General also objected to efforts in settlements between private parties to pre-empt the Attorney General's right and duty to protect the public interest |
But the information is still being recorded, presumably in perpetuity. That means that if a government or human resources researcher or plain old enemy wants to get a hold of it, it is possible.An archaeological expedition uncovered a church treasure of more than 1200 early Byzantine coins near the Dobrich village of Debrene, said the director of the Dobirch history museum Kostadin Kostadinov.
According to the head of the expedition Boyan Totev, this is the first such discovery in Bulgaria. He said the small amphora full of bronze Byzantine coins from the VI c. A.D. was most likely church mite, buried in the ground during an invasion of Slavs or Avars.
The discovery was made on the territory of a small fortress, most likely built in late antiquity around a basilica to protect it. The church itself was built during the late Roman empire and existed till the end of VI c. A.D.
Archaeologist have found late Roman, early Byzantine and old Bulgarian layers, as well as late Roman artifacts.A tank of the Iraqi security forces is seen in Ramadi December 24, 2015. REUTERS/Stringer
Bagdad (Reuters) - Nach tagelangen Kämpfen steht die irakische Armee nach eigenen Angaben kurz vor der vollständigen Rückeroberung der vom Islamischen Staat (IS) gehaltenen Provinzhauptstadt Ramadi.
Die Vorbereitungen für die Schlussoffensive hätten begonnen, sagte Armeesprecher Sabah al-Numani an Sonntag. Bereits am Montag könnten die Truppen den letzten Stadtbezirk wieder unter ihre Kontrolle bringen. Erschwert werde der Vormarsch allerdings durch zahlreiche Sprengfallen, die die Extremisten ausgelegt hätten. Für die Regierung in Bagdad wäre eine Rückeroberung Ramadis einer ihrer größten Erfolge im Kampf gegen den IS, seit die Miliz 2014 etwa ein Drittel des Landes unter ihre Kontrolle gebracht hat.
Die Offensive hatte am Dienstag begonnen. Luftangriffe der US-geführten Allianz unterstützen den Vormarsch der Soldaten. Am Sonntag waren sie dem Sprecher zufolge noch 300 Meter vom Sitz der Provinzregierung entfernt - dem erklärten Ziel des Angriffs. “Wir rechnen damit, das Gelände binnen 24 Stunden zu erreichen”, sagte Numani weiter. Allerdings müssten viele Sprengsätze in Häusern und am Straßenrand entschärft werden. Zudem gelte es, mit Hilfe von Luftaufklärung Selbstmord- und Autobombenanschläge zu verhindern.
Ramadi liegt rund zwei Autostunden von Bagdad entfernt. Für den IS war die Eroberung der Stadt im Mai der größte Triumph in diesem Jahr. Der Fall der Stadt galt als Beleg für die Hilflosigkeit der irakischen Armee gegenüber den Extremisten. Sollte die Rückeroberung gelingen, hätte dies deshalb auch Signalwirkung für den weiteren Kampf gegen die radikale Islamistenmiliz. Dem IS würde damit nach Tikrit im April die zweite größere Stadt entrissen. Hauptziel ist aber, die Extremisten auch aus der im vergangenen Jahr eroberten zweitgrößten irakischen Stadt Mossul sowie aus der anderen Hochburg Falludscha zu verjagen.
Auch im benachbarten Syrien gab es zuletzt Berichte über Erfolge im Kampf gegen den IS. Die von den USA unterstützte Allianz syrischer Kurden und arabischer Rebellengruppen meldeten am Samstag die Einnahme eines wichtigen Staudamms.The Early Access version of the standalone Arma 2 mod, DayZ, will be a "true-blue" alpha with many features still in progress when it hits, creator Dean Hall wrote in a recent update.
"I really can't emphasize enough — this is going to be an early access project on steam," Hall wrote. "Massive areas of the engine were entirely reworked, involving a large team of people over the last 12 months. Much of what these achievements will enable won't be seen for many months — so I really plead for anyone who is on the fence to take a skeptical approach — watch streams, read reviews, watch some let's play and form your opinion. You could always come back to the game in three, six months time and buy it then."
According to Hall, buying the early alpha "will be a recipe for disappointment" unless players are looking to be part of the entire process. The alpha is intended for those that value development as much as the whole experience.
"For many, this is the opposite of what they want," Hall wrote. "To enable a smooth launch, we really are targeting it at a core audience who want to get deeply involved in a very barebones experience that is a platform for future development."
In August, Hall told Polygon that the team no longer had release dates, but instead wanted to focus on completing the alpha. Read about the alpha's most recent changes in the full post.Getting into the head of a supposedly moderate, establishment Stupidparty leader and presidential prospect who would unwittingly (being kind) put the masses on the road to economic slavery will help us analyze this trend. Thus my chosen victim, Jeb Bush, presently unable to make overtly stupid enough remarks to the attract Stupidparty base. But he still has enough time and money to buy up a new narrative, a new Jeb. I have elsewhere discussed income discrepancy trends, trickle down, lack of health care, unnecessary misery, disease and death—issues that Jeb Bush, the Bush clan, and their vast network of influence are simply not biologically equipped to resolve. All of these self-made trends just cement second-class citizenship.
43rd governor of Florida, Jeb Bush remained in the chair from 1999 to 2007, he is a businessman and a politician as well. He is the younger brother of former American president George w. Bush. he was born in Midland Texas in 1953. To know more about him click their explanation
But how close are we actually getting to true slave labor?
I could discuss the latest tricks many companies are pulling, like abusing the system of internships. Or, I could discuss the latest fad of younger employees in the finance sector being expected to work crazy hours six days a week, and have zero personal life. This issue is getting out of control, as the trend is to expect this period of one’s life to last for one’s entire life –logically until you fall into your grave (too expensive – your incinerator). This process is now apparently being applied more and more to Amazon employees, and thus, by extension, threatening everyone else.
Then one has to consider the forces behind getting rid of the minimum wage –Unions, regulations, eroding healthcare, education, social security by trying to profitize and cut expenses (i.e. benefits) – and then there is the trend as exemplified by Texas for employers to escape their responsibilities by sidelining Workers Compensation Insurance. That is the context as we start to drill down to specifics. Let’s get back to drawing real parallels between the Bush clan and the German labor market of circa 1940.
The Jeb!!! economic plan remains the same as that of Romney and the rest. Work harder for Us, so that we can asset-strip your labor and your benefits. Jeb!!! and Co. just cannot understand basic economic theory—that trickle up works a great deal better than trickle down.
But what Jeb!!! is probably just not smart enough to have figured out, and what no Bush is now capable of comprehending, are the side effects and social implications of their blinkered and calcified worldview. No, they do not see themselves as little fascists, not in 2015 at least, but let us just look at one trend taken to its logical conclusion that should be very unnerving to any critical thinker. First, “America the free” has a problem with its absurd incarceration rates. This is fueled by an intolerant and unjust judicial system with politicians motivated to create as many criminals as possible, happily pandering to the bloodlust of their voter base and the increasing privatization /profitization of the prison system.
The Red States plus Florida drag America down to being the worst country in the world for the number of people incarcerated per 100,000. Under Jeb!!! it just got worse. And it is still climbing, to over 150,000 in 2013.
As reported from The Sentencing Project:
Florida is a leader among states in its use of imprisonment. As of 2008, there were 98,192 people held in Florida state prisons, placing the state third in the nation in its incarcerated population, trailing only California and Texas. In addition to a high number of people incarcerated, Florida also incarcerates its citizens at a high rate. The state’s rate of incarceration of 557 people per 100,000 population is 25% higher than the national average for states of 445 per 100,000.
Florida has experienced a dramatic increase in the number of persons in prison over the last two decades. Since 1988, the total number of persons in prison in Florida has nearly tripled, growing from 33,681 to 98,192; a 192% increase (see Figure 1). This exceeds the national rate of growth of 133% during the same period. The rise in incarceration in Florida has been particularly significant in recent years. Between 2000 and 2007, Florida had the fourth highest rate of growth in the country, increasing at an annual rate of 4.7%, considerably higher than the average among the states of 1.7%.
But enough regarding fascism, now is the time to get to the point. What little fascist can resist free or cheap labor, and who better to craft laws to maximize such massive and growing resources than the odious American Legislative Exchange Council, ALEC? All Americans who give a damn about their democracy should immediately get acquainted with the ALEC organization, as there are not enough adjectives to describe how truly rotten they are and the damage they have wrought.
ALEC has been the pivotal hidden hand behind the explosive growth in the prison population—pioneering brutal and absurd sentencing laws, mandatory minimums, “three strikes” sentencing, truth-in-sentencing (an Orwellian code for undermining paroles), privatizing/profitizing prisons, and overseeing the whole parole process.
Just think about the beauty of profitizing parole: every time you deny parole, you have a guaranteed repeat customer.
ALEC is sponsored in this endeavor by the Corrections Corporation of America and by Geo Group (formerly Wackenhut Corrections). Yes, you guessed it, the largest private prison firms in the country. Now, how do they make more money when, in order to avoid unfair competition between private companies, using prison labor had always been banned?
Well, it’s made easier for ALEC if you have buddies like Jeb!!! As reported by Florida Progress and others in a joint paper, ALEC’s ties to Florida are reinforced by their connection with former governor Jeb!!!’s Foundation for Excellence in Education (FEE). (FEE is also bankrolled by many of the same hard-right foundations bent on privatizing public schools that have funded ALEC.) ALEC has taken model policies from FEE and FEE has promoted policies taken from ALEC.
FEE has been, “criticized for advancing the policies to specifically benefit FEE’s funders. In Maine, FEE came under criticism for writing executive orders issued by Governor LePage, and aiding in the advancement of ALEC model legislation to open virtual schools benefiting K12.”
Long story short, ALEC and partner Jeb!!!’s goal is to get rid of public education, replacing it with charter schools and vouchers, all to profitize education, eventually dumbing down the population to toe the “Oligarchical” party line.
So, after that short digression, back to all this readily available prison labor. Now, how do you make more money? What was banned is suddenly a new commodity. In America, money can buy you anything, as lawmakers invariably bow to their larger contributors. So in steps ALEC, with its Prison Industries Enhancements Certification Program, or PIE. Ready-made draft laws created for their paid-off legislators, who are surely too busy counting their bloody money to actually bother to come up with their own thoughts on the matter. When you hear the titles of such laws, does it make you wonder if the people who dream them up have read any books (outside what they had to study for their second-rate law degrees) other than George Orwell’s 1984? Who has even heard of ALEC? Who has even heard about PIE? Well, wake up! Whatever protections might be included today in PIE will be eroded. You know why? Because PIE was created by ALEC.
As the Nation reports:
The breaded chicken patty your child bites into at school may have been made by a worker earning twenty cents an hour, not in a faraway country, but by a member of an invisible American workforce: prisoners. At the Union Correctional Facility, a maximum security prison in Florida, inmates from a nearby lower-security prison manufacture tons of processed beef, chicken and pork for Prison Rehabilitative Industries and Diversified Enterprises (PRIDE), a privately held non-profit corporation that operates the state’s forty-one work programs. In addition to processed food, PRIDE’s website reveals an array of products for sale through contracts with private companies, from eyeglasses to office furniture, to be shipped from a distribution center in Florida to businesses across the US. PRIDE boasts that its work programs are “designed to provide vocational training, to improve prison security, to reduce the cost of state government, and to promote the rehabilitation of the state inmates.”
PRIDE is big in Florida.
For example, such prison labor has become one of the largest printing outfits in the state. I wonder how many Florida jobs have been outsourced into the private prison system. Florida has forty-one prison industries. This scenario is playing out in states across the country.
But we have only just begun.
Look at this list of companies getting virtual slave labor. I say slave labor because even if the workers are getting 74 cents a day, the companies are no doubt getting some sort of tax credit for social services or whatever their lobbyists might have dreamed up when they paid off the pertinent lawmakers.
Reported by U.S. Uncut and others where indicated:
Whole Foods. The costly organic supermarket often nicknamed “Whole Paycheck” purchases artisan cheese and fish prepared by inmates who work for private companies. The inmates are paid 74 cents a day to raise tilapia that is subsequently sold for $11.99 a pound at the fashionable grocery store. McDonald’s. The world’s most successful fast-food franchise purchases a plethora of goods manufactured in prisons, including plastic cutlery, containers, and uniforms. The inmates who sew McDonald’s uniforms make even less money per hour than the people who wear them. Wal-Mart. Although their company policy clearly states that “forced or prison labor will not be tolerated by Wal-Mart,” it seems this is an empty promise. Mother Jones reports: Prisoners in for burglary, battery, drug and gun charges, and [for] escape helped build a Wal-Mart distribution center in Wisconsin in 2005, until community uproar halted the program. Wal-Mart gets produce from prison farms, where laborers are often subjected to long, arduous hours in the blazing heat without adequate sunscreen, water, or food. HuffPost enlightens: “Every year, Wal-Mart has to dispose of millions of dollars worth of customer returns, buy-backs, over-stocks, shelf-pulls, scratch-and-dent, and excess inventories. The giant retailer sells this merchandise to liquidators, who scrub the products of any Wal-Mart serial numbers and UPC bar codes, and then resell them to after-market retailers, who re-sell them to the public. “The workers used to strip these Wal-Mart products clean are often prisoner laborers, under a program made possible by the federal government. In effect, the liquidators are partially subsidized by federal taxpayers, who provide the ‘demanufacturing’ facilities, and cheap, captive labor—usually female prisoners.” Victoria’s Secret. Female inmates in South Carolina sew undergarments and casual-wear for the pricey lingerie company. In the late 1990s, 2 prisoners were placed in solitary confinement for telling journalists that they were hired to replace “Made in Honduras” garment tags with “Made in U.S.A.” tags. Victoria’s Secret has declined to comment. Aramark. This company, which also provides food to colleges, public schools and hospitals, has a monopoly on food services in about 600 prisons in the U.S. Despite this, Aramark has a history of poor food service, including a massive food shortage that caused a prison riot in Kentucky in 2009. AT&T. In 1993, the massive phone company laid off thousands of telephone operators—all union members—in order to increase their profits. Even though AT&T’s company policy regarding prison labor reads eerily like Wal-Mart’s, they have consistently used inmates to work in their call centers since ’93, barely paying them $2 a day. BP. When BP spilled 4.2 million barrels of oil into the Gulf Coast, the company sent a workforce of almost exclusively African-American inmates to clean up the toxic spill while community members, many of whom were out-of-work fisherman, struggled to make ends meet. BP’s decision to use prisoners instead of hiring displaced workers outraged the Gulf community, but the oil company did nothing to reconcile the situation.
And the winner is:
On Call: Its inmate call centers are the “best kept secret in outsourcing,” Unicor boasts. In 1994, a contractor for GOP congressional hopeful Jack Metcalf hired Washington state prisoners to call and remind voters he was pro-death penalty. Metcalf, who prevailed, said he never knew.
There is plenty more where this list comes from.
Now can you hear those echoes, those eerie echoes from the past: boots hitting the cobbled streets of Vienna, Trump supporters yelling at American citizens no less – “get out of my country,” Koch, ALEC (the American Legislative Exchange Council) and friends looking to do away with the minimum wage, with unions, with worker safety, with the Social Security safety net, with clean energy; women told to get married; efforts to make their sex lives public, do away with food stamps; people discouraged from sex education, birth control—efforts to ban abortion. Can you hear it, that echo—the echo of a Nazi economy that ended up requiring 25 percent of its labor force to be slaves; that echo from 1860, of a Confederate economy, a culture that could not contemplate a world without slaves?
So does slavery work as an economic model? It appears that it worked for the Egyptians, with their pyramids and for the Chinese with their Wall (even though that Wall had the same strategic weakness as the French maginot line). It probably worked for Stalin – a success that made Hitler envious. So, yes, it works for someone – a very singular someone. It worked for Mao so well that every single Chinese person in China was a slave to this one man’s whims. It could work for Trump—who apparently can outdo the Chinese:
“But I would build a greater wall and nobody builds walls better than me, believe me. And I’ll build them very inexpensively. I will build a great great wall on our southern border and I’ll have Mexico pay for that wall.”
Apparently Trump wants to build the second “longest Cemetery on Earth.” Over one million people died building the Chinese wall, and Trump is even more ambitious- for his wall must actually be seen from the moon, unlike the cheap Chinese version.
I mentioned the report about the Amazon work culture. Amazon is driven by geeks. These geeks have their mathematical algorithms that dictate virtually every move. Just imagine what will happen if the Amazon model is allowed to work. Then look at UBER, every one thinks that they love UBER. They think this because UBER has unlimited funds and they can create whatever narrative they want. But what is the logical end run? It will end up with UBER dominating, always able to find new people to work for less, UBER taking a bigger slice of the pie, in an unregulated environment, until they find a group of people working at a loss- either too financially oblivious to understand the true costs of running a vehicle, or that just need to get of the house. But to be fair this scenario will likely be curtailed, because in 15-20 years cars will be self driving –impacting the taxi industry first.
The funny thing is that this convergence of technology, with the erosion of democracy simply codifies the obvious. A good little fascist does not need an algorithm to figure out the end game. Perdue chicken figured this out yonks ago. Its franchisees are much the same as slave laborers –treated almost as abysmally as the chickens that are tortured throughout their lives. So maybe it’s just all karma coming back to bite us. The 99.99 percent will become the pliable chickens of a Bush, a Trump, or any other Stupidparty candidate for that matter because, with the exception of Trump, these candidates are just the puppets of their paymasters. Trump is just that singular guy, who might well be able to outdo Putin or even Mao-assuming he gets crowned for services rendered after his eight years, assumes a Putin and allows a temporary figurehead.
Now isn’t that the ultimate Irony –unfettered capitalism of America, viewing the unfettered corruption of the Russian rulers.
“voices were shouting in anger, and they were all alike. No question, now, what had happened to the faces of the pigs. The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which.” George Orwell –Animal Farm.WASHINGTON – It’s perhaps the simplest question in the Seth Rich murder mystery that everyone involved in the case won’t answer: What hospital admitted and treated the DNC staffer before a physician pronounced him dead on that fateful morning of July 10, 2016?
Now emergency responders, along with police and two local hospitals, are refusing to answer that basic question.
And the D.C. Office of the Chief Medical Examiner has reportedly refused to release Rich’s autopsy report.
WND asked officials with the D.C. Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department which local hospital its ambulance transported Rich to – MedStar Washington Hospital Center or Howard University Hospital. Both hospitals are located within a one- to two-mile radius of the shooting scene.
“We transported the patient, Priority 1, to a nearby hospital,” EMS’ public information officer Vito Maggiolo told WND Tuesday. “All further information regarding this ongoing investigation should be referred to the Metropolitan Police Department.”
Inadvertently confirming that Rich had not yet died when EMS arrived to transport him to the hospital, “Priority 1,” Maggiolo explained, is a term used to categorize patients who are in critical condition.
Maggiolo also told WND the ambulance carrying Rich took exactly 6 minutes and 40 seconds to arrive at the hospital from the scene of the shooting, at 2134 Flager Place. NW.
Howard University Hospital is three blocks east of the shooting site, and MedStar Washington Hospital Center is less than two miles to the north.
With so little traffic in the early Sunday morning hours, the ambulance could have brought Rich to either medical facility in that time period.
Sign the petition urging President Trump to press for an official investigation into the unsolved murder of DNC staffer Seth Rich.
Rich, 27, worked as the voter expansion data director at the DNC for two years. He had just accepted a job with Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign before he was murdered near his apartment in an affluent neighborhood. He was shot twice in the back, and his wallet, credit cards, watch and phone were left in his possession. Still, the Metropolitan Police Department has described it as a “botched robbery.”
Rich was “very aware, very talkative” when emergency responders were on the scene, according to the DNC staffer’s brother, Aaron Rich.
“They were very surprised he didn’t make it,” Aaron said emergency responders told him, according to the Washington Post. “He was very aware, very talkative. Yep, that was 100 percent my brother.”
The Post reported that Rich’s parents were told their son “didn’t know he’d been hit in the back by two bullets.”
“He wasn’t in pain, they were told,” according to the paper. “But he was confused. When Seth Rich was asked where he lived, he gave a previous address …”
WND asked EMS to provide details about Rich’s condition when he was picked up, whether he was able to talk and, if so, did he say anything about his attackers.
Citing the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, also known as HIPAA, Maggiolo declined specifics.
As WND reported, Rich was likely admitted to either MedStar Washington Hospital Center or Howard University Hospital, but those hospitals refuse to answer if Rich was treated in their facility.
Sign the petition urging President Trump to press for an official investigation into the unsolved murder of DNC staffer Seth Rich.
Furthermore, a police report issued by the Metropolitan Police Department indicates that Rich was “conscious and breathing” when law-enforcement authorities arrived on the scene. However, the report doesn’t name the hospital where Rich was treated or name the physician at the hospital who pronounced Rich dead. The report states:
CIC reports the sound of gunshots at 2134 Flagler Pl. NW. Upon arriving to the scene, the decedent was laying in the Southwest corner of the intersection of W. St. and Flagler Pl. NW. The decedent was conscious and breathing with apparent gunshot wound(s) to the back. The decedent was transported to local area hospital and was pronounced dead by attending physician at 0557 hours.
When WND sought an interview with hospital officials and a media representatives of MedStar Washington Hospital Center, administrators refused to answer questions and instead summoned security guards. WND also called and emailed both hospitals.
MedStar’s director of media relations, So Young Pak, would not confirm whether Rich was treated at the hospital. Pak also said the hospital cannot release information about any patient and cited HIPAA.
“I am not permitted to reveal any information about any patient of this hospital, whether that patient is living or deceased,” Pak told WND. “Journalists are not permitted in any hospital in the nation unless escorted by a director of media relations.”
Pressed to merely confirm whether Rich was admitted and treated at MedStar, Pak said, “All information is subject to federal privacy laws, and thus we cannot respond to the question.”
In general, under HIPAA, hospitals may disclose basic directory information about patients, such as condition or location within a hospital, to anyone who asks about the patient by name, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. A hospital may also say if a patient has been “treated and released,” or if the patient has died. However, patients and their families can opt out of providing any information at all.
Howard University Hospital also declined to respond to WND’s multiple requests for confirmation that Rich was treated in its facility.
Instead, Howard University spokesman Sholnn Freeman told WND by phone, “Um, I’m not prepared to answer this right now.”
When WND inquired about whether Freeman would have the information at a later time, he simply replied, “You can follow up with me.”
Sign the petition urging President Trump to press for an official investigation into the unsolved murder of DNC staffer Seth Rich.
In yet another twist in the mysterious case, WJLA-TV 7 investigative reporter Scott Taylor says the D.C. Office of the Chief Medical Examiner has denied his Freedom of Information Act Request for Rich’s autopsy report.
The denial stated: “Autopsy reports (including autopsy photographs and toxicology reports) are only subject to release pursuant to D.C. Official Code § 5-1412(b) and (c). Regulation 28 DCMR § 5005.3 prescribes the conditions for release of those records as follows: written authorization from the next-of-kin for the autopsy report, serving a subpoena on the OCME custodian of records, or pursuant to a court order if the court is satisfied that such person has a legitimate interest. As such, the requested records are exempted from the release pursuant to D.C. Official Code § 5-534(2). Importantly, the Mayor’s Office of Legal Counsel recebtly affirmed the OCME’s decision to withhold autopsy related records in accordance with the earlier referenced exemption …”
Taylor posted the following denial letter to Twitter on June 3:
Meanwhile, Americans have been hunting for clues and searching for answers to a myriad of questions surrounding the unsolved murder. Rumors and speculation are running wild in online chat rooms, social media and websites. Some social media users have even speculated that Rich was killed at one of the D.C. hospitals.
One America News claims the attending physician who treated Rich was Dr. Jack Sava, a donor to Hillary Clinton’s campaign, who visited the White House six times before the day of Seth Rich’s murder. But WND has been unable to verify whether it was actually Dr. Sava who treated Rich.
WND called Dr. Sava, one of 80 doctors who specialize surgery at MedStar Health, multiple times to ask him if he operated on Rich. But WND was unable to reach the physician, and his office has not returned messages.
WND has launched a GoFundMe campaign to get to the bottom of the Seth Rich murder. Help us find out what really happened to the DNC staffer!
Dr. Sava is in a relationship with Lisa Kountoupes, a lobbyist for the DNC in 2016 who reportedly visited the White House 23 times during that same time period. They both reportedly visited the East Wing, reserved for then-first lady Michelle Obama and her staff.
WikiLeaks emails reveal Kountoupes co-hosted a Feb. 22, 2016, fundraiser with Tony and John Podesta, Hillary Clinton’s 2016 national campaign chairman. Kountoupes and Dr. Sava were also listed on a guest list attached to a Feb. 7, 2016, email to John Podesta. Kountoupes is listed among Clinton Foundation contributors in the $10,0001-$25,000 donation bracket.
WND repeatedly has been directed to the Metropolitan Police Department by the FBI, EMS, hospitals and others. The Metropolitan Police Department and Washington, D.C., mayor’s office maintain that Rich was killed during an attempted robbery, even though the murderers left behind his wallet, credit cards and other valuables.
Rich’s story has been largely ignored by establishment media. Those who have called attention to the suspicious circumstances surrounding the murder have been branded “conspiracy theorists,” including Fox News host Sean Hannity.
Sign the petition urging President Trump to press for an official investigation into the unsolved murder of DNC staffer Seth Rich.
Authorities say that he also had bruises on his hands, knees and face and appeared to have been in a scuffle with his attackers. Yet, no DNA evidence has emerged from that apparent altercation.
Jack Burkman, the head of a private investigative team in Washington, D.C., trying to solve Rich’s the murder, insists that officials with the Metropolitan Police Department are deliberately withholding information about Rich’s case from the public and have been directed to stop the investigation by Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser.
“The police have shut down all full operations,” Burkman told WND. “The police are not cooperating with us or anyone, which is sad. This has become a very systematic and deliberate effort by the D.C. police and the mayor to end the Seth Rich investigation.”
The Metropolitan Police Department disputed these allegations, warning that the department does “not entertain conspiracy theories and does not engage with conspiracy theorists.”
Responding to claims that Bowser instructed the Metropolitan Police Department to stop investigating Rich’s murder, the mayor’s office insisted to WND that Rich was killed in an attempted robbery.
On July 22, just 12 days after Rich’s death, WikiLeaks released 20,000 emails that it may have obtained from Rich proving the Democratic National Committee conspired to sabotage Bernie Sanders’ candidacy and secure Hillary Clinton’s nomination, leading to Debbie Wasserman Schulz’s resignation as the DNC chairperson.
Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, suggested that Rich was one of his sources and insisted that Rich’s murder had nothing to do with a robbery.
“Our whistleblowers go to significant efforts significant efforts to get us material, and often very significant risks as a 27-year-old that works for the DNC who was shot in the back – murdered just two weeks ago for unknown reasons as he was walking down the street in Washington,” Assange said in an interview last August.
“We have to understand how high the stakes are in the United States and that our sources are – our sources face serious risks. That is why they come to us, so that we can protect their anonymity,” he continued.
WikiLeaks issued a $20,000 reward for information leading to conviction for the murder of rich last August.
ANNOUNCE: WikiLeaks has decided to issue a US$20k reward for information leading to conviction for the murder of DNC staffer Seth Rich. — WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) August 9, 2016
WND reported that more than 50,000 Americans are now urging President Trump to press for an official investigation into the unsolved murder of DNC staffer Seth Rich.
Tens of thousands of Americans have signed a White House petition calling for the appointment of a special prosecutor to investigate the case. The petition, which was created May 19, presently has more than half the signatures required – with a goal of 100,000 by June 18 – to receive a response from the White House.
Sign the petition urging President Trump to press for an official investigation into the unsolved murder of DNC staffer Seth Rich.
WND also asked 125 members of Congress to weigh in on the unsolved murder, but not a single U.S. representative has agreed to address the case.
As WND reported, a manager at Lou’s City Bar, the last known location where Rich was seen before his murder, claims police never interviewed the bar’s staff or requested evidence, such as footage from security cameras. And police never questioned Rich’s DNC co-workers.
Burkman, who is offering a $105,000 reward for anyone with information about Rich’s murderer(s), revealed that a burglar broke into an FBI vehicle and stole weapons – including a.40 caliber Glock-22 handgun and a Rock River Arms Rifle – hours before Rich was shot multiple times just two miles north of the weapons theft. Burkman has filed a lawsuit suing the MPD for ballistics reports that would indicate whether the two crimes are in any way connected. The text of Burkman’s lawsuit, filed May 31 in the District of Columbia Superior Court, can be read here.
WND has launched a GoFundMe campaign to get to the bottom of the Seth Rich murder. Help us find out what really happened to the DNC staffer!Consider this parable about “no-kill” policies: You’re walking next to a river and you see a kitten floating past. You jump in and save the kitten. Then another one floats by, so you save that one, too. Then another and another and another float by, and you soon realize that you can’t save them all. So you run upstream to see who’s throwing kittens into the water—and you stop that person.
Thousands of unwanted, abandoned, neglected, and stray animals pour into animal shelters across the country every day—far outnumbering the good homes available to take them in. But instead of “going upstream,” i.e., instead of working to address the source of the problem, which is the runaway animal birth rate, people are being pressured into focusing on the symptoms. We can end the cycle of animal births, homelessness, and deaths, but we must address the root cause instead of flailing in the water, pulling out one kitten at a time while so many others float by, and screaming that others in the water with us aren’t saving enough kittens.
IS ‘RESCUE’ WORK FIXING THE HOMELESS-ANIMAL CRISIS?
Finding homes for needy dogs and cats is gratifying, but to use another apt analogy, it’s like bailing out a sinking ship with a teaspoon: The boat will still go down unless we fix the gaping hole in the bottom. Finding a home for one dog may save one life, but sterilizing one dog will save hundreds, if not thousands, of dogs’ lives by preventing generations of potentially homeless puppies from being born. Getting a spay/neuter law passed saves even more lives. Stopping the problem at its source is where our time, energy, and funds are needed most. That is how we can drastically reduce—and hopefully end—the homeless-animal crisis and the need for euthanasia.
Many groups striving to go “no-kill” use limited resources to provide temporary care; ship dogs and cats across the country (even though every state struggles with the same crisis); close their doors to the neediest animals—those who are in danger of abuse or are injured, sick, elderly, or aggressive; and even attack open-admission shelters that must euthanize animals.
“No-kill” rhetoric lets the real culprits of the overpopulation crisis—greedy breeders and the “pet” trade—off the hook and keeps them laughing all the way to the bank. We must place and support ads that tell the truth: that breeders and pet shops are the ones that kill … shelter dogs’ chances of finding a home.
THE DEADLY CONSEQUENCES OF ‘NO-KILL’ POLICIES
It’s appalling to contemplate, but when shelters give in to pressure to go “no-kill” before they have overcome the breeding and selling of animals in their communities and before establishing sufficient spaying and neutering services, the results are often far worse for animals than a peaceful death through euthanasia. Here’s what happens:
Animals are turned away at the shelter door, but they don’t magically vanish. “No-kill” shelters are usually at capacity, so they stop taking in animals, including those in emergency or abusive situations. As just one example, someone turning three dogs in to an open-admission shelter in Mississippi told a reporter, “It was either that or shoot them.”
“No-kill” shelters are usually at capacity, so they stop taking in animals, including those in emergency or abusive situations. As just one example, someone turning three dogs in to an open-admission shelter in Mississippi told a reporter, “It was either that or shoot them.” Animals still die—but in pain. Instead of a peaceful death in a caring person’s arms, animals die slowly and in agony on the streets, in backyards, under sheds, on chains, and at the hands of abusive people. In San Antonio, Texas—which is striving to be a “no-kill” city—the bodies of nearly 16 |
bushes; it’s just that I don’t go out looking for them. But they often hit me over the head.”
Takeaway point:
One of the best traits of a street photographer is to be curious. And slightly nosy.
So if you don’t know what to shoot on the streets, look for people in public having conversations with each other. This often leads to interesting hand gestures, facial expressions, and random happenings. Stick around them, and wait for any “decisive moments” that happen. And in that moment, shoot.
14. Don’t explain photos
Much of Richard Kalvar’s images have a great deal of mystery. When I look at his images as a viewer, I am quite curious of the back-story.
However Kalvar doesn’t like explaining the back-story of his photos, because he feels it kills the mystery of the shot. He explains in the interview with Blake Andrews:
Blake: “Can I ask about one specific photo, the woman eating a popsicle near the foot? That photo was sort of the entrée into your work for me. After I saw it I got very excited and looked up all your work. This was maybe 10 years ago. What was going on there?”
Kalvar: “First let me address the question “What was going on there?” in general. I try to avoid answering, because when I do, people generally stop looking and turn the page. If you kill the magic and the mystery, what’s left but humdrum reality? But just between you and me and the millions of people who read your blog, there was a woman eating a popsicle, a guy playing the guitar, and a another one taking a sunbath on the roof of his beat-up station wagon. He was kind of beat up, too.”
Kalvar continues by explaining how he likes to keep his images open-ended, for the viewers to come up with their own interpretations:
“It’s tempting to satisfy people’s curiosity as to what was “really going on” in a scene, but it always leaves a bad taste in my mouth. If there’s a mystery, the viewer should try to unravel it for him- or herself, subjectively, through intelligence, imagination and association. I want people to keep looking, not just move on to the next thing.“
Kalvar ends by sharing another tip: a great way to make more engaging photos is to tell lies:
“That’s part of the magic of photography. Look at a picture and you have no idea what was going on. The only thing you can know is what’s visually depicted, and we all know photographers lie. That’s where the fun comes in. To be able to tell a lie with “reality” is a very tough trick.”
Takeaway point:
One thing that annoys me is when I see elaborate back-stories being explained in photographs in captions on Facebook or Flickr. Although I do love hearing the backstory, I feel it kills some of the magic in a photograph. I like the sense of mystery, and being able to come up with my own little story in my head.
I generally recommend most photographers to title or caption their photos simply: location and date. That provides enough context to the scene, but also leaves the image open-ended enough.
Know that the most interesting photos are the ones that tend to have mystery. Know that in street photography, you don’t need to feel obligated to tell “truths.” All photos are a fabrication of the way we see reality. So in a sense, they are all “lies.” But make interesting lies with your images– that create a sense of wonderment, curiosity, and excitement in your viewers.
15. On the definition of “street photography”
Kalvar expands on how he personally feels when people describe his work as “street photography”:
“I’m not crazy about the term “street photography” to describe what I do, because it’s not necessarily done on the street. The pictures can be taken on a farm, at the zoo, in an office, and so on. Let’s say we consider the general category of “unposed pictures of people” (or sometimes animals or even inanimate objects when they happen to be possessed by human souls), and then the subcategory “with nothing particularly important going on.””
Kalvar says if he could define what he likes to do, it is to play with reality and drama in everyday life:
“If we further narrow it down to the “play” sub-subcategory, we get into the domain I’ve worked in for forty years. That’s what I like to do: play with ordinary reality, using unposed actors who are oblivious to the dramas I’ve placed them in.”
How does Kalvar define “street photography”? He shares that he doesn’t think street photography necessarily has to be done on the streets:
“The kind of photography I do for pleasure is generally called “Street Photography”, but no one who actually does it limits himself or herself to the street. We take pictures wherever we find them, and whether it’s on the street or on a farm or at a wedding makes no difference.”
However an important distinction Kalvar gives is the difference between candid and posed images:
“The key distinction is not between “street and “non-street”, but between “found” and “set up”.”
The last important difference Kalvar brings up is when photography is “acceptable” or not. For example, in the streets versus private events:
“There’s another useful distinction to be made, between situations where it’s acceptable to take pictures and those where it’s not. Walking around sticking your camera in people’s faces when they don’t know what you’re up to is risky business; photographing at a wedding is generally not (although I photographed at a wedding in Naples in 2011 and got an awful lot of funny looks…).”
Takeaway point:
Richard Kalvar isn’t a stickler when it comes to defining street photography. For himself, he likes to take unposed photos in public areas (not necessarily the streets). He also likes to create a sense of drama in his images.
However what I love about him is that he allows other street photographers the flexibility to shoot however they would like to. He could care less where and how photographers shoot. But he does bring up the important distinction between candid vs posed shots, and photos on the streets versus “acceptable” situations.
At the end of the day, shoot whatever interests you. Don’t care if it is called “street photography” or not. Create your own personal definition for street photography and disregard what others say.
16. Travel a lot
What advice does Kalvar have for photographers starting off? He stresses the importance of traveling:
“Travel a lot; try to go to places where interesting things might happen. In the late 60s, after I worked for Jerome Ducrot, I saved up a little money and came to Europe to hitchhike with the camera he gave me as a present, and a couple of lenses. I wasn’t there to photograph –[traveling round Europe] was one of the things that people did back then. I started taking a few pictures. I wouldn’t say it was a project, but by the time I went back, after 10 months, I was a photographer. That’s the thing that changed my life the most, that trip.“
Takeaway point:
You don’t need to travel to become a great street photographer. But if you are starting off in photography– traveling is a great way to get your feet wet. It is a great opportunity to travel, meet new people, see new sights, and feed your visual palette.
So rather than saving up money to buy that new camera or lens, invest the funds for experiences. Rather than using that $1000 for gear, use it for a round-trip ticket to somewhere in the world. Use that money to travel and see the world. That will be the best experience money can buy, and which will truly help your photography.
17. On “Decisive Moments”
In street photography, we talk a lot about “decisive moments.” What does Kalvar think about “the decisive moment?” He dispels some notions, and shares how “the decisive moment” is a very personal and subjective thing. What may be “decisive” to you, may not be “decisive” to me. Kalvar shares:
“At the last Magnum annual meeting in Arles, at the end of June, we were looking at portfolios of potential nominees. During the projection of the portfolio of a photographer who had a lot of pictures of meaningless moments, I remarked that I was tired of seeing pictures where there would be no apparent difference if the picture had been taken a second before or a second after. One of my colleagues said with a derisive and dismissive snort, “Oh, he still believes in the Decisive Moment!”.”
However Kalvar explains the irony– that all photographers are looking for some kind of “decisive moments”:
“I looked around the room (with my mind’s eye, that is) and I saw that almost all of us, the ones that photograph humans and animals, at least, are looking for the decisive moment. Anyone can photograph indecisive moments; of what interest could it possibly be to look at the photographs of 7 billion people photographing just anything? What about the photographers who still believe in the interestingly or well-composed picture, the one that really grabs you? How old-fashioned!”
Kalvar paints two conclusions regarding the decisive moment. The first is how subjective a “decisive moment” can be:
1.”The first is that the moment that Henri Cartier-Bresson thought was decisive is not the same decisive moment for everyone. Henri made rules about what should be done, but he was in fact describing what HE did. Your decisive moment is not the same as mine, but most of us are looking for a moment that is necessary for what we’re trying to do. Unnecessary moments quickly become easy, common, and boring.””
The second is how it it is important to break the rules:
2.”The second thing is that it’s sometimes good to break the rules. But if the rules are pretty good to begin with, that iconoclasm only works the first couple of times. Afterwards it’s just repetitive and uninteresting, the new and less good normal. And as I said, easy.”
Kalvar expands on the idea of having rules:
“By the way, HCB was totally opposed to cropping pictures. But he cropped [the famous photograph of the man jumping over the puddle].”
He wraps up his thoughts on the “decisive moment”:
“We each have our own criteria for the decisive moment. But in any case a second earlier or a second later and the pictures would be about as interesting as much of the stuff you currently see on walls.“
Takeaway point:
Sometimes I feel frustrated when I miss “the decisive moment” on the streets. For example, I was shooting on the streets of NYC yesterday, and missed a “decisive moment” of a man in a suit puffing a cigar. It made me angry and frustrated that I was a bit too slow. But I kept my chin up, and low and behold– 10 minutes later I see another guy in a suit smoking a cigar, and this time I got the photograph!
Know there are billions of “decisive moments” happening every second, every day, everywhere around the world. If you miss one “decisive moment” it doesn’t mean you won’t find a more interesting “decisive moment” somewhere else.
“The decisive moment” is also a very subjective thing. What you define as “the decisive moment” isn’t the same as what another person might find as “the decisive moment.”
But at the same time, don’t just try to seek “decisive moments” for the sake of them. As Kalvar recounts, many photographers are bored of just seeing cliche photos of people jumping over puddles. Rather, think about the emotion, meaning, and depth of your images. Don’t just rely on capturing some weird or wacky moments.
18. On “rules”
In photography, there are no rules. Only guidelines. However funny enough for Kalvar, following “the rules” actually helped him in his photography.
He starts off by starting with a quote from W. Eugene Smith in which he says: “I didn’t write the rules, why should I follow them?”. Kalvar shares his fascination with the quote– and how he started off by following “the rules”:
“That’s a great quote (and a fascinating interview). When I first began in photography I ingurgitated a number of rules for the worst possible reasons, which I then regurgitated in my photos. Don’t crop, shoot in black and white, don’t set up pictures… all part of the photographic zeitgeist, the Cartier-Bressonian canon.”
He also shares how photographers can get suckered into buying certain cameras, because they “should”:
“And then I ran into a friend of mine, another struggling young photographer named Nick Lawrence who was a little ahead of me at the time. He used a Leica, and when I asked him why, he said that Leica was the best, and owning one he didn’t have to think about equipment any more. That seemed to make sense to me, so I saved up and bought myself an M4. What a dumb reason to buy a camera!“
However sometimes having these “rules” can actually end up helping you:
“So there I was, equipped with the standard rules and the standard camera. Well you know, sometimes it turns out that the things that you do for the wrong reasons turn out to be the right things to do anyway. In retrospect, I’m really glad that I decided not to crop, because that developed my compositional discipline and my ability to organize a picture instinctively, in the viewfinder. It also obliged me to work very close up to my subjects in order to fill my 35mm lens frame. I had to be a toreador, not a sniper. Also, I had the feeling of doing something difficult, getting the picture right in the first place; anyone could crop a picture and find something interesting, but doing it in the camera was special. These things were essential to my photographic development.”
Kalvar also shares how working in black and white (the tradition of street photography) helped him find his own personal vision:
“As I evolved I quickly understood that what fascinated me were the differences between the frozen, isolated, silent photograph and the reality it purported to represent, and at the same time the obvious resemblances between the two. I could play with the notion that people thought that a picture was reality when of course it wasn’t. Photographing in black and white created a further level of abstraction. The black and white pushed the link but didn’t break it, and made the overall impression more dreamlike. So that rule served me well.”
The “rule” that Henri Cartier-Bresson also made in photography was to not pose photos. Even though this was restrictive, it ended up helping Kalvar in the long run:
“Since I was playing at the intersection of appearance and reality, the credibility of the reality leg was essential. Setting pictures up (or today, modifying them in Photoshop) would destroy the relationship between the two. It would cheapen my photography. By posing pictures, people like Doisneau lessened the value of their work. You never know whether they’ve set something up (easy), or found it and tamed it (hard!). Some photographers like Elliot Erwitt have managed to work successfully on the edge, but that wouldn’t be right for me.”
Lastly, the “rule” in street photography was to shoot with a Leica. However in the end, it ended up working for him too:
“Photographing with my discrete little Leica allowed me to remain unobtrusive despite being very close to my subjects, without which nothing would have been possible.”
The last quote that sums up Kalvar’s thoughts on rules is:
“I didn’t write the rules, but following them set me free.”
Kalvar also brings up some interesting caveats regarding his personal rules in his photography:
Sometimes people set pictures up FOR you, but that’s part of reality, too.
For a while, for some strange reason, I believed that you shouldn’t have people looking directly into the camera – rule 427B. That one fell by the wayside pretty quickly, as I realized that some of the best pictures were the ones where people were looking directly at you, creating a link between you and the rest of the scene. It’s okay if people look at you, as long as you don’t tell them to do it (rule 223F, paragraph 17).
Takeaway point:
Kalvar started his photography by following the “rules” of Henri Cartier-Bresson, which included shooting with a Leica, not cropping, shooting in black and white, and not posing photos.
Even though the “rules” were very restrictive– Kalvar says that having these restrictions eventually “set him free” in his photography, and helped him tremendously.
However not all of us are Henri Cartier-Bresson or Richard Kalvar. Following these “rules” won’t necessarily help all of us.
On the other hand, if you are a photographer just starting off– following some “rules” (or I like to call “guidelines”) help us in our photography. I think by creating restrictions in our work, this helps us be more creative. So it is good to start off by following the rules and guidelines of others in photography– but as time goes on, create your own set of rules.
My personal rules in street photography are below:
Don’t mix black and white and color in a series Don’t crop Don’t upload images until I let them marinate and sit for at least a month (preferably a year) Focus on projects, not single images Don’t mix digital and film in a project (sometimes I break this rule) Don’t share any images online until I have gotten critique in real-life
Don’t feel obliged to follow my “rules” in street photography– but take the pieces you like, discard the rest, and modify and remix them.
Conclusion
Richard Kalvar is a great source of inspiration and knowledge. I think my biggest take-aways from him is the importance of creating a sense of mystery in photographs, and not telling the full story. Let the viewer do the work of interpreting the photograph for themselves.
Also don’t worry too much about the definitions of “street photography” photograph what interests you, and how you like to photograph.
Lastly, make your photography personal. Shoot for yourself, be true to your own voice, and explore the world with your camera.
Videos
Earthlings by Richard Kalvar/ Magnum Photos
Bookflip: Earthlings by Richard Kalvar
Richard Kalvar: In Studio
Book
The book you must get from Richard Kavlar is: “Earthlings” — a monograph of his finest street photographs.
Related photographers
If you like the work of Richard Kalvar, here are some other street photographers whose work I would recommend:
Henri Cartier-Bresson (the master of “the decisive moment”)
Elliott Erwitt (they both share a sense of humor and quirkiness in the streets)
Richard Bram (great simply, quirky, and classic b/w street photography)
Blake Andrews(A great black and white contemporary street photographer, prolific, and extremely observant)
Links
Interesting Blog Posts by Richard KalvarOne of the primary story lines heading into Saturday's Garnet and Gold FSU Spring Game was, unsurprisingly, the quarterback battle. For the most part, the signal callers showed well. True freshman Malik Henry finished at an impressive 15-22, with a pair of scores and no picks. Meanwhile, redshirt-sophomore J.J. Cosentino failed to record a completion and wound up with a passer rating of zero-- on just four attempts. But the player who's taken the first QB reps of late garnered a good deal of attention-- and not just from the nearly 50,000 fans in attendance at Orlando's Citrus Bowl, a crowd, hours away from Tallahassee, that bested the average attendance at a 2015 Miami home game, by the way.
QB1 in Tallahassee, for weeks now, has been Orlando's own Deondre Francois, and his was the name on the tip of Head Coach Jimbo Fisher's tongue on Saturday, however thinly veiled those mentions may have been. It began at halftime, when Fisher, asked about the young quarterbacks, nevertheless responded by directing his comments squarely at Francois' play, bringing up his two costly first-half interceptions: he mentioned Francois' poor throw intended for Ryan Izzo that was intercepted, as well as referring to the former's pick tossed to linebacker Ro'Derrick Hoskins, on which Francois simply failed to see the rising Hoskins. Said Fisher: "That's part of growing up-- but he's doing some really good things."
When Fisher spoke after the game about his "two young quarterbacks," his attention centered directly on Francois and Henry, perhaps a telling sign, given how much Fisher likes to spread praise around. Noticeably absent from Fisher's compliments was Cosentino.
Still, Fisher was right back on Francois in his post-game interview-- although Henry had joined the conversation. Fisher spoke first, again, of his youngest QBs, Francois and Henry. Fisher explained, post-game, about how he liked to stand behind the huddle in spring games, because, with quarterbacks, he could "feel their presence. If they're lost. If there's no leadership." Evidently, that was not an issue on Saturday.
And achieving that presence goes so much further than most realize. If you've ever played ball, you know just how important that feel can be. Don't think for a second that Jameis Winston's success at FSU was simply due to his capability as a phenomenal passer with an occasional highlight scramble. Jameis had "it." The same "it" for which Fisher is now looking. And he saw some of that in Francois on Saturday: "I think he did a great job keeping his poise throughout the whole game."
That poise extended to the Gold squad's final touchdown, on which Francois found Auden Tate for the second time in the end zone. And here's the really interesting thing about that play: it was never drawn up to happen as it did.
Tate was supposed to run a slant, but instead pulled up. But Fisher lauded his emerging receiver's ability to adjust, as well as his quarterback's improvisation: "The play itself? It was phenomenal." Fisher continued, referring to the play as "when 12 grew up." He characterized Francois' mistakes as the red-shirt freshman trying to be "too perfect," but continued, "I was very pleased with the decisions he made in the pocket with his legs." Fisher referenced how, twice, on third downs, Francois converted by scrambling. Francois finished with 37 rushing yards.
More Fisher on Francois: "You always want everything to be perfect, when you're young; you get older, you realize, I gotta make it perfect, but, sometimes, the other team's on scholarship, too."
That sounds like a flaw with which FSU fans -- and, more importantly, Fisher -- can live. If perfection is Francois' biggest hurdle moving forward, Florida State looks to be in good shape.Julianne Moore is petitioning for her alma mater to change its name because it honors Confederate General J.E.B. Stuart, a name she finds “reprehensible.”
Stuart was an officer in the U.S. Army until he resigned and joined the Confederacy when Virginia seceded in 1861. He was promoted to major general during the Civil War, and the school was named after him when it opened in 1959 in Fairfax County.
The school’s student body is now 49 percent Hispanic, 24 percent white, 14 percent Asian and 11 percent black, the Washington Post reports.
The Oscar-winning actress attended Stuart High School in the 1970s, along with Hollywood producer Bruce Cohen. The two recently started a petition on Change.org that has collected 28,000 signatures because they think the name is offensive.
“We name our buildings, monuments, and parks after exalted and heroic individuals as a way to honor them, and inspire ourselves to do better and reach for more in our own lives,” Moore said in a statement. “It is reprehensible to me that in this day and age a school should carry and celebrate the name of a person who fought for the enslavement of other human beings.”
“I think the students of this school deserve better than that moniker.”
Cohen said that when he and Moore were students at Stuart a large Confederate flag was painted on the basketball court.
“It’s something that embarrassingly none of us stopped to think, ‘How did our school get this name?’” Cohen said. “It was more like this embarrassing shrug.”
The school removed the flag from its basketball court in 2001.
“This school is attended by a diverse group of students who should not have to attend a school that bears the name of a man who fought to keep African Americans enslaved,” the petition reads.
“The killings of nine African Americans in Charleston, South Carolina by a white supremacist who proudly flew and wore the Confederate battle flag was a tragic reminder of how these symbols of hate continue to fuel racism and violence.”
Moore and Cohen are urging the Fairfax County School Board to change the name from J.E.B. Stuart High School to Thurgood Marshall.BET's The New Edition Story mini-series has been a ratings bonanza for the network. The three-part television event has dominated social sites over it's first two nights (Jan. 24 and 25), as old fans and newcomers get to see how the dramatic story of New Edition played out throughout the 1980s and 1990s.
But one question that has consistently surfaced across social media is in regards to N.E.'s longtime lead singer, Ralph Tresvant. More than any other member, Tresvant is the voice of New Edition. Bobby Brown had his signature moments on the group's early albums, and Johnny Gill became an anchor during the group's latter years, but Ralph is the constant. It was the young Ralph who drew Michael Jackson comparisons with his high tenor, giving his youthful gusto to bubblegum anthems like "Cool It Now" and "Lost In Love," and it was Ralph balancing with Johnny that came to define New Edition's more "adult" years. But in the 1990s, as N.E. splintered into individual acts, Ralph Tresvant's success paled in comparison to Brown's, Gill's and Bell Biv DeVoe's.
But why? Why wasn't Ralph Tresvant bigger as a solo artist?
One common bit of contemporary R&B revisionism is the suggestion that Ralph Tresvant wasn't successful at all or was merely a one-hit wonder. Tresvant's self-titled 1990 debut was a platinum-selling album, and while it can't be denied that his first single "Sensitivity" was his hugest hit (it reached No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100), it wasn't his only hit. The album's second single "Stone Cold Gentleman" reached No. 2 on Billboard's R&B charts and No. 34 on the Hot 100; and the third single "Do What I Gotta Do" also reached No. 2 on the R&B charts in 1991, as did Tresvant's 1992 single "Money Can't Buy You Love," from the Damon Wayans action-comedy Mo' Money's soundtrack.
But what hurt Tresvant, at least relatively, was that his bandmates all managed to release smash albums before Ralph Tresvant ever hit stores (Gill and BBD's hit albums were out in spring 1990, Tresvant's wasn't released until that November), and the others managed to carve specific niches for themselves that set them apart from contemporaries--New Edition or otherwise. Of course, Bobby Brown had become a superstar back in 1988--his commercial success eclipsed the rest of New Edition, but Johnny Gill was able to score a platinum album and two singles in the Billboard Top Ten in the spring/summer of 1990. Gill also established himself as a quiet storm mainstay. BBD fared similarly--scoring two Top Ten hits--and, with their hip-hop-centric image, they were able to make a major impact on pop culture; everything from slang to clothing fads were inspired by BBD. Ralph was harder to define. "He does both ballads and street-sounding funk and hip-hop," his manager Larkin Arnold explained to the LA Times in 1990. "People who like New Edition are more likely to like Ralph's album."
But because of that middling approach; Tresvant didn't have BBD's cultural impact, Brown's megastardom or Gill's specified longevity. So, in 2017, it's easy to overlook the fact that Ralph Tresvant happened.
It's a bitter fact of his career that things could've been very different for Ralph. In 1987, with New Edition in a state of flux, Tresvant was plotting a solo turn. But pressures from the rest of New Edition and from their label, MCA, led to Tresvant shelving his solo project to work on N.E.'s Heart Break album. Bobby released his Don't Be Cruel album the same day that New Edition would release Heart Break ; and Don't Be Cruel would be a monster hit. The title track was the lead single and would eventually hit the Top Ten, and by the end of 1988, Brown would have two more Top Ten singles, including "My Prerogative," which hit No. 1. In the spring of 1989, he'd have two more with "Every Little Step" and "Rock Witcha;" and that summer, he scored another No. 1 with "On Our Own," the theme song from Ghostbusters II. As Ralph put his solo career on hold, he got to watch as Bobby became one of the biggest stars in music.
That's not to suggest Heart Break was some sort of consolation prize; it was a multiplatinum album that scored a Top Ten hit with "If It Isn't Love," and "Can You Stand the Rain" was a sizable chart hit. But it meant that Brown had effectively done what most of the world expected Ralph to do: become the breakout solo superstar from New Edition. Add to that the releases from Gill and BBD, and Tresvant's thunder was stolen by virtually everyone in his group.
Another factor that made Tresvant's peak relatively short was the demise of the "buttoned-down" R&B singer. As a solo artist, Tresvant's image was heavily tied to a "gentlemanly" persona; song titles like "Sensitivity" and "Stone Cold Gentleman" evoked a "nice guy" who hated to break your heart on "Do What I Gotta Do." Similarly to other early 90s R&B acts like Boyz II Men and After 7, as well as more teen-friendly artists such as Hi-Five and Tevin Campbell; Tresvant's appeal was rooted in good ol' fashioned romance. But Bell Biv DeVoe had made hip-hop edge a premium in R&B; and their "smack it up, flip it" mantra swiftly took hold in artists like Jodeci and R. Kelly. By the time Ralph Tresvant released his second album, It's Goin' Down, in late 1993, the landscape had drastically shifted from dapper, suit-wearing gentlemen to shirtless, sagging bad boys. The same shift led to the decline of the aforementioned groups--even though Boyz II Men's biggest-selling album was 1994s II, they weren't able to replicate that success because the shift that was then just beginning to take hold would become firmly entrenched by 1995 and 1996. Add to that the decline of New Jack Swing (which, to be fair, led to Bobby, BBD and Johnny suffering dropoffs in popularity circa 1993/94, as well) and you have a relatively short run for Ralph Tresvant.
So Ralph Tresvant's career feels like one of missed opportunity--but not wasted talent. We'll never know if he would've been bigger had the timing been better. We'll never know if it was just destined for Bobby Brown to become what Bobby Brown became. But we do know that Ralph's run deserves more credit than it often gets from contemporary fans and critics. Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis were the chief writers/producers for much of Tresvant's early 90s work, and it's some of their best stuff; even lesser-known singles from It's Goin' Down have aged remarkably well ("When I Need Somebody" is a delight and should've been a much bigger song back in 1994.) And while his run wasn't earth-shattering, it was worth remembering.
The fact that so many don't says more about us than it does Ralph.
Check out these Ralph Tresvant videos:Sydney is failing in its quest to become a global financial centre, with a new report showing it has quickly fallen behind big Asian cities in a world ranking, raising questions about the efficacy of the federal government's tax settings and levels of regulation.
The interim report of the financial system inquiry being chaired by David Murray said "coordination of Australia's international financial integration could be improved".
Dropping: Sydney has fallen from 11th in 2009 to 23rd both this year and last. Credit:Rob Homer
According to the Global Financial Centres Index, published by the Z/Yen Group this week, Sydney is ranked 23rd in a global survey of desirable global financial centres.
Sydney's drop from the top 20 attractive financial centres has been relentless. In 2007, it was 9th on the list, 11th in 2009, it placed No. 16 in 2012, and then in 2013 and 2014 it landed at 23rd spot.PETALING JAYA (THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) - CCTV cameras at Kuala Lumpur International Airport 2 (KLIA2) have captured a clearer image of a woman believed to be one of the assassins who killed Kim Jong Nam, the half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
The image zooms in on the alleged killer's features, depicting her to be middle-aged and of Asian descent.
In the grainy image, she can be seen wearing a top with the word "LOL" in large letters and a blue short skirt, with her right hand over a small sling handbag.
An earlier CCTV image that had been circulating online showed a picture of a woman believed to be the same person, but taken from a greater distance and at a different angle.
Jong Nam, 45, died after he was attacked at KLIA2 on Monday.
He is believed to have been attacked by two female agents who splashed his face with a chemical at the airport's departure hall at about 9am on Monday.
The women later got into a cab and fled.
It is believed that Jong Nam arrived in Malaysia from Macau on Feb 6 and was about to return there when he was attacked.Glenn Beck dedicated much of his television program last night to interviewing Paul Blair, a radical right-wing activist who is now seeking a seat in the Oklahoma state Senate.
Blair, who was reportedly responsible for the recent legislation that sought to make it a felony to perform an abortion in the state, which was vetoed by Gov. Mary Fallin, echoed right-wing pseudo-historian David Barton when he claimed that the Bible provides guidance on how to establish elections and a constitutional republic.
“From a biblical perspective,” he said, “Exodus 18 gives us the criteria by which we’re supposed to evaluate candidates when Jethro, the father-in-law, said to Moses, ‘Choose out from among you capable individuals that fear God, love truth and hate covetousness, teach them the law’ — of course, they had a constitutional republic, quite frankly; they were 12 sovereign tribes working together as one and they weren’t ruled by a king, they were ruled by the Torah, the Constitution. ‘Teach them the law and have them be judges over tens, fifties, hundreds and thousands.’ Quite frankly, that was the birth of republicanism, the republican form of government.”
As we and others have noted before, the idea that Exodus 18 lays out the framework for voters on how to choose candidates for office is absurd as it was Moses who appointed these judges, not the people who chose them freely. On top of that, for Blair to claim that the Israelites “had a constitutional republic” is laughable considering that they were living in the desert under what was a literal theocracy that was being directly controlled by God, who ruled over them through Moses.
Religious Right activists are always insisting that they have no desire to impose any sort of theocracy on America because they deeply respect our constitutional republican form of government, but that is a little hard to swallow when they insist that an actual ancient theocracy was the ideal form of a constitutional republic.The rover's neutron spectroscopy instrument hints at an unexpected trend: The upper soil levels in the layers of Gale Crater's Kimberley formation seem to hold more water-associated hydrogen.
On 6 August 2012, NASA’s Curiosity rover landed on a Martian plain in the northern part of the 154-kilometer-wide Gale Crater. Equipped with diverse instruments for imaging, sampling, and measuring, the rover immediately set to work, seeking clues to the planet’s past climate as well as signs of chemicals necessary for life.
Curiosity collected data as it rolled slowly across the plain toward Aeolis Mons, a mountain at the center of Gale Crater. One leg of the journey traversed an area known as the Kimberley formation, which features exposed layers useful for studying the Red Planet’s past. Litvak et al. now report on estimates of water-associated hydrogen in Kimberley subsurface soil, specifically those made by the rover’s Dynamic Albedo of Neutrons (DAN) instrument.
Scientists believe that much of the shallow subsurface of Mars—not just the polar caps—contains water in different forms, either water ice, physically absorbed water, or water bound in clay minerals. Funded by the Russian Federal Space Agency, DAN is a neutron spectrometer sensitive to the abundance of hydrogen in the Martian subsurface, regardless of what the hydrogen is bound to.
The hydrogen observed by DAN is assumed to be bound in water, based on the amount observed—as well as similar observations from other Curiosity instruments, including soil samples. According to the authors, this indicates that the water equivalent of this hydrogen makes up 1.5% to 2.5% of the weight of subsurface soils in the Kimberley formation. This hydrogen is likely held in small quantities as adsorbed water in pores or in clay minerals formed during a warmer and wetter period of Mars’s past.
DAN also found evidence of chlorine variations in the Kimberley formation. Both the water and chlorine measurements made by DAN match well with those made by other Curiosity instruments for the same study site and by DAN for other similar sites. Chlorine is especially significant because variability its bulk concentration might be related to |
seems to leave no room for loopholes:
98.1.4 have any power whatsoever to influence the financial, commercial or business affairs or the management or administration of another football club;
In short, only naked corruption or overlooking the rules would allow Mike Ashley to not be punished in some form. How seriously the Football League are prepared to take this is up to them, but we'd expect the club to try and push this angle if/when Newcastle bite the dust. It might be our best (and certainly least expensive in terms of legal fees) chance of getting Ashley out of our club.A grandfather in China has won the hearts of Chinese netizens after it was found that he has traveled 60 kilometers (37 miles) on foot just to deliver some eggs to his beloved grandson.
Police in Guizhou Province reportedly spotted the elderly man on Monday slowly walking on the side of a freeway near the city of Zunyi, Shanghaiist reports. He was found to be carrying dozens of eggs in a plastic container with him.
When questioned by local authorities, the man, who was believed to be in his eighties, revealed that he was on his way to visit his grandson. He said he was worried that his hard-working grandson was not eating well so he thought of delivering eggs to him.
The thoughtful octogenarian left his home at around 7 a.m. on Monday morning and had been walking for 12 hours when the police saw and stopped him. He has already covered 60 kilometers.
He revealed that he opted to not take the bus so he could save some money. Unfortunately, however, some of the eggs inside the container had broken during his long walk.
The police escorted the grandpa to his grandson who was surprised by his arrival. The grandson explained that he was not expecting that his grandpa was going to visit him that day. He added that he would take his grandpa out for a nice meal during his visit.
Here’s grandpa’s heartwarming gesture making the news in China:Dean Ambrose spoke to The Sun on a number of topics. Here are some of the highlights:
The price of him doing a MMA fight:
"I'll fight anyone for enough money. Give me half-a-million dollars. Put them in the ring, I'll do it right now, I'll do it tonight."
Crashing on his bike just before WrestleMania:
"I'm big into mounting biking. I actually crashed my mountain bike about a week ago very badly. I thought I was going to die. I fell over the handlebars, full on ninja roll, I flew like 8ft into the air. I thought I probably shouldn't be doing this a week before WrestleMania. You have to immediately get back on. I crashed on a downhill, you have to just continue. If you stop and think about it too long you'll psych yourself out."
You can read the full interview by clicking here.
Source: The SunImage copyright Getty Images Image caption Cardinal Pell was appointed to oversee the Vatican's finances in the wake of scandals at the Vatican Bank
Catholic Cardinal George Pell will face an audience of child abuse survivors when he testifies to an Australian inquiry from a Rome hotel.
Cardinal Pell was excused from returning to Australia to testify at the royal commission into child sex abuse due to ill health.
Abuse survivors and their supporters have raised enough money to attend Cardinal Pell's testimony in Rome.
A room at the Hotel Quirinale will be the venue for next week's hearing.
The cardinal's testimony begins on Monday morning Australian time and is expected to run for three to four days.
It will be streamed live to the Royal Commission's hearing rooms in Sydney and Ballarat Town Hall, and will also be viewable online.
The group that will comprise Cardinal Pell's audience, which raised more than A$200,000 ($143,000; £100,000) through crowdfunding, is expected to fly to Rome this weekend.
Survivor Andrew Collins told Fairfax on Monday it would be an "arduous journey" to Rome, but said Cardinal Pell "should have to see people and look into their eyes".
The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has focused much of its efforts on widespread child abuse by Catholic church clergy in Australia.
It is currently hearing testimony regarding child abuse that occurred in the city of Ballarat, including by notorious paedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale.
Cardinal Pell was a priest in Ballarat and lived together with Ridsdale in the early 1970s.
He is not facing criminal charges, but detractors say child abuse that happened under his watch has made his Vatican position untenable.
Cardinal Pell has testified at the inquiry twice before in relation to other matters, once in person and once via video link.Mayor Mike Bloomberg went disco last night at the annual Inner Circle dinner. After a James Earl Jones voiceover introduced the audience to "Spider-Mike"—and Bloomberg made a flying entrance on wires—fake technical troubles "forced" hizzoner to instead do his rebuttal—a short musical biography packed with blizzard and Bermuda jokes they called "Mayor Mia."— to the City Hall press corps with the cast of Mamma Mia!
Bloomberg's third of the four-and-a-half hour show came after two acts in which the press ripped on Bloomberg and his team (the first act revolved around Bloomberg-as-Napoleon trying to build a giant glass dome over New York to stop snow problems once and for all) and state politics (the second act focused on Andrew Cuomo's hunt for more money in Albany-as-Ancient Egypt) for a black-tie clad audience of movers-and-shakers willing to pay up for the pricey tix. The Inner Circle prides itself on having a "no professional talent" rule, outside of the mayor's sketch of course, and it shows.
The highlight of the evening was certainly the spectacle of Bloomberg in the air (also in sparkling platform shoes) but the show did fit in some solid humor as well. If its been in the news in the past year, the Inner Circle reporters up on stage probably covered it. Carl Kruger? Check ("Now that he's arrested, maybe he'll go straight?"). David Paterson? Check (referring to his transition team: "The blind leading the bland."). Cathie Black? Check ("she" sang "Please Stop Conceiving" to Journey's "Don't Stop Believing"). Janette Sadik-Kahn? Check ("she" and "Ray Kelly" duet to a "You're The One That I Want" spoof, "You're The One That They Hate"). Inebriated Irish? Check (with a sing-along song, no less!). Even Rex Ryan's famous foot fetish made the cut, in a strange bit in which stand-ins for Peter King, Bill O'Reilly and Glenn Beck tried to get the Jets coach to help bring down the "Ground Zero" mosque in a song called "Shoeless Rex Likes Kinky Sex" set to the tune of "Shoeless Joe from Hannibal Mo." Not to mention the rousing act one break, "Two Years More" set to "One Day More" from Les Miz.
But back to Bloomberg's bit. In "Mayor Mia" the billionaire from Bloomberg enlisted the folks from Mamma Mia to help him tell the story of his New York life. Starting with Bloomie in a boy scouts uniform arriving in New York fresh from Harvard Business School, it then followed him as he moveed into business, invented his Bloomberg Box (here a boombox that sings stock reports), persuades New York that he's "a leader, not a politician," and finally comes to discover that he's the man New York needs leading him to don his Spider-Mike suit before getting stuck in the air again (or something? These things aren't tightly plotted, ok?).
Over his adventures Bloomberg picked up new friends, played by actors, like Cathie Black and Janette Sadik-Kahn (a rollerskate waitress, natch) and has moments with some real pols, like press secretary Stu Loeser and deputy mayor Stephen Goldsmith. Mixed in with all that plot were joke after joke about not mentioning words like "City Time," "plow," "last in, first out," and how the where the mayor goes isn't the press pool's business, and so on. Bloomie even managed to give his 97-year-old mom a shout-out as "the original Tiger mom."
There wasn't exactly a Rudy Giuliani dressed in drag OMG moment, but it was a fun (if very long) evening.> The generic functions with the local type inference really cut down on the verbosity compared to Java/C++.
The reduced verbosity also comes from the D standard library Phobos being designed around Ranges instead of single iterators as in most C++ (there are ranges in the Boost C++ libraries, but their usage is not common).
> it's guaranteed that x < width and y < height, but to type that, your type system needs to understand modular arithmetic (not to mention the network of invariants between all the functions/variables)...
D language doesn't have dependent types, but it already performs a limited amount of similar inferences, called value range propagation. This means in the following program the line with 'b' is accepted, but the line with 'c' is statically refused, because it could lose some bits of the result value:
void main(string[] args) { uint a = 6000 + args.length; // Run-time value. ubyte b = a % 200; // OK. ubyte c = a % 300; // Complation error. ushort d = b + 65_280; // OK. ushort e = b + 65_281; // Complation error. }
This feature looks simple, and in many cases you don't see it, but it's refined, and it's one of the many less visible features of D. To keep the compiler simple the D specs don't require D compilers to perform such analysis across different lines. So in the DMD compiler it's done only on the current line. That's why the line with 'e' raises a compilation error, despite it can't overflow, because across lines it forgets b can't be more than 199.A few tentative looks at his uncle and a peek at his audience in the Michael Lisnow Respite Center is all Michael Mullins needs to perform the National Anthem in a deep and surprising baritone – worthy, he hopes, of being heard at Fenway.
A few tentative looks at his uncle and a peek at his audience in the Michael Lisnow Respite Center is all Michael Mullins needs to perform the National Anthem in a deep and surprising baritone – worthy, he hopes, of being heard at Fenway.
"Singing is in his blood, he has a wonderful voice," uncle and respite worker Dan Cloutier said. "The crowd really makes him belt it out."
It’s a performance Mullins, who has Downs Syndrome, has done countless times at local events and school games. For the past 10 years, Mullins has sung the anthem on the field at McCoy Stadium for the PawSox, too.
"He’s been in the minor leagues for 10 years," center co-founder Mary McQueeney said.
"Time to move up to the majors," agreed co-founder Sharon Lisnow, adding that singing for the Boston Red Sox at their home field is a dream of Mullins.’ Hopkinton's respite center for the disabled has been open for more than 15 years, and Mullins has been a client since close to its inception, Lisnow said.
Mullins’ friends at the center have tried to secure him a spot to sing the National Anthem for a Red Sox game in the past, but haven’t gotten very far. As this year is Mullins’ tenth singing for the Pawsox, they’ve decided to try even harder, and have since received correspondence from the Red Sox, asking them to send a different format to a different office.
The center also put a YouTube video online, of Mullins’ latest performance for the Pawtucket PawSox in mid-August. Mullins sings with both Cloutier and lead respite center staffer Arva Ferguson.
"We let Mike take the most powerful parts," Cloutier said.
"I love it!" Mullins exulted, after singing at the respite center in Hopkinton. "I’m ready."
Mullins, a Boston fan through and through, was across the street from the Boston Marathon bombings in April, friends said, but will return to watch the race again this year.
"This year I will be brave and strong," he said. "I’m fine now."
Mullins grew up in Hopkinton, and lives in one of the center’s three independent houses, with three roommates.Changes In Safety And Diplomacy Are On Deck For Baseball's Opening Day
Enlarge this image toggle caption Jamie Squire/Getty Images Jamie Squire/Getty Images
Baseball's opening day is upon us. Sunday is the first official day of Major League Baseball's 2016 season. Starting things off will be two afternoon games as the Cardinals face the Pirates and the Blue Jays take on the Rays. The day will be capped off by a night match between the 2015 World Series contenders the Kansas City Royals and New York Mets.
"Opening day is always a special time in baseball," says Jesse Sanchez, a national reporter for MLB.com. "It's always a special time for family, fans — you know, everybody gets together, watches these games," he tells NPR's Mary Louise Kelly.
You may not notice, but a few things are going to be different when baseball returns this year.
iBaseball
Something you may see for the first time — if your seats are good enough — is the presence of iPads in team dugouts. Traditionally, computers and smartphones have been banned — managers have sifted through statistics and other data on paper, gathered in folders. But a new agreement between Apple and MLB will give coaches iPads loaded with special software designed for baseball.
"Technology is really at the forefront, and I think baseball is following along that path," Sanchez says. He says people in the dugout have had mixed reactions. "I think baseball's very traditional so there's some managers and players who might not follow that path and use the iPad. But there are others who are really progressive and will use it, so it's going to be really interesting to watch....
"It's going to be neat to see these managers put away their folders and start scrolling, start swiping. And watch coaches swipe when players are at bat or when there's a new pitcher to be put on the mound," he says.
Net Benefits
Another change: safety nets. Last year, MLB recommended the expansion of nets to 70 feet on both sides of home plate, which would help stop foul balls and loose bats from hitting fans seated on the field level. In 2014, Bloomberg News counted about 1,750 spectators injured each year by batted balls during games.
As each stadium is unique, the recommendations are not designed to be a "one-size-fits-all." Recommendations also call for stadiums to do more to educate fans about the dangers of flying balls and bats. However, they are not binding rules and are up to the individual stadiums to implement.
Enlarge this image toggle caption Mark Lennihan/AP Mark Lennihan/AP
"I've heard some people mention watching a game through a net might not be as comfortable," Sanchez says. But he doesn't think it's going to be much of an issue. He points out that nets don't seem to have affected the fan experience of those sitting behind home plate — "the best seats in the house" — where nets are in place already.
"As someone who's been around baseball for almost 20 years and as a parent who takes kids to the game — I think it's a good thing," he says. "You really don't want to see anybody get hurt. You don't want to see a parent, a kid, anybody get hurt [by] a baseball that flies into the stands or a bat that flies into the stands. So I'm for this measure."
Who To Keep Your Eyes On
Safety aside, who are the teams to watch out for this year? Sanchez has some to keep in mind:
Chicago Cubs: I think everybody this spring and even up to last year is talking about the Chicago Cubs. They haven't won a World Series in more than 100 years — long time. And they have a great manager in Joe Maddon, tons of young talent, a good mix of veterans and young players.... They've created quite the buzz in baseball. So I think everybody is really anxious to see how they do during the regular season. I know several people have picked them to win the World Series. So the Cubs are a team that everybody's watching, everybody's really paying attention to.... The beauty of a team like the Cubs is they have fans all over the world. It's hard to go anywhere and not run into somebody wearing a Chicago Cubs cap, T-shirt. And they're really excited. So that's a team I'm really paying close attention to and I think the eyes of baseball are really watching. San Francisco Giants: San Francisco is always a team to watch. They added a pitcher named Johnny Cueto, they added a pitcher named Jeff Samardzija. Traditionally they've been one of the [teams] to watch — they've won several World Series over the past few years. Arizona Diamondbacks: I think this year people are going to be paying close attention to the Arizona Diamondbacks — they signed a pitcher named Zack Greinke, who's arguably one of the top pitchers ever, he's one of the best pitchers in baseball. So people are paying close attention here locally to the Arizona Diamondbacks — I think nationally also.
Sanchez also throws in the Los Angeles Dodgers, New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox as teams to keep an eye on this year. He notes the Red Sox have added "top pitcher" David Price.
'Big Papi'
And there's going to be another reason to be watching the Red Sox this year: David Ortiz is going to be playing his final season. The designated hitter turned 40 last year — old for a baseball player. "So he's going to take one of these retirement tours," Sanchez says. "And I think it's going to be really interesting to see how each team reacts as he makes his final visit to Yankee Stadium, as he makes his final visit to Texas, as he makes his final visit to Anaheim.
Enlarge this image toggle caption Jason Miller/Getty Images Jason Miller/Getty Images
"And he's been a spectacular player his entire career," he says. Ortiz is "a dynamic player. He's also a larger-than-life personality." "Big Papi," as he's known, isn't shy about telling people how he feels.
"He doesn't mind expressing himself, he has big opinions," Sanchez says. "He's an international star in Latin America and the United States. He's obviously bilingual so he reaches a large audience. He was part of that team that broke the Curse of the Bambino. So that is part of David Ortiz's legacy and I think people are going to pay attention to his final year in Boston."
Ortiz was born in the Dominican Republic, the country outside of the U.S. with the highest number of players in MLB. Coming in second last year was Venezuela, with Cuba in third place. But that could soon change.
A Curveball In Cuba Policy
Due to the frosty relations between Washington and Havana for the last half-century, the common way for Cubans to play baseball in the U.S. has been to defect. Sometimes they just walk away when they're part of a team competing outside of Cuba. But more commonly they escape the island with the help of human traffickers, who frequently demand a percentage of a player's contract money.
Enlarge this image toggle caption Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
So while much was made of the geopolitical consequences of President Obama's historic visit to Cuba — the first by a U.S. president in 88 years — there is change afoot for baseball as well.
"Everybody, I think, wants to get to a system where players can go back and forth without this overlay of human trafficking," said MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred. He spoke at a news conference in Havana, the day before the Tampa Bay Rays played the Cuban national team in an exhibition game during Obama's visit to the island last month — the first time a U.S. team has played in Cuba since 1999.
"I also think there is common ground that the system should operate in a way that allows the very best players in the world to come and play Major League Baseball," Manfred said.
Major League Baseball is "looking for ways to sign players directly from Cuba," Sanchez says. He says their goal is to create "a system where players can leave Cuba in a safe way and come back to Cuba, so they don't have to abandon their family and their lives. Obviously there's a lot of political hurdles before something like that can happen, but I think that's the ultimate goal."
But he says it's hard to tell if easing restrictions on Cubans playing U.S. baseball will lead to a faster exodus of Cuban players. Cuban baseball authorities say the U.S. embargo needs to be lifted for any final deal on the matter.
So in 2016, look for more attention to safety — and to Cuban players.
"This is a good time to be a baseball fan," Sanchez says. "You really feel optimistic. Obviously, the season hasn't started and this is when everybody feels like they have a chance. Everybody is in first place. So it's a good time for baseball."Panty Quilt
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This panty quilt was commissioned by Frank Zappa after his 1981 tour. It is made entirely of underpants and bras thrown on stage during Frank’s shows.
It does make you wonder what singer Tom Jones did with all the underpants etc that were thrown onto stage when he performed. Surely one quilt would not be enough!
While not exactly what I would want on my walls at home I do admire the creativity and work that has gone in to making this quilt. Also I'm very pleased it is encased in glass as dusting would definitely cause damage!
While this piece of art would definitely be a conversation piece I think that there are also other themed quilts that could be made using a similar technique. The ones that spring to mind are children's toys such as the Sesame Street characters with Miss Piggy taking center stage! Or memorabilia from a period of time eg your child's first 5 years of life. Another option I thought of was someones hobby or sport, where ribbons won could be added. I'm sure the list is endless!
Photo's courtesy of Jean-Luc Ourlin
Frank Zappa (1940-1993)
Frank Zappa was one of the most accomplished and prolific record makers in the history of rock music. His musical influences ranged from contemporary classical artist Igor Stravinsky to blues great Johnny “Guitar” Watson. Using these influences, Zappa paved the way for rock experimentation. He tried his hands at Classical, Jazz Fusion, Blues, Doo Wop, as well as Heavy Guitar Rock. Some of the musicians Zappa surrounded himself over the years include Steve Vai, Adrian Belew, Lowell George and Terry Bozio. Sadly, in 1991 he was diagnosed with cancer, but still pressed on with the release of his albums. Frank Zappa died on December 4, 1993.
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Hopsin made headlines last week with the release of “ILL Mind of Hopsin 8,” a song in which he detailed his departure from Funk Volume. The cut is a loaded diss track towards the label’s co-founder Damien Ritter, whom Hopsin compares to N.W.A’s manager Jerry Heller.
Another song that Hopsin has made headlines with was “No Words,” which he released in October. The song has a trap beat and features Hopsin mumbling. While some have speculated that the Pound Syndrome rapper was taking shots at Future, Young Thug and Chief Keef, Hopsin shared his true motivations for the track at the “ILL Mind of Hopsin 8” screening last week.
“It was just fun,” he says in an exclusive interview with HipHopDX. “Those type of beats are always fun to, I always pretend I’m one of those swaggy rappers when I hear those beats, but I don’t really know what they’re saying. So I was just like, ‘Let me pretend I’m one of those. Let me make a song being one of those rappers, just kind of mimicking them and making fun of them.’”
Hopsin says unlike “ILL Mind of Hopsin 8,” which was clearly intended as a diss track, “No Words” was meant strictly for entertainment.
“It’s just kind of a parody,” he says. “It’s to be taken just like Saturday Night Live. There’s not really any jabs taken at anybody specifically just that idea of that type of music was funny.”
Watch “No Words” here.
For additional Hopsin coverage, watch the following DX Daily:Over the past few years, PCW, a promotion based in the north-west of England, has rapidly established themselves at the forefront of the British Wrestling revival. As well as utilising talent from all around the UK, PCW, as of 2014, run a yearly show with ROH featuring matches that combine the best of PCW with the best of ROH.
In this week’s BritWres from the vault, Dave Mastiff, one of the best big men in the UK, faced ROH’s Kevin Steen, now WWE’s Kevin Owens.
Over the last weekend of November, PCW and ROH will hold their annual Super Show in an event that promises to deliver some of the best wrestling around the world.
Enjoy.
Available to watch here.
Who? Dave Mastiff vs Kevin Steen
What? Singles Match
Where? PCW/ROH Supershow
When? 2014
AdvertisementsPeople who study personnel psychology have long understood this. In 1979, for example, the Texas Legislature required the University of Texas Medical School at Houston to increase its incoming class size by 50 students late in the season. The additional 50 students that the school admitted had reached the interview phase of the application process but initially, following their interviews, were rejected. A team of researchers later found that these students did just as well as their other classmates in terms of attrition, academic performance, clinical performance (which involves rapport with patients and supervisors) and honors earned. The judgment of the interviewers, in other words, added nothing of relevance to the admissions process.
Research that my colleagues and I have conducted shows that the problem with interviews is worse than irrelevance: They can be harmful, undercutting the impact of other, more valuable information about interviewees.
In one experiment, we had student subjects interview other students and then predict their grade point averages for the following semester. The prediction was to be based on the interview, the student’s course schedule and his or her past G.P.A. (We explained that past G.P.A. was historically the best predictor of future grades at their school.) In addition to predicting the G.P.A. of the interviewee, our subjects also predicted the performance of a student they did not meet, based only on that student’s course schedule and past G.P.A.
In the end, our subjects’ G.P.A. predictions were significantly more accurate for the students they did not meet. The interviews had been counterproductive.
It gets worse. Unbeknown to our subjects, we had instructed some of the interviewees to respond randomly to their questions. Though many of our interviewers were allowed to ask any questions they wanted, some were told to ask only yes/no or this/that questions. In half of these interviews, the interviewees were instructed to answer honestly. But in the other half, the interviewees were instructed to answer randomly. Specifically, they were told to note the first letter of each of the last two words of any question, and to see which category, A-M or N-Z, each letter fell into. If both letters were in the same category, the interviewee answered “yes” or took the “this” option; if the letters were in different categories, the interviewee answered “no” or took the “that” option.The History of a Dangerous Idea
Transhumanism is a recent movement that extols man’s right to shape his own evolution, by maximizing the use of scientific technologies, to enhance human physical and intellectual potential. While the name is new, the idea has long been a popular theme of science fiction, featured in such films as 2001: A Space Odyssey, Bade Runner, the Terminator series, and more recently, The Matrix, Limitless, Her and Transcendence.
However, as its adherents hint at in their own publications, transhumanism is an occult project, rooted in Rosicrucianism and Freemasonry, and derived from the Kabbalah, which asserts that humanity is evolving intellectually, towards a point in time when man will become God. Modeled on the medieval legend of the Golem and Frankenstein, they believe man will be able to create life itself, in the form of living machines, or artificial intelligence.
Spearheaded by the Cybernetics Group, the project resulted in both the development of the modern computer and MK-Ultra, the CIA’s “mind-control” program. MK-Ultra promoted the “mind-expanding” potential of psychedelic drugs, to shape the counterculture of the 1960s, based on the notion that the shamans of ancient times used psychoactive substances, equated with the “apple” of the Tree of Knowledge.
And, as revealed in the movie Lucy, through the use of “smart drugs,” and what transhumanists call “mind uploading,” man will be able to merge with the Internet, which is envisioned as the end-point of Kabbalistic evolution, the formation of a collective consciousness, or Global Brain. That awaited moment is what Ray Kurzweil, a director of engineering at Google, refers to as The Singularly. By accumulating the total of human knowledge, and providing access to every aspect of human activity, the Internet will supposedly achieve omniscience, becoming the “God” of occultism, or the Masonic All-Seeing Eye of the reverse side of the American dollar bill.A special show for Women’s History Month. All the games have a female protagonist,all the artists are women, PLUS an interview with Twill Distilled and LadyJ from Wreck the System! Enjoy!
The playlist is marked as follows:
*Title* by *Artist* – *Album* (Game)
Lady in Black (OC ReMix) by Dj Mystix (Bayonetta)
Errorize (OC ReMix) by timaeus222 (Remember Me)
All the World in One Girl (OC ReMix) by The Wingless (Super Metroid)
Sheik’s Groove (OC ReMix) by AlanGee15 (Zelda: Ocarina of Time)
I Don’t Fight Boys (Chun-Li Stage) by Malcos, Red Tailed Fox – Blood on the Asphalt: A Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo ReMix (OC ReMix)
Peach’s House Party (Inside the Castle Walls) by Sir Jordanius – Super Mario 64: Portrait of a Plumber (OC ReMix)
Turret Opera (A Cappella) [feat. Liz Baseman] by Acquire A Cappella (Portal 2)
Cultural Insight – Scrimshaw by E-Line Media / Upper One Games – Never Alone: Original Soundtrack
Adventure Is in the Air (OC ReMix) by EmptyMy (Tomb Raider)
Laboratory of Metro by FantaBlade – ICEY OST
The Spine by Darren Korb – Transistor Original Soundtrack
Heart of the Moon (OC ReMix) by katethegreat19 (World of Warcraft)
Neuga, Ziena, Zieber, Zom… (600 A.D.) by Wiesty, The OC Jazz Collective – Chronology: A Jazz Tribute to Chrono Trigger (OC ReMix)
Prayer for the Azure Waters (OC ReMix) by Garpocalypse (Aquaria)
Manic Pixel Dream Girl (feat. Starby & Tofuku) by RoboRob
Glasses by LEX – LEX is More
Purple Shield by My Parents Favorite Music – Mount Weird
Internet Thug Lyfe by Twill Distilled – Chatgurl Status
Charity (feat. LadyJ & Twill Distilled) by Wreck The System – RAGE QUIT
Boom Bap Killer Flow (Ft. Asce Blayze) by FrivolousShara – Feel Good Vibes [EP]
H.O.B.O (Ranma 1 ½) by Shubzilla – Nerdcore Absolution Volume 3
Holodexxx (feat. Milk-Plus, Diabeats, and Benjamin Bear) – Nerdcore International
1080p by Sammus
Featured Artists:
RoboRob – www.patreon.com/djroborob
My Parent’s Favorite Music – myparentsfavoritemusic.com
Wreck the System – wreckthesystem.bandcamp.com
Sammus – sammusmusic.com
Shubzilla – shubzilla.bandcamp.com
Twill Distilled – twilldistilled.bandcamp.com
LadyJ – createladyj.bandcamp.com
Starby – soundcloud.com/starbyscientits
FrivolousShara – frivolousshara.bandcamp.com
LEX – lexliumusic.com
—
All songs marked “OCReMix” can be found at OverClocked ReMix (http://ocremix.org) – please show them some support! Download, donate, tell your friends!
Like and follow and whatever the Press Start Socials:
Twitter, Facebook, and BasedGamer
Be sure to check out Popular Geekery on Youtube, Facebook, andTwitch!
If you like Artemis Spaceship Bridge Simulator join the Terran Stellar Navy!
AdvertisementsBEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese authorities vowed on Tuesday to step up a crackdown on illegal funding scams, after reporting 5,197 new criminal cases last year involving 251.1 billion yuan ($36.5 billion), state-run Shanghai Securities News reported.
FILE PHOTO: Chinese national flags are flying near a steel factory in Wu'an, Hebei province, China, February 23, 2017. REUTERS/Thomas Peter/File Photo
More than 30 percent of illegal fundraising cases were related to private investment and financial intermediaries, including unlicensed investment advisers and providers of third-party wealth management products, the report said.
The cases severely destroyed the order of financial markets, Yang Yuzhu, director of the joint-meeting for anti-illegal fundraising was quoted as saying, threatening China’s financial and social stability.
Authorities are now weighing a ban on organizations and individuals, except financial institutions, from publishing investment-related advertisements, the report said.
Although the number of new cases and the total amount of funds involved edged down from 2015, the government is facing heightened pressure due to the complexity of the new cases, which is slowing down their resolution, according to the report.
Moreover, financial fraud spread last year from China’s east to rural areas, where funds approached unsophisticated Chinese farmers, the office of the joint meeting said.
Last year China approved the arrest of 9,441 people on suspicion of illegal soliciting public deposits and prosecuted 14,745, according to a separate Shanghai Securities News report on Tuesday.
While regulators embarked on a campaign against online finance fraud last year, focusing on peer-to-peer (P2P) lending platforms, the rampant growth of the sector has created risks that will take time to resolve, the office said.
Ezubao, once China’s biggest P2P lending platform, folded last year after it turned out to be a “Ponzi scheme” that solicited 50 billion yuan in less than two years from more than 900,000 retail investors through savvy marketing.
Another case where illegal fundraising took place was at the Fanya Metals Exchange in southwestern Yunnan province, where hundreds of angry investors hit the street and complained of government inaction after losing more than 40 billion yuan in investment products that had promised an annual return of up to 14 percent.
“The total number of cases is still at a historic high level,” the anti-illegal fundraising office said, according to the report.
The office also said it will ask provincial governments to examine potential illegal funding activities from May to July.
Targets for checks will include a variety of companies such as investment and financing intermediaries, P2P platforms, third-party payment services, crowd-funding platforms, private schools and rural organizations.
($1 = 6.8863 Chinese yuan renminbi)Manchester United and Chelsea are in the race for Thiago Maia. According to Jorge Nicola, from ESPN Brazil, both the clubs have consulted Santos to know the possibilities of a deal.
Thiago has been heavily linked to Fiorentina and Bayer Leverkusen this week, and the German club have sent scouts to watch the player recently.
The midfielder was running out of contract with Santos last year, but decided to sign an extension, despite being close to joining Atletico Madrid in a €20m deal. According to Nicola, after three years at Atletico, Real Madrid would have a buying option on the player, which doesn't make a great deal of sense.
Juventus and Monaco are also reportedly interested in signing the 18-year-old.
Thiago Maia is a very intelligent central midfielder, and his best skills are passing and dribbling. He is a decent box-to-box midfielder for Brazilian standards and has a good attacking approach.
Lucas Sposito.“There are no images.” This was the first time I noticed Riccardo Manzotti. It was a conference on art and neuroscience. Someone had spoken about the images we keep in our minds. Manzotti seemed agitated. The girl sitting next to me explained that he built robots, was a genius. “There are no images and no representations in our minds,” he insisted. “Our visual experience of the world is a continuum between see-er and seen united in a shared process of seeing.”
I was curious, if only because, as a novelist I’d always supposed I was dealing in images, imagery. This stuff might have implications. So we had a beer together.
Manzotti has a degree in engineering and another in philosophy. He teaches in the psychology department at IULM University, Milan. The move from engineering to philosophy was prompted by conceptual problems he’d run into when first seeking to build robots. What does it mean that a subject sees an object? “People say the robot stores images of the world |
to me. This is a difficult thing for Carol. Some women would divorce their husbands for leaving the Church.
I know Carol is hurt and disappointed. She is a fifth-generation Mormon. It means everything to her. She defends it with all the passion of a she bear. I have learned not to cross her. I am grateful she attended some of the lectures. I will make no attempt to entice her to follow me. I will only love her as best I can for a man who knows so little about the romantic needs of a good woman.
Don’t Blame This on Denver Snuffer
To all those who now say, “See, I told you so. I warned you the moment you started reading and writing about those books from Denver Snuffer.” Yes, you’re right. You warned me. And you warned me and then warned me over and over again. Thank you for your loving concern. It did no good. I had a witness of the truth the moment I first read PtHG that night in January of 2012.
So am I now a follower of Denver Snuffer? No. I never was and never will be. I barely know the man. I know his writings and have been edified by them, but I am a disciple of Jesus Christ. Let no man come between you and your God. I suppose if there’s one thing I do feel different already, it is the realization that I now get my marching orders – my daily priorities – only from the Lord.
Previous to this afternoon’s letter of resignation, I was always concerned about, “What would my priesthood leaders think of this?” or “What does the LDS Church say I should be doing with my time?” Maybe that’s my own fault or failing, but it’s has been ingrained in me from a lifetime of hearing it drilled into my soul – follow the prophet. He knows the way. Thanks, but no thanks.
Follow the Prophet – Mantra Gone Too Far
I think I finally realized how bad it was one Sunday in High Priest’s group when I answered a question posed by the instructor about marriage. I simply emphasized something I know we have been taught about temple marriages – that they are conditional upon being sealed by the Holy Spirit of Promise. This is a true doctrine. Always has been and always will be as far as I know.
You should have heard some of the comments I got from some of the brethren. And these were brethren I used to lead as the High Priest Group Leader. Somehow, it turned into a diatribe on the importance of following the prophet, that only he could interpret scripture or pronounce doctrine. It was as if they felt I was personally attacking them and their marriages. I was simply stunned.
It seems as if this has become the last stand for the LDS Church. It is a position of fear – follow the prophet. Please don’t misunderstand. I am not attacking President Monson or whoever is the current president of the LDS Church whenever you read this. I simply thank God he has given me a mind of my own, that I can think for myself and I can ask God directly for guidance in life.
Study the Doctrine – But Not Too Much
I feel as if a great burden has been lifted from my shoulders and another one placed in its stead. I am OK with that. It is the burden of life. I have simply shifted it from being overly concerned with conformity to the orthodox LDS way of thinking and acting, to now being careful to think, believe, act and live in the manner intended by my Heavenly Father. I have shifted my priorities.
Was the LDS Church holding me back? Yes and no. It’s the classic story. We are urged to study the gospel. When we do, we learn things that don’t jive with what is currently being taught or practiced in the LDS Church. We are nothing like the church Joseph organized in 1830. There are too many traditions and beliefs taught in the correlated curriculum that are simply not right.
Agency – It Only Goes So Far
I can’t tell you how many times I wrote about something I had studied and received a response, “You had better get your views in line with the Brethren or you’re going to be in trouble.” I got this over and over, from the least studied and newest member of the Church to Stake Presidents (not my current Stake President) and Bishops who read and comment on my blog. It’s amazing.
Do I hold any animosity toward the church or its leaders? No. I thank them for all they have done for me, especially my local leaders who have loved me, prayed with me, counseled me and tried to get me to conform to the orthodox ways of modern Mormonism. I am certain I have offended some of my brethren in the High Priest Quorum stake-wide with my writings. They told me so.
I understand the concern expressed by associates on the High Council and Stake Presidency in my former stake. They are concerned for their children and grandchildren. I get that. I apologize if you feel I am to blame for some of them leaving the church. Don’t put that at my feet. And for those in my current stake whose children have resigned – that was their decision and theirs alone.
Faulted for Believing Too Much
So what do I believe now? I believe in God. I know the Father lives and loves me. I know my Savior loves me and leads me. I have become more familiar with His voice over the past two years than at any time in my life. The Holy Ghost is real. He is the comforter. I appreciate that. I know God has a plan for my life that is not over. I went through hell last year to understand that.
I believe Joseph was a prophet of God. More than that, I know he was. The knowledge received of the Holy Ghost is burned into our souls. I have known Joseph was a prophet from my youth. My testimony of the Book of Mormon and other scriptures has not changed. We received the Book of Mormon the way Joseph said it came forth – translated by the gift and power of God.
Those Last Fingers of the Testimony Glove
The restoration was real. God wanted to prepare a people for the establishment of Zion. It did not work out in the early church. The higher priesthood was taken from the earth. The authority of the Aaronic remained. I received that authority from my father. I still have it. Resigning from the LDS Church does not take that away. Priesthood is not controlled by any earthly institution.
Obviously I no longer believe the LDS Church has what it claims. It saddens me the LDS Church seeks to enforce beliefs by disciplinary measures. Some of the policies in the Church Handbook are an abomination. They can destroy families. It also saddens me to learn of manipulation from the highest councils of the Church to control the affairs of local members and local leadership.
We have often been taught, and I have taught it myself, “While the people in the Church aren’t perfect, the Church itself is perfect.” I disagree. The LDS Church was divinely instituted but is not now what the Lord will use to establish Zion. Zion was never intended to be established by a large institution. Zion is to be established in small groups where there are no poor among them.
A Few Closing Thoughts
I often hear the complaint from LDS Church members, “They leave the Church but they won’t leave it alone.” I owe so much to the LDS Church. I judged my mother harshly when she walked away from the Church after twenty-five years. I was wrong. I have since asked for and received her forgiveness. She was my age or a little older when she left. I understand now what happened.
Mother loved the gospel. She was a disciple of Christ. She taught me to love the Savior and to love to study. She could not have been more devoted to the Church and a better example for me. She taught Gospel Doctrine and performed more temple ordinances than anyone I have known. Yet in the end, she could not find community within the narrow-mindedness of some members.
Following the traditions of the fathers is a real problem in the LDS Church. It keeps the members from progressing. It’s good to safeguard some things that build family unity but not good to hold onto false beliefs and practices such as an over-reliance on “the Brethren” to tell us what’s what. That’s why my mother left after years of dedicated service. And now I have followed in her path.national
July 30, the date set for the 1993 Mumbai blasts mastermind’s likely hanging should the Supreme Court reject his curative petition, coincides with his 53rd birthday as per prison records
The alleged mastermind of the 1993 Mumbai blasts, who famously quoted Jesus Christ when he was handed down the death sentence in 2007, may end up meeting his maker the same day he is supposed to turn 53.
Yakub was kept at the Arthur Road jail initially and, after the sentencing in 2007, was shifted to the Nagpur Central Jail. File pic
Should the Supreme Court reject his curative petition, which it is supposed to hear on July 21, Yakub Abdul Razak Memon is likely to be hanged till death on July 30, which will also be his 53rd birthday as per prison records accessed by mid-day.
The man who hangs Yakub will be paid a princely sum of between R10 and R25 for the task and Nagpur jail officials told mid-day that when Yakub heard of his likely hanging yesterday, he wept and began chanting the name of God.
Long road
Yakub, who was arrested in 1994 from Nepal, is considered the mastermind of the blasts and has been convicted for criminal conspiracy and aiding, abetting and facilitating a terrorist act. He was also convicted for illegally possessing explosives and firearms with the intention of endangering lives under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and Arms Act.
The younger brother of Tiger Memon, Yakub was handed down the death sentence by the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA) court in 2007, hearing which he had screamed, “Oh Lord, forgive this man (the judge) for he knows not what he does”. The sentence was upheld in 2013 by the Supreme Court, which had called him one of the “driving spirits” of the plan.
In another major setback for Yakub, President Pranab Mukherjee had rejected his mercy petition last year. Yakub’s curative petition will be heard by the Supreme Court on July 21 and authorities at Nagpur jail said they received an order from the state Home ministry yesterday, asking them to prepare to hang Yakub on July 30 if the SC rejects the petition.
‘Helps inmates’
Yakub was kept at the Arthur Road jail initially and, after the sentencing in 2007, was shifted to the Nagpur Central Jail, where he was given no work since he was on death row.
A chartered accountant by profession, Yakub was kept in the high-security Anda Cell and, while serving his sentence, completed two Master’s degrees in English Literature and Political Science from the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU).
A Nagpur jail officer, on condition of anonymity, said, “Yakub has been in Nagpur jail since 2007 and was kept in the Anda Cell. In prison, his jail inmates call him ‘sir’. He helps them in their education. In 2012, he asked for work and was tasked with teaching other inmates Urdu and educating them.
He is fasting for Ramzan currently and, every time he breaks his roza, he shares his iftar food with other prisoners and even buys things from the canteen to share with them.”
‘Wept’
“In 2013, after Afzal Guru was hanged in Tihar jail, Yakub stayed mum and kept to himself for three months. Today (on Wednesday), he heard about his likely hanging from some inmates whose relatives had come to meet them and the news spread from there.
He wept when he heard the news and has been chanting God’s name,” the jail officer said. He added, “Till Tuesday, he was locked up at high security Anda Cell but on Wednesday, soon after we got the order from the ministry, which is called black warrant in jail parlance, we moved him to a secluded cell near the faasi yard (gallows) and an officer and three constables will be keeping watch on him. Due to the roza, he has become pale we will soon take his measurement (height and weight) for the execution.”
Process
Explaining the process of preparing for the hanging, a female officer said, “We have got the black warrant of hanging from the Home Ministry office and the convict’s height and weight will be taken. Accordingly, a gunny bag is made so that the hangman can practise daily and calculate the right length of drop beneath the trapdoor to ensure the convict dies in the first instance. The rope which is used for hanging is dipped in ghee.”
Just two choices
A senior jailer said, “In Maharashtra, there are only two prisons with gallows where those on death row can be hanged the Yerawada Central Jail and the Nagpur Central Jail. At present, Maharashtra has around 46 criminals, including Yakub, who have been sentenced to death. Of these, three are women, who are in Yerawada jail.
The Pune prison has 28 secluded cells for those on death row, all of which are occupied, and Nagpur has 19. There are no hangmen in both these jails and the prisons administrations’ have trained their own sentries (prison constables) in the procedure of hanging.
The sentry will be paid R10-25 as per the provisions of the Maharashtra Jail Manual, 1962.” Deputy Inspector General (Prison) Shahaji Solunke remained unavailable for comment.Startup Ideas We'd Like to Fund
Paul Graham
July 2008
When we read Y Combinator applications there are always ideas we're hoping to see. In the past we've never said publicly what they are. If we say we're looking for x, we'll get applications proposing x, certainly. But then it actually becomes harder to judge them: is this group proposing x because they were already thinking about it, or because they know that's what we want to hear? We don't like to sit on these ideas, though, because we really want people to work on them. So we're trying something new: we're going to list some of the ideas we've been waiting to see, but only describe them in general terms. It may be that recipes for ideas are the most useful form anyway, because imaginative people will take them in directions we didn't anticipate. Please don't feel that if you want to apply to Y Combinator, you have to work on one of these types of ideas. If we've learned nothing else from doing YC, it's how little we know. Many of the best startups we've funded, like Loopt, proposed things we'd never considered.
1. A cure for the disease of which the RIAA is a symptom. Something is broken when Sony and Universal are suing children. Actually, at least two things are broken: the software that file sharers use, and the record labels' business model. The current situation can't be the final answer. And what happened with music is now happening with movies. When the dust settles in 20 years, what will this world look like? What components of it could you start building now? The answer may be far afield. The answer for the music industry, for example, is probably to give up insisting on payment for recorded music and focus on licensing and live shows. But what happens to movies? Do they morph into games? 2. Simplified browsing. There are a lot of cases where you'd trade some of the power of a web browser for greater simplicity. Grandparents and small children don't want the full web; they want to communicate and share pictures and look things up. What viable ideas lie undiscovered in the space between a digital photo frame and a computer running Firefox? If you built one now, who else would use it besides grandparents and small children? 3. New news. As Marc Andreessen points out, newspapers are in trouble. The problem is not merely that they've been slow to adapt to the web. It's more serious than that: their problems are due to deep structural flaws that are exposed now that they have competitors. When the only sources of news were the wire services and a few big papers, it was enough to keep writing stories about how the president met with someone and they each said conventional things written in advance by their staffs. Readers were never that interested, but they were willing to consider this news when there were no alternatives. News will morph significantly in the more competitive environment of the web. So called "blogs" (because the old media call everything published online a "blog") like PerezHilton and TechCrunch are one sign of the future. News sites like Reddit and Digg are another. But these are just the beginning. 4. Outsourced IT. In most companies the IT department is an expensive bottleneck. Getting them to make you a simple web form could take months. Enter Wufoo. Now if the marketing department wants to put a form on the web, they can do it themselves in 5 minutes. You can take practically anything users still depend on IT departments for and base a startup on it, and you will have the enormous force of their present dissatisfaction pushing you forward. 5. Enterprise software 2.0. Enterprise software companies sell bad software for huge amounts of money. They get away with it for a variety of reasons that link together to form a sort of protective wall. But the software world is changing. I suspect that if you study different parts of the enterprise software business (not just what the software does, but more importantly, how it's sold) you'll find parts that could be picked off by startups. One way to start is to make things for smaller companies, because they can't afford the overpriced stuff made for big ones. They're also easier to sell to. 6. More variants of CRM. This is a form of enterprise software, but I'm mentioning it explicitly because it seems like this area has such potential. CRM ("Customer Relationship Management") means all sorts of different things, but a lot of the current embodiments don't seem much more than mailing list managers. It should be possible to make interactions with customers much higher-res. 7. Something your company needs that doesn't exist. Many of the best startups happened when someone needed something in their work, found it didn't exist, and quit to build it. This is vaguer than most of the other recipes here, but it may be the most valuable. You're working on something you know customers want, because you were the customer. And if it was something you needed at work, other people will too, and they'll be willing to pay for it. So if you're working for a big company and you want to strike out on your own, here's a recipe for an idea. Start this sentence: "We'd pay a lot if someone would just build a..." Whatever you say next is probably a good product idea. 8. Dating. Current dating sites are not the last word. Better ones will appear. But anyone who wants to start a dating startup has to answer two questions: in addition to the usual question about how you're going to approach dating differently, you have to answer the even more important question of how to overcome the huge chicken and egg problem every dating site faces. A site like Reddit is interesting when there are only 20 users. But no one wants to use a dating site with only 20 users—which of course becomes a self-perpetuating problem. So if you want to do a dating startup, don't focus on the novel take on dating that you're going to offer. That's the easy half. Focus on novel ways to get around the chicken and egg problem. 9. Photo/video sharing services. A lot of the most popular sites on the web are for photo sharing. But the sites classified as social networks are also largely about photo sharing. As much as people like to share words (IM and email and blogging are "word sharing" apps), they probably like to share pictures more. It's less work and the results are usually more interesting. I think there is huge growth still to come. There may ultimately be 30 different subtypes of image/video sharing service, half of which remain to be discovered. 10. Auctions. Online auctions have more potential than most people currently realize. Auctions seem boring now because EBay is doing a bad job, but is still powerful enough that they have a de facto monopoly. Result: stagnation. But I suspect EBay could now be attacked on its home territory, and that this territory would, in the hands of a successful invader, turn out to be more valuable than it currently appears. As with dating, however, a startup that wants to do this has to expend more effort on their strategy for cracking the monopoly than on how their auction site will work. 11. Web Office apps. We're interested in funding anyone competing with Microsoft desktop software. Obviously this is a rich market, considering how much Microsoft makes from it. A startup that made a tenth as much would be very happy. And a startup that takes on such a project will be helped along by Microsoft itself, who between their increasingly bureaucratic culture and their desire to protect existing desktop revenues will probably do a bad job of building web-based Office variants themselves. Before you try to start a startup doing this, however, you should be prepared to explain why existing web-based Office alternatives haven't taken the world by storm, and how you're going to beat that. 12. Fix advertising. Advertising could be made much better if it tried to please its audience, instead of treating them like victims who deserve x amount of abuse in return for whatever free site they're getting. It doesn't work anyway; audiences learn to tune out boring ads, no matter how loud they shout. What we have now is basically print and TV advertising translated to the web. The right answer will probably look very different. It might not even seem like advertising, by current standards. So the way to approach this problem is probably to start over from scratch: to think what the goal of advertising is, and ask how to do that using the new ingredients technology gives us. Probably the new answers exist already, in some early form that will only later be recognized as the replacement for traditional advertising. Bonus points if you can invent new forms of advertising whose effects are measurable, above all in sales. 13. Online learning. US schools are often bad. A lot of parents realize it, and would be interested in ways for their kids to learn more. Till recently, schools, like newspapers, had geographical monopolies. But the web changes that. How can you teach kids now that you can reach them through the web? The possible answers are a lot more interesting than just putting books online. One route would be to start with test prep services, for which there's already demand, and then expand into teaching kids more than just how to score high on tests. Another would be to start with games and gradually make them more thoughtful. Another, particularly for younger kids, would be to let them learn by watching one another (anonymously) solve problems. 14. Tools for measurement. Now that so much happens on computers connected to networks, it's possible to measure things we may not have realized we could. And there are some big problems that may be soluble if we can measure more. The most important of all is the defining flaw of large organizations: you can't tell who the most productive people are. A small company is measured directly by the market. But once an organization gets big enough that people on in the interior are protected from market forces, politics starts to rule, instead of performance. An improvement of even a few percent in the ability to measure what actually happens in large organizations would have a huge impact on the world economy, and a startup that enabled it would be entitled to a cut. 15. Off the shelf security. Services like ADT charge a fortune. Now that houses and their owners are both connected to networks practically all the time, a startup could stitch together alternatives out of cheap, existing hardware and services. 16. A form of search that depends on design. Google doesn't have a lot of weaknesses. One of the biggest is that they have no sense of design. They do the next best thing, which is to keep things sparse. But if there were a kind of search that depended a lot on design, a startup might actually be able to beat Google at search. I don't know if there is, but if you do, we'd love to hear from you. 17. New payment methods. There are almost certainly things whose growth is held back because there's no way to charge for them. And the people who could implement solutions don't realize how much demand there would be, precisely because this growth has been held back. So pretty much any new way of paying for things that's easier for some class of situations will turn out to have a bigger market than its inventors expected. Look at Paypal. (Warning: Regulated industry.) 18. The WebOS. It probably won't be a literal translation of a client OS shifted to servers. But as applications migrate to servers, it seems possible there will be something that plays a central role like an OS does. We've already funded several startups that could be candidates. But this is a big prize, and there will probably be multiple winners. 19. Application and/or data hosting. This is related to the preceding idea, but not identical. And again, while we've already funded several startups in this area, it's probably going to be big enough that it contains several rich markets. It may turn out that 4, 18, and 19 all have the same answer. Or rather, that there will be things that answer all three. But the way to find such a grand, overarching solution is probably not to approach it directly, but to start by solving smaller, specific problems, then gradually expand your scope. Start by writing Basic for the Altair. 20. Shopping guides. Like news, shopping used to be constrained by geography. You went to your local store and chose from what they had. Now the space of possibilities is bewilderingly large, and people need help navigating it. If you already know what you want, Bountii can find you the best price. But how do you decide what you want? Hint: One answer is related to number 3. 21. Finance software for individuals and small businesses. Intuit seems ripe for picking off. The difficulty is that they've got data connections with all the banks. That's hard for a small startup to match. But if you can start in a neighboring area and gradually expand into their territory, you could displace them. 22. A web-based Excel/database hybrid. People often use Excel as a lightweight database. I suspect there's an opportunity to create the program such users wish existed, and that there are new things you could do if it were web-based. Like make it easier to get data into it, through forms or scraping. Don't make it feel like a database. That frightens people. The question to ask is: how much can I let people do without defining structure? You want the database equivalent of a language that makes its easy to keep data in linked lists. (Which means you probably want to write it in one.) 23. More open alternatives to Wikipedia. Deletionists rule Wikipedia. Ironically, they're constrained by print-era thinking. What harm does it do if an online reference has a long tail of articles that are only interesting to a few people, so long as everyone can still find whatever they're looking for? There is room to do to Wikipedia what Wikipedia did to Britannica. 24. A buffer against bad customer service. A lot of companies (to say nothing of government agencies) have appalling customer service. "Please stay on the line. Your call is important to us." Doesn't it make you cringe just to read that? Sometimes the UIs presented to customers are even deliberately difficult; some airlines deliberately make it hard to buy tickets using miles, for example. Maybe if you built a more user-friendly wrapper around common bad customer service experiences, people would pay to use it. Passport expediters are an encouraging example. 25. A Craigslist competitor. Craiglist is ambivalent about being a business. This is both a strength and a weakness. If you focus on the areas where it's a weakness, you may find there are better ways to solve some of the problems Craigslist solves. 26. Better video chat. Skype and Tokbox are just the beginning. There's going to be a lot of evolution in this area, especially on mobile devices. 27. Hardware/software hybrids. Most hackers find hardware projects alarming. You have to deal with messy, expensive physical stuff. But Meraki shows what you can do if you're willing to venture even a little way into hardware. There's a lot of low-hanging fruit in hardware; you can often do dramatically new things by making comparatively small tweaks to existing stuff. Hardware is already mostly software. What I mean by a hardware/software hybrid is one in which software plays a very visible role. If you work on an idea of this type you'll tend to have the field to yourself, because most hackers are afraid of hardware, and most hardware companies can't write good software. (One reason your iPod isn't made by Sony is that Sony can't write iTunes.) 28. Fixing email overload. A lot of people, including me, feel they get too much email. A solution would find a ready market. But the best solution may not be anything as obvious as a new mail reader. Related problem: Using your inbox as a to-do list. The solution is probably to acknowledge this rather than prevent it. 29. Easy site builders for specific markets. Weebly is a good, general-purpose site builder. But there are a lot of markets that could use more specialized tools. What's the best way to make a web site if you're a real estate agent, or a restaurant, or a lawyer? There still don't seem to be canonical answers. Obviously the way to build this is to write a flexible site builder, then write layers on top to produce different variants. Hint: The key to making a site builder for end-users is to make software that lets people with no design ability produce things that look good—or at least professional. 30. Startups for startups. The increasing number of startups is itself an opportunity for startups. We're one; TechCrunch is another. What other new things can you do?
Consider this list to end with a giant ellipsis. It's not even a complete list of the types of ideas we're looking for, let alone of all types of startup ideas. So if you have a great idea that's not on this list, don't be deterred. Some of the best ideas are outliers everyone ignores because they seem crazy. It was an interesting exercise to write out this list. I noticed a lot of similarities between ideas that I never realized were there. In fact, when you read the list, you get a pretty accurate composite portrait of a startup: a combination of relentless predator upon the obsolete and benevolent solver of the world's problems. As ways of making money go, that's pretty good. Startups are often ruthless competitors, but they're competing in a game won by making what people want.
Comment on this article.When Donald Trump took office, it was clear that one essential task, in the time ahead, would be to distinguish between the sickening and the horrifying—between things that, however much one opposed them or was appalled by them, were part of the normal working-out of the program of the Republican Party and therefore part of the normal oscillations of American power, and those that were completely without precedent, that subverted or assaulted the very premises and foundations of American democracy.
Three months into Trump’s Presidency, many people seem prepared to offer a mildly, marginally optimistic, if not exactly comforting, view of where we stand between those two terms: mostly, they say, it’s been sickening, but, with the horrifying kept at bay, the horrifying looking for the moment like the zombies who can’t, yet, get over the big high wall in a zombie movie. The judgment was best summed up, in somewhat broad terms, by Louis C.K., when he said the other night to Stephen Colbert that, where in the past he had compared Trump to Hitler, he now was inclined to think that Trump’s evil was not that profound or original, and that the President is simply “a gross crook, dirty, rotten, lying sack of shit.” That is what you expect Donald Trump to be; Hitler is what you fear.
There’s a general fair-minded sense that that might be so—and many indeed have moved their barometers away from the Hitler range. Trump so far has been more or less constrained by the normal constraints. The courts have acted and, at least for the moment, blocked the absurd anti-Muslim refugee policy; Congress has spoken in exactly the way Congress is designed to speak: that is, by not speaking—the choke points for radical legislation were meant to be many, and the choke points have held. And one might note that the most extreme elements in his own party were the ones who were most defiant, and the least easily intimidated by him. To those who practice the dark art of Trump Towerology, the crazies seem on the retreat, while the normal—like H. R. McMaster, the national-security adviser—seem to be advancing. On the cultural front, despite all his shrieks and threats, few remain frightened or intimidated. One of the most striking things has been how much of the spirited opposition to Trump has risen from outside politics: Chrissy Teigen, the model and Twitter personality, has been far more outspoken and fearless against Trump than Charles Schumer. Trump’s most egregiously disgusting acts, the lying early-morning tweets, have even, to an extent, been bracketed into the realm of Weird Things Presidents Do. Ronald Reagan confused movies and life; L.B.J. ordered his underlings to stand by the bathroom; Trump tweets.
Tragically, that conclusion seems to be one more instance of how quickly human beings become normalized to the abnormal, accustomed to the unacceptable. The assault of Trump on our constitutional foundations is, in fact, daily, insidious, effective, and cannot be bracketed off into the realm of the unthreatening, however keenly, desperately, we would all like to do that, for the sake of our own sanity and civic health—which depends, after all, exactly on not being compelled to pay attention to politics. A healthy polity lifts public life into a world of reasonable administration and procedural reliability, alongside which we can expand our inner lives and interests without having, as people in autocratic governments must, to think about the boss and the secret police and what is going on inside the palace at every minute.
A simple index of it is to pick up a magazine and see what we, and observers abroad, now expect from our government. In the April 1st issue of The Economist—that most equable and distinguished of magazines, founded on a principle of free trade that places it in opposition to Trump—for instance, one finds, in a discussion of the perils in the way of Amazon’s domination of retailing under its founder, Jeff Bezos, this observation: “Donald Trump does not care for the Washington Post, a newspaper Mr. Bezos owns. In 2016, Mr. Trump said Mr. Bezos was using the Post to attack him because Amazon has a ‘huge antitrust problem.’ If Mr. Trump believes that—or even if he doesn’t—his administration might favour action.” Stop and think about those sentences for a moment, sentences made all the more, well, horrifying by the calm journalistic tone with which they are uttered: there is a presumption that it is perfectly possible that Donald Trump will act against a private company in order to take revenge against it for opposing him in print. This is exactly the kind of crime—misusing the instruments of government to intimidate political opponents—for which Richard Nixon was impeached. It is the kind of thing that is perfectly normal in an autocratic state, as in Russia, where one cannot mock the boss without fear of the police. Suddenly, that abuse is taken for granted here.
The same is true of the question of corruption. The Trump Administration is, already, the most corrupt in American history simply because corruption, properly defined, lies in the control of possible channels of influence as much as in money directly pocketed. A prospective deal that would have seen a politically connected Chinese company investing in a real-estate project controlled by the family of Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner—at the very moment when, however absurdly, Kushner is supposed to play a role in China policy—only got called off after a raft of bad publicity, leaving no principle in place to protect us from more predation. Meanwhile, the Trump boys roam the world making deals on their father’s behalf, giving foreign governments and entrepreneurs every reason to believe that enriching the First Family is a precondition for earning American favor. This is exactly the way government runs in many Third World countries: the boss man’s family goes everywhere making deals on his behalf to enrich themselves, with the quid pro quo always perfectly apparent. Nothing—no ethical officer, no blind trust—stands between Trump and his own enrichment through office. One recalls the torturous mechanisms with which poor Jimmy Carter sought to seal off his peanut farm from the slightest appearance of conflict of interest—and the vengeful rhetoric of Republican conservative columnists scanning for signs of a failure—and one weeps for one’s country.
Perhaps the most tragic sins against democracy, to which we have already become accustomed, are Trump’s lies. When you have a President who lies as he breathes, for whom lying is simply the normal way of dealing with any difficulty, democratic governance becomes close to impossible. We all forgive fantasy, storytelling, self-justification, faulty memory, mythological insistence. America has survived them all. But telling malicious and scurrilous lies without remorse or regret is a venom that paralyzes the entire political system, for the simple reason that democratic politics are really just a proceduralized form of argument—my evidence here, yours there; our side’s claim like this, yours like that—and when lies are the first premise, the back-and-forth of rational contention becomes impossible. No sane response is possible to an egregious lie except silence, and silence lets the lie win. Trump accuses Barack Obama of wiretapping him, an obvious lie, but the lie becomes part of the fabric of the event, to be adjudicated rather than exploded. He blithely says that he thinks Susan Rice, Obama’s national-security adviser, may have committed a crime, and Rice, playing by rules that were suspended three months ago, says that she “won’t dignify” the remark with a counter-remark. The appeal to dignity is the classic appeal of those who live in an honor society where conduct and credibility are assumed to be inseparable. We are three months past dignity now. That’s the tragedy, and it has already happened.Le 409: a brand new Indian gastropub in Old Montreal created by restauration industry veterans Holder brothers and An |
the spectrum...
AW: Some people don't mind how you perceive them. Like I'm borderline non-binary. I'm a transgender woman. If someone's like "Is that a man?" I say, "Well, you're not wrong, but you're not right."
LD: But that's just your experience. I'm not visibly trans and my gender expression is a bit more binary so I think I've had a different experience.
Oxygen/Instagram Arisce Wanzer
What do you want the general public to know and understand about being trans that they don't already?
LD: It's as broad as being human. Everyone's experience is completely different, the common theme here: we should all be viewed as individuals.
AW: I don't want people to think like me, I just want them to think. Like, I want you to look at all of our backgrounds, all of our stories, everything we have to say and offer, all of our clothes — because mine are amazing, the entire season — and I want you to really think, "Why am I judging this person so much?" We're just people like everyone else, we have problems, flaws, struggles, some of us are entitled.
LD: Who? Me?
AW: No, I was flipping my hair. Look, a lot of people think that trans people are just marginalized, that we go home and cry in our makeup mirror every day, like, "Oh, I wish I could be my real self." No, I go home and I am just a mean bitch just like I am when I leave the house. We've got our Regina George's and we've got our Matilda's. We're all just people though. Stop putting everyone in a box to make yourself feel safe.
Source: Mic/Oxygen
Where is the cultural conversation around trans currently and where do you want to see it go?
AW: The conversation is on pause. Yeah, we're visible, yeah people see it, but it's mostly headlines.
LD: It's sensationalized. It's one person, a star, and they put them in a headline to get people talking, but it's usually to get people who don't understand talking and make them angry.
AW: It's always borderline negative, never educational, it's never informed or well-researched. I'm always irritated. I can never get through the whole article. I'm going back to bed.
LD: She don't like stupid.
AW: I need people to catch up. You can inform yourself now. I remember being 18 and saying, "I think I might be trans, lemme look this up." And I remember looking it up an thinking, "Ah crap, this is going to suck. I've got to come out again! I've got to fill out paperwork! And maybe do surgery? Sounds like it sucks. I wouldn't wish this upon my worst enemy." But at least I'll be happy. Because you can either be miserable for everyone else or be happy for yourself. I want society to catch up. Again, we're people, chill, it's not that serious, and if you haven't seen of us before, you should probably move.
A photo posted by (@) on
Where does fashion fit into this conversation? Is the fashion industry at the apex of diversity?
AW: Meh. It can't be tokenized. You can't hire us for one campaign and say, "Oh look, we've got this he/she thing going on." You need to hire a bunch of us: an asian girl, a black girl, a girl from Nigeria, a girl from South Africa that is white. Diversity, that's the real world, so show the real world, beause the real world actually buys the clothes.
LD: I'm going to be in the middle here. It's definitely a step forward but a lot of people need to realize when they say things like, "This trans talk is is being thrown in my face." That's because it went from 0 to a little bit of something and it's still just a little bit of something.
Source: Mic/Oxygen
Tell me the best thing about being trans.
AW: I can say whatever I want and it has less of a hit. Because I'm a marginalized person being black and trans. I'll tell people, "Fuck you. I can say what I want because we're being killed in the streets and no one's being punished for it." I'm freed up to just go off at the mouth.
LD: Not being able to live on auto-pilot, which can be both good and bad. We always have to be conscious of what's going on around us, sometimes it's for safety, who's looking, what's going on, especially depending on what neighborhood you're walking around in. This is moreso for trans women and even moreso for trans women of color. Being that self-aware is actually a positive, despite being exhausting.
AW: All my male privilege is gone. [Laughs]
LD: I would never go back. I'm so happy now. I like that I can see both sides of things.
Laith Ashley De La Cruz, Arisce Wanzer Oxygen
What message do you have for LGBTQ youth, who might tune into a show like this and for the first time see themselves represented on screen.
AW: I'd like them to see that they can be strong they can be powerful, they can be headstrong and pushy and driven, all these things, and still have dreams that they can go after and achieve. I wish I would have had me on tv as a kid because we had nothing, we had Boys Don't Cry and I was like, uh, this is depressing and then we had To Wong Fu, also depressing... very good though. I'm excited for the next generation to be jerks like everyone else.
LA: I never anticipated this would have the impact that it is having. When I first started doing this, it was more for me. It was "let's see what I can do with this career I've always wanted." And then I started getting these emails from mothers and young people who were questioning their gender or their sexuality saying myself and the other girls on the show were so inspirational and that they were so happy that they could finally see themselves in someone on television. I almost started crying. It gives me hope that people can change. For a long time, I thought we would just live in a world where we would always be marginalized and viewed as these freak shows and now these young kids are coming up and it makes me realize, "Holy shit," there's hope.
Strut premieres Tuesday, September 20th at 9pm Eastern on Oxygen.Watford FC has vowed to make sure coaches to away matches leave earlier after delays marred the club’s opening Premier League game.
The club’s new coach provider Clarkes Coaches said it will review its arrangements after hundreds of Hornets fans were stranded on the M6 - missing the opening 20 minutes of Saturday’s game against Everton at Goodison Park and Miguel Layun's goal in the 14th minute.
Fans say most coaches left late, and after taking a detour to avoid rival fans and hitting traffic, some only arrived at the game 15 minutes before half time.
Hornets fan Andrew Carberry said he was “outraged” that more than 500 fans missed a third of the game.
In a letter to the club, the 37-year-old wrote: “I have been to around two thousand games in my lifetime and have never managed to get to a game late, let alone 25 minutes late.”
Mr Carberry said everyone was on the coach by 9am and questioned why it did not leave.
He also complained that with the coach already late, drivers had taken a 30-minute break at services, dismissing concerns the coach would arrive late, and then ignored messages advising them to come off the congested M6.
He added: “I have to be honest, I’m very disappointed having paid £44 a ticket that I’ve had to miss almost a third of a match due to poor planning.”
In an email to Mr Carberry, the club said it planned a full debrief with the coach provider, and would make sure there are earlier departure times for games that are further away.
But for Mr Carberry, of Norbury Avenue, once was enough.
He added: “I will never be catching a club coach to an away game again. Next time I’ll train, walk, hitch, cycle or even drive.”
For many fans, the incentive to take the coach was a £1 subsidised coach ticket - no consolation for those who arrived after kick off.
Andy Dibble said he was one of the lucky ones, arriving in time for the first goal after his driver took a detour.
The 47-year-old, who lives in Oxhey Village, blamed poor planning, asking why his coach did not leave until 9.15am, and why the coach company was not aware of roadworks along the route.
Clarkes Coaches’ general manager Terry Newman apologised for the inconvenience said coaches would leave one hour earlier for the game against Manchester City on August 29.
He said the club had told it to leave at 9am, and the firm believed six hours was long enough to get to Everton.
Mr Newman said one bus was delayed by half an hour by two fans who “disappeared” in the service station.
He added: “It was very unfortunate that we were hit by roadworks. In hindsight we would have left earlier. We apologise for any inconvenience.
“We have definitely learnt lessons and will endeavour to leave earlier in the future. This won’t happen again.”
The game ended 2-2. Club officials declined to comment.
Below is some reaction from Twitter:
@Observer_Owl so many hornets still on the motorway 😣😣😣 — Alex Wright (@AlexJ_Wright) August 8, 2015
@Observer_Owl would be nice if any of the coaches had actually arrived. Only just on m62 — David Morren (@wifcmidget) August 8, 2015
@Observer_Owl Delay the kick off we are still 45 mins away on coach 11😠 — Jason Wheatley (@jasoncfc21) August 8, 2015
@Observer_Owl even if still on a coach on M6🐝🐝🐝🐝 — Franko (@FKempinska) August 8, 2015When President Bill Clinton vetoed anti-leaks provision in 2000 that would have made nearly all unauthorized disclosures of information by officials a felony, he warned of a “serious risk that this legislation” would have “a chilling effect on those who engage in legitimate activities.” But a draft signing statement released by the Clinton Library this month show how he would have defended the provision if he had decided to sign it into law.
Senator Richard Shelby had introduced an amendment to the intelligence authorization bill for fiscal year 2001. Shelby argued the amendment would “fill gaps in existing law by giving the Justice Department new authority to prosecute the knowing and willful unauthorized disclosure of classified information to a person not authorized to receive that information.” It would make it possible for officials to be penalized with fines of up to $10,000 or three years in prison.
He maintained, “While current law bars unauthorized disclosure of certain categories of information, for example, cryptographic or national defense information, many other sensitive intelligence and diplomatic secrets are not protected.” He specifically wanted to stop leaks to news organizations.
Clinton prepared to defend this amendment [PDF] by declaring that “unauthorized disclosures” could be “extremely harmful to the national security interests of the United States” and could “hinder my ability to make decisions affecting our nation’s security and put at risk scarce and irreplaceable intelligence sources and methods indispensable for acquiring the information necessary to make those decisions in the best possible way.”
He also planned to downplay the extent to which the provision might be applied in a draconian manner by suggesting the “new provision should not be applied in a manner that could chill legitimate activity or transform questions of judgment into criminal referrals.”
“It is extraordinarily important, therefore, that the Justice Department use its prosecutorial discretion wisely when apparently unauthorized disclosures are referred to it for possible prosecution under this new provision.”
Yet, the draft signing statement also would have indicated that “many of the problems this legislation seeks to address should normally be handled through strict application of personnel security practices,” which would have been an acknowledgment that this punitive authority to go after leakers was not needed at all.
Shelby’s anti-leaks provision ultimately faced a backlash from The New York Times, The Washington Post, CNN, the Newspaper Association of America, the Radio-Television News Directors Association, and other organizations.
Clinton chose to veto the intelligence authorization bill and request that Congress return this legislation to his desk without the anti-leaks provision.
The president stated in his veto message, “A desire to avoid the risk that their good faith choice of words — their exercise of judgment — could become the subject of a criminal referral for prosecution might discourage government officials from engaging even in appropriate public discussion, press briefings, or other legitimate official activities.”
“Similarly, the legislation may unduly restrain the ability of former government officials to teach, write, or engage in any activity aimed at building public understanding of complex issues. Incurring such risks is unnecessary and inappropriate in a society built on freedom of expression and the consent of the governed and is particularly inadvisable in a context in which the range of classified materials is so extensive. In such circumstances, this criminal provision would, in my view, create an undue chilling effect.”
Shelby again tried to get the provision passed in 2001, but, on September 5, President George W. Bush’s administration decided the legislation was not needed to “safeguard national security.” A Senate hearing on the provision was canceled. Then, later in 2002, as Shelby “reintroduced his language,” “then-Attorney General John D. Ashcroft said that ‘rigorous investigation’ and enforcement of existing laws—not new legislation—were the best way to fight leaks,” according to The Washington Post.
President Barack Obama’s administration has proven that the Justice Department cannot be trusted to show “prosecutorial discretion.” The prosecutions of NSA whistleblower Thomas Drake, former State Department employee Stephen Kim, CIA whistleblower John Kiriakou, former FBI translator Shamai Leibowitz, former CIA officer Jeffrey Sterling and Navy contract linguist James Hitselberger are far from examples of federal prosecutors using discretion wisely.
Hitselberger’s case recently concluded last week when he was sentenced to time served and fined $250. Like the previously mentioned cases, he was charged with violating the Espionage Act when he passed along documents to a library at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University.
The prosecutors effectively used the sledgehammer that is the Espionage Act to pressure him into pleading to a misdemeanor of “taking classified documents without authority.”
One can only imagine how much more zealous the Obama administration’s clampdown on leaks would have been in the past years if Clinton had not opposed this provision.
Nonetheless, it is not like the administration has struggled to conjure up ways to criminalize leaks. The Espionage Act has been transformed by the Obama administration into something far worse than the provision Clinton vetoed. It has made it possible to charge anyone who discloses classified information in order to ignite debate on matters of public interest as if they are spies.
Since disclosures by Edward Snowden and Chelsea Manning (who was convicted of committing Espionage Act violations), Obama has presided over the institution of an Insider Threat Program, which McClatchy Newspapers has reported equates “leaks” with “espionage,” encourages snitching and advises employees to be on the lookout for individuals suffering from “narcissism” or “antisocial personality disorder.” Director of National Intelligence James Clapper has sought to prohibit intelligence agency employees from having unauthorized contact with journalists, even if they are discussing unclassified information, and has been involved in developing a system of total surveillance for security clearance holders so they are monitored on and off the job.
Photo is from US Defense Department and in the public domain.Testosterone is also known as male sex hormone; although it is not just present in males, females also produce testosterone (but much smaller quantity). Testicles are where your testosterone is produced and women produce it through their ovaries.
Testosterone is said to be a male hormone because it plays a key role in defining a difference between men body and women body.
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Do you remember those early days of school when there used to be no significant difference between boys and girls? Boys used to had a sweet girly voice, no muscle and even difference in physical strength between boys and girls were nominal.
Then what sudden changes in the body made boys muscular, powerful and manly? Yes, puberty. Puberty is a period when your body enters in the state of sexual maturity and your become capable of reproduction.
During puberty, boy’s testosterone level reaches its peak; it rises up to 8-10 times higher than before. But that testosterone level doesn’t stay that high for life time. Researchers had proved that after 30 years of age, testosterone percentage decreases by 1% per year.
And due to unhealthy lifestyle and other bad habits (smoking, boozing, etc), this depletion of testosterone level could go down at the faster rate.
What is low testosterone?
Testosterone is known as a male sex hormone for a reason; it has an impact on everything that transforms a boy into a fully grown male, like muscle growth, body hair, sex drive, and strength.
Low testosterone is a condition when your body lacks its ability to produce and maintain optimum testosterone in the body. Low testosterone may lead to many medical conditions like lower libido, hair loss, and muscle loss.
Symptoms of low testosterone:
1# Sex drive
The primary effect of low testosterone can be seen on your sex drive. Male’s sex drive is directly correlated with the level of testosterone in his body.
Many urologists found that males who were suspected to have low testosterone level also had less desire to have sex; their rate of masturbation was also considerably low.
2# Erectile dysfunction
Although testosterone has no direct co relation with the erectile dysfunction but lack of appetite to have sex may cause a problem with erection.
Testosterone alone is not responsible for the erection in male, but it plays a vital role in triggering the brain receptors to produce nitric oxide. Nitric oxide is a molecule which initiates the chemical reaction for optimum erection.
3# Bone density
Research shows, Testosterone plays the vital role in maintaining the bone density of human body, we all are aware of the fact that with the growing age our bones tend to get weaker, testosterone is one of the reasons for that.
Human bone is like living tissue which is continuously breaking and rebuilding itself. But low testosterone depletes its capability to rebuild itself, which leads to weaker and fragile bones with growing age.
4# Muscle growth
For any bodybuilder testosterone level is at top priority, testosterone increases the body’s capability of protein synthesis which ultimately leads to better muscle development.
Ever wondered why female bodies never gain muscle as the male body does? Yes, you guessed it right; it’s because of the difference in testosterone level.
With the optimum level of testosterone level, your body puts itself in an anabolic state, anabolic state means your body’s capability to burn fat and develop more muscle. But with the drop in testosterone levels, your body drags itself into the catabolic state where you are not enough capable of building muscle and burning fat.
We all had a friend who naturally had a muscular body and low body fat, right? He had a high testosterone level genetically.
5# Sperm count
Many people confuse themselves by considering sperm production and testosterone as same. For those who need a clarification let me clarify you in a single like: sperms are male reproductive cells which help in reproduction, and testosterone is a hormone produced in male body to inherit other manly features like gaining muscle, body hair, stronger bones etc.
So testosterone is a hormone which stimulates brain cells for the production of quality sperm, and with the depletion of testosterone, your body also lacks the capability to produce quality sperm. This ultimately leads to lower sperm count in the body.
6# Hair loss
As specified earlier, testosterone is a male hormone which is responsible for several body functions like building muscle, sex drive, bone strength, etc.
Hair growth is also a function of testosterone, studies have found that male with low testosterone level tends to lose body hair as well. Although baldness can be an inheritable component but low T level might also be one of the reasons.
7# Fatigue
Studies have found, people with low testosterone level reported fatigue even after long hours of sleep.
There is a no direct correlation with the body fatigue and the testosterone level. But there is a direct relationship between stress and testosterone levels.
Higher stress and high testosterone level can’t go altogether, most participants with low testosterone level were leading to stressful and hectic lifestyle, which ultimately lead to lower body testosterone level and lower body fitness too.
8# Body fat %
You can regard fat as an enemy of testosterone, they both can’t survive happily. When you develop more fatty tissue that means you are killing your testosterone, and with the drop in testosterone level, you are again inviting more fatty tissue.
Another reason of drop in testosterone level with the rise of fat % is: estrogen is secreted by fatty tissues, which makes it difficult for your testosterone to survive.
What is estrogen hormone? Estrogen is primarily a female sex hormone, which is responsible for the development of female body and secondary sexual characteristics like: Breasts and regulation of menstrual cycle.
An Australian study also concluded: When the group of 26 men was given the ADT (Androgen deprivation therapy) for the cure of their prostate cancer. ADT turned off the effects of testosterone, which resulted in gaining of 14% body fat.
9# Mood swings
Testosterone levels actually define your mood, and it’s proven. A study found that the 23% of young men diagnosed with low testosterone level is found to have the symptoms of depression too.
These mood swings initiate the vicious cycle by extinguishing your testicles ability to produce more testosterone which worsens the situation by further depression and the further drop in T-level.
What could be a solution to this?
Ever wondered why regular exercise is always linked with better mood? It’s because it regulates the level of testosterone in the body which in turn eventually helps in feeling positive, energetic and stress-free life.
10# Quality sleep
Studies have proven to be deeper like between the T-level and the number of hours you slept, this study conducted on the effect of sleep on the testosterone level have proven that guys who had 4 hours of sleep had an average testosterone level of 200-300 ng/dl in comparison to the guys who had a sleep of 8 hours, these guys had a testosterone level of 600-700 ng/dl.
Another study of 531 healthy Chinese Asian males proved the same. Guys who had a sleep of 4 hours in comparison the guys who had a sleep of complete 8 hours had 60% low testosterone level.
11# Man boobs
A study conducted by Indian Journal of Endocrinology and Metabolism stated: Low testosterone level initiate the cycle of gaining fatty tissues which in turn boost up the production of estrogen level in the male body.
We have learned earlier that estrogen is the female sex hormone and help them to develop female body characteristics, higher estrogen level in the male body also lead to the development of men boobs and depletion of lean muscles.
If you have started to develop man boobs then it’s time to regulate your testosterone level and start a healthy lifestyle.
Causes of low testosterone
Obesity
Obesity is a root cause of many diseases, low testosterone is one of its side effects too. If you want to take counter measure for your low testosterone level, then start exercise from today itself. Join some gym or go for a jog or just go for long walk, do whatever you feel comfortable with. It’s time to shred some fat.
Stress
We have already discussed this. Stress initiates a vicious cycle, which worsens the situation with time. Best ways to counter stress is some good sleep, eat healthily and exercise daily.
Diabetes
Numerous studies have found that males having type-2 diabetes are twice as likely to have a risk of low testosterone. Testosterone therapy can be a good option for them.
Hormone imbalance
Some time its hormone to blame, if you are going through healthy lifestyle and stress-free life then hormone imbalance might be the reason for low testosterone levels. It’s better to visit a doctor for better consultation and reason for hormone imbalance.
Smoking kill’s testosterone, every smoker knows that from the day one of smoking. [Update] – Many asked if smoking a hookah is as dangerous to testosterone as the normal cigarette. To be honest, there are no studies available showing that hookah is better or worse than cigarettes on testosterone. However, if you decide to smoke hookahs, you need to make sure that you do not overdo it! Choosing one of the best hookahs is critical since you know that what you are putting in your mouth is not toxic. For example, the guys over at Shishaheart.com have very nice guides about how to choose the best hookah flavor, how to choose the best hookah and how to even choose the best glass hookah! A look at their article “Best All glass hookahs in 2018” will make you immediately find out what your new hookah is going to be like
Medical conditions (liver or kidney)
Study conducted to test the sexual function with the patients with liver diseases proved that healthy liver and their sex life is co-related.
Medication
If you are going through long medication than it might be a reason of low testosterone, therapy like ADT (Androgen deprivation therapy) which is given to patients who have prostate cancer results in total depletion of testosterone.
Age
Age is a primary factor of depletion of testosterone. Our body tends to lose its testosterone level by 1% per year after we age 30. Those with unhealthy lifestyle may see faster decrease in their T-Levels.In case you are unfamiliar with the legendary artist formerly known as Robert Zimmerman, I would suggest you take a good day to discover all that you’ve been missing out on. It’s okay, I can wait – because if you have no knowledge of the man’s life and career, this film is practically inaccessible. Now, if you think Bob Dylan’s one of the worst song writers of all time, you can see your way out.
Unlike with Howl, it helps to know a bit about Bob Dylan before diving into this layered collage of a “bio-flick.” Not only does I’m Not There undertake multiple depictions of Dylan’s actual life, but also depicts his figurative personas and influences in a unique fashion. It also helps that none of these characters are referred to as “Bob Dylan.”
I’m Not There is a different kind of non-linear story, considering it shows the many faces of one person, which is not to say that Dylan himself had anything to do with this film, because he didn’t. In fact, I think the charm of this feature is that it follows an icon of many musical movements, and each character takes on a given persona:
Woody Gunthrie (Marcus Carl Franklin, the child) is Dylan’s displaced musical beginnings (an anachronic “imposter”); Arthur (Ben Whishaw) is the interrogated poet; Robbie (Ledger) is the superstar who struggles with his family life; Jack (Bale) is the documented folk singer turned born-again Christian; Billy the Kid (Gere) is the mythic wanderer and outlaw; finally, Jude (Blanchett) is our surreal musician – the closest to matching the perceived 60’s Dylan, played with both delicacy and ferocity.
Though I’m Not There can easily be dubbed as a pretentious mess, I beg to differ. Okay, so maybe I have my Dylan goggles on, big deal. This aside, I can’t get over this intertwining construct – it’s just full circles upon full circles with amazing musical intervals. Another bias: I really love intertwining nonlinear stories. This aside, I’m Not There beautifully depicts each era almost as a genre of its own design.
So yes, it does help to know a thing or two about Bob Dylan, but I guess you could easily enjoy this film as perhaps a schizophrenic portrait of the everyman, caught in the midsts of his desires and obligations. As well as the occasional trip with Allen Ginsberg.
If you dig on Dylan, I’m Not There is a prime choice. Or if you’d rather have some colorful background noise with some choice covers, that works too. It’s a win-win.
Next time on What You Should Have Watched, let’s talk about that fat Kev Smith.
AdvertisementsAbbot Howard Hoffman (November 30, 1936 – April 12, 1989) was an American political and social activist, anarchist,[1][2][3] and revolutionary who co-founded the Youth International Party ("Yippies").
Hoffman was arrested and tried for conspiracy and inciting to riot as a result of his role in protests that led to violent confrontations with police during the 1968 Democratic National Convention, along with Jerry Rubin, David Dellinger, Tom Hayden, Rennie Davis, John Froines, Lee Weiner, and Bobby Seale. The group was known collectively as the "Chicago Eight"; when Seale's prosecution was separated from the others, they became known as the Chicago Seven. While the defendants were initially convicted of intent to incite a riot, the verdicts were overturned on appeal.
Hoffman continued his activism into the 1970s, and remains an icon of the anti-war movement and the counterculture era.[4][5] He died of an intentional phenobarbital overdose in 1989.
Early life and education [ edit ]
Hoffman was born November 30, 1936 in Worcester, Massachusetts, to John Hoffman and Florence Schanberg. Hoffman was raised in a middle-class Jewish household and had two younger siblings. As a child in the 1940s and 1950s, he was a member of what has been described as "the transitional generation between the beatniks and hippies". He described his childhood as "idyllic" and the 1940s as "a great time to grow up in."
During his school days, he became known as a troublemaker who started fights, played pranks, vandalized school property, and referred to teachers by their first names. In his sophomore year, Hoffman was expelled from Classical High School, a now-closed public high school in Worcester.[6] As an atheist,[7] Hoffman wrote a paper declaring that, "God could not possibly exist, for if he did, there wouldn't be any suffering in the world." The irate teacher ripped up the paper and called him "a Communist punk". Hoffman jumped on the teacher and started fighting him until he was restrained and removed from the school.[8] On June 3, 1954, 17-year-old Hoffman was arrested for the first time, for driving without a license. After his expulsion, he attended Worcester Academy, graduating in 1955. Hoffman engaged in many behaviors typical of rebellious teenagers in the 1950s, such as riding motorcycles, wearing leather jackets, and sporting a ducktail haircut.
Upon graduating, he enrolled in Brandeis University, where he studied under professors such as noted psychologist Abraham Maslow, often considered the father of humanistic psychology.[9] He was also a student of Marxist theorist Herbert Marcuse, who Hoffman said had a profound effect on his political outlook. Hoffman would later cite Marcuse's influence during his activism and his theories on revolution. He was on the Brandeis tennis team, which was coached by journalist Bud Collins.[10] Hoffman graduated with a B.A. in psychology in 1959. That fall, he enrolled at the University of California, Berkeley, where he completed coursework toward a master's degree in psychology. Soon after, he married his pregnant girlfriend Sheila Karklin in May 1960.
Early protests [ edit ]
Before his days as a leading member of the Yippie movement, Hoffman was involved with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), and organized Liberty House, which sold items to support the civil rights movement in the southern United States. During the Vietnam War, Hoffman was an anti-war activist, using deliberately comical and theatrical tactics.
In late 1966, Hoffman met with a radical community-action group called the Diggers[11] and studied their ideology. He later returned to New York and published a book with this knowledge.[11] Doing so was considered a violation by the Diggers. Diggers co-founder Peter Coyote explained:
Abbie, who was a friend of mine, was always a media junky. We explained everything to those guys, and they violated everything we taught them. Abbie went back, and the first thing he did was publish a book, with his picture on it, that blew the hustle of every poor person on the Lower East Side by describing every free scam then current in New York, which were then sucked dry by disaffected kids from Scarsdale.[12]
One of Hoffman's well-known stunts was on August 24, 1967, when he led members of the movement to the gallery of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). The protesters threw fistfuls of real and fake dollar bills down to the traders below, some of whom booed, while others began to scramble frantically to grab the money as fast as they could.[13] Accounts of the amount of money that Hoffman and the group tossed was said to be as little as $30 to $300.[14] Hoffman claimed to be pointing out that, metaphorically, that's what NYSE traders "were already doing." "We didn't call the press," wrote Hoffman. "At that time we really had no notion of anything called a media event." Yet the press was quick to react and by evening the event was reported around the world. After that incident, the stock exchange spent $20,000 to enclose the gallery with bulletproof glass.[15]
In October 1967, David Dellinger of the National Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam asked Jerry Rubin to help mobilize and direct a march on the Pentagon.[16] The protesters gathered at the Lincoln Memorial as Dellinger and Dr. Benjamin Spock gave speeches to the mass of people.[17] From there, the group marched towards the Pentagon. As the protesters neared the Pentagon, they were met by soldiers of the 82nd Airborne Division[17] who formed a human barricade blocking the Pentagon steps.[16] Not to be dissuaded, Hoffman vowed to levitate the Pentagon[17] claiming he would attempt to use psychic energy to levitate the Pentagon until it would turn orange and begin to vibrate, at which time the war in Vietnam would end.[18] Allen Ginsberg led Tibetan chants to assist Hoffman.[17]
Hoffman's theatrical performances succeeded in convincing many young people at the time to become more politically active.[18]
Chicago Eight conspiracy trial [ edit ]
Hoffman was arrested and tried for conspiracy and inciting to riot as a result of his role in anti-Vietnam War protests, which were met by a violent police riot during the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago.[19] He was among the group that came to be known as the Chicago Seven (originally known as the Chicago Eight), which included fellow Yippie Jerry Rubin, David Dellinger, Rennie Davis, John Froines, Lee Weiner, future California state senator Tom Hayden and Black Panther Party co-founder Bobby Seale (before his trial was severed from the others).
Presided over by Judge Julius Hoffman (no relation to Hoffman, about which he joked throughout the trial[20]), Abbie Hoffman's courtroom antics frequently grabbed the headlines; one day, defendants Hoffman and Rubin appeared in court dressed in judicial robes, while on another day, Hoffman was sworn in as a witness with his hand giving the finger. Judge Hoffman became the favorite courtroom target of the Chicago Seven defendants, who frequently would insult the judge to his face.[21] Abbie Hoffman told Judge Hoffman "you are a'shande fur de Goyim' [disgrace in front of the gentiles]. You would have served Hitler better." He later added that "your idea of justice is the only obscenity in the room."[21] Both Davis and Rubin told the Judge "this court is bullshit." When Hoffman was asked in what state he resided, he replied the "state of mind of my brothers and sisters".
Other celebrities were called as "cultural witnesses" including Allen Ginsberg, Phil Ochs, Arlo Guthrie, Norman Mailer and others. Hoffman closed the trial with a speech in which he quoted Abraham Lincoln, making the claim that the president himself, if alive today, would also be arrested in Chicago's Lincoln Park.
On February 18, 1970, Hoffman and four of the other defendants (Rubin, Dellinger, Davis, and Hayden) were found guilty of intent to incite a riot while crossing state lines. All seven defendants were found not guilty of conspiracy. At sentencing, Hoffman suggested the judge try LSD and offered to set him up with "a dealer he knew in Florida" (the judge was known to be headed to Florida for a post-trial vacation). Each of the five was sentenced to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine.[22]
However, all convictions were subsequently overturned by the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals. The Walker Commission later found that in fact, it had been a "police riot".
Controversy at Woodstock [ edit ]
At Woodstock in 1969, Hoffman reportedly interrupted The Who's performance to attempt to speak against the jailing of John Sinclair of the White Panther Party. He grabbed a microphone and yelled, "I think this is a pile of shit while John Sinclair rots in prison..." Pete Townshend was adjusting his amplifier between songs and turned to look at Hoffman over his left shoulder. Townshend shouted "Fuck off! Fuck off my fucking stage!"[23][24][25] and reportedly ran at Hoffman with his guitar and hit Hoffman in the back, although Townshend later denied attacking Hoffman.[26] Townshend later said that while he actually agreed with Hoffman on Sinclair's imprisonment, he would have knocked him offstage regardless of the content of his message, given that Hoffman had violated the "sanctity of the stage," i.e., the right of the band to perform uninterrupted by distractions not relevant to the show. The incident took place during a camera change, and was not captured on film. The audio of this incident, however, can be heard on The Who's box set, Thirty Years of Maximum R&B (Disc 2, Track 20, "Abbie Hoffman Incident").
In 1971's Steal This Book in the section "Free Communication," Hoffman encourages his readership to take to the stage at rock concerts to use the pre-assembled audience and PA system to |
4], the most anterior vertebra in the series represents the 16th caudal vertebra. All but the last two of the vertebrae are associated with L-shaped haemal arches. In the same slab, filamentous integument is preserved along both the dorsal and ventral margins of the tail (Figure 2F). The qualities of preservation and preparation on the specimen do not permit microscopic comparison of the integument. The neurocentral sutures are closed in all mid- to distal-caudal vertebrae.
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larger image TIFF original image Download: Figure 3. Abdominal contents of Sinocalliopteryx gigas (CAGS-IG-T1). A, B; block containing Confuciusornis (blue) and unidentified ornithischian (red) remains. C, Close up of Confuciusornis sternal and pectoral elements (small box in B); D, E; associated skeleton of Confuciusornis (large box in B); F, proximal Confuciusornis humerus (arrow in Figure 2). Abbreviations: C, carpal; Dr, dorsal rib; Fu, furcula; Gs, gastralia; H, humerus; Il, ilium; Is, ischium; Mu, manual ungula; Ms, miscellaneous ornithischian bone; Ph, phalanx; Pu, pubis; Ra, radius; Sc, scapulocoracoid; St, sternum. Scale bars in A, B equal 10 cm in 1 cm increments; C, F in 1 mm increments. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0044012.g003
The forelimb elements are scattered across two slabs. The main forelimb slab has the partially articulated right forearm and hand. The radius, metacarpal II, metacarpal III, and manual phalanx I-1 are complete, whereas other manual elements are overlain on one another such that identification is difficult. Metacarpal III is less than half as wide transversely as metacarpal II. This is the case in Compsognathus and Sinocalliopteryx [4], [14], [16], but differs from Huaxiagnathus, Nqwebasaurus, and Sinosauropteryx, in which metacarpal II is half as wide transversely as metacarpal III [10], [11], [13]. Although the full length of metacarpal II cannot be measured, it is as long as or slightly longer than manual phalanx I-1, as in Compsognathus, Huaxiagnathus, Juravenator, Scipionyx, and the holotype of Sinocalliopteryx [4], [9], [13], [14], [16], [17] but not as in Sinosauropteryx in which manual phalanx I-1 is substantially longer [10]. Manual phalanges II-1 and II-2 and the ungual for the digit are preserved near the metatarsals in a separate slab.
Both right and left metatarsals are preserved in a single slab. All of the metatarsals are present for the left foot, whereas the right foot is represented by only metatarsals II–IV (Figure 2D). In the left foot, metatarsal I is 24% of the length of metatarsal III. Metatarsal V is reduced to a curved splint less than half the length of metatarsal IV. Metatarsals II, III, and IV are cylindrical and straight. Distal to the metatarsals is a complete digit III, and two phalanges of digit I. Additional pedal phalanges are in the distal foot slab. The right pedal phalanges II-1, II-2, III-1, III-2, III-3, IV-3, IV-4, and pedal unguals II–IV are present (Figure 2E).
CAGS-IG-T1 clearly represents a compsognathid, distinguished by the nasal excluded from the antorbital fenestra by the maxilla and lacrimal, the absence of pleurocoelus in the dorsal vertebrae, and the manual phalanx I-1 nearly as long as metacarpal II [7], [10], [12], [14], [18]. CAGS-IG-T1 is anatomically almost identical to JMP-V-05-8-01 (the holotype of Sinocalliopteryx gigas; [4]) and therefore referable to Sinocalliopteryx gigas. CAGS-IG-T1 is larger based on the postcranial measurements (Table 2). The size difference between the two specimens is relatively greater in the length of the metatarsals than in the radius or height of the maxilla, presumably due to allometric growth. Although the original diagnosis of Sinocallipteryx does not include any characters preserved in CAGS-IG-T1, this specimen and the holotype of Sinocalliopteryx gigas can be distinguished from the similarly-sized, contemporaneous compsognathid Huaxiagnathus [13] based on several features of the maxilla: 1) The maxilla not as tall dorsoventrally in both specimens of Sinocalliopteryx as it is in Huaxiagnathus, in which the maxilla is two thirds taller at maximum than the anterior ramus; 2) The dorsal margin of the posterodorsal process of the maxilla forms an acute angle with the alveolar margin in Sinocalliopteryx whereas in Huaxiagnathus, the dorsal margin of the process is subparallel to the alveolar margin; 3) The maxillary fenestra is absent in Sinocalliopteryx, whereas the fenestra appears to be present in Huaxiagnathus [13]; 4) The anterior margin of the antorbital fenestra is dorsal to the seventh or eighth maxillary tooth position in Huaxiagnathus [13], whereas the anterior margin of the fenestra is dorsal to at least the ninth or possibly the tenth tooth position in Sinocalliopteryx.This review is for the second generation Kindle Paperwhite. Like all kindle e-readers before it, this is a great product. However, I am a bit disappointed as there is not a huge improvement over last year's model. For this review, I focused on features and enhancements exclusive to the new Paperwhite and tried to make comparisons to last year's model. Also, I found somethings misrepresented or confusing in the advertising, so I will try to clear them up.
HARDWARE
Design - The Kindle white has a nice look and shape. It fits well and is easy to hold in one hand. It's fairly light, so it doesn't tire the hands too much. I can grip it for long periods before having to switching hands. Its design is very similar to the previous Paperwhite - almost identical. The height and width are the same, the buttons are in the same location, and although this version is slightly lighter, it is not noticeable.
Display - Although not a huge improvement from last year's model, the display is one of the best features of the Paperwhite. Like most e-readers, the Paperwhite uses digital ink technology. This model employs a more advanced version. In addition, the lighting has been upgraded, so among other things, it is more evenly lit. Together, they make for incredible viewing. In my opinion, it's one of the best digital ink e-reader display on the market. I really enjoy reading on it, text look very sharp and crisp, with little to no eye strain.
Processor - The Paperwhite has an upgraded processor, which means smoother page turns and navigation. I am able to open books, flip pages, and navigate menus fairly quickly. There is barely any lag as I flip through many pages at a time. Also, the flashing effect when turning pages shows up less if at all. Although, when turning to a new page, I can still see remnants in the empty spaces caused by the text from the previous page, but not sure how much of this is because of processor speed. This is a nice upgrade from the previous Paperwhite.
Touchscreen - The touchscreen is good, it works as it should. The screen responds to the items I am trying to select. Rarely does it misinterpret my selection.
Battery Life - I haven't really had a chance to test this out, but Amazon quotes battery life to be eight weeks. Note, these are under very specific conditions - "based on a half hour of reading per day with wireless off and the light setting at 10." So let's do the math, 8 weeks x 7 days in a week = 56 days *.5 hours/day = 28 hour battery life. This is with wireless off and light at 10. Turn on wireless or raise the light setting, and performance drops. So battery life is not as huge of a jump from other devices as Amazon would lead us to believe.
SOFTWARE
In addition to hardware, the Paperwhite has some software upgrades. Initially they seem like separate and unique improvements. However, I found much of it to revolve around a single enhancement with many features added to it. That enhancement is the picture-in-picture screen. With this popup like screen, you are able to see information and navigate menus without leaving the current page you are reading. The device has leveraged the popup in several ways.
Word Lookup - One of the things I love about e-readers over traditional books is the ability to look up definitions of words in real-time, right from the device. No need to pull out a separate dictionary or thesaurus. Although most e-readers have this feature, I like the enhancement made for the new Paperwhite. It allows me to lookup a word on dictionary, x-ray, and Wikipedia on a single interface. For me this is great. I am a knowledge seeker, and when I come across something I want to know more about, whether it is a definition of a word or getting background information about a term, I can do that.
Page Flip - The page flip function is probably the best improvement of the upgraded software, it rocks! With it, I can skim forward or backward, like flipping back and forth between the pages of a real book. It's not quite like a real book, but in some respects a little better. It works by opening a popup window on top of the current page I am on. From this popup screen, I can scroll back and forth by page or by chapter. Since I am skimming on the popup screen, I never lose my place. I find it really handy for referencing a chart or visual aid on another page, or if I want go back to review or reread a section I didn't fully understand. When I am done, I can close out of the popup window to go back to the original page.
Foot Note - Nothing huge, but worth noting. In previous kindle versions, looking at a footnote meant navigating away from the page you are reading. With the addition of the popup function, footnotes instead open up in a separate screen. Not a huge enhancement, unless you are reading footnote heavy books, but then again how many of us really are?
Vocabulary Builder - Not something useful to me, but others might enjoy. The Paperwhite will collect all the words you look up definitions for and archive them so you can view them later. This can be used as a way to build your vocabulary. It has built in support to review the words like a flashcard, which will display both the definition of the word and its context. Again, not something for me, but I can see it being useful for the geek at heart.
Free Time - Don't have kids so can't give an elaborate opinion on this. All I know is that it is a parental control feature similar to what is on the Kindle Fire HD. It puts restrictions on what your kids can do and see when using the device.
Goodreads - For those who don't know, Goodreads is essentially a social network for readers, where people can review books and exchange recommendations. Amazon recently purchased Goodreads, allowing the company to now also become a social networking service. It will be interesting how Amazon moves forward with this, or what will happen now that Goodreads is no longer independent.
VERSIONS
Currently, the Paperwhite comes in two versions, WiFi Only and 3G.
Wifi Only - The wifi version costs $119. Wifi doesn't mean you can browse the web on it. It simply means you can purchase and download books without connecting it to a computer.
3G - This version cost $189. It isn't like buying a 3G Tablet, where you will have to pay for a monthly data plan. Again, you can't use it to surf the internet. The benefit of 3G on this device is that it allows you to purchase books independent of a wifi connection, but you need to be in an area with 3G cellular coverage. So if you're on the actual Amazon, Amazon.com can't deliver to you. This version is not slated to be released until early November.
Ads - Ads are shown on the home screen on both versions when the screen goes to sleep or you power the device on. For an additional $20, you can opt out of the ads. I was pretty vocal with my dislike of ads in my review of the Kindle Fire HD last year. I think ads are tasteless and cheapen the experience, and don't belong here. But like for any corporation, money is king.
ECOSYSTEM
When you buy an e-reader, you are not just getting a physical product, you are getting amenities of that brand's ecosystem. For example, if you buy a Barnes and Noble Nook, you can read books for free in their stores. If you buy a kindle, you get features like X-ray, which as I said I really like. Personally, I think Amazon has one of the better eco-systems for books. They have a library not available anywhere else, if you are a Prime member, you can download books for free, and now with the acquisition of Goodreads, they have really changed the game.
I mentioned last year in the Fire HD review that Amazon has always been at the forefront of the book buying and reading experience. I still feel that way. I think they are always innovating in this area. Some of the innovations aren't the best, but I give them credit for trying. If we ever fall into a police state society where books are banned, like in Ray Bradbury's novel Farenhiet 451, something tells me Amazon will be the revolutionary force using some advanced form of whispersycn technology to make sure books still reach people...probably not, but it gives you an idea of how dedicated they are to books.
SO, SHOUD YOU BUY?
If you own last year's Paperwhite - I don't think it is worth the upgrade. I don't really see this as a second generation Paperwhite device. In terms of design and hardware, it is nearly unchanged. Yes pages turn faster, but your reading experience is not going to change that much. The useful enhancements are in the software, but if you are interested in those, Amazon will likely have updates available for the older kindles. A true upgrade would have been to add a stylus so you can take and save handwritten notes or maybe offer a model with a bigger screen. If you do trade up though, one benefit is that your old cases will still fit.
If you own a Kindle Fire, Fire HD, or another Tablet - and are thinking about getting a more portable reader, I recommend it. I personally like reading more on an e-reader than a tablet. In sunlight, there is significantly less glare, and since you don't have a bright screen shining in your face, reading doesn't feel as intense. Also, e-readers are smaller and lighter so it is easier to carry them with me to the park or beach. Another benefit is that battery life on e-readers are considerably longer, not eight weeks as Amazon has listed, but enough so I am not charging it daily.
If you own another kindle model - I believe it is worth the upgrade. You'll get a bigger, better, and brighter screen, a faster device, touch screen, and more features in terms of software.
If you don't own any e-readers and this will be your first purchase, or if you're just waking out of a coma and the concept of e-readers is new, you can't go wrong with the new Paperwhite. Good combination of hardware, software, and ecosystem.
Hope this review has been helpful and given you useful information for your decision. One thing I didn't include is a comparison to other brands. Personally, and I hate to say this, but I don't see a future for many of them. What Apple did to Virgin Music and other record stores, Amazon is on the verge of doing to bookstores and retailers.Copyright by KSNT - All rights reserved Patient being taken care of by EMS following a chemical spill on October 21, 2016 in Atchison, Kansas (KSNT News File Photo/Jared Thompson)
Copyright by KSNT - All rights reserved Patient being taken care of by EMS following a chemical spill on October 21, 2016 in Atchison, Kansas (KSNT News File Photo/Jared Thompson)
ATCHISON, Kan. (KSNT) - Emergency crews were on the scene Friday morning of a major chemical spill in Atchison, Kansas.
The Kansas Department of Emergency Management said the cloud occurred when sulfuric acid and hydrochlorite were mistakenly combined at the MGP Ingredients plant.
Eight-five people sought care at the hospital's emergency room for upper respiratory discomfort. One person remained in intensive care Friday afternoon. Sixty-seven of the 85 affected were taken to the hospital in Atchison. The other 18 were taken to a hospital in Saint Joseph, Missouri.
City Manager of Topeka, Trey Cocking said a delivery was placed into the wrong container which created the chlorine like smell and heavy fog.
Atchison Hospital officials say if you are experiencing minor symptoms if gas exposure, such as a sore throat, minor headache, and nasal congestion, take Benadryl, take a shower, and stay in a cool place. If you are experiencing symptoms such as difficulty breathing, wheezing, or other severe symptoms, seek medical attention.
Update on spill. Things are settling down too. pic.twitter.com/xoxT53RFZa — Jared Thompson (@JaredKSNT) October 21, 2016
The Kansas Department of Transportation reports K-7, U.S. 73 and U.S. 59 Highways in Atchison County are back open now that the spill cloud is breaking up.
City of Atchison officials reported at 11:10 a.m. that it was safe for people to go outside.
The Atchison Fire Department says as people return back to their homes and/or businesses to please use caution. If you notice a strong bleach odor or visible fog, call 911 so that the fire department can assist with ventilating.
The Atchison County Courthouse and Benedictine College were evacuated.
The St. Joseph News Press reports that one school was evacuated and several canceled classes or kept students and staff inside.
Atchison County Emergency Management reports as of 10:50 a.m. the city is back open to traffic.
MGP produces premium distilled spirits, wheat proteins and starches. The company's website says the plant employs about 300 people.
Around 11,000 people live in Atchison.
KSNT News has a crew on the scene and will update as additional information becomes available.
The Associated Press contributed to this story
The plume is dissipating and the city is now back open to traffic. However--Highway 59 & 10th Street is closed. — At Co Emergency Mgmt (@AtchisonCoEM) October 21, 2016
Chemical spill at MGP plant in Atchison pic.twitter.com/R6fd8oRBD2 — Jared Thompson (@JaredKSNT) October 21, 2016
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Copyright by KSNT - All rights reserved Photo Courtesy: Marie Mullins
Copyright by KSNT - All rights reserved Photo Courtesy: Marie Mullins
The fog has lifted. The situation is improving. We will be conducting a press conference shortly. We will provide updates as we learn more. — City of Atchison (@CityofAtchison) October 21, 2016
#NEKSTRAFFIC 10:15AM Here's a look 3 MI N of Atchison on K-7. Chemical cloud moving north. Avoid travel 8-10 miles around & thru Atchison. pic.twitter.com/S2gHb5rE0r — TopekaMetroKDOT (@TopekaMetroKDOT) October 21, 2016
ALERT: If you are currently in the fog, seek shelter! If you are East of 17th Street or K-7 and North of Main... https://t.co/H9hTbkoDrG — City of Atchison (@CityofAtchison) October 21, 2016
https://twitter.com/CityofAtchison/status/789464685854601217The San Francisco Chronicle is doing a limited viewing raffle for the My Little Pony movie on. Members of the chronicle can head over to this page and sign up for a drawing where a small group of people will get to see the movie seven days early. To join in, you need to fill out the form over here. Winners will be completely random and notified by the 25th of September. Details on the location and times can be found here And over in France, theaters around the country are doing an advance screening on. The list is pretty massive, so hit up your local theater reservation sites and see if your theaters are available. Example reservation for date and time details:Update: The German release also has a ton more theaters now. Hit those up hereImage caption The new Jaguar F-Type
Carmaker Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) is considering building cars in Saudi Arabia, it has said.
If it went ahead, it would be the Indian-owned company's second overseas manufacturing plant. It agreed to build a plant in Shanghai last month.
At this stage, an agreement with Saudi Arabia is limited to a letter of intent to start a feasibility study.
The company told the BBC that any new plant in Saudi Arabia would not lead to job losses in the UK.
JLR said overseas production would come in addition to the work done in the UK.
It has not yet decided whether Jaguar or Land Rover models would be best suited for such production.
The West Midlands-based luxury carmaker agreed a £1bn deal with Chinese manufacturer Chery Automobile last month.
Analysis Though improved access to fast-growing markets in the Middle East will be attractive to JLR, the carmaker says it was mainly motivated by access to aluminium when it decided to look into manufacturing in Saudi Arabia. JLR is using ever more aluminium in its Jaguar and Land Rover models in order to reduce their weight, which in turn helps it meet ever more stringent emissions regulations across the world. Access to metals such as aluminium and other finite resources is set to become a major challenge for carmakers in the years ahead. JLR hopes that an aluminium smelting plant that is scheduled to open in the country in 2014 would help it secure supplies. China approves Land Rover deal
The two plan to build a plant near Shanghai, which is due to open in 2015, to try to take advantage of the fast-growing market for cars in China, where sales of Jaguar Land Rover's vehicles have risen 80% in the past year.
JLR also has an assembly plant in Pune, India, where pre-manufactured parts are put together.
'Business case'
It is the construction of the world's largest aluminium smelting facility in Saudi Arabia that has attracted JLR's parent company Tata Motors to the kingdom.
Jaguar Land Rover relies on the lightweight metal aluminium for the manufacturing of its vehicles.
The smelter is a joint venture between Alcoa and the Saudi Arabian Mining Company, which combines mining, refining and production of the metal in one facility.
It is expected to produce the lowest-priced aluminium in the world when it starts work.
In an interview with Autocar India earlier this year, the chairman of Tata motors, Ratan Tata said: "This smelter could make the production of aluminium in Saudi Arabia very competitive."
"So taking a really long-term view, if we put an assembly plant there with a large press shop, given our commitment to aluminium in our products, we could have an interesting business case, which we are examining today."Home Daily News 9th Circuit Rules Against Tasered Pregnant…
Criminal Justice
9th Circuit Rules Against Tasered Pregnant Mom; Dissent Hits 'Off the Wall' Theory
A federal appeals court has ruled 2-1 that officers who Tasered a pregnant woman three times when she refused to sign a traffic ticket have immunity from her lawsuit.
The ruling by the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals spurred an angry dissent by Judge Marsha Berzon, who called the majority’s theory of justification “off the wall,” the Associated Press reports.
The majority said Malaika Brooks was uncooperative and resisting arrest when the Seattle police officers Tasered her, using the device’s “touch mode,” which hurts less less than its “dart mode.”
Brooks was driving her son to school when she was stopped for speeding in a school zone, according to the facts recited in the opinion (PDF). She refused to sign the ticket because she thought it was an admission of guilt. Officers threatened to use the Taser unless Brooks got out of the car, but she refused.
According to Berzon’s dissent, “Brooks had no weapons and had not harmed or threatened to harm a soul.” She warned officers she was seven months’ pregnant, but they used the Taser on her anyway, “causing her to scream with pain and leaving burn marks and permanent scars.”
“I fail utterly to comprehend how my colleagues are able to conclude that it was objectively reasonable to use any force against Brooks,” Berzon wrote, “let alone three activations of a Taser, in response to such a trivial offense.”
Brooks’ baby was born healthy two months after the incident.20th July, 2015 – Every day brings new surprises in Tomodachi Life, the quirky game for the Nintendo 3DS family of systems that gets better the more friends and family members you bring into it as Mii characters. And with more than 1.5 million sales in Europe alone, the population of Mii friends just keeps on growing! So with 30th July a celebration of friendship all over the world, Nintendo of Europe is inviting you to join the Tomodachi Life Friendship Fiesta celebrations from 30th July until 9th August, with a host of fun activities for Nintendo 3DS system owners.
International StreetPass relay lets players meet Mii characters from all over Europe via dedicated hotspots while the fiesta lasts. For Tomodachi Life players this provides an opportunity to receive plenty of new explorers and buy unique Export Items from faraway islands into their game, whilst sending your own explorers on a fantastic voyage of their own. Anyone new to the game will be happy to hear that during the fiesta they can get a 30% discount on the regular price if they purchase the game on Nintendo eShop*.
Of course, ultimately this is a celebration of friendship, so anyone with a Nintendo 3DS system can share in the fun! Just take a look at all the activities taking place during the Tomodachi Life Friendship Fiesta from 30th July until 9th August:
Go to a Nintendo Zone ** to receive a free download code for the Tomodachi Speech Bubble HOME Menu theme for your Nintendo 3DS family system.
** to receive a free download code for the Tomodachi Speech Bubble for your Nintendo 3DS family system. A dedicated Puzzle Swap panel will be distributed via SpotPass to all owners of a Nintendo 3DS family system.
panel will be distributed via to all owners of a Nintendo 3DS family system. Enjoy international StreetPass relay and meet Mii characters from all over Europe at any Nintendo Zone offering StreetPass relay**.
Nintendo UK will also be launching a brand new Tomodachi Life Facebook page so be sure to stayed tuned for updates and visit the Tomodachi Life Community on Miiverse for more details and activities.
so be sure to stayed tuned for updates and visit the for more details and activities. Don’t have Tomodachi Life yet? You can get a 30% discount on the regular price of the game if you buy it on Nintendo eShop*.
As always Nintendo fan communities around the UK will be hosting events during the Tomodachi Life Friendship Fiesta. These events are the perfect place to trade with fellow players to find those elusive items, or trade Miis to fill your Tomodachi Life island with all new friends and stories! Visit our unofficial page http://streetpassuk.co.uk/upcoming-events/ to find a community event near you.
If you’re curious to find out what makes Tomodachi Life unlike any other game you’ve ever played, you can try the free demo*** that’s available on Nintendo eShop. Simply visit the official Tomodachi Life website and scan the QR Code with your Nintendo 3DS family system.
On that same website you’ll also find the Mii Personality Test: a customised version of the personality setup feature in Tomodachi Life, this lets you discover which of the colourful personality types your lookalike Mii could have in the game through a series of fun questions and situations. Why not invite your friends to find out what personality type they are, too?
From 30th July until 9th August, celebrate friendship all over the world with a variety of fun activities using your Nintendo 3DS in the Tomodachi Life Friendship Fiesta.
*Offer valid on Nintendo eShop on Nintendo 3DS family systems from 30th July until 6th August.
**Participating Nintendo Zone locations for the free Nintendo 3DS HOME Menu theme and StreetPass relay activity:
Germany: McDonald’s
UK: GAME
Italy: McDonald’s, Gamelife, VideoGamesParty Home
Spain: GAME
Benelux: Game Mania, MANGAKISSA
Participating Nintendo Zone locations for StreetPass relay activity:
Germany: McDonald’s
UK: GAME, O2 Wifi
Italy: McDonald’s, Gamelife, VideoGamesParty Home
Spain: GAME
Benelux: Game Mania, MANGAKISSA, KPN
***Wireless internet connection required. The registration of Nintendo Network ID and acceptance of the network related terms and privacy policy required.Is there a real connection between religion and belief in the paranormal? Some, particularly adherents of various religious faiths, will often argue that the two very different types of beliefs. Those who stand outside of religion, however, will notice some very important similarities which bear closer consideration.
Certainly there is no exact correspondence between religious and paranormal beliefs — there are people who are very religious but who don’t believe in things like Bigfoot or UFOs and there are people who believe in many paranormal events but who are not part of any religious tradition. One might be inclined to argue, then, that one does not have anything to do with the other.
Those who are adherents of religious traditions may often be particularly eager to disavow any similarity because paranormal beliefs are often portrayed as less rational and credible than religious beliefs. Even worse, conservative and fundamentalist believers often regard paranormal claims as having quite a lot to do with the actions of evil forces in the universe — not the sort of thing they would want to be associated with, quite understandably.
Nevertheless, religious beliefs and paranormal beliefs do share a number of important things in common. For one thing, both the paranormal and traditional religions are non-materialistic in nature. They do not conceive of the world as a place controlled by sequences of cause and effect between matter and energy. Instead, they presume the added presence of immaterial forces which influence or control the course of our lives.
Furthermore, there is also the appearance of a desire to provide meaning and coherence to otherwise random and chaotic events. If we are suddenly aware of a distant event we shouldn’t know about, it might be attributed to clairvoyance, psychic powers, spirits, angels, or God. There seems to be a genuine continuum between what we tend to call “paranormal” and the ideas in many religious faiths.
The relationship between paranormal beliefs and religion may be even closer than that between superstitions and religious beliefs. Whereas superstitions are often isolated ideas, paranormal beliefs are commonly part of an integrated beliefs system about the very nature and substance of the universe. These belief systems are very similar to religion — they can provide meaning to our lives as well as the events in our lives, they can provide social structure, and they can provide comfort in difficult times.HR 875 (and there are comments to help them along), they will see stopping those bills is fundamental to freedom for all of us to even exist. The bills are massively, massively, massively totalitarian. Our legislators will be voting (most with no idea) on a complete take over of this country.
It's been obvious to farmers and cattlemen that stopping NAIS is about preserving the most basic freedoms necessary to farm, but if people will take time to read
Because of what? Peanuts. What a sick joke on us.
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So, we need everyone to write a letter for liberty or send a fax for freedom.
Below is who to reach and a sample letter but obviously people can write what is in their hearts.
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Get every friend and family member and church group and organization and retirement home and school group and anyone else you can reach, to apply themselves to this. Get everyone of your children and grandchildren, if they can hold a pen, to write.
It's America itself we are demanding to have back, free from government like some giant smothering boa constrictor slithering into every aspect of our lives - all for the sake of corporations - to squeeze the life out of us, after they squeeze every dime and all our possessions and our land.
If they take our seeds, they take all democracy here, and as the article shows, they are setting up to take the seeds with HR 875.
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Do it now. Then, call a neighbor and get them to do it now and then call another.
Make this weekend holy. Make it about saving our country. And it is appropriate that cowboys and farmers would be the lead.Iker Casillas left out the back door, alone. At 10.21pm on Saturday night it was finally official: Real Madrid’s captain was leaving the club and Spain’s captain was leaving the country, destination Porto. It was five years almost to the minute since his save helped win the World Cup in Johannesburg, 17 since he was pulled out of a technical drawing class to travel to Norway in the Champions League, and 25 since he joined Madrid, aged nine. Now, aged 34, he had gone.
There was no happy ending but at least there was an ending. There needed to be one because the situation had become untenable. The last few years have been divisive, damaging ones; years in which José Mourinho saw a sinner and made a martyr of the man they had called the saint, in which he was whistled by some supporters, and in which the president showed him the door with ever-decreasing subtlety.
Perhaps the best demonstration of that was this: there was something telling and uncomfortably fitting about the way it ended. On a Sunday morning, in an empty stadium, no trophies, no videos, no embrace. Nobody, in fact.
Casillas has played 725 games for Madrid and has won every trophy there is: winner of three European Cups and five league titles, as well as two European Championships and the World Cup with Spain. The club captain, he has been there for quarter of a century and had intended to be there his entire life. But Madrid did not want him and did not wave him off. He came in on his own, sat on his own and left on his own. His former team-mates were on a plane to Australia, president Florentino Pérez was not present and no director accompanied him. There were none even in the room. There were no fans in the stadium, either, although a few had gathered outside.
Some had turned up two days earlier, expecting a big send-off on Friday, proudly announced in the press, but final negotiations to rescind his contract had become bitter and the deal had momentarily fallen through. By the time it was put together, both sides’ only satisfaction came from seeing the back of each other. The send-off had been cancelled, if there had genuinely been plans for one in the first place. It is not clear why, but reports suggested that Casillas had turned down the opportunity, seeing it as hypocritical, the insincere embrace of a club that |
Luis Leeds will start from the third row alongside Shields as the leading Zagame Autosport car.
Queenslander Ryan Suhle will start alongside his teammate Everingham from eighth place, with Zane Morse, Zak Best and Jordan Mazzaroli rounding out the remaining positions.
Two races await the CAMS Jayco Australian Formula 4 Championship field tomorrow, with 11 laps of racing at 9:25am and 12:15pm AEST.
All races will be televised live on Fox Sports 506 as part of the Virgin Australia Supercars Championship support coverage.
Provisional Qualifying Results
1. Nick Rowe – AGI Sport: 1:16.8048
2. Simon Fallon – Team BRM: +0.1898
3. Aaron Love – Team BRM: +0.4861
4. Liam Lawson – Team BRM: +0.5866
5. Cameron Shields – Team BRM: +0.6202
6. Luis Leeds – Zagame Autosport: +0.6393
7. Tyler Everingham – Zagame Autosport: +0.6765
8. Ryan Suhle – Zagame Autosport: +0.7625
9. Zane Morse – Team BRM: +0.8111
10. Zakkary Best – AGI Sport: +1.4030
11. Jordan Mazzaroli – JRD: +2.8576
No Time: Sage Murdoch – AGI SportOn Thursday, 26th January, 2012, I signed the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) on behalf of the Republic of Slovenia, following the directive and authorisation of the Slovenian government. A somewhat longer clarification of the signature can be found on the Media section of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs website, which explains the role of the Ministry and my role as the Slovenian Ambassador to Japan. This explanation states that I signed the agreement because I was instructed to do so by the government, and because it is a part of my job.
And yet, why did I sign ACTA. Every day there is a barrage of questions in my inbox and on Facebook from mostly kind and somewhat baffled people, who cannot understand how it occurred to me to sign an agreement so damaging to the state and citizens. With this reply, which is of a purely personal nature and expresses only my personal views, I wish to respond to all those people, all my friends and acquaintances who have remained quiet, all Anonymous, and not least also to myself and to my children.
I signed ACTA out of civic carelessness, because I did not pay enough attention. Quite simply, I did not clearly connect the agreement I had been instructed to sign with the agreement that, according to my own civic conviction, limits and withholds the freedom of engagement on the largest and most significant network in human history, and thus limits particularly the future of our children. I allowed myself a period of civic complacency, for a short time I unplugged myself from media reports from Slovenia, I took a break from Avaaz and its inflation of petitions, quite simply I allowed myself a rest. In my defence, I want to add that I very much needed this rest and that I am still having trouble gaining enough energy for the upcoming dragon year. At the same time, I am tackling a workload that increased, not lessened, with the advent of the current year. All in line with a motto that has become familiar to us all, likely not only diplomats: less for more. Less money and fewer people for more work. And then you overlook the significance of what you are signing. And you wake up the following morning with the weight of the unbearable lightness of some signature.
First I apologised to my children. Then I tried to reply to those acquaintances and strangers who expressed their surprise and horror. Because there are more and more of them, I am responding to them publicly. I want to apologise because I carried out my official duty, but not my civic duty. I don’t know how many options I had with regard to not signing, but I could have tried. I did not. I missed an opportunity to fight for the right of conscientious objection on the part of us bureaucrats.
But there is a second, very important reason why I am writing this. There has been a demonization of “some sneak”, that is me, who in far-off Tokyo secretly signed something on her own initiative. This was heard in the Slovenian parliament and in the Slovenian media, and it is spreading on the web. It is dangerous particularly because it conceals the responsibility of those who had the power to decide, and did in fact decide, that Slovenia would be a signatory of ACTA. This was decided by the Slovenian government and by the parliamentary committee for EU matters, and before that, Slovenia was for quite some time involved in coordinating the agreement. All this was done with too little transparency, judging by the outraged responses that have appeared following the signing. Back then, the Slovenian media did not demonise this decision to the same extent as they now demonise my signature. This I consider very dangerous for the continuous (non-)development of democracy in Slovenia. At the same time, this means that I was not the only one whose attention slipped, that we, as Slovenian citizens, neglected our civic duty. And that there may be a little known party in the Slovenian political space that missed an excellent opportunity to gain votes in the recently concluded electoral struggle.
On Saturday, 4th February, a protest is planned in Ljubljana for those who object to the ratification of ACTA. The true concern and determination of those Slovenian citizens who feel that the agreement must be stopped will be reflected in the number of people who attend this protest. I would like to ask for somebody to please attend in my name. One of my concerned correspondents asked me what my brother, the late Dr. Janez Drnovšek, would have thought of my signature. The struggle to protect civic freedoms is most certainly in the spirit of his heritage, much more so than the removal or non-removal of some statue. Let my example be a cautionary tale of how swiftly we can make mistakes if we allow ourselves to slip. And if nothing else, we then sleep very badly.
Helena Drnovšek ZorkoAs we publish our ranking of college basketball fan base support across the “power” conferences (AAC, ACC, Big 12, Big 10, Big East, SEC, & PAC 12), we can already hear the abuse we are about to take on Twitter and through the media. Our rankings are based on a statistical analysis of self-reported revenue data. We create a statistical model of revenue as a function of team quality (winning percentage, NCAA tournament qualification, etc…) and market potential (conference affiliation, median income, area population, number of students, etc…) and then compare the model’s prediction to the self-reported revenues. Yes, we get that this self-reported revenue data can be a bit quirky, but it’s what the schools choose to report.
The key point in the analysis is that we are looking at support after controlling for team quality. Some of our critics seem to think that selling out a 16,000 seat arena when your team regularly wins 30 plus games and makes deep tournament runs is amazing support. Reality check: pretty much any major school would be able to sell out under these conditions.
Our overall top 15 schools are listed in the table below. Louisville repeats last year’s 1st place finish. The rest of the top five are Duke, Arizona, Texas and Xavier. Other notables include Kentucky in 7th, North Carolina in 11th and Indiana in 12th. We fully realize that Kentucky fans will once again be incensed by these rankings.
Strictly speaking, the fan equity rankings are probably most appropriately done within each conference due to conference revenue sharing, but it seemed like more fun to do a simple list of the top schools. At the other end of the spectrum, we have the bottom finishers in each conference (based on conference affiliation in 2013-2014). In the ACC, the data says that the worst fan base is Boston College. In the Big Ten, Iowa is in the cellar. The last place fan base in the Big Twelve is Baylor. Seton Hall just beats out DePaul for last place in the Big East. Colorado is last in the Pac 12. In a surprise, given their recent success, it appears that Florida basketball still ranks after football and spring football as sports that the Gator nation cares about. And finally, at the bottom of the AAC we have the Cincinnati Bearcats.
For more on the concept of fan equity, please click here and here. For our ranking of the “non-power” conferences, please click here.
Mike Lewis & Manish Tripathi, Emory University 2014.Graduates, postgraduates and even PhD holders are among the 23 lakh people who responded to an advertisement seeking applications for 368 posts of peons in the Uttar Pradesh government secretariat.
The response has been a record of sorts, with more than 150,000 applications sent in by graduates and 24,969 by postgraduates. There were also more than 250 doctorates among the applicants, officials said.
The minimum qualifications for a peon are school education and bicycle-riding skills and the job has a monthly salary of about Rs 16,000.
Of the total of 368 posts, 268 are for general candidates and the rest for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and other reserved categories in the age group of 18-40 years.
“When we categorised the applications vis-a-vis a qualification, we were surprised to find that 255 doctorates have applied for the job," said a senior official of the secretariat administration.
Most of the applications – more than 11.21 lakh – came from those who had passed out of high school or the equivalent, while 53,426 applicants had only passed Class five. More than 7.5 lakh candidates had passed Class 12.
A total of 1,405 candidates were in the “others” category, while 2,681 were unclassified.
Authorities had initially decided to make the recruitments through interviews. They now plan to hold a written examination because the screening of such a large number of candidates will be an uphill task, the official said.
Opposition parties have attacked the Samajwadi Party-led government of Uttar Pradesh over its promise of providing employment to youngsters. They have raised questions about the Samajwadi Party's claims of creating jobs in the state.
“It puts a question mark on the development claims of the SP government. What happened to SP's promise of providing jobs when highly qualified people are applying for the post of peon and unemployment rate is so high," the Congress said in a statement.
The Congress alleged there was high-level corruption and nepotism in recruitments made during the four years of Samajwadi Party rule.
State BJP chief Laxmi Kant Bajpai said the situation was serious as a large number of posts were vacant in different departments. He alleged that the state government had failed to provide an unemployment allowance or employment opportunities.
First Published: Sep 16, 2015 21:33 ISTPLEASE NOTE: This event has already occurred.
Date/Time
Date(s) - 07/08/2017
9:00 am - 11:00 am
Location
Champaign Willard Airport, Institute of Aviation Bldg.
Categories
Free introductory airplane flights for youth ages 8-17 will be offered at Champaign Willard Airport.
The schedule is from 9:00-11:00 am, on a first-come, first-served basis. No preregistration is required, but a parent or guardian must accompany the youth and be able to sign a release form.
Please check the EAA Chapter 29 Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/eaachapter29/) for last-minute information regarding cancellation due to weather.
The flights are being offered by volunteer pilots who are members of the Experimental Aircraft Association (www.EAA.org). The EAA is a growing and diverse organization of members with a wide range of aviation interests and backgrounds.
Founded in 1953 by a group of individuals in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, who were interested in building their own airplanes, EAA expanded its mission of growing participation in aviation to include antiques, classics, warbirds, aerobatic aircraft, ultralights, helicopters, and contemporary manufactured aircraft.
EAA is the only association that offers the fun and camaraderie of participating in the flying, building, and restoring of recreational aircraft with the most passionate community of aviation enthusiasts.
The Young Eagles program has dedicated nearly 25 years to giving youth ages 8–17 their first free ride in an airplane, with over 2 million rides given to-date. It’s the only program of its kind, with the sole mission to introduce and inspire kids in the world of aviation. Learn more at https://www.eaa.org/en/eaa/aviation-education-and-resources/eaa-youth-education/eaa-young-eagles-program
BECOME A YOUNG EAGLE
Get ready to have the experience of your lifetime.
YOUR FLIGHT EXPERIENCE
Your Young Eagles® flight will last approximately 20 minutes.
Here’s how your flight will go:
On the ground
Your pilot explains what will happen during the flight. You may talk about the airplane, review an aeronautical chart (or map), and complete a careful “walk-around” preflight inspection of the airplane. Just before takeoff
Your pilot explains the interior of the airplane, including the operation of the aircraft door, safety belts, and instrument panel. In the air
The flight lasts about 20 minutes. And, if you want, your pilot may let you take the controls! Back on the ground
There’s more time for you to ask questions about the flight. Your pilot is happy to tell you more about flying and his or her particular airplane.
You also get an official Young Eagles logbook with a personal code to activate your free EAA Student Membership and Sporty’s Learn to Fly Course.
INFORMATION FOR PARENTS
What is EAA?
EAA, the Experimental Aircraft Association, is an international aviation membership association founded in 1953 and headquartered in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Local chapters are located in all 50 states and many countries. Members are aviation enthusiasts of every age group, including many airline and commercial pilots, engineers, business people and even astronauts. They enjoy all types of airplanes, including “experimental” aircraft, those aircraft built by individual craftsmen, rather than in a factory. “Experimental” refers to the category of aircraft designed by the FAA for these types of airplanes. Similar to standard category aircraft, Experimental aircraft are inspected and certified airworthy by FAA.
Why was the EAA Young Eagles program developed?
The EAA Young Eagles Program was developed in 1992 to welcome young people into the world of aviation. Aviation is exciting and vital to our nation’s future and the best way to convey that message is to actually experience flight in a first-hand setting.
What do you hope to gain by taking my child flying?
Each Young Eagle will experience a safe and enjoyable flight that will give them new perspectives on the world and life in general. Young Eagles program participants will understand that an individual’s potential is unlimited and for them, the sky is the limit!
Who are the pilots?
The pilots participating in the Young Eagles program are local members of EAA who are volunteering their time and aircraft to make your child’s flight possible. Each pilot is licensed by the FAA (or governing organization outside the U.S., such as Transport Canada) and all aircraft are likewise licensed by the government. The flights are conducted according to federal regulations. No aerobatic maneuvers are performed.
How does my child become a Young Eagle?
If your child is between the ages of 8 and 17, find a Young Eagles coordinator or pilot near you. As a parent, you’ll need to complete a Young Eagle registration form that is available from your pilot. They can help you fill out the form and answer any other specific questions you may have.
What will the flight be like?
First, your pilot will explain what will happen during the flight. This might include talking about the airplane, reviewing an aeronautical chart and identifying reference points during the flight, completing a careful “walk around” pre-flight inspection of the airplane and identifying the parts that control the airplane, helping buckle your child’s seat belt, and describing the interior of the airplane, including the instrument panel.
Once in the air, your child will see the earth and sky in a new and exciting way. They will experience the wonderful freedom of flight that many people only dream about. Many people remember this experience for the rest of their lives. The length of the flight will depend on many factors, but most Young Eagle flights last between 15 and 20 minutes.
Back on the ground, there will be additional time for questions after the flight. Please note that each pilot is encouraged to follow the Young Eagle pilot guidelines, but also has the freedom to customize the flight to make the most of local conditions and facilities.
What happens to the registration form?
After the flight is completed, the pilot will issue your child the official EAA Young Eagles logbook or certificate. The pilot then returns the registration form to the EAA Young Eagles office, where the flight will be officially registered in the World’s Largest Logbook.
At the same time, EAA understands that privacy is important. Only basic information is displayed on the web and your address and phone number will never become part of the public database.
EAA will send your child follow-up information about our free on-line ground school course, details regarding other youth aviation programs, and EAA scholarships. Your child’s name and e-mail address will not be sold or used for commercial purposes. EAA is sensitive to keeping you and your child’s contact information confidential.Every Black Hole Contains a New Universe
A physicist presents a solution to present-day cosmic mysteries.
Inside Science Contributor
Inside Science Minds presents an ongoing series of guest columnists and personal perspectives presented by scientists, engineers, mathematicians, and others in the science community showcasing some of the most interesting ideas in science today. The opinions contained in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Inside Science nor the American Institute of Physics and its Member Societies.
By: Nikodem Poplawski
(ISM) -- Our universe may exist inside a black hole. This may sound strange, but it could actually be the best explanation of how the universe began, and what we observe today. It's a theory that has been explored over the past few decades by a small group of physicists including myself.
Successful as it is, there are notable unsolved questions with the standard big bang theory, which suggests that the universe began as a seemingly impossible "singularity," an infinitely small point containing an infinitely high concentration of matter, expanding in size to what we observe today. The theory of inflation, a super-fast expansion of space proposed in recent decades, fills in many important details, such as why slight lumps in the concentration of matter in the early universe coalesced into large celestial bodies such as galaxies and clusters of galaxies.
But these theories leave major questions unresolved. For example: What started the big bang? What caused inflation to end? What is the source of the mysterious dark energy that is apparently causing the universe to speed up its expansion?
The idea that our universe is entirely contained within a black hole provides answers to these problems and many more. It eliminates the notion of physically impossible singularities in our universe. And it draws upon two central theories in physics.
The first is general relativity, the modern theory of gravity. It describes the universe at the largest scales. Any event in the universe occurs as a point in space and time, or spacetime. A massive object such as the Sun distorts or "curves" spacetime, like a bowling ball sitting on a canvas. The Sun's gravitational dent alters the motion of Earth and the other planets orbiting it. The sun's pull of the planets appears to us as the force of gravity. The second is quantum mechanics, which describes the universe at the smallest scales, such as the level of the atom. However, quantum mechanics and general relativity are currently separate theories; physicists have been striving to combine the two successfully into a single theory of "quantum gravity" to adequately describe important phenomena, including the behavior of subatomic particles in black holes.
A 1960s adaptation of general relativity, called the Einstein-Cartan-Sciama-Kibble theory of gravity, takes into account effects from quantum mechanics. It not only provides a step towards quantum gravity but also leads to an alternative picture of the universe. This variation of general relativity incorporates an important quantum property known as spin. Particles such as atoms and electrons possess spin, or the internal angular momentum that is analogous to a skater spinning on ice.
In this picture, spins in particles interact with spacetime and endow it with a property called "torsion." To understand torsion, imagine spacetime not as a two-dimensional canvas, but as a flexible, one-dimensional rod. Bending the rod corresponds to curving spacetime, and twisting the rod corresponds to spacetime torsion. If a rod is thin, you can bend it, but it's hard to see if it's twisted or not.
Spacetime torsion would only be significant, let alone noticeable, in the early universe or in black holes. In these extreme environments, spacetime torsion would manifest itself as a repulsive force that counters the attractive gravitational force coming from spacetime curvature. As in the standard version of general relativity, very massive stars end up collapsing into black holes: regions of space from which nothing, not even light, can escape.
Here is how torsion would play out in the beginning moments of our universe. Initially, the gravitational attraction from curved space would overcome torsion's repulsive forces, serving to collapse matter into smaller regions of space. But eventually torsion would become very strong and prevent matter from compressing into a point of infinite density; matter would reach a state of extremely large but finite density. As energy can be converted into mass, the immensely high gravitational energy in this extremely dense state would cause an intense production of particles, greatly increasing the mass inside the black hole.
The increasing numbers of particles with spin would result in higher levels of spacetime torsion. The repulsive torsion would stop the collapse and would create a "big bounce" like a compressed beach ball that snaps outward. The rapid recoil after such a big bounce could be what has led to our expanding universe. The result of this recoil matches observations of the universe's shape, geometry, and distribution of mass.
In turn, the torsion mechanism suggests an astonishing scenario: every black hole would produce a new, baby universe inside. If that is true, then the first matter in our universe came from somewhere else. So our own universe could be the interior of a black hole existing in another universe. Just as we cannot see what is going on inside black holes in the cosmos, any observers in the parent universe could not see what is going on in ours.
The motion of matter through the black hole's boundary, called an "event horizon," would only happen in one direction, providing a direction of time that we perceive as moving forward. The arrow of time in our universe would therefore be inherited, through torsion, from the parent universe.
11553.jpg Nikodem Poplawski displays a "tornado in a tube". The top bottle symbolizes a black hole, the connected necks represent a wormhole and the lower bottle symbolizes the growing universe on the just-formed other side of the wormhole. Courtesy of Indiana University
Torsion could also explain the observed imbalance between matter and antimatter in the universe. Because of torsion, matter would decay into familiar electrons and quarks, and antimatter would decay into "dark matter," a mysterious invisible form of matter that appears to account for a majority of matter in the universe.
Finally, torsion could be the source of "dark energy," a mysterious form of energy that permeates all of space and increases the rate of expansion of the universe. Geometry with torsion naturally produces a "cosmological constant," a sort of added-on outward force which is the simplest way to explain dark energy. Thus, the observed accelerating expansion of the universe may end up being the strongest evidence for torsion.
Torsion therefore provides a theoretical foundation for a scenario in which the interior of every black hole becomes a new universe. It also appears as a remedy to several major problems of current theory of gravity and cosmology. Physicists still need to combine the Einstein-Cartan-Sciama-Kibble theory fully with quantum mechanics into a quantum theory of gravity. While resolving some major questions, it raises new ones of its own. For example, what do we know about the parent universe and the black hole inside which our own universe resides? How many layers of parent universes would we have? How can we test that our universe lives in a black hole?
The last question can potentially be investigated: since all stars and thus black holes rotate, our universe would have inherited the parent black hole’s axis of rotation as a "preferred direction." There is some recently reported evidence from surveys of over 15,000 galaxies that in one hemisphere of the universe more spiral galaxies are "left-handed", or rotating clockwise, while in the other hemisphere more are "right-handed", or rotating counterclockwise. In any case, I believe that including torsion in geometry of spacetime is a right step towards a successful theory of cosmology.
Nikodem Poplawski is a theoretical physicist at the University of New Haven in Connecticut.
Related Content: Celebrating Einstein Through 100 Years Of General Relativity#BracketAKaNa trended worldwide on Monday, June 30. Here's why
Published 7:43 AM, July 01, 2014
MANILA, Philippines – #BracketAKaNa trended worldwide on June 30, Monday. Wondered what this is all about?
On Monday night, netizens expressed their disappointment over the University of the Philippines’ Socialized Tuition Scheme (STS) with tweets alluding to the results state scholars received after accomplishing the STS form online.
STS replaced the 23-year old Socialized Tuition Fee Assistance Program (STFAP) as the state university’s alphabetic scheme and scholarship program which categorizes students according to their socio-economic standing.
Reforms
The reforms applied to STS aim to address the gaps identified in STFAP, including the tedious application process and alleged "inaccuracies" of the old bracketing system.
Increased stipend, an automated bracket assignment procedure, and a simplified application process are among the reforms in STS.
According to UP President Alfredo Pascual, STS is “expected to have a fair reading of the students’ socio-economic standing.”
UP students were required to submit a two-page form to serve as the basis for assigning their bracket and tuition rate. Previously, applicants who wanted to be categorized in lower brackets and pay lesser tuition were required to submit a 14-page form every year.
Under STS, students who fall under the lowest bracket will also enjoy an increased allowance – from P2,400 (US$55) to P3,500 (US$80) per month. The stipend can either be in the form of cash, meals, dormitory accommodation, among others.
Pascual added that the logic of reforming STFAP to STS is simple: to simplify, speed up, and adjust to the times.
“From the time [STFAP] was adapted in 2006, from 2006-2012, the inflation rate was 30%; price levels have changed. We needed to adjust, so what we did is adjust the bracket,” Pascual added.
Improvement?
However, based on the #BracketAKaNa tweets, it seems like none of these reforms were felt nor appreciated by UP students.
Social networking sites exploded with complaints from students regarding the results they got, claiming that most students moved up the bracketing system.
"I'm not happy about the result. I was categorized at bracket C last year. Now, I've been placed at bracket B even though we had a difficult time paying for my tuition when I was still in C." said Carl Paolo Hernandez, an incoming junior taking up Choral Conducting in UP Diliman.
Jai Saldejano, on the other hand, expressed his doubts on the accuracy of STS with the disparate results he and his sister received.
"My sister got assigned to bracket B and mine said no tuition discount. Syempre I was shocked, and somewhat disappointed kasi 'inayos' na nga daw nila yung sistema, pero mali parin," Saldejano added.
(I was shocked and somewhat disappointed since they said they will fix the system)
Other tweets range from amusing, satirical to angry.
Share with us your thoughts on the STS results by commenting on the thread below!
– with a report from Jee Geronimo/Rappler.com2004 Evolution VIII 2.4 FP Black Silver SSLPrice: $20,500 (reduced from original asking of $26,000)Location: Conshohocken, PAShipping: NoMiles: 76,000 (~6,000 on the build)VIN: JA3AH86D84U070154 For sale, clean 2.4L/FP Black Evo VIII. SSL (sun, sound, leather) packages, 76,000 miles. Many aftermarket parts have ~6k miles on them, as not many miles went on the car after most of the car was built up. 511/480whp on mustang dyno on e85 at 36psi, 430/381 on 93 at 29psi, tuned by Chad Block at CBRD Racing.I bought the car in 2008 with 40k miles. Around mid-2010 I started the 2.4L build at around 70k miles. The project lasted a few years, and I've held on to it since then as a weekend driver. The car is a blast to drive and does not have any issues. I’ve spent easily $28k+ on the build itself over the last 5 years in parts and payments to shops/friends for the help, and receipts to show it. I drive it on E85 but there is also a 93 pump map setup. Clean history, and clean Carfax on hand.Engine:SBR 2.4LOEM 100mm crankManley I-beam rodsManley 9:0 87mm pistonsACL race bearingsARP mainsCometic head gasketARP L19sEnglish Racing water pumpOEM oil pump assemblyFluidampr damperOEM 4g64 Timing Belt with new tensioner, idler pulley, idler beltBalance shaft and oil squirters removedOEM oil coolerEGR block plateHeadwork by Ron Whitney at R&W Racing in CoatesvilleManley springs, titanium retainersManley valves, 1mm oversized3 angle valve jobKiggly HLAFP4R camsFidanza cam gears (3.75/3.75)Intake/TurboPorted FP BlackLightly ported stock intake manifoldMil.Spec 65mm throttle bodyJMF UICPJMF LICPJMF FMICJMF intake pipeK&N 9" air filterTial Q BOVGrimspeed 3-port (ecu boost control)Exhaust:MAP tubular exhaust manifoldJMF 3” O2 housingJMF 3” downpipeStraight pipeHKS 3" exhaustDrivetrain:Shep transmissionShep stage III transfer case w/ LSD front diffQuartermaster 8-leg twin w/ hydro TOB (less than 2k miles)AMS motor mount inserts (3)Torque Solution rear motor mountShifter bushingsFuel:Buschur twin 255 kitFIC 1550'sElectronics:Spoolinup COPNGK IR plugsJMF small battery tray w/ brand new Odyssey PC925 batteryAEM wideband, boost, oil pressure gaugeStock ECU Tephra V7 on SD, primary map is E85Omni 4bar MAPIAT sensor welded on the UICP w/ spoolinup harness into the MAF (though, I am using fuel temp for input currently)Apexi turbo timerSuspension:OEM Bilstein Evo MR SuspensionToyo Proxies 4Stop Tech rear rotors and Hawk pads (new last month)DBA 3000 front rotors w/ Performance Friction padsOther:STM catchcan kitBlacked out tailsA/C removedRear bushings just replacedPA inspected until 6/16Oil change in JuneLoJackNo Lien on the carMore Pictures:I'll also note that I very recently had a chunk of work done:-A recent oil change (Royal Purple XPR)-New rear rotors/pads-New OEM O2 sensor-New inner control arm bushings in the back-New JMF 3" downpipe installedHe had a great vision. And despite naysayers, he stuck to his guns and eventually saw a hard-shell taco splattered with neon-orange cheese dust become a staple in the country's fast-food scene.
Todd Mills, the inspiration behind Taco Bell's Doritos Locos Tacos, died of cancer Thanksgiving morning.
He was 41.
USA Today brought Mills' story to our attention today. And it's an extraordinary tale. The paper reports:
"[Ginger] Mills said her husband often made taco salads using Doritos and frequently said someone should make taco shells out of the cheesy snack. "In 2009, Mills wrote a letter to Frito-Lay pitching the idea. Their response was, 'Thanks, but no thanks,' Ginger Mills said. "After receiving the rejection letter, he vowed to pursue the idea 'from the grass-roots level,' said longtime friend Jimmy Looney, who served in the Air Force with Mills. "Mills started the Facebook page 'Taco Shells from Doritos Movement' in 2009, encouraging followers to 'tell Frito-Lay that we demand nacho cheesy taco shells!' "
On the page, Mills posted crude — but very funny — Photoshopped images of legends eating cheesy taco shells.
According to a May 2012 piece by the Arkansas Times, Mills kept this up for years, until one day, he got a call from Taco Bell, which wanted to invite him to its test kitchen.
Turns out Taco Bell was working on his dream: the Doritos Locos Tacos. Shortly thereafter, Taco Bell launched the tacos, which went on to become one of its most successful products. By August of this year, Taco Bell said it had sold 600 million Doritos Locos Tacos since the product launched in March 2012.
As the Arkansas Times reports, Mills didn't see a penny from Taco Bell. He told the paper:
" 'Everybody that I tell about this says "You should be getting some money off these."'Nevertheless, Mills seems to shrug off the idea that he should lawyer up. 'I've never once said that I deserved any sort of compensation,' he said. 'I can't be the first person to think of this.' "On the other hand: 'If they wanted to send me a big taco check, that would be alright.' "
According to the Taco Shells made from Doritos Movement Facebook page, Mills is survived by his wife and his two young daughters.
Copyright 2018 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
And in our last word in business today, we are pausing a moment to remember the man whose imagination sparked a billion-dollar snack food. The Doritos Locos Tacos.
One night in 2009, Todd Mills was eating Taco Bell when a Doritos ad came on television. Mills looked at his wife and said, how awesome would it be if this taco shell was a Dorito?
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
He later told the Arkansas Times, that's what prompted the Little Rock native to contact a Frito-Lay company. Frito-Lay wasn't interested. So Todd Mills took his campaign to Facebook. And Taco Bell took notice. The Doritos Locos Taco debuted last year. They sold 375 million tacos with total sale topping a billion dollars in sales through this year.
GREENE: Mills never asked for any compensation. But Taco Bell did make a small contribution to his health care fund when he was struck with cancer. Todd Mills died on Thanksgiving of brain cancer. He was 41 years old.
And that is the business news on MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm David Greene.
MONTAGNE: And I'm Renee Montagne. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.The term elaboration can be used to mean a lot of different things. However, when we are talking about studying using elaboration, it involves explaining and describing ideas with many details. Elaboration also involves making connections among ideas you are trying to learn and connecting the material to your own experiences, memories, and day-to-day life.
Elaborative interrogation is a specific method of elaboration. The word interrogation means to question. So, when you use elaborative interrogation, you ask yourself questions about how and why things work, and then produce the answers to these questions (1). The specific questions that you ask yourself will depend, in part, on the topics you are studying (e.g., how does x work? Why does x happen? When did x happen? What caused x? What is the result of x? and so on).
How should you use the elaborative interrogation technique?
So, as a student, how should you go about using elaborative interrogation while you study? There are a few different things you can do right now:
Start by making a list of all of the ideas you need to learn from your class materials. Then, go down the list and ask yourself questions about how these ideas work and why. As you ask yourself questions, go through your class materials (e.g., your textbook, class notes, any materials your teacher has provided, etc.) and look for the answers to your questions.
As you continue to elaborate on the ideas you are learning, make connections between multiple ideas to-be-learned and explain how they work together. A good way to do this is to take two ideas and think about ways they are similar and ways they are different.
Describe how the ideas you are studying apply to your own life experiences or memories. In addition, as you go through your day, take notice of the things happening around you and make connections to the ideas you are learning in class. Doing this will engage an additional process that is highly effective: spacing learning over time. A post about learning how to study using spacing is forthcoming!
So far we have suggested using elaborative interrogation as you study your class materials. At the start, you can definitely use your class materials to help you and fill in gaps as you elaborate. However, ideally, you should work your way up to describing and explaining the ideas you are learning on your own, without your class materials in front of you. In other words, you should practice retrieval of the information! (For a detailed post about how to practice retrieval see Learn How to Study |
IGN at ericgoldman-ign and Facebook at Facebook.com/TheEricGoldman.A Minnesota homeowner is facing manslaughter charges after he told police he shot at a group of men who had tried breaking into his home, and one of the suspects later died in the hospital.
VIDEO: SENIOR CITIZEN USES HIS CANE TO BEAT BUS ATTACKER
David Allen Pettersen, 65, called police around 7 a.m. Saturday to report a possible burglary and shooting at his home in Fieldon Township, just south of Madelia. According to the charging documents, Pettersen told the dispatcher he fired his handgun at a gray car that was leaving his property after an attempted burglary.
A deputy responding to the call found the car 2 miles north of Pettersen's home, with three people inside. One of the passengers, 19-year-old Nicolas Thomas Embertson, had a gunshot wound and later died at Madelia Hospital.
WORKER DISCOVERS $434G WORTH OF COCAINE IN PLANE'S NOSE GEAR
Another passenger, 18-year-old Kyle Thomas Nason, had a broken ankle. He told police that he, Embertson and a third man -- 18-year-old Cornelius Ayers -- were at Pettersen's home to "case" it for a future burglary.
Nason said his friends gave him a boost onto the second-level deck of the home, and that he injured his ankle when making the 10-foot jump back down. He told police he heard two loud bangs as Embertson drove away from the home. As they were headed down the driveway, Embertson said, "I think I've been hit," before losing consciousness. Nason continued driving the car until they were stopped by the deputy responding to Petterson's 911 call.
Pettersen told investigators he was in bed when he heard someone trying to open a door to the deck. He saw the person jump from the deck and crawl toward a car, at which point he grabbed a.45 caliber handgun and tried to shoot the tires of the car. Pettersen said he was about 10 feet from the car when he fired two or three shots.
Pettersen was arrested and booked into the Watonwan County Jail. Monday morning, he was charged with second-degree manslaughter and reckless discharge of a firearm.
"The law does say a self-defense law, but what we've gathered so far, we feel we have enough to charge him with second-degree manslaughter," Watonwan County Chief Deputy Jeremy Nachreiner told KEYC-TV in Mankato.
Click for more from Fox 9.The discovery of gravitational waves offers a new way of looking at the universe. Who knows what we will discover?
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On 11 February 2016, it was announced by the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) collaboration that gravitational waves had been discovered, finally confirming a century old prediction. This was very exciting, and the story was big news, making the front page of national newspapers and magazines, with even President Obama tweeting about it. The history of gravitational waves up to their discovery is rather interesting, so I thought I’d share some of it here.
What are gravitational waves?
Our currently accepted theory for the description of the laws of gravity is Einstein’s general theory of relativity, which celebrated its one hundredth birthday last November. Over the last century, it has shown itself to be one of the most mathematically elegant physical theories. Its formulation completely changed the way we think of gravity. Before Einstein, the accepted theory was Newton’s universal law of gravitation, which he published in 1687. It stated that gravity was a force: two objects with mass experience a mutual attraction, exactly like two magnets attracting each other.
Relativity turned this picture on its head, and said that gravity wasn’t actually a force; rather, it was a result of energy and mass causing spacetime to curve. Objects would travel on the path of shortest distance in this curved space. These would no longer be straight lines, they would now be curved. Such paths are known mathematically as geodesics. This alternative view leads to a range of predictions which weren’t possible in the Newtonian picture, for example: light can be deflected by gravity, black holes can exist and large masses can slow down time.
Gravitational waves are one of these predictions of general relativity which wouldn’t be possible without this viewpoint of a curved spacetime. A gravitational wave is a wave in the fabric of spacetime itself. Mathematically, this means that the components of the metric describing spacetime obey the wave equation, one of the most useful equations in applied mathematics. It is given by the following differential equation
\begin{align}
\frac{1}{c^2}\frac{\partial^2 h}{\partial t^2}=
abla^2 h.
\end{align}
Here $c$, which is the speed of light, is also the speed of the gravitational wave, and $
abla^2$ is known as the Laplacian, and is given by the sum of the second order spatial partial derivatives. The solutions to this equation (h) are waves, such as $\sin$ functions, telling us that the vacuum of space temporarily stretches in one direction, while contracting in another. Thus, if you have a ring of particles, and a gravitational wave passed through them, they would look something like this:
GIF used with kind permission from M. Pössel/Einstein Online.
Einstein vs Peer Review
It was Einstein himself, 100 years ago in 1916 shortly after the publication of his general theory of relativity, who originally realised these ripples in spacetime were a prediction of his theory. Einstein realised that the waves would be very small, and so there would be no hope of detecting them any time soon.
However, later in his life, Einstein started to have doubts. One of the fundamental concepts of relativity is that physics should be coordinate independent: you should be able to choose whatever system of coordinates you like (for example Cartesians or polars), and end up with the same results. Einstein thought these gravitational waves may just be an artefact of a poor choice of coordinate system, and perhaps if a better system was chosen the waves would disappear. Einstein was wrong.
Einstein wrote a paper with a collaborator Nathan Rosen, where they claimed to have disproved the existence of gravitational waves. They sent their paper for publication to the American journal Physical Review in 1936; but the journal’s editor read the paper with suspicion. It appeared that Einstein had made a rather elementary mistake when working in curved spacetime: he had simply chosen a bad coordinate system. The editor sent the paper to an expert reviewer to confirm his suspicions, and these comments were sent back to Einstein.
Einstein was rather taken aback by the idea that he should be subjected to peer review. He withdrew his paper from the journal, sending the following slightly passive aggressive letter to the editor:
“Dear Sir, We (Mr. Rosen and I) had sent you our manuscript for publication and had not authorized you to show it to specialists before it is printed. I see no reason to address the—in any case erroneous—comments of your anonymous expert. On the basis of this incident I prefer to publish the paper elsewhere. Respectfully, A. Einstein”
Einstein later submitted the paper to another journal (although in fairness to Einstein, he substantially revised the paper, and instead of claiming a disproof of the existence of gravitational waves, he actually proposed a new type of cylindrical gravitational wave). For more on this story, I recommend reading this excellent article “Einstein versus the Physical Review”
False detections
Research in general relativity was not very active between 1930–1960. The theory was thought of as mathematically elegant, but niche, and in practice it was often too difficult and cumbersome to perform calculations with.
But in the 1960s, a new wave of post-war scientists led a resurgence of interest in the field, and gravitational waves came to be accepted as real physical phenomena. Soon the race to detect them began.
One of the pioneers of gravitational wave detection was Joseph Weber, an American physicist. He created various experiments that attempted to detect these waves, and one of his detectors was even sent up to the moon on Apollo 17 in 1972. He claimed to have detected gravitational waves with his experiments many times, which led to much controversy. Numerous attempts to replicate Weber’s findings were made, but no one else could find a signal. Weber started to develop a dodgy reputation in the scientific community, and aggressive exchanges were had both in conferences and journal letters.
However, these days Weber is viewed in a better light. Although his experimental apparatus was not sensitive enough to detect anything, he pioneered ideas used in later detection attempts. Today he is regarded as the founder of the field of gravitational wave detection.
The discovery
This brings us to the modern day and the LIGO experiment. LIGO currently consists of two detectors in the US: one in Washington and one in Louisiana. Each detector consists of two 4km long tunnels at right angles to each other, and down each tunnel a beam of light is transmitted. The light then hits a mirror at the end of the tunnels, and is reflected back to the start. Any time delay between the two beams of light returning could be due to space distorting in one of the directions, ie. a gravitational wave.
The idea is simple, however in practice it is incredibly hard to make the detector sensitive enough to detect the waves above background noise. Many years have been spent eliminating every other possible source of interference. The detector is currently able to operate at an extraordinary degree of sensitivity, detecting changes in length at a scale of 1/1000th of the width of a proton, about $10^{-18}$m, which makes LIGO the most sensitive ruler ever made!
Finally, this February, 100 years on from Einstein’s original prediction and after months of rumours and speculation, the first detection of gravitational waves was announced. (Although the news embargo on the announcement was broken by one member of the LIGO collaboration who had the announcement printed on a cake.) A signal was detected in both detectors. Moreover, advanced numerical simulations tell us that the shape of the wave observed corresponds to that occurring when two black holes merge.
I went to a talk recently by one of the collaborators on the LIGO paper and the future looks exciting. We’re expecting more detections over the next year, and very soon another detector will come online, which will enable us to do full blown gravitational wave astronomy. With this third detector, physicists will be able to triangulate the signal, so we will know exactly where in the universe the waves have come from. (The paper announcing the detection has over 1000 co-authors. The audience attending this talk were mainly maths professors, who seemed far more interested in the logistics of writing a paper with a 1000 other people rather than the discovery of gravitational waves themselves.) In future there are plans to build and send a gravitational wave detector into space.
When astronomers first looked at light in the X-ray spectrum, they discovered a lot about the universe that we could not see simply by looking at the visible spectrum. With gravitational waves, we have a new way of looking into the universe. Who knows what we will discover?Russia, China And U.S. Condemn North Korea's Nuclear Test Claims
Enlarge this image toggle caption Jeon Heon-Kyun/EPA/Landov Jeon Heon-Kyun/EPA/Landov
With North Korea announcing it conducted a nuclear test of a hydrogen bomb, China, India, Russia and other nations are condemning the move. The U.S. says it has yet to verify the claim, but it also reiterated its stance that North Korea can't be allowed to become a nuclear state.
News of the test was announced via state-owned Korean Central Television, which reports that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un personally ordered the test in December and gave final approval over the weekend. Last month, Kim said his country has developed a hydrogen bomb; experts remain skeptical of that claim.
In North Korea, the news was deemed vital enough to warrant bringing veteran news announcer Ri Chun-hee, famed for her proud and powerful delivery, out of retirement.
YouTube
Here's a quick rundown of international reactions:
UN Security Council President Elbio Rosselli of Uruguay says, "The members of the Security Council strongly condemn this test, which is a clear violation of Security Council resolutions" from 2006, 2009, and 2013. Noting that the council had promised "further significant measures" if another test were performed, Rosselli added that the member nations "will begin to work immediately on such measures in a new Security Council resolution."
South Korea will "make sure that North Korea pays the corresponding price for the nuclear test," President Park Geun-hye said in a National Security Council meeting Wednesday, according to Yonhap News.
"China 'firmly opposes' the latest nuclear test conducted by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), according to a statement on Wednesday from the Chinese Foreign Ministry." — state-run Xinhua News.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says, "I condemn it unequivocally." The head of the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency says the test is "deeply regrettable."
Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called the test "totally unacceptable," saying it "constitutes a grave threat to Japan's security" and violates U.N. Security Council resolutions.
A U.S. State Department spokesperson says this would be North Korea's fourth nuclear test, adding, "We have consistently made clear that we will not accept it as a nuclear state."
Russia's foreign ministry says that if the test is confirmed, it would be a new step for Pyongyang and a "flagrant violation of international law" that stand to aggravate tensions on the Korean peninsula.
From India's Ministry of External Affairs: "It is a matter of deep concern that DPRK has again acted in violation of its international commitments in this regard. We call upon DPRK to refrain from such actions which adversely impact on peace and stability in the region. Our concerns about proliferation links between North East Asia and our neighbourhood are well-known."
European Union Commission Vice President Federica Mogherini says: "If confirmed, this action would represent a grave violation of the DPRK's international obligations not to produce or test nuclear weapons, as determined by several United Nations Security Council Resolutions, and a threat to the peace and security of the entire North East Asia region."
As NPR's Elise Hu reported for the Two-Way Tuesday night:Florida artist/sculptor Gil Watson has come up with a new line of mermaid art. These mermaids are life size, he refers to this line as “Mermaids with an Attitude”. Gil Watson first hand carves the mermaids out of wood, then molds them using a uniquely formatted resin mix. This makes these molds light, durable and good for indoor or outdoor display. Some mermaids are hand painted while others are sprayed with a bronze or copper finish creating a more contemporary look. These mermaids can also be custom ordered so that you can choose the hair color, fish tail type etc. There will be many more different mermaids to come in this series. Other works by Gil Watson can also be viewed on his website Gil Watson Art
AdvertisementsFor years, Russian president Vladimir Putin has bitterly alleged a foreign conspiracy to undermine his rule. Western-funded private organizations, he has said, were fomenting protests and supporting his opponents. Now it turns out that Putin himself may be funding protest groups in Europe.
In a London appearance on June 19, Anders Rasmussen, the secretary-general of NATO, accused Russia of secretly funding European non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that oppose hydraulic fracturing (or “fracking”), the method used to drill for shale gas, on environmental grounds. The objective, according to Rasmussen: to frustrate European countries’ efforts to wean themselves off Russian gas, which now comprises 30% of the European market.
“I have met allies who can report that Russia, as part of their sophisticated information and disinformation operations, engaged actively with so-called non-governmental organizations—environmental organizations working against shale gas—to maintain European dependence on imported Russian gas.” (Rasmussen’s remarks can be heard starting at 34:05 on this audio recording.)
To the extent that Rasmussen and his sources are right about Putin’s activities—some anti-fracking groups say he is paranoid—they are underscoring Moscow’s key pressure point in Europe, which is the natural gas umbilical cord connecting the two. The importance of this connection has been clear over the last few months in Europe’s reluctance to irritate Putin by directly challenging his annexation of Crimea and destabilization of eastern Ukraine.
One way for Europe to weaken Russia’s hold is to develop its own gas, a strategy that has led Poland, Bulgaria and other European countries to seek to develop shale gas resources. In the US, the shale gas boom has give the country a competitive advantage in certain industries such as chemicals that rely on gas as a feed stock. The practice of hydraulic fracturing, in which gas is extracted by fracturing deep rock with drills and a high-pressure water mixture, has been hobbled in many places by its own drilling sloppiness and tin-eared PR. Where there is opposition to the practice, it often seems to have sincere roots. Here is a 2012 protest in Sofia.
But Rasmussen’s assertion is that alongside the grassroots movement, there is something nefarious afoot:
The potential for Russia using energy supplies as a means of putting pressure on European nations is a matter of concern. No country should use supply and pricing terms as tools of coercion. We share a concern by some allies that Russia could try to obstruct possible projects on shale gas exploration in Europe in order to maintain Europe’s reliance on Russian gas.
As well as its strategic aims, such a Russian intelligence operation might also include an element of pay-back. In 2011, Putin accused the US of funding protests against his rule, and the following year he attacked Western-funded NGOs specifically. Two months ago, Putin accused Western NGOs of funding “nationalist and neo-Nazi groups” in Ukraine.
It’s true that Western NGOs have sought to pluralize Russian society and loosen Putin’s tight grip on power. Now, by apparently responding in kind, Putin is sending a message that he intends to remain a potent political and economic force in Europe for some time to come.Towers constructed from shipping container modules formed the blank basis behind this series of incredible giant-sized, site-specific artworks using spray paint and pole brushes.
For the North West Walls Street Art Festival in Belgium, curated by Arne Quinze, each contributor was encouraged to compose something on one side of each of three unique and random-seeming stacks.
Famous graffiti artists Pichi & Avo added an array of Greek gods to their chosen canvas, framing the brilliantly-rendered figures in contemporary style, using warm-colored graffiti to create a stark contrast around them.
A play on the artist’s name and implicit commentary on creatures in captive zoo conditions, Roa’s Ark features a series of caged and chained animals each contained in one of the cargo units, the effectively black-and-white composition intentionally devoid of bright colors.
Other contributors included Jen Zie and Martin Ron, adding further colorful and abstract creations to the mix. Together, the finished works represent a wonderful array of approaches, some playing on history, references and culture and others on visual effects, depth and perception.NBA Commisioner Adam Silver, above, and Michele Roberts, the head of the NBA players union, should work out an arrangement similar to what baseball has so players are not forced to attend college for at least one year before being eligible for the NBA. (Glyn Kirk/AFP via Getty Images)
It is time for the one-and-done rule to go away. It is a pox. It is draining much of the joy out of college basketball for players, coaches and fans. It has made a complete mockery of the notion that the best college basketball players have any intention of graduating. They are mercenaries passing through only because the rules force them to be there.
It is also time for everyone to stop making excuses and find a solution. It is not that hard. One would think, based on the way the NBA, the NBA Players Association and the NCAA react every time the issue comes up, that they were being asked to solve the problems of the Middle East.
The rule will go away when everyone in power decides it needs to go away and is willing to compromise in order to do so. The NBA, first under David Stern and now Commissioner Adam Silver, keeps insisting this is about the players’ association refusing to cooperate.
“They see it as a negotiating chip,” Stern said, shortly before he retired. “We aren’t willing to give up what they want in return for making the change.”
That means the NBA doesn’t consider it important enough that it’s willing to give the players something in return. How about a higher salary cap? Forbes magazine recently valued 11 NBA franchises at more than $1 billion. That’s a huge leap since the 2011 lockout when Stern and the owners were pleading poverty and insisting the players had to take less money. Since then, the league has signed two massive TV contracts and the Los Angeles Clippers sold for $2 billion.
So here’s what Silver needs to do: meet with Michele Roberts, the new head of the union, and say the following: “Look, we’re both already rattling sabers in anticipation of the collective bargaining contract being reopened in 2017. Let’s you and I agree that you guys are going to get some more money. But as part of that, let’s also agree we’re going to use the baseball model going forward when it comes to draft eligibility. It makes sense and it’s better for the players and for the sport.”
The baseball rule: Any player graduating from high school is eligible for the draft. Once he finds out where he’s drafted and what kind of money he can make to turn pro, he then decides whether to turn pro or go to college. None of this blind guessing. One of the reasons so many underclassmen put their names into the basketball draft each year is because they have agents telling them, “Don’t listen to your coach, don’t listen to any committee, I know general managers and you’ll go in the lottery. Or in the first round.”
Are they often lying? Of course they are. They can’t make any money off players who are still in college.
Remember, everyone selected in the first round of the NBA draft is guaranteed a contract. Second round and free agency? Nothing. So, if a player is drafted in the first round and the money’s guaranteed, he will probably want to sign. If not, he might want to go to college.
In baseball, if you go that route, you can’t go back in the draft for three years. That means you have to make some effort to go to class and to make academic progress. It means if you leave school after three years there’s a reasonable chance you might come back and graduate. It means that your coach isn’t recruiting your replacement before you play a single game. It means you don’t have to face the ‘are you going or not going?’ questions until your junior year. It means you might actually get to experience college. And it takes the predatory agents out of the process for two years.
The one-and-dones don’t go to college, they represent a college. Many are being told where they will go in the draft before they play a game. Kentucky Coach John Calipari held an NFL-style scouting combine for NBA executives last fall — before the season began.
Two of the best big men in the country this winter are Wisconsin’s Frank Kaminski and Syracuse’s Rakeem Christmas. “You want to know why they’re so good?” former Maryland coach Gary Williams asked rhetorically. “Because they’re seniors. They weren’t stars as freshmen and they stayed in school and learned how to play. They’re men.
“But if you’re a freshman and you have talent you have to turn pro. Everyone tells you that you have to turn pro and if you don’t, people look at you like you’re some kind of a loser. You get peer pressure, agent pressure, parent pressure. It’s all about, ‘How soon can I get to the League?’ ”
Last March, when Mercer upset Duke in the NCAA tournament, Jabari Parker was completely schooled by a Mercer senior named Jakob Gollon. Because of injuries, Gollon was a sixth-year player who had turned 24 the previous November. Parker was barely 19. Gollon had played in 118 more college games than Parker. In all likelihood, Parker, the No. 2 pick in last summer’s NBA draft, will be an all-star someday. Gollon will never play in the NBA. If Parker couldn’t handle Gollon, how could he possibly be ready for the NBA?
“He’s not ready,” said former Georgetown coach John Thompson, who broadcast the game on radio that day. “But he has to come out. He has no choice. There’s too much money there for him and he can’t go back to college and then face his friends back home. It’s not right, it’s not fair, it just is.”
So let’s change it. If someone is a true star with no interest in going to college, let him turn pro out of high school. Kevin Garnett, Kobe Bryant, LeBron James and others did it with great success. Others were utter failures, but they almost certainly would also have failed with one year of college under their belt.
The game of basketball has serious issues at every level, but this is one way to improve it. The commissioner and the owners need to put a chip on the table for the union. And the union needs to take the chip and make a deal.
Not soon. Now.
For more by John Feinstein, visit washingtonpost.com/feinstein.Did you ever see someone and spend the rest of the day trying to figure out how you know that person?
Janelle Pierzina is on the opposite side of that question nearly every week. As a reality-TV-star-turned-Realtor, Pierzina gets that quizzical look wherever she goes, whether it’s on a grocery-store run with her three kids or hosting an open house for Edina Realty.
“They go through this whole list of questions like, ‘Did you work at 3M?’ ” she said. “So after like 10 questions, I usually just tell them I was on TV.”
And not just any show. She was a star on “Big Brother,” the CBS prime-time hit that locked 10 strangers together in a house while cameras recorded their every move.
Now she’s selling houses in the south Twin Cities metro area, using some of the skills that kept her from being kicked off “Big Brother.” (She shares the record for most days in the house: 177 over three seasons.)
“You have to be very, very good socially, and I feel like real estate’s the same,” Pierzina said. “People have to like you; that’s the biggest thing.”
Former reality TV star turned Realtor Janelle Pierzina showed clients a house in Savage.
Luckily, Pierzina is incredibly likable. She’s honest about her experiences in the entertainment industry. (Note: If you have to choose a celebrity to meet, Jennifer Aniston is one of the nicest.) And she’s willing to talk about whatever crosses her mind, whether that’s Drake’s newest album or her working-class childhood in Grand Rapids, Minn.
“I didn’t have a lot,” Pierzina said. “In junior high, I had like two or three pairs of pants and four shirts, and shoes from Wal-Mart, but it was fine.”
After her parents divorced, her mom, Ann Pierzina-Killian, became a nurse, working odd hours and struggling to raise her kids as a single mother. Pierzina helped out with the younger siblings.
“She would get up all by herself and make herself breakfast,” Pierzina-Killian said. “I worked the afternoon shift, so I would basically set her alarm and tell her she had to get to school on time.”
Her mother believes Pierzina’s upbringing built a spirit of determination that was a huge help on “Big Brother” and beyond. As a teen, she tried out for cheerleading and made the team, even though she was younger than everyone else.
“She’s never been spoiled, never been given life on a silver platter,” Pierzina-Killian said. “If she wanted something, she put her mind to it and did it.”
One thing Pierzina wanted was to be a top TV anchor. “She liked to be top dog,” her mom said. “She always just liked to be in the limelight.”
‘Intense and competitive’
Pierzina, 37, studied communications at the University of Minnesota Duluth, where she met her future husband, Jess. (He owns a hotel in Apple Valley, which is what originally brought Pierzina back to the Twin Cities area; they live in Lakeville.)
She eventually decided that wasn’t the path for her and moved to Miami, where she was a model and cocktail waitress before trying out for “Big Brother” in 2005.
Her mom, nervous about how Pierzina would be portrayed, told her she shouldn’t go on the show.
“There was a lot of stigma because reality TV was still kind of new and you didn’t know what [producers] were going to do,” Pierzina said. “You’re signing your life away, basically, and they could make you into anything.”
But Pierzina was happy with her portrayal. She finished third, then was picked by viewers to compete in an all-star edition the following year. She took third once again.
“I played the whole ‘dumb blonde’ thing and it worked because everyone thought I was dumb,” said Pierzina, who returned to the show in 2012 but was evicted halfway through. “My whole character was this tough girl who was kind of at the bottom and I just fought my way to the top.”
That competitive nature has served her well as a Realtor — and sometimes takes people by surprise.
“The first time I met her, she was very sweet and pleasant,” said her boss at Edina Realty, Craig Kanis. “I didn’t know how intense and competitive she was.” Pierzina consistently ranks in the top 10 out of about 80 agents, he said.
Her status as a fan favorite doesn’t hurt, either.
“I get called to people’s houses all the time for weird appointments where I don’t know them but they know me,” she said. “They’re usually pretty excited to work with me. They choose me out of the other Realtors because they feel like they understand me and know me as a person.”
Others, though, know her only as Janelle the Realtor. Sarah Bell and Jake Revak, an engaged couple shopping for their first house, don’t particularly care that she used to be on TV.
“We found out about that later, but that doesn’t really affect anything,” Bell said.
Despite being voted “America’s Choice” during her time on the show and receiving such gifts in the mail as a Swarovski crown and jewelry from Tiffany’s, Pierzina doesn’t see “Big Brother” necessarily as the formative experience of her life.
“It’s just something I did in my life, like a job or whatever,” Pierzina said. “It’s a weird job, but I did it.”
Kelsy Ketchum is a University of Minnesota student on assignment for the Star Tribune.UNDER PRESSURE: Men are told to be superheroes from day one. Accepting masculine vulnerability can go a long way in achieving sexual healing.
There's a passage at the beginning of Michele Weiner Davis' 2008 book, The Sex-Starved Wife: What to Do When He's Lost Desire, that underscores what experts say is a larger problem than our culture lets on.
"You ask yourself, 'What's wrong with me? Aren't I attractive?'" Weiner Davis writes. "How did you manage to hook up with the one man in the world who would prefer doing just about anything other than making love to you? Why isn't he like all the other guys?"
The one man in the world. All the other guys. It's difficult to quantify how many women are in marriages with husbands who've lost the appetite for sex, in part because it's hard for women - who are surrounded by friends, sitcoms and magazines telling them all men want sex all the time - to speak up about the "one man in the world" who doesn't.
"It's a very real problem," says psychiatrist Andrew Gilbert, medical director at the Hallowell Centre, a New York-based facility that treats cognitive and emotional problems. "It's not weird or unique. It's also very treatable."
While researching her book, Manopause: Your Guide to Surviving His Changing Life, co-author Lisa Friedman spoke with women who struggled to reconcile their husbands' waning desire with the impressions they had always accepted about men's sex drives. "It's hard for anyone to admit; let's start there," Friedman says. "Women are just as uncomfortable admitting they're not having sex as men are. They think, 'What's wrong with my man?' Because, after all, the ability to perform is at the core of his masculinity."
And therein lies much of the problem. A man's lack of desire may have nothing to do with how attractive he finds his wife. It may not even be a lack of desire. But if he's feeling anxiety in another area of his life - marital or otherwise - the pressure to perform becomes just one more source of anxiety.
"There can be resentments or frustrations about things that aren't clearly expressed or communicated, and that can be misrepresented as sexual disinterest," Gilbert says. "Sometimes he's still engaging in a lot of masturbation, where he's more in control and there's less pressure to perform. It's not necessarily that his libido is lower. It's just that he's expressing it differently."
Whether a man's withdrawal from sex is a change in libido or how he expresses it can be partly drawn out out by a physician. Task No. 1, of course, is for men to get checked for underlying health conditions that may be contributing to a shift in desire: undiagnosed depression, pituitary or thyroid issues, diabetes, cardiac problems. "Anything that affects blood vessels and blood flow," Gilbert says.
Testosterone levels naturally lessen as men age, Friedman notes, which can lead to a decrease in libido. Testosterone peaks during adolescence and early adulthood, according to the Mayo Clinic website: "As you get older, (a man's) testosterone level gradually declines - typically about one per cent a year after age 30."
Often, says Friedman, men who've stopped having frequent sex turn to alcohol, food or another substance. Doctors need to know that, too. "They figure it will lessen the pain or they'll have fun in another way," she says. "And it actually causes more problems."
Once the physical symptoms have been addressed, couples need to move on to the communication, or lack thereof, in their relationship. "It's so important for couples to feel comfortable expressing themselves and dealing directly with the things that may be misrepresented as less interest," Gilbert says. "It could be work pressures, parenting, less time with friends, less alone time, less time with your spouse."
As important as launching those conversations, of course, is engaging in them with grace and understanding. "Have empathy toward him and teach him to have empathy toward you," Friedman tells women. "Be sensitive to the pressure he's feeling. From the time he was four years old he's been told to be a superhero, and now he's in a place where he needs you to help him and be sensitive to him." Which can be harder than it sounds when bruised egos are at play.
"I do encourage date nights and scheduling times to have sex during the week," Gilbert says. "If his wife is feeling frustrated and alone and shut out, and he's feeling guilty, having sex in the schedule can take pressure off both sides (to initiate it)."
"Humans are easily conditioned," he continues. "Once you do something regularly, it can quickly build momentum and fit into your life quite naturally."
Friedman encourages couples to be optimistic as they grow into a marriage in which their bodies and appetites are changing.
"This can be one of the best times of your life," she says. "Men with less testosterone may not be as quick to win the race, but they have more time to breathe, they're better fathers, better friends and better companions.
"Men and women both need to get comfortable with men's vulnerability," she said. "It's the antithesis of what we've grown to believe is masculine, but the irony is women love men who are a little vulnerable, who share more intimacy. We like them better that way."
"It's a complex issue," Gilbert says. "Certainly, the marriage is central, and it's important to look closely at the relationship itself and how each person in the relationship interprets what the other person brings to the table."
- Chicago TribuneIf you weren’t a fan of Google’s privacy policy modifications, you might also be interested to hear about Screenwise. If you sign up for Screenwise, Google will track your browsing data non-anonymously. Why would you ever want let it do that? Cash money. Well, Amazon gift cards, which are basically cash money. If you sign up for Screenwise and install a Chrome browser extension designed for tracking, Google will give you a $5 Amazon gift card for joining up, with an additional $5 every three months you stick with it.
Now Google’s got a lot of your data already, why do they need this too? Well the thing worth noting here is that it is non-anonymous. The data Google collects while you do your web-business is stored somewhere, but it isn’t attached to you as a person; it’s numbered, not named. If you sign up for Screenwise, you’ll be giving them information directly associated with you, which is why the feel the need to offer you some cyberbux in exchange.
A few other things worth noting. First off, Amazon isn’t involved in this at all, they just happen to be a useful form of online currency at this point. Second, Google is working with Knowledge Networks on this, the latter group being the one that it appears will do the data collection and whatnot. When you give your email to Google, they’ll pass it on to Knowledge Networks and delete their copy, presumably meaning there’s no way that signing up with this will attach any of your anonymous data of previous use to your new non-anonymous profile. It also means that Knowledge Networks Terms and Conditions will be important to read if you opt-in. Lastly, while Google will pay you $5 to start and $5 every three months thereafter, the rewards top out |
you can focus out the enemy carries.
Build
In ranked, I usually build Hun Batz the following way:
QvoFred's item pathing and build throughout the game
A standard Hun Batz build is Bumba's Mask, Blue Stone, Warrior Tabi, Hydra's Lament, Jotunn's Wrath, Brawler's Beat Stick, Titan's Bane and Deathbringer. The build will primarily remain the same between competitive and solo queue Hun Batz. However, depending on the team composition, it may differ if defensive items are needed such as Winged Blade, Magi's Blessing, etc.
The straight penetration build with a crit item, such as Deathbringer, as the last item gives Hun Batz insane one-shot possibilities if you can manage to catch the enemy carries without Beads in the later stages of the game. If you are super far ahead, it is possible to build Titan's Bane before Brawler's followed by Deathbringer and get the Brawler's last.
Pathing
You want to get the early pressure in mid and try invading the enemies' solo lane buffs such as speed and blue. Hun Batz offers an above average clear speed with Overhand Smash which should allow you to path ahead of the enemy jungler due to speed. This builds an early lead and gives you control of the speed and blue buff.
Against high pressure junglers and mid laners, it can be quite the rough early game if the enemies play to their advantage. Therefore, you must look to be efficient in your pathing to obtain the most possible XP and also try and get control of your own team's buffs.
As Hun Batz in the early game, your pathing is one of the most important parts of your gameplay due to the low amount of pressure from simply ganking. Instead, his clearing abilities will allow you to path quicker towards predicted enemy lane ganks where you can set up a countergank or jungle invade.
Takeaway: Do not simply just AFK farm in the jungle early! Use your fast clear speeds to provide laners with comfort and backup should the enemy jungler appear. Jungle for your laners and act as utility by neutralizing the enemy jungler.
Extra Tip
Auto-attack cancelling with the 3. By throwing the 3, auto-attacking the enemy once and instantly pressing the 3 again will make your next auto-attack go in quicker. This will be beneficial during team fights and when putting chip damage onto enemy laners while also working extremely well with his Infused Strikes passive.
Ability Leveling Order
You want to start with maxing your 2 which will then be followed by the 3 and then finally the 1 while putting points into your ultimate when able. The 2 (Overhand Smash) is great for clearing the jungle quickly which works extremely well when pathing correctly to save laners from ganks. It also scales pretty well into the late game. You increase the ultimate for longer duration on the CC and damage, and your 3 (Sacred Monkey) is great for poking out enemy Gods which can bode well around Fire Giant and Gold Fury. Lastly, you max 1 (Somersault) last because it mostly is used to fall back and not for damage.
Teamfight Positioning
The general plan for playing Hun Batz is to get the big ultimates and ultimately kill the enemy carries. Therefore, it requires positioning that allows you to catch enemies off-guard without being caught out of position yourself. You want to position yourself relatively close to their carries without being seen, but also have the possibility to fall back to your teammates in case you are seen.
When Hun Batz is optimal and suboptimal?
Hun Batz shines when your teammates play something that can force Beads on the enemy carries, setting up for your next Blink-ult combo.
In case the team lacks pressure in the early game, a God such as Thor can help to apply pressure on the map. It is almost needed for a team composition to include somebody with high to decent early game pressure.
Hun Batz is a great jungler with amazing teamfight capabilities. He is a very unique God simply because of the intricacies to his pathing. Use his kit to create unique jungle paths by cutting corners after quick clears, being a presence for your laners instead of the enemy laner. While his early game can be questionable, a lot of these flaws can be played around through other Gods. Thank you to QVOFred for helping me out with this guide.
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UPDATE: Device detonated by bomb squad robot fire outside of high school graduation ceremony @canyons in Santa Clarita. pic.twitter.com/CSYjnFoNSQ — Austin Dave (@AustinDave_) May 26, 2017
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Whoever placed a “suspicious package” under a car at the College of the Canyons (COC) Thursday wanted to make it look like a bomb as part of a hoax. The “suspicious package” was found under a car at COC late Thursday afternoon, prompting local sheriff’s deputies to call in the Arson/Explosives Unit. “Deputies were advised of a suspicious package left under a vehicle in Parking Lot #8 at College of the Canyons,” said Shirley Miller, spokeswoman for the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station.Although investigating deputies roped off an area around the parking lot, a commencement ceremony for graduating students of Canyon High School scheduled to take place on the college’s football field was not disrupted or cancelled. Dave Caldwell, public information officer with the William S. Hart Union High School District where Canyon High School is operated, said the district follows advice from the Sheriff’s Department when it comes to incidents like the “suspicious package.” “The district takes direction from the Sheriff’s Department in situations like this and they felt it was safe for the graduation to go on as planned,” Caldwell said. Specially trained members of the Los Angeles County Sheriff Department’s Arson/Explosives Unit who examined the “suspicious package” found in the college parking lot called it a “well-constructed hoax,” said Lt. Chuck Becerra of the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station.“They brought out the robot and moved it (package) to a safe location,” Becerra said. “Then the device was rendered inert by the arson/explosives detail.” Members of the arson/explosives unit safely detonated the device with a bomb quad robot shortly after 9 p.m., just as Canyon High School’s graduation ceremony was ending.Before the device was destroyed, arson/explosives unit members examined the “suspicious package.” The device was made to look like a bomb with wires attached to it, according to Becerra.Signal Senior Staff Writer Jim Holt, Staff Writer Christina Cox and Multimedia Journalist Austin Dave contributed to this report.Rather than being a set of rules or conventions, the essence of Fractal can be summarised in just one guiding principle: All units repeat themselves. The app layout Think of your app as a tree (data structure), every project gives a new shape to the tree, but the roots nodes remain constant. The root nodes is the app layout. These are shown in the screenshot below.
App Layout (Check the sidebar, it shows all the files)
Pablo is the name of the product.
is the name of the product. build is where all the built files go, you never touch this except when you need to deploy.
is where all the built files go, you never touch this except when you need to deploy. public is where your index.html file and <script src> assets go. (They automatically get copied to build while using create-react-app)
is where your index.html file and <script src> assets go. (They automatically get copied to build while using create-react-app) src is where you code.
is where you code. src.pages are the root level components, ones which are directly mounted on level 1 routes. (Ex. if you have a route called /login that mounts a Login component, then Login.js will be present in pages directory).
are the root level components, ones which are directly mounted on level 1 routes. (Ex. if you have a route called /login that mounts a Login component, then Login.js will be present in pages directory). src.modules handles your state (actions + reducers using ducks file structure).
handles your state (actions + reducers using ducks file structure). src.components have shared components, like Button, Input etc.
have shared components, like Button, Input etc. src.utils have utilities like your API wrapper, date utils, string utils etc.
have utilities like your API wrapper, date utils, string utils etc. config is where you store your environment variables like API endpoints. Don’t commit this to git.
is where you store your environment variables like API endpoints. Don’t commit this to git. store initializes the redux store.
initializes the redux store. index registers the routes and renders the app. We don’t have the concept of smart and dumb components, because we found that idea to be limiting. The Fractal pattern: make all units repeat The magic happens when you try to leverage the power to compose React components. A typical login screen Assume a login component that gets mounted on /login, has a form, and a forgot button that opens a password reset modal. For the sake of this example, we break this down into 3 components : Login.js
Form.js
ForgotModal.js This will be structured as follows : Simple Fractal Structure The Pages directory have a Login.js component. All components are CamelCased. The sub-components of Login.js are present in a folder called login. This is the node that will help set up a repeating pattern. All nodes are lowerCamelCased. So login in this case. If ForgotModal.js had another sub-component to show a success message, then we can have a folder named forgotModal in the login node, and place the SuccessMessage.js component there. Fractal keeps repeating itself. The following screenshot shows what it looks like in a real app.
pages have two roots: Document.js and Template.js and two sub-nodes document and template
All components required by a page go to its node folder. If the component is required by more than one components, like a branded button, then it goes to the src.components folder. When you need to break down a component into sub-components, use the Fractal. The screenshot below shows how we use The Trackers component in the same way.
Observe a file Trackers.js and a folder named trackers, containing all sub components required by Trackers.js
The Fractal State It turned out to be a sound practice to manage components in the Fractal pattern, so we asked ourselves if we can do the same for the state? (Yes we can.) We use redux in our examples. Assume a design where your frontend has to show a list of apps, each of which can have many reviews. A classic one to many details flow. In standard redux, we can have two reducers, one for [C]reating, [R]eading, [U]pdating and [D]eleting apps and another for CRUDing reviews. Because we use the ducks file structure, we are supposed to have an apps.js file and a reviews.js file in our modules folder. But this will not help us emulate the shape of the API, and as the size of the codebase grows, it becomes hard to reason for a flat store. Instead, we use the Fractal state to save our modules as follows :
Fractal on modules. Observe the modules folder on the left sidebar and the shape of the store on the right (line 9, 10, 11)By Damian Kahya
BBC News, Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia
Bolivia's lithium reserves could bring wealth to the country High in the Andes, in a remote corner of Bolivia, lies more than half the world's reserves of a mineral that could radically reduce our reliance on dwindling fossil fuels. Lithium carries a great promise. It could help power the fuel efficient electric or petrol-electric hybrid vehicles of the future. But, as is the case with fossil fuels, it is a limited resource. Lithium carbonate is already in the batteries of laptop computers and mobile phones. It is used because it allows more energy to be stored in a lighter, smaller space than most alternatives. And as the auto industry rushes to produce new fuel efficient and electric cars, it too is turning to lithium batteries as its first choice to boost the power of their new models. GM has one in its new hybrid Volt, Toyota is testing one in its next generation hybrid Prius. Mercedes is testing an electric version of its Smart, while BMW is doing the same with its Mini. And Nissan-Renault, Mitsubishi and VW are all rushing to buy or produce enough of the batteries to power their future models. The best of the pure electric cars can reach ranges of more than 150 kilometres per charge. More is needed But there is a problem. This isn't a magic solution
Luis Alberto Echazu, Bolivian minister for mining
Morales defends Bolivia changes Mitsubishi, which plans to release its own electric car soon, estimates that the demand for lithium will outstrip supply in less than 10 years unless new sources are found. And they have ended up in Bolivia. "The demand for lithium won't double but increase by five times," according to Eichi Maeyama Mitsubishi's general manager in La Paz. "We will need more lithium sources - and 50% of the world's reserves of lithium exist in Bolivia, in the Salar de Uyuni," he adds, pointing out that without new production, the price of lithium will rise prohibitively. Valuable resource Lithium is found in rocks and sea water. Locals fear the benefits will not be passed on But almost all the commercially exploitable reserves are found in the brine under salt flats. The world's largest reserves lie in Bolivia at the Salar de Uyuni - in the remote southern Andean plane. But Bolivia is not a country known to be friendly to foreign industry. Its socialist president, Evo Morales, is keen to expand state control over its natural resources, a task carried out by Bolivia's minister for mining, Luis Alberto Echazu. "We want to send a message to the industrialized countries and their companies," Mr Echazu says. "We will not repeat the historical experience since the fifteenth century: raw materials exported for the industrialisation of the west that has left us poor." Modest ambitions Gold, silver, tin, oil and gas have all been found and exported from here whilst the country remains the poorest in the region. They probably don't have a lot of experience of doing this sort of thing themselves so they'll have to bring in expertise and technology
Charles Kernot, mining analyst, Evolution Securities For President Morales' supporters, that is reason enough not to allow in foreign mining companies to extract the lithium. Across the flats, freelance miners work to break up the surface salt selling it to passing trucks for just a few dollars. Indigenous and poor, they are core supporters of the president. A grizzled old miner, giving his name only as Alfredo, says he does not believe that lithium will ever be extracted. "We don't want to see foreign companies here," he says. "It would be very bad, as the government says." Alfredo's hopes for the future are modest. "I just want to work until I die" he says, a smile across his face. It is not an uncommon sentiment here. Sharing the benefits In spite of the grinding poverty here, attempts in the 1980's and 1990's by foreign companies to extract the lithium met with resistance from the community. Bolivia is concerned about damage to the environment They say the money would go elsewhere. Francisco Quisbert is a local activist with President Morales' party who took part in the resistance. Now he is working with the president to hammer out a new plan for a state-owned pilot plant on the flats. "We don't want international involvement," he says. "This plan has raised the hopes of the region. "Before our grandparents lived on the salt. They arrived from the valleys in caravans of llamas, but the market forced them to leave. "We want to return to live on the salar [and] improve our living conditions and to participate in the project." To begin with the pilot plant will produce no more than 1.2 kilotonnes a year. If an industrial plant is then built it may increase to around 30 kilotonnes by 2012, - thats just under a third of current production. But most lithium now goes to small batteries for electronic goods. Car batteries are far larger and Mitsubishi estimates the world will need 500 kilotonnes a year just to service a niche market. For electric cars to become the norm, it could need far more. Mitsubishi predicts that there will be a supply shortage by 2015. Pollution nevertheless Analysts suspect that Bolivia's government can produce this much. "Governments in South America have had a very successful history of mining," explains Charles Kernot, a mining analyst at Evolution Securities. But the question is how fast. "They probably don't have a lot of experience of doing this sort of thing themselves so they'll have to bring in expertise and technology," Mr Kernot adds. "That whole process may take a lot longer than people are anticipating." Consequently, he continues, "the car manufacturers will have to strike a balance between how quickly they manufacture with the supply of metal because they don't want to drive the price up to such an extent that the cars get priced out of the market". Long-term, Bolivia's government is wary of the environmental damage mass extraction could cause. The mining minister, Mr Eschazu, has a stark message for Western firms. "The capitalist leaders have to change," he says. "If all the world had consumers like North America, everyone with a car, it would grind to a halt. "It is also going to generate pollution, not just from fossil fuels but also from lithium plants, which produce sulphur dioxide. This isn't a magic solution." It is not a view likely to go down well in the offices of Toyota and General Motors.
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StumbleUpon What are these? E-mail this to a friend Printable versionYEAH, MY SCHOOL TEACHERWANTED TO BE A WOMAN
AND YOU MADE HIMINTO ONE.
OH, YES,MR. GARRISON.
YES, HE HAD AVAGINOPLASTY, MM-HMM.
WELL, DO YOU ALSO DO OTHERSURGERIES LIKE THAT?
SURE.
YOU SEE, SOMETIMESA WOMAN WANTS TO BE A MAN.
THAT PROCEDURE IS CALLEDA PEENIEPLASTY.
NO, NO, I WANT TO BETALL AND BLACK.
YOU WHAT?
I HATE BEINGSMALL AND JEWISH,
I FEEL LIKEA TALL BLACK MAN.
OHHH, YOU WANTA NEGROPLASTY!
YEAH!
A NEGROPLASTY?!
IT'S A FAIRLYCOMMON PROCEDURE, REALLY,
JUST THE REVERSE OFA CAUCASIOPLASTY
JUST LIKEMICHAEL JACKSON HAD.
LET'S TAKE A LOOK HERE.
WHAT WE DO ISSLICE YOUR FACEAND PEEL IT BACK
SO WE CAN INSERT NEW PIGMENT-PRODUCING CELLS INSIDE.
WE BREAK THE ARM BONESIN SEVERAL PLACES
AND PUT IN BRACERSTO MAKE THEM LONGER.
NOW, THE KNEES, WE NEED TOSNAP OFF AND FILL WITH
SMALL, ROUND OBJECTS THAT CANCAUSE BETTER MOVEMENT.
AND WE FINISH IT OFFWITH A NICE PEENIEPLASTY
TO ENHANCE THE GENITALIA.
NEGROPLASTY TAKES ABOUT SEVENHOURS AND COSTS ROUGHLY $3,000.
UH, EXCUSE ME, IS THISREALLY A GOOD IDEA?
WELL, IT'S A GOOD IDEA IF YOUWANT TO BE TALL AND BLACK.
OTHERWISE, I WOULDN'TRECOMMEND IT.Most Popular
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Should We Declare Emergency for Gold? - 19th Feb 19SCIENCE has few more controversial topics than human intelligence—in particular, whether variations in it are a result of nature or nurture, and especially whether such variations differ between the sexes. The mines in this field can blow up an entire career, as Larry Summers found out in 2005 when he spoke of the hypothesis that the mathematical aptitude needed for physics and engineering, as well as for maths itself, is innately rarer in women than in men. He resigned as president of Harvard University shortly afterwards.
It is bold, therefore, of Jonathan Wai, Martha Putallaz and Matthew Makel, of Duke University in North Carolina, to enter the fray with a paper that addresses both questions. In this paper, just published in Current Directions in Psychological Science, they describe how they sifted through nearly three decades of standardised tests administered to American high-school students to see what had been happening to the country’s brightest sparks.
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They draw two conclusions. One is that a phenomenon called the Flynn effect (which weighs on the “nurture” side of the scales because it describes how IQ scores in general have been rising over the decades) applies in particular to the brightest of the bright. The other is that part, but not all, of the historic difference between the brainiest men and women has vanished.
The three researchers drew their data from Duke University’s Talent Identification Programme, TIP, which is designed to ferret out especially clever candidates early on: all the participants had scored in the top 5% of ability when confronted with exams designed for much older students. TIP, in turn, draws on three national exams: SAT, EXPLORE and ACT. Altogether, Dr Wai, Dr Putallaz and Dr Makel looked at data from 1.7m children. Those data spanned the years between 1981 and 2010.
In the general population boys are well known to do a bit better than girls in maths. Girls, in turn, edge out boys on tests of verbal reasoning. The result is similar overall IQ scores. Among the best young mathematical brains, however, that equality does not pertain. Here, boys do a lot better at maths than girls—but less better than they used to, as the researchers discovered.
In the early 1980s, the ratio of males to females in the top 0.01% of maths scores in SAT, the Scholastic Aptitude Test, was around 13 to 1. By the early 1990s it had fallen to four to one. After this, however, it remained obstinately unaltered (see chart). The other two tests, both of which post-date the period in which the SAT shows those huge changes, indicate less lopsided sex ratios of between two and three to one. But neither shows girls making much recent progress towards equality.
Nurturing talent
This study is not perfect. Its most interesting result rests on data from just one of the three sets of exams it looked at and its sample sizes are, necessarily, small. But it chimes with the findings of a much older investigation, carried out in 1983 by a group of researchers at Johns Hopkins University, which also discovered a male-to-female sex ratio of 13:1 among the most able young mathematicians.
Why a dramatic rise in the aptitude of America’s brightest young female mathematicians should then be followed by two decades of stagnation is not obvious, and, not being experts in mine-clearance, the researchers offer no hypothesis. It is clear that the rise itself must be “nurture” of some sort—possibly a change in teachers’ attitudes towards girls who are interested in maths—but the subsequent stasis could have either explanation. A line of reasoning in favour of “nature” is that put forward by Simon Baron-Cohen, a psychologist at Cambridge University. This connects the extreme systematising patterns of thought which make a good mathematician with the preponderance of men among those with Asperger’s syndrome, a form of autism that does not harm a person’s general intelligence. But the disparity could equally well be the result of some as-yet-unelucidated difference between the ways girls and boys are brought up.
The nature of the beast
That such unelucidated environmental influences can have real effects on IQ is eloquently illustrated by the Flynn effect. This phenomenon, brought to the world’s attention in the 1980s by James Flynn of the University of Otago, in New Zealand, is that average IQs around the world have been rising at the rate of 0.3 points a year for the past eight decades. Using the TIP data, Dr Wai and his colleagues showed that this is as true of the brightest youngsters in American society as it is of lesser mortals, suggesting that even they can have their abilities boosted by whatever is causing the Flynn effect. Once again, the changes seem to be mainly in mathematics. Scores in the brightest children’s verbal-reasoning and reading abilities demonstrate no clear trend, but all three national tests show sustained improvements in their mathematical ability over the past three decades.
No one knows what causes the Flynn effect. Theories range from better nutrition, via a more stimulating general environment (thanks to such things as television, radio, the internet and video games), to the phasing out of lead in petrol and paint. What is clear is that it cannot be a change in gene-given ability, which is what most people mean by “nature” in this debate, because too few generations have passed for natural selection to have had any meaningful impact.Jeff Sessions speaks Friday night.
watched Jeff Sessions speaking last night on a bill that Harry Reid was probably hoping would go through automatically so Senators could get home for Christmas.
Ted Cruz and Mike Lee have blocked the lame duck Senate from "fast-tracking" the bill fully fund the President's executive amnesty. It may be impossible (because the newly-elected Senators aren't in office yet) to prevent the Senate from fully funding this thing.
Speaking on the Senate floor last night, Ted Cruz pointed out that lame duck Senators are immune to the rage of the voters, and might give a vote to fund Amnesty as kind of going-away present to their future lobbying clients.
Cruz, Lee, and Sessions may be able to force a "point of order" vote that will, at the least, get every single US Senator on the record regarding Obama amnesty funding. [Procedural Moves Could Delay Senate CRomnibus Vote, Revive Amnesty Defunding Effort, NumbersUSA, Friday, Dec 12th 2014] Most of them are are coming back, and many are Republicans. (Remember, this thing passed the House with Republican votes.)
The Senate may be in session until 1 a.m. Sunday morning, and if you want to make your opinion heard, Senate staffers will be answering phones on Capitol Hill beginning at noon, eastern time today. (As I pointed out recently, the switchboard had the same kind of overload it did in 2007, but that wasn't stopping the calls, because people Googled the direct number of their own Senator.) Remember, even if Senators don't see the light, they can feel the heat.The 1945 disappearance of five fighter planes in the Bermuda Triangle was real, but hardly how it's portrayed.
by Brian Dunning
Filed under History & Pseudohistory, Paranormal
Skeptoid Podcast #417
June 3, 2014
Podcast transcript | Download | Subscribe
Listen:
http://skeptoid.com/audio/skeptoid-4417.mp3
Lt. Charles Taylor, Flight 19 instructor
Photo: US Navy Lt. Charles Taylor, Flight 19 instructorPhoto: US Navy
Nearly everyone has heard of the Bermuda Triangle, the supposedly mysterious region off the United States' southeastern coast where planes and ships are believed to disappear at an alarming rate. Its story began in 1946, when a training flight of five US Navy aircraft disappeared, leaving no trace. Also lost without explanation was a large Navy flying boat that went to search for them. Some believe they were swallowed up by whatever strange forces are at work in the Triangle, perhaps some magnetic or weather anomaly, or perhaps something intelligent and more sinister. Today we're going to examine all the evidence to see if we can solve what happened to the missing planes and their crew.
The aircraft were five Grumman TBM Avengers, the same type of plane in which George H. W. Bush was shot down during World War II only two years earlier. Although they had the same general appearance of a single-engine WWII fighter plane, the Avenger was actually a small bomber containing a bomb bay and carrying a crew of three. Behind and below the pilot were a turret gunner, and a third crewman who was the radio operator, bombardier, and ventral gunner. The plane was powered by a single massive 14-cylinder radial engine, intended to be rugged and reliable enough to keep the plane flying over water even when damaged by enemy fire. Thus, the Avenger was the biggest and heaviest single-engined airplane of the second World War.
It was just three weeks before Christmas in 1945 when Flight 19 took off for an afternoon training flight from the Naval Air Station at Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The exercise was called "Navigation Problem #1". They were supposed to fly a large triangular route, 91° east out to a point south of Grand Bahama island, then 346° north to a point north of Grand Bahama, and then 241° southwest back to Fort Lauderdale. Halfway out along the bottom line of the triangle, they were to drop practice bombs at a place called the Hen and Chicken Shoals. The total distance was to have been about 316 nautical miles, or about 585 kilometers. Lieutenant Charles Taylor was the instructor, but one of the four student pilots was to act as flight leader. One of the planes was a man short, so in all, there were fourteen men aboard the five planes. The missing man, a Corporal Kosnar, had asked to be excused. Most UFO books and books about the Bermuda Triangle usually state that he had a premonition of danger. This claim seems dubious, as any airman requesting to be excused on that basis would not likely have been coddled and released. In fact, Kosnar was excused because he had simply already completed all the required hours of training.
All went well with dropping the bombs, and continued to go fine until the planes reached their first turn and were supposed to head north, overflying Grand Bahama in the process. That's when everything got unaccountably crazy. Taylor seemed to be lost. Radio contact was made with ships and with other Navy planes in the area. There was great confusion and contradicting reports of location and direction. At 6:20pm, Taylor made his final radio call:
All planes close up tight... We'll have to ditch unless landfall.. When the first plane drops below 10 gallons, we all go down together.
Other Navy planes that had already been airborne were already searching for them by that time, heading to an area that land stations had triangulated as being the last known location of the Avengers. Bizarrely, this area was well north of the exercise's triangular route. They'd gone nearly three times as far north as they should have, and never made the turn west back toward the coast.
Within two hours, two big PBM Mariner flying boats had joined the search, each with a crew of thirteen. One of them exploded in flight and went down, an event witnessed by the crew of the commercial ship S.S. Gaines Mills. The PBM had been declared in top shape, and no clue as to the cause of its loss was ever found, nor was its wreckage... just like the fate of Flight 19.
So what happened? The weather was getting pretty rough; the seas and the wind were both running high, and there was rain. While the weather certainly affected visibility to some degree, it was probably not a significantly contributing factor. Any number of bizarre explanations have been suggested: waterspouts, seaquakes; the types of things that have never been known to bring down an aircraft. There's even a book out titled The Loss of Flight 19: Is There a UFO Base inside the Bermuda Triangle?
The hype that exists was mainly the fruit of the labors of Charles Berlitz, who could arguably be described as the father of the Bermuda Triangle with his 1974 book The Bermuda Triangle in which he promoted all manner of strange hypotheses that could take down a ship or a plane. None of his suggestions have ever been observed to actually do so in the real world. So does all of this mean that we're forced to leave the mystery of Flight 19 as an unsolved mystery?
Fortunately, no, it does not mean that at all. We do have transcripts of the radio conversation, which were brought into evidence by the Navy's Board of Investigation. Taylor seems to have gotten unaccountably lost in a way that doesn't make any sense at all. After they passed over Grand Bahama, the student pilot acting as flight leader radioed:
I don't know where we are. We must have got lost after that last turn.
Overhearing this conversation was the senior flight instructor at Fort Lauderdale, Lt. Robert Cox, who was just taking off to lead his own group of student pilots on the same Navigation Problem #1. He reported that someone was lost and radioed Taylor directly to ask what was going on. Taylor answered:
Both my compasses are out, and I am trying to find Fort Lauderdale, Florida. I am over land but it's broken. I am sure I'm in the Keys, but I don't know how far down, and I don't know how to get to Fort Lauderdale.
This was an astounding error. Even after they had dropped their bombs in the correct area, Taylor suddenly thought they were more than 300 kilometers to the southwest; not east of Florida, but south of Florida. Taylor had been stationed in Miami for six months and knew the Keys well; it seems impossible to believe he could have been this wrong. Getting lost was his first mistake.
Lt. Cox offered to come and meet him, but Taylor turned it down, which was his second mistake:
I know where I am now. I'm at 2300 feet. Don't come after me.
The standard procedure, drilled into all the students from Fort Lauderdale, was that if you got lost, head 270 degrees or toward the sun, due west, until you hit land. That's pretty foolproof. At one point Taylor said over the radio:
One of the planes in the flight thinks if we went 270 degrees we could hit land.
But still convinced they were over the Gulf of Mexico rather than the Atlantic Ocean, Taylor then said:
We are heading 030 degrees [north-northeast] for 45 minutes, then we will fly north to make sure we are not over the Gulf of Mexico.
The base instructed Taylor to switch his radio to the search and rescue frequency, but he refused, making his third mistake. He explained:
I cannot switch frequencies. I must keep my planes intact.
As late as 6:00pm, Taylor said:
We didn't go far enough east. We may as well just turn around and go east again.
Even though his students were telling him:
Dammit, if we could just fly west we would get home; head west, dammit.
Ignoring the cautions from his student pilots flying alongside him that they were going in the wrong direction, Taylor made his fourth mistake, and kept making the extraordinary assertion that he believed they were over the Florida Keys. And then, just as unaccountably, he thought the solution was to fly further east — actually taking them further out to sea. Following Taylor, as they were required to do, the other pilots had no hope of reaching land.
The Board of Investigation report made one statement in its summary that the Bermuda Triangle people have latched onto: "We are not able to even make a good guess as to what happened." But that doesn't tell the whole story. Their inability to make a good guess pertained to what caused Taylor to make these decisions. The conclusion was clear: the flight was lost because Taylor led them out to sea until they ran out of gas and ditched. The seas were high and rough, and the Avenger was a very heavy plane. That no wreckage was found was not surprising to the Board of Investigation.
The Navy's accident reports on all five of the Avengers contained the following:
|
vagina, the jig was up.
Upon further inspection, the female officer reportedly tugged at the protruding object and slowly pulled out a 522. caliber handgun with three live rounds in the chamber from Harris’ vagina.
The officer also found 25 grams of meth in Harris’ buttocks.
Harris received a 25-year sentence for each count, which will run concurrently. The young woman must also pay a fine of $1,363 in court costs and fees.
SEE ALSO: ‘Cannibal’ Who Killed, Partially Ate Homeless Man Found Insane
Also On News One:Scheduling background jobs on Android is a headache. Not only has Google introduced quite a few APIs over the years, but they’ve also changed their behavior. It’s difficult as a developer to pick the correct framework and to implement all necessary classes properly. In order to use all features from newer APIs and to support older devices at the same time, you need to write a lot of boilerplate code.
We at Evernote faced the same challenges. Internally, we created a unified job library to solve all the pain points and after a long testing period we released android-job as open source two years ago. Since then the library’s popularity has grown. Today it’s being used by Twitter, Dropbox, Pocket, the New York Times and, of course, Evernote. The first version of the library helped to deal with the two power saving modes Doze and App Standby in Android Marshmallow. The next release back-ported all features from Android Nougat.
Today we’re happy to publish version 1.2.0 of android-job. The new version makes it easy to handle the new background execution limits, which were added with Android Oreo. All new Android features were back-ported again, so that you don’t have to deal with version checks or any inconsistencies. Your app will work the same on all Android devices back to Android 4.0 (a.k.a. Ice Cream Sandwich).
The list of new capabilities is long, but noteworthy are the new transient job feature, starting jobs immediately, running specific jobs once a day and the new job requirements like the storage not being low. Upgrading to the new version is straightforward. All API changes compared to version 1.1.0 are documented in the Wiki.
We’re looking forward to your feedback and would love to know how you make use of android-job inside of your app!"The University of Miami deeply regrets and takes full responsibility for those NCAA violations that are based on fact and are corroborated by multiple individuals and/or documentation. We have already self-imposed a bowl ban for an unprecedented two-year period, forfeited the opportunity to participate in an ACC championship game, and withheld student-athletes from competition.
Over the two and a half years since the University of Miami first contacted the NCAA enforcement staff about allegations of rules violations, the NCAA interviewed dozens of witnesses, including current and former Miami employees and student-athletes, and received thousands of requested documents and emails from the University. Yet despite our efforts to aid the investigation, the NCAA acknowledged on February 18, 2013 that it violated its own policies and procedures in an attempt to validate the allegations made by a convicted felon. Many of the allegations included in the Notice of Allegations remain unsubstantiated.
Now that the Notice of Allegations has been issued, let me provide some context to the investigation itself:
Many of the charges brought forth are based on the word of a man who made a fortune by lying. The NCAA enforcement staff acknowledged to the University that if Nevin Shapiro, a convicted con man, said something more than once, it considered the allegation "corroborated" - an argument which is both ludicrous and counter to legal practice.
Most of the sensationalized media accounts of Shapiro's claims are found nowhere in the Notice of Allegations. Despite their efforts over two and a half years, the NCAA enforcement staff could not find evidence of prostitution, expensive cars for players, expensive dinners paid for by boosters, player bounty payments, rampant alcohol and drug use, or the alleged hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash and gifts given to student-athletes, as reported in the media. The fabricated story played well - the facts did not.
The NCAA enforcement staff failed, even after repeated requests, to interview many essential witnesses of great integrity who could have provided first-hand testimony, including, unbelievably, Paul Dee, who has since passed away, but who served as Miami Athletic Director during many of the years that violations were alleged to have occurred. How could a supposedly thorough and fair investigation not even include the Director of Athletics?
Finally, we believe the NCAA was responsible for damaging leaks of unsubstantiated allegations over the course of the investigation. Let me be clear again: for any rule violation - substantiated and proven with facts - that the University, its employees, or student-athletes committed, we have been and should be held accountable. We have worked hard to improve our compliance oversight, and we have already self-imposed harsh sanctions. We deeply regret any violations, but we have suffered enough.
The University and counsel will work diligently to prepare our official response to the Notice of Allegations and submit it to the Committee on Infractions within the required 90-day time period.
We trust that the Committee on Infractions will provide the fairness and integrity missing during the investigative process."
To read more on the investigation, visit www.miami.edu/ncaa_investigation.
"We are supportive of Miami's continued efforts to work with the NCAA on bringing resolution to this case. Miami's cooperation throughout this process should be commended and they have self-imposed significant sanctions. They've been forthright and diligent in their efforts to fully cooperate with the NCAA and it's time for this case to be brought to closure."Sanders Condemns Price Gouging by Drug Companies
WASHINGTON, Sept. 29 – Comparing drug prices in the United States to those in other countries, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) today condemned pharmaceutical companies that charge American consumers the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs.
“It is unacceptable that the top three pharmaceutical companies made a combined $45 billion in profits last year and spent more on sales and marketing than they did on research and development,” Sanders said in a speech on the floor of the Senate. “The United States is the only major country on earth that does not in one form or another regulate prescription drug prices and the results have been an unmitigated disaster.”
Americans saw nationwide spending on drugs jump more than 12 percent last year, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. That increase was more than double the rise in overall medical costs. Nearly one in five Americans between the ages of 19 and 64 – 35 million people – did not fill a prescription last year because they could not afford it.
“We clearly need a new approach to prescription drugs in this country,” Sanders said. “We need leadership prepared to stand up to the pharmaceutical industry and tell them loudly and clearly that they will no longer be able to rip off the American people.”
Sanders and Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) began an investigation into skyrocketing drug prices in October 2014. This month, they introduced the Prescription Drug Affordability Act of 2015, which authorizes the Secretary of Health and Human Services to negotiate drug prices with pharmaceutical companies for better prices under private Medicare drug plans. It also includes tougher penalties for drug companies that commit fraud, bans the practice of brand name drugmakers paying competitors to keep lower-priced generic substitutes off the market, and would allow the U.S. to import drugs from Canada. The bill would also improve transparency in the prescription drug industry and require drug companies to report how much money they spend on research and development and receive in federal benefits.
Click here to read Sanders’ prepared remarks.SPARTANBURG, S.C. -- There were some spot-on frozen ropes and a few balls that sailed beyond receivers or tailed behind them. There was a botched handoff in which the ball ended up on the ground and there was the moment of brilliance we saw so much of in college when the quarterback tucked the ball and ran for roughly a 20-yard gain.
We're talking about rookie Cam Newton’s first padded practice as a member of the Carolina Panthers. It was a mixed bag, filled with flashes of potential and the usual rookie mistakes. Nobody’s ready to declare Newton the starter over Jimmy Clausen. In fact, the Panthers added another competitor when free-agent Derek Anderson walked out to the practice field to watch after passing his physical and signing his contract.
Cam Newton and the Panthers will try to beat the heat with night workouts during training camp. AP Photo/Chuck Burton
“It’s so early that it’s hard to get a true assessment of where we’re at,’’ offensive coordinator Rob Chudzinski said. “We’ve only been out here a few days.’’
It’s likely the Panthers will go through virtually all of training camp and their preseason games before settling on a starter. But the early verdict is that Newton is doing pretty much what you’d expect.
He’s impressing at times and showing he’s a rookie at others. Clausen was doing pretty much the same, but his good moments weren’t quite as spectacular as Newton’s.
The highlight of the night came about midway through practice and looked like it came straight out of an Auburn game. Lined up in the shotgun formation, Newton took the snap and saw a blitzing linebacker breaking through the offensive line. Instead of forcing a pass or taking a sack, Newton tucked the ball and ran.
He went for 20 yards before being met by a defensive back. Although the Panthers were in pads, they weren’t tackling, so we’ll assume the defensive back would have brought Newton down. But he was known to break downfield tackles in college, so anything is possible.
Tucking the ball and running isn’t going to be something the Panthers discourage.
“That’s a special talent that he has,’’ Chudzinski said. “He brings that to the table and hopefully he’ll be able to do that a lot and certainly the important thing is he’s doing it in the right situations and making good decisions.’’In this photo taken Monday, Aug. 10, 2015, Sharon Chow, left, and her sister, Pauline Chow, have a hard time dealing with the smoke as they walked across the Sundial Bridge in Redding, Calif. Smoke from fires in Trinity County and Lake County drifted into the Shasta County town, creating unhealthy air conditions. (Jim Schultz/The Record Searchlight via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT The Associated Press
LOWER LAKE, Calif. (AP) — Wildfires are charging through several states in the parched West, scorching homes and forcing people to flee. Flames are plaguing some California residents, who had to evacuate for the second time in recent weeks after blazes exploded in size.
Here's a look at wildfires burning through Western states:
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NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
A Northern California blaze grew Tuesday, prompting more evacuations, many of them residents who had recently returned home after a nearby massive blaze first threatened their homes.
The wildfire had charred almost 22 square miles by Monday evening. It was 5 percent contained, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said.
The fire, which erupted Sunday several miles from the community of Lower Lake, almost more than doubled in size overnight despite cooler temperatures and higher humidity.
For the second time in as many weeks, residents had to evacuate their homes because of the uncontained fire lighting up rocky hills about 100 miles north of San Francisco.
More than 1,100 firefighters are battling the blaze that is threatening 50 structures. No homes have been destroyed, and no injuries have been reported.
Meanwhile, firefighters have nearly surrounded the larger nearby blaze that started about two weeks ago and has burned 109 square miles. That fire destroyed 43 homes.
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SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
All evacuation orders have been lifted as crews have increased containment of a small wildfire sparked by a burning motor-home in rural Riverside County that left one person burned.
State fire officials said Tuesday that the blaze about halfway between Temecula and Palm Desert has been held to just under 500 acres. It is 50 percent contained.
On Monday evacuation orders were issued for a handful of neighborhoods east of State Route 74, but all were called off late Tuesday morning.
The blaze near Anza started as a motor home fire that spread to vegetation.
Officials say one person from the motor home suffered burns to about three percent of his or her body. Three firefighters were taken to hospitals with minor injuries.
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MONTANA
A fire has burned almost 18 square miles in heavy timber in Glacier National Park, prompting some trail and campsite closures.
The flames spotted Sunday afternoon were threatening a historic patrol cabin and come weeks after another blaze led visitors to evacuate campsites and resorts in the park during prime tourist season.
Crews fought the new fire from the air Tuesday because it is in such remote, rugged terrain.
Problems with firefighting efforts could arise with temperatures between 95 and 100 degrees expected through Thursday and strong winds Friday.
The older fire continues to burn, remaining at nearly 7 square miles and more than halfway contained.
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ARIZONA
Authorities say a 10-square-mile wildfire near the Arizona-California line that forced an evacuation order is now 40 percent contained.
Officials said crews on Tuesday worked to hold the blaze in the Havasu National Wildlife Refuge amid favorable weather conditions and relatively light winds.
Suppression actions continued on the perimeter of the Willow Fire with firefighters improving established fire lines and initiating mop-up. The fire broke out Saturday.
Officials say the evacuation order was lifted late Monday morning for 900 homes after crews made solid efforts in protecting them and conditions there became more favorable.
Byron Steward, emergency management coordinator for Mohave County, says around 100 homes in the Topock area will remain evacuated because they're near 11 homes that were burned Saturday.
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ELSEWHERE IN THE WEST
— A big wildfire burning along the west shore of Lake Chelan in Washington has grown to nearly 54 square miles, but firefighters were keeping it away from the communities of Holden Village and Stehekin.
— A wildfire in Lewis County, Washington, charred about 100 acres and was controlled Tuesday.
— In Alaska, the fire season has officially become the second biggest on record. More than 5.08 million acres — or 7,940 square miles — has burned this year. Fire spokesman Sam Harrel says Alaska won't beat the 6.6 million acres burned in 2004 because the state has entered its seasonal wet period.It’s been a rough few weeks for Samsung, and it’s seemingly getting rougher. It started with the launch of the long awaited (and highly lauded) Galaxy Note 7. Sales were blowing up, but unfortunately so too were the phones, and the Korean phone manufacturer was forced to quickly issue a recall.
There have been rumblings that national civil aviation authorities – like the Federal Aviation Authority – and airlines would start prohibiting them on flights. Earlier today, the FAA issued a statement that it “strongly advises passengers not to turn on or charge these devices on-board aircraft and not to stow them in any checked baggage,” but stopped short of a total ban.
FAA Statement on Samsung Galaxy Note 7 Devices https://t.co/NADpT5Jma4 pic.twitter.com/e9uJvNmUUq — The FAA (@FAANews) September 8, 2016
India’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has bit that particular bullet, and has now banned the handsets from checked luggage, according to the Times of India. Passengers can only carry their Galaxy Note 7 devices in their check-in bags, and they must be switched off during flight.
“The order comes into immediate effect. This has been issued keeping air safety in mind,” DGCA chief B S Bhullar said.
Airlines in the country are now being informed of this ban. How they will enforce it, however, is not immediately clear.
It’s easy to dismiss this as paranoid overkill, but given the recent stories of the Galaxy Note 7 of sending jeeps and hotel rooms aflame, you can hardly blame them for erring on the side of caution.
DGCA bans Samsung Galaxy Note 7 in check-in bags on Times of India
Read next: Dutch startup TRVL has me convinced the future of travel has no vowelsWashington (CNN) The next step in Steve Bannon's scorched-earth war against Republican incumbents is an attempt to cut off money to those aligned with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
The former chief strategist in President Donald Trump's White House spent the weekend in Connecticut meeting with top Republican donors, a source familiar with Bannon's plans said, as he recruits financial support for enough candidates to nationalize an anti-establishment message in 2018 GOP primaries.
He's held similar meetings in New York City and Washington, speaking with more than 25 major GOP donors so far, including hedge fund manager Scott Bessent, energy executive Dan Eberhart, private equity firm CEO John Childs and mega-donors Robert and Rebekah Mercer.
It was a continuation of what he's done every day since September 26, when the Bannon-backed former judge Roy Moore ousted Sen. Luther Strange in an Alabama Republican primary: Hold meetings to recruit candidates and form a donor network to back them.
Bannon's raison d'etre is to take on McConnell and nationalize Republicans behind Trump.
His thinking -- evidenced by the Senate's failure to advance Trump agenda items like health care -- is that Washington Republicans do not support Trump anyway. So 2018 could be a defining moment, shaking up the GOP and placing Trump's 2016 campaign agenda at its forefront.
What Bannon is seeking from prospective candidates, the source said, is one simple pledge: That they won't vote for McConnell as Senate majority leader.
Bannon's recruiting efforts have intensified over the last two weeks. He is now looking for candidates who can replicate Sen. Mike Lee's stunning ouster of former Sen. Robert Bennett at Utah's 2010 Republican convention next year against Sen. Orrin Hatch. And he is in contact with allies in Nebraska seeking a candidate to take on Sen. Deb Fischer.
And that's "just a partial list," the source familiar with Bannon's plans said.
"Nobody's safe," the source said.
Already, he had spoken with Erik Prince, the Blackwater security contractor, and GOP mega-donor Foster Friess about running against Republican Sen. John Barrasso in Wyoming.
Bannon has also backed Kelli Ward's effort to oust Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake. He hosted Danny Tarkanian in Washington to discuss his campaign against Sen. Dean Heller in Nevada. And he met recently with Mississippi state Sen. Chris McDaniel about taking on Sen. Roger Wicker.
McDaniel, who said he is strongly considering running against Wicker, said Monday that he and Bannon have been in regular contact since 2014, when McDaniel came close to unseating Sen. Thad Cochran. Support from Bannon is helpful, McDaniel said, with strong Trump supporters who know Bannon was a leading figure on the President's campaign and with those who read Breitbart.com, where Bannon is a top executive.
"You factor in the big news he made in 2016," McDaniel said. "You factor in his drive, his work ethic -- and people sense a winner and understand he can bring resources to bear, whether it's Breitbart or with financial resources."
Bannon also plans to get involved in the primaries in West Virginia and Missouri, two of Republicans' top opportunities to pick off Democratic-held seats next year.
The plan, the source said, is for these Bannonites to nationalize their 2018 message with a consolidated, consistent argument across the map.
Bannon wants that message to be about "big things" -- that the grassroots Republican voters are in control and that they don't need the establishment's money or what he views as its corruption.
JUST WATCHED WH official warns Trump 'not done' with Corker Replay More Videos... MUST WATCH WH official warns Trump 'not done' with Corker 03:09
Avoiding another O'Donnell
Bannon, the source said, believes his insurgent slate will be different than the tea party calamity of 2010, when flawed candidates like Christine O'Donnell in Delaware and Sharron Angle in Nevada cost the party seats, or 2012, when Todd Akin in Missouri and Richard Mourdock in Indiana made controversial remarks that swung their races in Democrats' favor.
Instead, Bannon, the source said, is recruiting candidates who are focused on substance -- particularly immigration and trade -- and could win over a loose coalition of social conservatives, tea party activists and values voters.
The test case was Alabama, where Moore -- a controversial figure who was twice ousted as state Supreme Court chief justice, first for refusing to remove a Ten Commandments monument and later for refusing to recognize the US Supreme Court's ruling legalizing same-sex marriage -- defeated Strange, who benefited from $10 million in advertising from the McConnell-aligned Senate Leadership Fund super PAC.
In Alabama, Bannon broke with Trump, who had gone to Huntsville for a campaign rally for Strange just days before the election.
But the two are still in frequent contact. Bannon spoke to Trump in recent days, the source said, arguing that from Trump's perspective the Senate is already lost because the President understands he has little support there.
As if to underscore that view, Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker -- the Senate foreign relations committee chairman who is retiring rather than running for re-election in 2018 -- accused Trump in a New York Times interview of putting the nation on a path to World War III and said Trump's presidency "would have to concern anyone who cares about our nation."
It was Corker who had urged Trump in a White House meeting to go to Alabama and campaign for Strange -- a decision the President came to regret -- according to a source who spoke to the President.
Bannon, meanwhile, has argued he is taking on Republicans who don't support Trump's policies.
Where's money coming from?
One source of financial support for Bannon-backed candidates is the Great America PAC, a super PAC led by former Ronald Reagan campaign manager Ed Rollins.
The group plans to roll out an initial set of three endorsements of Republican candidates this week.
It isn't expected to be as aggressive in seeking to unseat Republican incumbents as Bannon has been, but the super PAC does intend to support Senate candidates who back Trump's agenda and call for the elimination of the Senate's 60-vote threshold to break the filibuster -- potentially including Tennessee Rep. Marsha Blackburn, Ohio state treasurer Josh Mandel, Montana state auditor Matt Rosendale, West Virginia attorney general Patrick Morrisey and more.
It could also support candidates who could weaken Democratic senators seen as potential 2020 Trump opponents, including Elizabeth Warren in Massachusetts.
"The reality here is, you have to tap into that Trump agenda intensity. And those are the candidates who can win in the general election," said Eric Beach, the Great America PAC co-chair.
Bannon, meanwhile, is focused on damaging people who might be considering 2020 in both parties -- including Mitt Romney, who could run for the Senate in Utah if Hatch retires.
The key, the source familiar with Bannon's plans said, "is to prove the theory of the case" -- that Republicans who are anti-Trump should be gone.Oh, boy!
That's what some people are saying about the paparazzi photos that recently surfaced of Shiloh Jolie-Pitt -- the 3-year-old daughter of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. She's dressed in head-to-toe boys' clothing on several occasions and you have to look twice to make sure this "she" isn't a "he."
In Touch magazine has a series of photos of Shiloh -- in one, she's wearing a fedora, T-shirt and pants, as well as boys' shoes, while in another, she is sporting camouflage pants, another boy's T-shirt and boy's sneakers; in a third, she dons the fedora and camouflage pants again, as well as a T-shirt and vest -- and she's armed with a toy sword.
Yet another photo shows Shiloh sans hat, with her formerly girlish blonde locks cut (allegedly by Shiloh herself with safety scissors) into a short, boyish style.
In Touch had "insiders" saying that Shiloh is copying Brad Pitt's style, "goes straight to the boys' section" when shopping, "loves wearing her brothers' clothes," and "wants to be a little boy."
Life & Style magazine actually asks the question, "Why is Angelina turning Shiloh into a boy?" Alana Kelen, senior fashion stylist at VH1 said in an interview, "Shiloh is pushing the boundaries of a tomboy look and crossing over to cross-dresser territory."
And Glenn Stanton, director of Family Formation Studies at the conservative organization Focus on the Family, told Life & Style that allowing Shiloh to dress like a boy is sending her the wrong message. The article notes that, in an interview Pitt once did with Oprah Winfrey, he even said Shiloh also answered only to boy's names when addressed, and that he'll ask her, "John, would you like some orange juice?"
We say that while Shiloh's appearance has caused some to question what's behind it all, we see the whole thing as kids' play that shouldn't raise eyebrows -- at least at this point.
For one thing, she may just be a daddy's little girl, wanting to emulate her hero. Pitt is known for his signature retro fedoras. Or she might admire and enjoy the company of her brothers and want to fit in with them.
"Little girls have never been women before," Stanton tells Life & Style. "They need help, they need guidance of what that looks like. It's important to teach our children that gender distinction is very healthy."
But Emma Jenner, a child development and behavioral specialist who founded a nanny training academy in the Los Angeles area, sees nothing to be concerned about. "I honestly think this is absolutely harmless, unless they are forcing her to do or be something against her will," says Jenner, who starred in the TLC series, "Take Home Nanny."
"I wouldn't be concerned about it at all unless she is being forced and isn't allowed to wear a dress," she says. "In most families, a younger child will get hand-me-downs from their older siblings."
Jenner didn't find Shiloh's 'do hair-raising either, and she says a Shiloh by any other name is no cause for alarm. "I'm not concerned about Shiloh being called John, as she probably chose it herself," Jenner adds.
Regarding the haircut, Jenner says: "I think it's still girlie, it's not shaved back and sides like a boy's cut. And who knows, perhaps she cut a chunk out of her own hair and her parents had to cut it shorter to fix it. Children do it all the time."
Children doing the gender-bending thing at a young age is common, Jenner says. "She isn't consciously saying 'I want to dress like a tomboy,' but children imitate what they see and perhaps Shiloh wants to be like her older brothers," Jenner adds. "Her parents are absolutely right in going along with it and not making a big deal about it." Fighting it will make it more appealing.
Wendy McKenna, who holds a doctorate in psychology and is on the gender studies faculty at Purchase College, SUNY, agrees. "I have no idea what's going on with Shiloh or her parents," says McKenna, who also is a member of the psychology and women's studies faculty at Barnard College and has a private psychology practice in Westchester. "But generally, the phenomemon of little boys wanting to dress like little girls and little girls wanting to dress like little boys (at age 5 and younger) is pretty common."
She says that whatever gender they are, children at that age can become fixated on something and not let it go, whether gender is involved or not.
"They're very rigid in their thinking," McKenna explains. "They decide they want something and that's all they want to do -- like a little girl who wants to wear the same princess dress every day, even if it's filthy; or they might decide they want to only eat peanut butter for six months." She adds, "I think this is the clothing version of that."
McKenna says, however, that parents willingly going along with gender bending can be another story. "It's unusual for parents to go with it if it violates gender norms," she adds, but she says that Brad and Angelina are unconventional.
"Their approach to gender and sexuality is not conservative," McKenna says, "They've said they weren't going to get married until marriage (involves) true equality."
It's likely all a phase, according to Jenner and McKenna.
"Most kids who do this decide, at some point, they don't want to do it anymore," McKenna adds. "It makes them feel comfortable, then they outgrow it."
Lisa Irizarry may be reached at lirizarry@starledger.com or (973) 392-5977.Soon The Pirate Bay will stop linking to.torrent files. Instead, the world's largest BitTorrent site will only list so-called magnet links. One of the advantages of the switch is that The Pirate Bay will be much more portable, and easier to copy. A new torrent listing all titles and magnet links on The Pirate Bay proves this point, as the public can download a copy that fits easily on a small USB stick - or even a few dozen floppies.
Last month The Pirate Bay announced that it will stop hosting torrents in the very near future.
This change is expected to go into effect before the end of the month. From then on, Pirate Bay users can only download files through magnet links.
The Pirate Bay team told TorrentFreak that one of the advantages of the transition to a “magnet site” is that it requires relatively little bandwidth to host a proxy site. This is needed, because The Pirate Bay is currently blocked in several countries, and more are bound to follow in the months to come.
Without torrents, the Pirate Bay also becomes extremely portable which makes it possible for people to download a personal backup. As we said before, such a copy would easily fit on a thumb drive. Pirate Bay user “allisfine” was intrigued by this idea and decided to find out how small a copy of the torrents site would be.
“I did a complete snapshot of ALL the Pirate Bay torrents, in case somebody wants to close it or something similarly crazy,” he told TorrentFreak.
Using this script, “allisfine” managed to copy the title, id, file size, seeds, leechers and magnet links of 1,643,194 torrents. Comments were not copied to keep the files as small as possible, and the end result is a full copy of all magnet links (magnet) on The Pirate Bay in a 90 megabytes file, 164 megabytes unzipped.
A copy of The Pirate Bay
There is some confusion as to whether the 1,643,194 torrents are indeed a full copy of the site, as The Pirate Bay itself lists 4,199,832 torrents in the footer link on its site. However, the latter stats apply to the number of torrents that are available on several public trackers, The Pirate Bay itself only hosts a fraction of those.
With the release of the copy everyone can now download a personal backup of The Pirate Bay in a few minutes. Although searching the copy isn’t as convenient as using The Pirate Bay itself, there is little doubt that someone else will soon come up with another script that solves this problem.
Recent history has shown that when a site is threatened with shutdown, or censored, the Internet is very quick to come up with a workaround. And with thousands of backups of The Pirate Bay floating around, it will be very hard at this point to get rid of the famous torrent site.
What’s perhaps even more striking is that the greatest arch rival of a billion dollar entertainment industry is nothing more than 164 megabytes of text. Something to think about.
Update: Here’s a copy of 17 million torrents from Bitsnoop.com, pretty much the same format but nicely categorized. It’s only 535 MB.Show full PR text
Toyota Flexes RAV4 Muscle with New Rally America Series Entry
Renowned Off-Road Driver Ryan Millen to Drive RAV4 Rally Car in 2015 Rally America 2WD-Open Class
TORRANCE, Calif. (May 6, 2015) – Toyota unveiled its RAV4 rally car at the Monster Energy Supercross Championship finale this weekend at Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas. Ryan Millen, who won the 2014 Baja 1000 in a Toyota Tundra TRD Pro, will drive the RAV4 rally vehicle at various rally races including some of the 2015 Rally America 2WD-Open Class season. The muscled-up RAV4 was unveiled live between races to all in attendance and was on display in the pits throughout the event.
A RAV4 competing within a professional racing series is rare. It is even rarer to see the unibody-construction, Small-Sport Utility Vehicle (SSUV) go head-to-head with Rally America's modified street cars. Toyota's entry into Rally America is a modified 2015 Toyota RAV4 LE. The vehicle sports a stock transmission and a stock 2.5-liter, four-cylinder, double-overhead cam engine that pushes 176-horsepower and 172-pounds of torque. Millen and his crew removed more than 500 pounds of stock weight, while adding a roll cage, BFGoodrich all-terrain DOT 215/75R15 tires, and upgrading to a front and rear TEIN suspension.
"I've driven just about everything Toyota has to offer," said Millen. "And I've been very impressed with the RAV4's tight, compact body and smooth handling. I'm looking forward to putting it through the paces this season."
The RAV4 literally created the SSUV category when it was introduced by Toyota in 1994. At that time, the notion of a unibody construction Sport Utility Vehicle (SUV) was unheard of. Since its introduction, unibody-construction SUVs have become a standard offering across the automotive industry.
While widely known as a practical version of the more-cumbersome SUV, RAV4's lighter and leaner design allows it to perform and handle quite effectively for desert, beach and other outdoor excursions. It's for this reason that Toyota is showcasing the RAV4 so dynamically in the form of this entry in the Rally America Series.
"Over the years, RAV4 has become known more for its benefits as a practical family-vehicle alternative to a larger SUV, and we felt it was due time that its performance and handling characteristics were put on display," said Alex Du, RAV4 Vehicle Marketing & Communications Manager. "That will undoubtedly be the case with Ryan Millen at the wheel of this incredible Rally RAV4."
Son of off-road legend Rod Millen, Ryan Millen has been involved in Toyota Racing since childhood. From chasing for Ivan Stewart and racing in MTEG Stadium races at nine-years old, to racing the FJ Cruiser in the Baja 1000, he has poured his life and professional racing career into Toyota.
Additionally, SiriusXM and Wienerschnitzel have joined Toyota's marketing efforts in and around the rally events.
Millen Adventures will be entering into numerous races including some of the Rally America West Series where he'll be competing in the 2WD stock class with the rally built Toyota RAV4.
Tentative Schedule
Idaho Rally - June 13-14
Mendocino Rally - July 18-19
Rally Utah - August 7-8
Gorman Ridge Rally - August 22
Prescott Rally - October 2-3
Mt Hood Rally - October 17
For more information on the Rally RAV4, visit www.toyotanewsroom.com.
About Toyota
Toyota (NYSE:TM), the world's top automaker and creator of the Prius, is committed to building vehicles for the way people live through our Toyota, Lexus and Scion brands. Over the past 50 years, we've built more than 25 million cars and trucks in North America, where we operate 14 manufacturing plants (10 in the U.S.) and directly employ more than 40,000 people (more than 32,000 in the U.S.). Our 1,800 North American dealerships (1,500 in the U.S.) sold more than 2.5 million cars and trucks (more than 2.2 million in the U.S.) in 2013 – and about 80 percent of all Toyota vehicles sold over the past 20 years are still on the road today.
Toyota Motor Sales, Inc. (TMS), based in Torrance, CA, is the U.S. sales, marketing, distribution and customer service arm for Toyota, Scion and Lexus.
About Wienerschnitzel
Founded by John Galardi in 1961 with a single hot dog stand in Wilmington, California, Wienerschnitzel (www.wienerschnitzel.com) is a bona fide pioneer of the quick-service food industry. The world's largest hot dog chain serves more than 120 million hot dogs annually and is famous for its delicious proprietary chili recipe. Based in Irvine, Calif., the parent company, Galardi Group, franchises restaurants throughout the U.S., including Wienerschnitzel, Hamburger Stand and Tastee Freez.
About SiriusXM
Sirius XM Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: SIRI) is the world's largest radio broadcaster measured by revenue and has more than 27.7 million subscribers. SiriusXM creates and broadcasts commercial-free music; premier sports talk and live events; comedy; news; exclusive talk and entertainment; and the most comprehensive Latin music, sports and talk programming in radio. SiriusXM is available in vehicles from every major car company in the U.S. and on smartphones and other connected devices as well as online at siriusxm.com. SiriusXM radios and accessories are available from retailers nationwide and at shop.siriusxm.com. SiriusXM also provides premium traffic, weather, data and information services for subscribers in cars, trucks, RVs, boats and aircraft through SiriusXM Traffic™, SiriusXM Travel Link, NavTraffic®, NavWeather™, SiriusXM Aviation, SiriusXM Marine™, Sirius Marine Weather, XMWX Aviation™, and XMWX Marine™. SiriusXM holds a minority interest in SiriusXM Canada which has more than 2 million subscribers. SiriusXM is also a leading provider of connected vehicles services to major automakers, giving customers access to a suite of safety, security, and convenience services including automatic crash notification, stolen vehicle recovery assistance, enhanced roadside assistance and turn-by-turn navigation.
On social media, join the SiriusXM community on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.As confirmed by The Hollywood Reporter, Charmian Carr—best known for playing Liesl Von Trapp in The Sound Of Music—has died. Her family says she was suffering from “a rare form |
the Right to Regulate GMOs
By: Rebecca Spector, West Coast Director
September 22, 2016
California farmers and gardeners have reason to celebrate – a statute that prohibited counties from passing laws regulating seeds, including bans on the growing of genetically engineered (GE or GMO) crops, was overturned last week. This means that if a county votes locally to pass a seed-related law, such as the Sonoma initiative to ban GMO crops that will be on the ballot there in November, it will not be preempted by state law. This is important because it secures the livelihoods of farmers growing non-GMO crops, and gives the right back to farmers and growers to use their knowledge to do what is best for their soil and unique local environments.
That security and that right had been threatened because of a 2014 bill by Assemblymember Rudy Salas (D-32nd District) regulating seed sold in California. Assembly Bill 2470 authorized the Secretary of Food and Agriculture to adopt a list of plants and crops that are or may be grown in the state, including a list of noxious weeds. Part of the bill’s intent was to ensure that seed is properly identified and that crops and plants that may be detrimental to agriculture (i.e. noxious or invasive) are classified as “weed seed.”
However, this otherwise benign intent turned ugly when AB 2470 was amended later in the session to include a provision barring a city, county, or district (including charter cities and counties) from adopting or enforcing an ordinance that would regulate all plants, crops, or seeds. Most troubling was that the provision specifically prohibited any county from adopting or enforcing a law banning or regulating the planting of GMO crops after January 1, 2015, unless approved by the Secretary of Agriculture.
Looking back, it comes as no surprise that the bill’s sole supporter at its inception and throughout most of the legislative process was the California Seed Association, an agricultural trade association that represents the seed industry. California Seed Association’s membership includes the major GMO and pesticide companies Monsanto, Syngenta, Bayer CropScience, and BASF, and its lobbyist also represents Monsanto in the halls of the legislature in Sacramento.
The amendment to prohibit counties from passing GMO bans was dangerous in two huge ways. For one, it infringed on the democratic rights of counties. Counties should be allowed to pass laws, either through county supervisors or by voters via the ballot initiative process – laws that are intended to address the particular needs and interests of citizens and the environment of that county.
The amendment was also troubling in its specific application to GMO crop bans. As more and more GMO crops are introduced, they pose greater and greater risks to farmers who choose not to grow those crops. Pollen from GMO crops is easily carried by the wind, bees and wildlife, and has the potential to contaminate neighboring farms, gardens, and pastures. Many farmers depend on contracts they have to provide food manufacturers with organic and/or non-GMO crops, such as corn for use in organic and products labeled by the Non-GMO Project. If those products are tested and found to contain GMOs, those farmers lose their contracts. It’s simply a matter of protecting the financial interests of farmers who choose not to grow GMO crops. And since there is no effective way to prevent pollen transfer, farmers must be allowed to prevent potential contamination.
Fortunately, Senator Mark Leno, chair of the budget committee, saw the need to overturn the undemocratic law. Working with other legislators and Governor Brown’s administration, language was inserted into one of the budget trailer bills, Senate Bill 839, repealing this pernicious section of AB 2470. Governor Brown signed SB 839 on September 13, 2016 and thankfully, it is legal once again for a county to adopt or enforce an ordinance that regulates plants, crops, or seeds without the consent of the secretary.
The victory of repealing AB 2470 is particularly bittersweet following on the heels of the passage of the federal DARK Act, which took away states and counties’ rights to require labeling of genetically engineered foods. Although the DARK Act also preempts states and counties from enacting any regulation relating to the labeling of genetically engineered seeds in interstate commerce, it does not prohibit states and counties from regulating the cultivation or planting of GMO seeds within their jurisdictions.
Counties such as Sonoma that are running or considering ballot initiatives to ban the planting of GMO crops can now legally join the five other counties in California, and numerous counties in other states like Oregon and Hawaii, to protect their farmers, gardeners and local environment from the impacts of GMOs.Chris Floyd, Published: 17 July 2012 Hits: 7265
Behind the all-consuming, overheated hypermania of the presidential campaign – Romney! Taxes! Swiss banks! Bain, Bain, Bain! – the dull-lidded behemoth of empire continues to trudge its way back and forth across the earth, knee-deep in human blood. Those who pray and pump and polemicize for the re-election of the behemoth’s current commander have to repeatedly gouge out their own eyes to avoid seeing the rank corruption and carnage their champion empowers and inflicts on the vulnerable and the defenseless.
We write here frequently of Honduras – the land where Barack Obama made his bones as hemispheric hierarch with the ritual overthrow of a democratic Latin American government and its replacement by murderous thugs. (Any American president who would be truly great must carry out this traditional blood sacrifice in the time-honored fashion.) The repression, death and corruption engendered in Honduras with Obama’s aid and complicity have been remarkable – yet have gone completely unremarked by the legion of progressives who rightly strained at the slightest gnat of evil during George W. Bush’s lawless regime but now happily swallow whole camels of crime when Obama wears the purple. Blind guides indeed.
Still, in fitful scraps and snatches, the story of what is actually happening in Honduras filters through on occasion, usually from foreign sources. Obama has seized the opportunity of the coup to launch a “surge” of a militarized American presence in Latin America, building new “forward bases” in Honduras and entwining U.S. soldiers and government agents more and more tightly with his compliant caudillos. The Guardian reports:
The deep bullet wound in Hilda Lezama's thigh is a livid pointer to Honduras's unwanted status as the latest front line in America's war on drugs. For all of her 53 years Lezama has lived in Ahuas, a village of wooden homes built on stilts, close to the fast-flowing Patuca river in the remote Mosquitia region of eastern Honduras. For 25 years, her family have run a business ferrying locals up and down the waterways that link the isolated jungle settlements.
On such a trip two months ago, she was shot from an American helicopter in a counter-narcotics raid involving US drug enforcement agents and Honduran troops. Four other local people, including two women, were killed.
"We were returning from a trip downriver with the fishermen," she remembered. "We were travelling at night to avoid the heat. We heard the helicopters above us, but we couldn't see them. They could have let us dock and then searched the boat, but instead they shot us. Maybe they were thinking we were someone else."
US officials say Lezama's boat had picked up a stash of drugs flown into an airstrip close to the river, a charge she categorically denies. "If we were criminals we could not complain, but we are innocent working people," she insisted.
As usual, the militarisation of the situation by the United States and its local coupsters has exacerbated the problems it was ostensibly launched to combat:
...The key to the traffickers' success was corruption, said Marlon. "Always, always, always when drugs are being moved, a member of the military is involved," he said. "They allow police officers to intercept a certain amount of drugs while the other part, majority is coming in through another channel. The police take a minimal amount, just to make it look as if they are doing a good job. Narco-trafficking has taken control of our country, it's everywhere, in politics, even in the churches."
...It is hardly surprising that Honduras's political institutions have failed to stem the tide of violence and corruption sweeping the country: Honduran democracy itself was undermined by a military coup on 28 June 2009, which ousted the populist president Manuel Zelaya … Latin American states condemned the coup. So – rather belatedly – did the Obama administration. But within months the US backed a new presidential election, and offered a warm welcome to the winner, Florida-educated conservative Porfirio Lobo....
According to the Honduran human rights group COFADEH, more than 300 civil society campaigners have been murdered since the coup. The figure includes trade unionists, campesino farmers demanding the restoration of lands acquired by Honduras's biggest landowners, gay rights activists, and more than 20 journalists.
...There is abundant evidence that elements within the police have been committing, not solving, murders. … According to Marvin Ponce, vice-president of the Honduran congress, up to 40% of police have ties to organised crime.
More than 300 innocent people murdered -- by the warmly-welcomed coupsters -- for the crime of supporting human rights and democracy: the very values we're told are the guide and goal of all American policy. Perhaps in wan acknowledgement of this powerful but empty myth, there was once a feeble flickering of institutional opposition to the flesh-ripping, murder-enabling, all-corrupting agenda being pursued by the Peace Laureate in Honduras, as the Guardian reports:
Last year 94 members of the US Congress called on the secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, to end all financial and logistical support for the Honduran security forces, "given the credible allegations of widespread, serious violations of human rights".
So what happened? What do you think happened?
But US support for the Honduran government has in fact been boosted; a clear indication that Lobo is currently seen as a vital ally in seemingly never-ending war on drugs in Latin America.
I think we must set aside that bit of reflexive 'contextualizing' in the typical Establishment media mode at the end there. Washington is not supporting the Lobo regime because he's an ally in the 'war on drugs' -- especially given the glaring fact (outlined in the story itself) that the Lobo regime is facilitating the drug trade with its corruption. The 'war on drugs in Latin America' is simply the excuse du jour for the ancient American crusade to impose its military and economic will on Latin America -- and to thwart the rise of any possible alternative to rule by client thugs.
But what of that? Mitt Romney had a bad week! Obama looked cool in the rain! Who cares if the behemoth goes lumbering on? The ludicrous, hideous, hallucinatory sideshow is all that matters.Artemi Panarin, Patrick Kane reunited in time for season-opener
Well, so much for that experiment.
Two days before the season-opener, Joel Quenneville is going back to what works. Quenneville, who had been flirting with the idea of putting Artemi Panarin on the top line with Jonathan Toews, put the reigning rookie of the year back on the second line with Artem Anisimov and Patrick Kane on Monday. And Marian Hossa, who had been playing alongside Marcus Kruger on the third line, was back in his usual spot on Toews’ right wing, with Richard Panik on the left side.
Like last year, it will be a top-heavy lineup — the bottom six will feature four rookies, Jordin Tootoo, and Kruger — but Quenneville chose “familiarity” over “balance.”
“Familiarity is probably the most important reason why we’re looking [this way],” he said. “Starting with a couple established lines up front, and work our way down.”
Desjardins out
Andrew Desjardins will miss four to six weeks after injuring himself blocking a shot in the third period of Saturday’s preseason finale in St. Louis. For now, the Hawks placed Desjardins on injured reserve, not long-term injured reserve. If he moves to LTIR, he’d have to sit at least 10 games and 24 days.
Desjardins’ injury did make Quenneville’s final roster decisions a little easier. Dennis Rasmussen appears to be the Hawks’ 13th forward. But even though he played 44 games last season, mostly in the fourth-line center role, Rasmussen is taking nothing for granted.
“I always try to take it day by day,” he said “I felt like that last year, too. I’ve got to be good every day. There’s no days off. It doesn’t matter if it’s camp or not. I have to be as good as I can be.”
Forsling in
Gustav Forsling won a surprising roster spot with a stellar camp, but came back to earth a little bit during a rough outing in St. Louis. In the third period, Blues defenseman Alex Pietrangelo turned Forsling inside-out with a toe drag on a power-play goal.
But Quenneville is confident Forsling is ready. And with Niklas Hjalmarsson suspended for the first game of the season for his high hit on St. Louis’ Ty Rattie, the 20-year-old will be in the lineup. He’s been paired with veteran Brian Campbell lately.
“He had a lot of poise throughout camp,” Quenneville said. “We feel that he’s got great instincts and we feel he’s going to get better every day on the job. We’re going to work him with some experienced [defensemen], as well. We’re just looking forward to seeing how he progressed in games. I think he can help our power play. He’s got a tremendous shot, poise and patience, and we’ll see how he handles getting started on Wednesday night.”
Email: mlazerus@suntimes.com
Twitter: @marklazerusLooking out the window of a plane – with many hours to burn and a god-like perspective of the world – can get you pondering some of life’s big questions: Are we alone in the universe? How did it all begin? Is there purpose to our existence? Wait, what are those little holes in airplane windows?
Thanks to the curious mind of Robbie Gonzalez from io9, the latter of those questions might be answered. After finding no sturdy answer on internet forums, he decided to track down a copy of a maintenance manual for the Boeing 737 on Wikileaks and contact Marlowe Moncur, Director of Technology for GKN Aerospace, the world leader in passenger cabin window design development.
As you might have already guessed, it’s to do with regulating pressure.
He found that most cabin windows consist of outer, middle and inner panes – all of which are made of a superstrong synthetic resin. Typically, it’s the middle pane that has the mysterious little hole.
Only the outer and middle panes are actually structural, while the inner is pretty much there as failsafe and to protect the other layers. Moncur said it’s only there to maintain cabin pressure in the extremely rare event that the outer pane becomes fractured.
Cruising at 10,600 meters (35,000 feet), the pressure is around 1.5 kilograms (3.3 pounds) per square inch. This is too low for the human body to stay conscious, so the pressure is artificially maintained at around 3.5 kilograms (8 pounds) per square inch. But of course, if you increase pressure inside, the structure has to be strong to hold the difference between the external pressure and internal pressure.
The outer pane is the thickest of these and is the primary layer that bears the pressure of the cabin. According to Gonzalez, the little hole is there to act as “as a bleed valve, allowing pressure between the air in the passenger cabin and the air between the outer and middle panes to equilibrate.” Simply put, it ensures that only the strongest outer pane is bearing the pressure, leaving the middle pane available in case of an emergency.
Phew, now that problem’s solved, go work on creating lasting nuclear fusion.
Main image credit: Chris Waits/Flickr. (CC BY 2.0)By Chris Hogg
BBC News, Tokyo
Japan won eight swimming medals in the 2004 Olympic Games It can take years to develop a new swimsuit material from scratch for competitive swimmers, but with just weeks to go before the Olympics, Japanese manufacturers are trying to do just that. They have been forced to try to come up with something after the Nottingham, UK-based firm Speedo developed a new bodysuit, LZR Racer, which has sent world records tumbling. The new suit has helped swimmers around the world break 30 world records in three months. It sucks the muscles into the perfect shape to swim. Lighter than others, it repels water, reducing drag. I think it's really sad for the Japanese swimmers to feel like they've already lost the race, even before they land in Beijing
Tomizo Yamamoto, swimwear manufacturer In Japan they fear it is unbeatable, and the Japanese firms contracted to supply the Olympic team make nothing like it. Five swimming medals was Japan's target after winning eight in Athens four year ago. Now they are not so sure what they will manage. Some of the brightest hopes for a medal expressed their frustration at the side of the pool at the National Sports Centre in Tokyo, after a training session for the 31-member Olympic Squad. "This is a once in a lifetime chance for me," said Hanae Ito. "I don't want to be disadvantaged. I want to do my best so I want to wear the best swimsuits there are." The Speedo swimsuits cost anything up to £320 ($632) Her fellow team member Ai Shibata was annoyed that everyone was assuming the Speedo suit was so important. "I think those who broke the records had practised hard and that's why they succeeded," she said. "It's not all about swimsuits. It's sad that people only talk about swimsuits these days. I hope people will pay more attention to the swimmers and not what we wear." Hefty price tag That seems unlikely though. This is an issue that has gripped Japan. Some grumble that whenever the country does well in a sport, the rules are changed to disadvantage them. That argument does not stand up to much scrutiny. 2004 Olympics swimming medals US - 28 (12 gold) Australia - 15 (7 gold) Japan - 8 (3 gold) Netherlands - 7 (2 gold) France - 6 (1 gold) Germany - 5 (0 gold) Ukraine - 2 (2 gold) Great Britain - 2 (0 gold) After all, countries across the world which do not have a contract with Speedo, or which cannot afford the hefty price tag for their new suits - they retail at up to £320 ($632) - are wondering whether that means they will not be able to compete on equal terms. In Japan's second city, Osaka, a huge steam press is churning out dark sheets of a new material at the Yamamoto Factory. Could this lightweight water-resistant rubber be made into a new Japanese bodysuit in time for the Olympics? Across Japan, companies are trying to develop a suit as good as Speedo's. Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play. Time is against them of course, but the factory's owner Tomizo Yamamoto says the country's swimmers deserve the best. "I think it's really sad for the Japanese swimmers to feel like they've already lost the race," Mr Yamamoto says, "even before they land in Beijing. Frustration He argues that the swimmers would understand if they lost a race "fair and square" but not if they lost to someone wearing a suit they think is giving them an unfair advantage. He has offered his new material to the three official Olympic swim team manufacturers, not because he wants to make money, he insists, but because he believes: "We should send these athletes to the Olympics fully prepared." It's two months to go before the Olympics and it's a very important time for the preparation... this issue came out and it's bothering for the swimmers
Kazonori Enami, sports journalist Japan's Swimming Federation had given its three official suppliers just weeks to come up with new suits. Last Friday it announced that a few prototypes were ready. But the suits now need to be tested and approved by the swimming's world governing body. And of course the athletes have to get used to wearing them. Kazonori Enami, a Japanese sports journalist, says the dithering over what to wear is distracting the swimmers at a crucial time. "It's two months to go before the Olympics, and it's a very important time for the preparation," he says. "Normally the swimmers just concentrate on the training, but this issue came out and it's bothering for the swimmers." Stark choice He is right. Another medallist, Kousuke Kitajima, gets frustrated back at the National Sports Stadium as journalists press him for more on the row over which bodysuits he and his fellow team-mates should wear. An Osaka factory hopes this water-resistant rubber might be the answer "I want to wear the swimsuit that I believe is best for me," he says, but then snaps: "I don't want to say anything else about the swimsuits, I'm sorry." The Japanese swimmers say they just want the right to compete with the best in the world on equal terms. Swimming should be about how strong you are and how good your technique is - not what kind of technology is available to help you. Some have already accused Speedo of beginning a "swimming arms race". The company dominates this sport, so Japan and others who do not have a contract with the firm face a stark choice. Either they can innovate, or they can capitulate and let their swimmers leave their country's own brands at home, and compete in British swimwear. But even that will not be easy. Speedo makes just 70 of the suits each day, they are not cheap, and swimmers all over the world want to get their hands on them.
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StumbleUpon What are these?New information released by a group challenging last year's federal election results in seven ridings shows almost no changes in polling station locations, eliminating one explanation offered by Conservatives for calls that gave voters the wrong information.
The Council of Canadians, which is supporting nine people in an application in federal court, provided an email Wednesday to reporters that shows only one polling station moved in the seven ridings in which Conservative wins are being challenged.
An Elections Canada investigation into calls that directed voters to the wrong polling station so far seems to be limited to Guelph, Ont., although Chief Electoral Officer Marc Mayrand says the agency has logged 800 confirmed complaints in 200 ridings.
Conservative MPs had suggested that one reason voters outside of Guelph were reporting calls that told them to go to the wrong polling stations was because some ridings did see changes to voting locations.
But an email from a lawyer for Elections Canada and released by the Council of Canadians says that was only the case in one of the seven ridings being challenged.
"I am advised that this [Vancouver Island North] is the only electoral district in the seven involved in these applications in which a change of polling station took place," Barbara McIsaac said in an email.
The email, which contained a document explaining the change, went to a number of lawyers, including Steven Shrybman, who's working for the Council of Canadians, Arthur Hamilton, a lawyer for the Conservative Party, and an address at the Department of Justice.
Conservative MPs have also suggested voter lists supplied by Elections Canada are riddled with mistakes, meaning callers volunteering for or hired by political parties may have the wrong addresses for the voters they're phoning.
Opposition MPs, however, have alleged a pattern of vote suppression across the country. The CBC's Terry Milewski has reported that many of the people who were misdirected had previously answered surveys where they said they didn't support the Conservative Party.
The seven ridings being challenged are:
Don Valley East in Ontario, won by Conservative MP Joe Daniel by 870 votes.
Nipissing-Timiskaming in Ontario, won by Conservative MP Jay Aspin by 18 votes.
Saskatoon-Rosetown-Biggar in Saskatchewan, won by Conservative Kelly Block by 538 votes.
Vancouver Island North in B.C., won by Conservative John Duncan by 1,827 votes.
Winnipeg South Centre in Manitoba, won by Conservative MP Joyce Bateman by 722 votes.
Elmwood-Transcona in Manitoba, won by Conservative MP Lawrence Toet by 300 votes.
Yukon won by Conservative Ryan Leef by 132 votes.
The court can dismiss the complaints, but if it agrees with the applicants and finds there was fraud or irregularities, it could declare the results of the election in those ridings null and void.The researchers used a photoswitching substance called an azobenzene, attaching the molecules to substrates of carbon nanotubes. The challenge: Packing the molecules closely enough together to achieve a sufficient energy density to generate usable heat.
It appeared that the researchers had failed when they were only able to pack fewer than half the number of molecules needed as indicated by an earlier computer simulation of the experiment.
But instead of hitting a projected 30 percent increase in energy density, they saw a 200 percent increase. It turned out that the key was not so much packing azobenzene molecules tightly on individual carbon nanotubes as packing the nanotubes close together. That’s because the azobenzene molecules formed “teeth” on the carbon nanotubes, which interlocked with teeth on adjacent nanotubes. The result was the mass needed for a usable amount of energy storage.
That means different combinations of photoswitching molecules and substrates might achieve the same or greater energy storage, according to the researchers.
So how would molecular solar storage work if the technology can be commercialized? Timothy Kucharski, the paper’s lead author and a postdoc at MIT and Harvard, told The Atlantic that most likely the storage would take a liquid form, which would be easy to transport.
“It would also enable charging by flowing the material from a storage tank through a window or clear tube exposed to the sun and then to another storage tank, where the material would remain until it's needed,” Kucharski said in an email. “That way one could stockpile the charged material for use when the sun's not shining.”
The paper’s authors envision the technology could be used in countries where most people rely on burning wood or dung for cooking, which creates dangerous levels of indoor air pollution, leads to deforestation and contributes to climate change.
“For solar cooking, one would leave the device out in the sun during the day,” says Kucharski. “One design we have for such an application is purely gravity driven – the material flows from one tank to another. The flow rate is restricted so that it's exposed to the sun long enough that it gets fully charged. Then, when it's time to cook dinner, after the sun is down, the flow direction is reversed, again driven by gravity, and the opposite side of the setup is used as the cooking surface.”
“As the material flows back to the first tank, it passes by an immobilized catalyst which triggers the energy-releasing process, heating the cooking surface up,” he adds.
Other versions of such device could be used to heat buildings.
Kucharski said the MIT and Harvard team is now investigating other photoswitching molecules and substrates, “with the aim of designing a system that absorbs more of the sun's energy and also can be more practically scaled up.”
We want to hear what you think about this article. Submit a letter to the editor or write to letters@theatlantic.com.Friday, the Zionist Organization of America called on major corporations that own stadiums – from AT&T to Wells Fargo to America Airlines – to boycott Roger Waters adding that they “are tarnishing their reputations by allowing their names to be associated with a vicious anti-Semite who promotes lies about Israel and the Jewish people.”
The statement asks for companies to “reject and condemn Waters and his hateful attacks against Jews and the Jewish State of Israel”.
Breitbart Jerusalem reports:
ZOA also criticized radio stations across North America for promoting the tour and giving away free tickets. The group described Waters as an “unabashed anti-Semitic bigot” and said he has no business spreading his “Jew-hatred” and “lie-filled, hateful anti-Israel rants.”
“If Waters was viciously attacking another minority with lies and factual distortions, there’s no doubt that he would be a pariah and not welcome at a single concert venue,” said ZOA’s National President Morton A. Klein and Steve Feldman, Executive Director of ZOA’s Greater Philadelphia chapter, who authored the statement.
“Corporations would not associate themselves or their names with him, and radio stations would not be promoting his concerts and encouraging people to attend them,” they wrote.
Waters, who has in the past compared Israel to Nazi Germany, uses bullying tactics to persuade other musicians not to perform in the Jewish state. His most recent target is Radiohead, who are scheduled to perform in Tel Aviv in July. He told the band to “think again” about playing in a country “where a system of apartheid has been imposed on the Palestinian people.” But the band ignored the call to boycott, with Thom Yorke telling Rolling Stone magazine that it was “deeply distressing” that Waters and other Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) activists “choose to, rather than engage with us personally, throw s**t at us in public.”
While a few artists, including Stevie Wonder and Lauryn Hill, caved to pressure from the BDS movement, most have ignored it, with Tel Aviv seeing concerts from the likes of Paul McCartney, the Rolling Stones, Elton John, Santana, Lady Gaga, Rihanna, Justin Bieber, Aerosmith and Bon Jovi in recent years. Britney Spears is also scheduled to play in the city next month.“I didn’t even realize it until my sister said something to me a couple days later,” Michigan sophomore Brienne Minor said of becoming the first African American woman to win an NCAA Division I tennis singles title last month. (Richard Hamm/Associated Press)
The woman wearing maize and blue celebrated her moment knowing she had made history, but not quite knowing the full extent of the story.
When her opponent’s forehand down the line finally floated long, Brienne Minor simply offered a joyful, graceful toss of her racket, a double fist-pump at shoulder level and a single clap in front of her chest. Then off to the net to shake hands. She kept her head down for the first few steps — best not to smile too big in front of the runner-up.
Minor had always been quiet and humble, the third in a line of tennis-playing sisters from Mundelein, Ill., a suburb of Chicago. But if she ever had a reason to lose her composure, to rip the neatly knotted bun at the nape of her neck loose and really go berserk, it would have been on that muggy Monday last month in Georgia when Minor captured the NCAA singles title and became Michigan’s first national champion in the sport.
That accounts for History Made: Part One.
[Need to win means there’s no room for xenophobia in college tennis]
Part Two is a doozy.
The 19-year-old is the first African American woman to win an NCAA Division I singles championship. She is the first black player to win a Division I singles title for either men or women since Arthur Ashe in 1965.
“I didn’t even realize it until my sister said something to me a couple days later,” Minor said over the phone, having closed out the school year and driven the five hours or so from Ann Arbor, Mich., to her home town for a two-week break from tennis. “It’s such an honor, and I hope I can be a good role model for other African American tennis players, because there’s not a lot in this game.”
Nor has there ever been, despite superstars Venus and Serena Williams and their countrywomen Madison Keys, Sloane Stephens and Taylor Townsend holding down American women’s tennis in the pros. In the collegiate ranks, 354 out of 8,591 female tennis players during the 2015-16 season were black. That’s 4.1 percent across all three divisions, excluding historically black colleges and universities.
At first, Minor, her family and her coaches were too consumed by her run through the tournament to consider the improbable odds.
Minor was tired, physically and emotionally, following her two-week sojourn in Athens, Ga., which included the team tournament. As an unseeded sophomore in the individual event, she won six matches in six days. She had already toppled two top-16 seeds by the time she got to the championship match May 29. There, she upset No. 6 Belinda Woolcock, from Florida’s powerhouse program, 6-3, 6-3.
It wasn’t until dinner a few hours later that her father, Kevin, grew curious about other black women who had won the singles title. He knew of others in doubles — most famously, U.S. Tennis Association President Katrina Adams was the first black woman to win that tournament, for Northwestern in 1987 — but his research showed that for singles, his daughter was the first.
He held off telling Minor until he and Mark Bey, the daughters’ private coach, had confirmed his initial look. Then one of his older daughters told Minor over the phone.
“I didn’t want to talk about it with a bunch of people if that wasn’t the case,” Kevin Minor said. “I was in a little bit of disbelief that, here it is, 2017, and there wasn’t someone else. I didn’t want to make it bigger than it was. I didn’t want to make this all of a sudden a more monumental occasion if it wasn’t true. But for us, it’s a big deal.”
Before young Brienne began playing in tournaments at age 5, she traveled with the rest of the family to watch her older sisters Kristina, shown above in the background, and Jasmine. (Family photo)
A tennis family
To a young Brienne Minor, tennis was simply what her family did. Her passion for the game was passed down from her maternal grandfather, who picked up tennis in parks in Indianapolis at a time when blacks were barred from the country clubs that held lessons and tournaments. The USTA, then known as the U.S. Lawn Tennis Association, held a policy that banned blacks from playing in its championships, including the U.S. Open, until the 1950s.
Yet James Minnefield passed his love of the sport on to his children, and Minor’s mother, Michelle, passed it on to her daughters.
Before Brienne was old enough to play tournaments, she was being toted along as big sister Kristina and middle sister Jasmine competed on the USTA junior’s circuit, which demands year-round travel. The five Minors went everywhere together, improvising Thanksgiving dinner on the road and celebrating Christmas a day early for 15 years because USTA National Winter Championships in Arizona required travel on the holiday itself.
“You get to be a Priceline master,” explained Kevin Minor, who, like Michelle, graduated from Purdue with an engineering degree and has spent his career in the field. “I didn’t spend a dollar without getting frequent flier or loyalty points.”
By the time she was 5, Brienne began playing competitively, just like her older sisters. They planned what would happen were they ever to face one another in a Grand Slam, and talked of being the next Williams sisters. “We were serious!” Brienne said. “Well, it was kind of a joke but also definitely serious.”
Soon, lessons, trainers, tournaments and travel dominated life so much that Kevin Minor had to resort to putting the five family members’ schedules into a spreadsheet. When travel was heaviest, the father worked remotely from tournament sites. Both parents shifted schedules as often as they could to account for tennis lessons 45 minutes away from home. Tennis played a part in where the girls went to high school — a private Catholic school that didn’t require a P.E. class every semester, like the public schools did.
When she was 13, Minor so yearned for a reprieve from her jam-packed schedule and travel demands she thought about giving up tennis, but she never did. A life without the sport was unimaginable.
Although tennis wielded an unbreakable power, academics were also held at a premium in the Minor household. Report cards, though they come electronically now, are printed out and stuck to the fridge to this day.
“The goal [with tennis] that we had was, at a minimum — just because of the time and money that you put into it — the minimum was to have a full-ride college scholarship at a good university at the end,” Kevin Minor said. “Anything after that was a dream and a bonus.”
“I’m just used to it,” Minor said of being one of the small number of African Americans participating in junior or college tennis. (Richard Hamm/Associated Press)
‘I’ve just been used to it’
The Minor sisters were an anomaly at the higher ranks of the junior circuit. Kevin Minor can’t remember a national tournament in which there were more than two or three black faces aside from his daughters in a 64- or 128-player draw. On the circuit, neither overt racism — nor the kind that lurks beneath cordiality but cuts just as deep — was an issue for the family. But his daughters were often out there alone, so he gave them a speech anyway:
“Know who you are. Be proud of who you are. Some things you might ignore, but other things you have to speak out about.”
For Brienne, the overwhelming whiteness of tennis was simply a reality, part of the lifestyle. Serena Williams’s fame reached a fever pitch and the upper echelon of American women’s tennis grew dotted with women who looked more like her, but in Minor’s day-to-day life, she remained one of few.
“I’ve just been used to it, I’ve just been playing tennis for so long,” Minor said of the lack of minority participation in the sport. “I’ve been traveling, I’ve been to a lot of places in the U.S., I’ve seen a lot of girls at tournaments, and you just don’t see African Americans that often. But I’m so used to it, I don’t even think about it that much unless someone brings it up to me. It’s still kind of the same in college.”
Tennis’s progress in attracting, nurturing and retaining minority players has been incremental, at best.
As Minor grew up and had success on the juniors circuit and her high school team, where she was a quarterfinalist in the Illinois state championships as a sophomore, she noticed a few more black girls competing in the junior tournaments. But not many.
Though black |
guess he’s doing pretty well. (You shouldn’t only care about goals).
CONCLUSIONS
The value added of PK faceoff wins is small. To the point where, if you were being extraordinarily stingy, you might say it’s non-existent. Meanwhile, Ben Smith is having a tangibly negative effect in the other areas of the game.
It shouldn’t take much deliberation to decide that playing Ben Smith is not a value added decision, and he should be replaced with a capable option sooner rather than later.BCCI chief N Srinivasan’s son-in-law Gurunath Meiyappan.
In a major embarrassment for BCCI president N Srinivasan, a Supreme Court-appointed panel has held his son-in-law Gurunath Meiyappan guilty of betting and passing on team information during the IPL matches last year. The panel also said the concerns about Srinivasan’s conflict of interest were “serious” and may have “largescale ramifications on the functioning of cricket”.
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“The role of Meiyappan in Chennai Super Kings as a team official stands proved… allegations of betting and passing on information against him stand proved. However, the allegations of fixing require further investigation,” said the panel headed by Justice (retd) Mukul Mudgal, which submitted its report to a bench led by Justice A K Patnaik on Monday.
The panel trashed the statements made before it by Srinivasan and India captain M S Dhoni that Meiyappan had nothing to do with the cricketing affairs of CSK and that he was just a “cricket enthusiast” supporting the team.
While holding Meiyappan guilty of bringing disrepute to the game and CSK responsible for failing to check his actions, the panel brought to the notice of the court a possible conflict of interest, with Srinivasan being the BCCI president as well as the vice-chairman and managing director of India Cements which owns CSK.
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“While it is evident that the questions raised before us about conflict of interest are serious and may have largescale ramifications on the functioning of cricket, we do not deem it proper to pronounce our opinion on this issue as it is not directly in our terms of reference,” said the panel.
The report comes at a time when Srinivasan is set to take control of the ICC by becoming its next chairman.
The Mudgal panel also recommended further probe against Raj Kundra and Shilpa Shetty, part-owners of Rajasthan Royals, besides suspending them from participating in any activity of the BCCI, including IPL matches, pending final determination of their role.
The court, which had in July last year appointed the IPL probe committee also comprising senior advocates Nilay Dutta and L N Rao, will consider the report on March 7. The petitioner, Cricket Association of Bihar, and the BCCI have been asked to adduce their comments on the report by the next date.
Urging the court to order a comprehensive probe by an independent agency and a time-bound criminal trial, the report, which comes two days ahead of the IPL auction scheduled for February 12-13, said there was enough material to show that a further probe was required into the contentious match between CSK and Rajasthan Royals in Jaipur on May 12, 2013.
Favouring action against CSK and Rajasthan Royals under relevant provisions of the IPL rules, the panel said any person who wished to be associated with an IPL team in any manner should also be asked to sign a code of conduct and be liable to similar obligations as the players.
The panel also underlined that players should not be allowed to own any stakes or interests in player agencies or companies involved with cricket, unless such interests are in the nature of sponsorship or endorsements.
Dhoni had recently faced charges of alleged conflict of interest over his reported stake in Rhiti Sports Management, which also managed cricketers Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja and Pragyan Ojha. The firm had maintained that Dhoni was a shareholder only for a brief period, and currently held no stakes.
The panel recommended that no person holding office in the BCCI should have the power to curtail, restrict or define any such investigation. Srinivasan was a part of the disciplinary committee that defined the scope of the probe into the IPL spot-fixing and betting scandal.
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The panel said there was a need for a system to register player agents while also ensuring that agents do not travel with the team or stay in the same hotel as the team.ES News Email Enter your email address Please enter an email address Email address is invalid Fill out this field Email address is invalid You already have an account. Please log in or register with your social account
A couple who found an unexploded World War II bomb in their basement did not alert police until the next day because they “didn’t want to wake the neighbours”.
Stephen Sin, 44, found the incendiary device at his home in Crystal Palace on Wednesday but did not want to cause a scene late at night.
Mr Sin, along with his wife Janice Hardy, moved the unexploded bomb into the garden and carried on with their day before alerting the police on Thursday afternoon.
The 44-year-old told the Croydon Guardian he was initially reluctant to call the police straight away because they did not want everything to “stand still”.
Ms Hardy said she previously read a story about someone finding an unexploded bomb but added it caused chaos in the neighbourhood.
She told the newspaper: “It [the story] said it took several hours to blow it up, they had to put a 200 metre cordon around the house, close the road so we decided we were just going to sleep on it.
“To us it didn’t seem like it was going to blow up any moment now because it hadn’t blown up the whole time we have been here.
“We thought rather than wake up all our neighbours and get them all standing on the street in the dark we decided we would leave it to the morning and work out who to ring and what we are going to do.
“But it turned out all alright in the end.”
It is thought the bomb, which is believed to have been made in 1936, had been in the couple’s basement for the entire 15 years they had lived in their home.
Mr Sin told the Croydon Guardian he was calm when he found the device and added it was “not your typical day”.
A Metropolitan Police Service spokesman confirmed officers were called to reports of a World War II incendiary device in Patterson Road at 1.20pm.
The spokesman added it took two hours to remove the device from a garden at the address and it was not thought to have posed a threat.iOS App Store
Android Play Store
Greetings Friends!
I am happy to announce the release of Neon for iOS and Android. It is a drop puzzle like tetris, but with a mechanic similar to the classic Kirby’s Avalanche, or Puyo Puyo. The goal is to get as many points as possible by matching colours. Groups of four adjacent matching colours will eliminate and any pieces above them fall in their place. If they fall into a match, then you have a combo. The combo is directly linked to a point multiplier, and every time you get a combo or single match, the speed increases. So stack your combos tall, then knock ’em down and get as many points as you can before the screen fills up.
There are 30 achievements, leaderboards, wifi multiplayer, and some facebook integration.
Controls:
Swipe Left, Right and Down to Move.
Swipe Up or Tap to Rotate.
Thanks for playing!
~KeithK
AdvertisementsAn Asian carp leaps over a biologist’s net in Missouri. US Fish and Wildlife Services/CC BY 2.0
Are you someone with a lot of ideas? Do people tend to call them “kind of fishy”? This could be your lucky day! As the Detroit News reports, the Michigan Legislature recently earmarked a cool $1 million for anyone in the world who can help them fin-ish off their Asian carp problem. (You can sign up for information about the contest here.)
Puns aside, Asian carp in Michigan are no laughing matter. Since their introduction to Southern fish farm ponds in the 1970s, the non-native fish has munched its way northward, out-eating and out-laying indigenous species and essentially taking over ecosystems. If they are able to establish themselves in the Great Lakes, it will be almost impossible to undo the damage—both to native wildlife and to tourist activities like fishing and boating.
Over the past six years, the federal government has spent hundreds of millions of dollars battling Asian carp. Although this contest was floated before the new administration took office, changes in Washington may make outside help even more crucial. President Trump has already halted at least one carp defense attempt, and early plans for the EPA budget show federal funding for Great Lakes initiatives being slashed by about 97%.
“I think in the fight against Asian carp, there aren’t really any bad ideas,” Molly Flanagan, of the Alliance for the Great Lakes, told the News. “We have to try a bunch of different things.” So if you find yourself carping on a particular plan, consider putting it forward—it might just save the greatest lakes we’ve got.
Every day, we track down a fleeting wonder—something amazing that’s only happening right now. Have a tip for us? Tell us about it! Send your temporary miracles to cara@atlasobscura.com.
*Update 3/28: This post has been updated to add a link to the contest website.Kelly Wallace is CNN's digital correspondent and editor-at-large covering family, career and life. Read her other columns, and follow her reports at CNN Parents and on Twitter. Join Christy Turlington Burns at 2 p.m. ET Friday for a Facebook chat about " Giving Birth in America."
(CNN) It's hard to comprehend how the United States, one of the wealthiest nations in the world, is now one of only eight countries -- including Afghanistan and South Sudan -- where the number of women dying as a result of pregnancy and childbirth is going up.
An increasing mortality rate for American mothers in 2015? How could that be?
First, the numbers: More than 25 years ago, in 1987, there were 7.2 deaths of mothers per 100,000 live births in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In 2011, that number more than doubled, jumping to 17.8 deaths per 100,000 births.
What's going on? A range of experts made clear to me that there isn't any one factor to explain the increase, but a number of issues, including obesity-related complications such as hypertension and diabetes, the dramatic increase in the number of cesarean section births, a lack of access to affordable, quality health care and more women giving birth at older ages.
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"There were changes like this over time and this is why we believe that part of this increase is due to better methods of identification," she said.
But we don't know how much of the increase is due to better reporting methods, said Creanga. What we do know is there are still other factors that are likely pushing up the number of deaths during pregnancy and childbirth in the United States.
Obesity a 'tremendous piece' of the problem
Elise Turner, an associate professor of nursing at Mississippi's Belhaven University and a nurse midwife who has more than 35 years experience, says obesity is a "tremendous piece" of the problem.
"The body is already stressed by obesity and the other accompanying diseases, such as hypertension, diabetes and things that accompany that and then you put the demands of pregnancy on top of that and it's just very difficult," Turner said.
Obesity is one of the leading causes of mortality in the OB/GYN field, said Dr. Michael Brodman, chairman of the department of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive science at the Mount Sinai Health System in New York.
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"We didn't specifically have protocols for dealing with obese patients. We didn't treat them differently and in reality, you have to treat them differently," said Brodman.
About two years ago, Brodman and about 50 other leaders in the OB/GYN profession came together after it was revealed that New York had one of the worst maternal mortality rates in the country. At first, the thinking was that New York, with one of the most diverse populations of any state, has more complicated patients than most other states and that explains the higher death rate for mothers during pregnancy and childbirth.
But as Brodman and his colleagues started meeting, they discovered a bigger issue: the wide range of health care offered at hospitals across the country.
"If you're in Sweden, everybody gets treated the same way. If you are in New York City, you get treated one way. If you're in Buffalo, you get treated another way and if you're in Missouri, you get treated another way," said Brodman. "This is that sort of U.S. individualistic kind of thing, 'I know what I'm doing. This is how I'll do it.' In health care, at the end of the day, that doesn't work."
So now, through programs such as the American Congress of Obstetrics and Gynecologists' Safe Mother Initiative, and the National Partnership of Maternal Safety, doctors are coming up with standardized care for pregnancy and childbirth complications where every hospital would follow the same protocols for dealing with issues such as a postpartum hemorrhage, which can result in death.
For instance, in New York, they've created hemorrhage teams and have done hemorrhage drills so "every little, big, medium-size hospital will all have the same protocol," said Brodman.
While different training and different procedures at hospitals account for some of the variations in care, medical egos are a big part of the problem too, he said.
In the United States, Brodman said, there's thinking such as, " 'No one tells me to wear a helmet when I'm riding my motorcycle. I am allowed to do what I want,' that kind of mentality. Well, doctors have that, too, and in reality, it doesn't work in health care."
Standardized guidelines are needed across every state and they have to be rigid, he said. "We can't allow for individuality because of whatever crazy reason people come up with," he said.
Improving care for pregnant women
African-American women are more than three times as likely to die as a result of pregnancy and childbirth than white women in the United States, according to the CDC.
"We know that black women dying from pregnancy-related causes are younger, less educated, more likely to be unmarried, more likely to start prenatal care in the second (or) third trimester of pregnancy or not at all, when compared to white women, but except for that, we don't know a lot," said Creanga of the CDC.
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Medical and nonmedical factors, such as poverty and insurance coverage, need to be considered as part of the research to figure out the reasons for this disturbing trend, she said.
There is no question that lack of access to affordable and good quality care is playing a role in the overall increasing maternal mortality rate, said Turner, the associate professor of nursing.
If a pregnant woman wakes up in the middle of the night with contractions at 28 weeks and isn't sure if she's in labor, she needs to go to the hospital, Turner said. No one can determine that over the phone. But even if you have private insurance, "You're still going to have a whopping co-pay for that hospital visit just to make sure you weren't really in preterm labor," she said. "So I know that people hesitate to seek care because there is an out-of-pocket expense every time you engage with the health care system."
Another factor likely contributing to the upward trend, experts say, is the dramatic increase in C-sections in the United States. Today, about one in three American mothers has a C-section. That's up from one in five 20 years ago.
"We, as providers, know that surgery carries more risk for mother and baby, " said Turner. She said the decision over whether to perform a C-section is a very difficult one for providers. "It's such a delicate balance to find that perfect razor's edge of the most benefit with the least risk and for some patients, there is risk in continuing to labor for the mom and for the baby."
Brodman of Mount Sinai Hospital also blames the climb in C-sections on the widespread fear among doctors of being sued. He believes those fears have come down in recent years based on changes in malpractice laws and a new generation of doctors who go into the OB/GYN profession knowing that being sued is part of the medical landscape.
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"People are not sitting on the labor floor thinking, 'If I make the wrong decision, I'm going to get sued,' so all of that hysteria and paranoia, I think, is abated, which is a good thing," he added.
In fact, the C-section rate dropped to 32.2% in 2014, down from a peak of 32.9% in 2009, according to the CDC.
"I hope in the last year or two, we've plateaued and now we're going to start seeing a trend downward," Brodman said. "How low it goes, that will remain to be seen."
The age of the mother may also play a role in the climbing maternal mortality rate, as American women have delayed childbearing.
While less than 15% of all births in the United States are to women 35 years and older, somewhere between 27% and 29% of all the pregnancy-related deaths are among that age group, according to the CDC's Creanga.
"Because women are delaying childbearing, a larger proportion of them are likely entering pregnancy with a burden of chronic disease conditions," she said. "Many studies have shown that an increasing number of pregnant women in the United States have chronic health conditions such as hypertension, diabetes, chronic heart disease and all these conditions can put a pregnant woman at higher risk of pregnancy complications."
What's the solution?
More access to more affordable and better quality care is one way to bring the maternal mortality rate down in the United States, said Turner.
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"We need to have quick, easy, 24/7 access to a skilled person that's not burdensome, that's not expensive, that's not difficult, that you don't have to drive an hour and a half to get to," she said.
More states implementing evidence-based guidelines and recommended practices for dealing with pregnancy and childbirth complications across every hospital in the state would also help bring the number of deaths down, said Creanga of the CDC.
These guidelines, which try to address the most preventable causes of maternal mortality, have been shown to decrease maternal mortality in other parts of the world, such as the United Kingdom, and will hopefully bring the U.S. rate down, too, she said.
Brodman of Mount Sinai Health System agreed. "We need to figure out the best way to do something and everybody should do it that way," he said.Image caption Ambulance drivers across England are striking for four hours on Monday
Military personnel and police vans are being drafted in to help ambulance services affected by a public service workers strike on Monday.
About 130 military drivers will replace striking London Ambulance Service and North West Ambulance Service drivers, the Ministry of Defence said.
In London, 74 police vehicles will also be used for low-priority calls, a Metropolitan Police spokesman said.
Unison, whose members are striking over pay, called the move a "quick fix".
It said it had arranged emergency plans for Monday with all the other ambulance trusts in England.
Women in labour
The fact the government did not even try to talk to trade unions to arrange emergency cover in the capital is outrageous Christina McAnea, Unison
NHS workers in England will strike for four hours from 07:00 BST on Monday, with a number of public sector unions planning further industrial action over pay during the rest of the month.
One hundred military drivers will be drafted into London while 30 will assist ambulance services in the North West.
London Ambulance Service (LAS) has said patients in a life-threatening situation will still receive an ambulance response, but people with injuries such as minor breaks, or women in routine labour may not.
It has said there will be an impact on services for the whole day.
Image caption The Met Police will provide 74 response vehicles on Monday
North West Ambulance Service has also warned that with a "substantial reduction in its workforce" there will be delays for some patients.
Police vehicles
East Midlands, South Western, South Central and South East Coast Ambulance Services have all confirmed they have staff members who will also be on strike on Monday.
LAS director of operations Jason Killens said: "We are expecting a significant number of our staff to take four hours of strike action.
"The Ministry of Defence (MoD) is providing 100 military drivers during the strike action. They will support our clinical staff by driving our vehicles to an incident while our medics look after the patient."
An MoD spokesman confirmed its involvement and said personnel from the Army, RAF and Navy would be involved.
We cannot afford a pay rise in addition to increments without risking frontline jobs Department of Health
A spokesman for the Met Police said: "The LAS will attempt to deal with higher priority calls.
"Lower priority calls will be passed to 'double-staffed' police vehicles and an assessment made as to whether the patient requires transport to hospital or can obtain treatment any other way.
"If an ambulance is required, officers will wait with the patient until the ambulance arrives."
Merseyside Police will assist the ambulance service by making five police vehicles available for use with first-aid trained staff, a spokesman said.
Christina McAnea, Unison's head of health, said: "The fact the government did not even try to talk to trade unions to arrange emergency cover in the capital is outrageous.
"Instead they've decided to deploy military troops as a quick fix.
"We have agreed emergency plans with all the other ambulance trusts in England."
Rehana Azam, national officer of the GMB said the union had written to the chief executive of LAS with concerns about using the Met and military drivers.
He said: "GMB does not accept that this is last-minute contingency planning but a deliberate attempt by government to cause concerns among the public and to undermine the hard work of LAS staff taking strike action."
Action 'disappointing'
The Royal College of Midwives is also joining the action on Monday, in what will be the first walkout in its 133-year history.
The walkouts will be followed by four days of action short of a strike from Tuesday.
The government imposed a 1% cap on pay rises in 2012, which remains in place for many in the public sector.
A Department of Health spokesman said: "We are disappointed that trade unions are taking industrial action.
"NHS staff are our greatest asset, and we've increased the NHS budget to pay for over 12,500 more clinical staff since 2010.
"We cannot afford a pay rise in addition to increments - which disproportionately reward the highest earners - without risking frontline jobs."The bear - too young to survive alone in the forest without his mother - growled from fright and hunger but wouldn't let locals come close to rescue Picture: Barnaul zoo
The three month old cub was scavenging for food in a yard in Soloneshnoye village, Altai region, when it was disturbed by local residents.
He ran for the nearest apple tree and tried to hide himself in the leaves.
The bear - too young to survive alone in the forest without his mother - growled from fright and hunger but wouldn't let locals come close to rescue and feed him.
Senior police lieutenant Anatoly Ziyatov eventually climbed the tree and restrained the thrashing bear in a jacket, and lowered him down.
'He was a frightened, hungry bear,' he said. 'He was left without mother, and came to the village in search of food.
'It is easy to say - take the bear down from the tree, but harder to do it. He hissed and tried to fend me off with his paw. He did not understand that we wanted to help.' Pictures: EMERCOM in Altai region
'When he saw people, he got scared and climbed an apple tree. The locals heard him growling, but did not dare to help, and called to rescuers.
'We needed to come up with a special way to do this. It is easy to say - take the bear down from the tree, but harder to do it.
'Even a cat is aggressive in this situation. The bear hissed and tried to fend me off with his paw. He did not understand that we wanted to help.
'I had to eventually wrap him in a jacket and got him down. When the bear was on the ground, he tried to escape.'
But instead he was caught, and gratefully ate a meal provided by locals. He was then taken to Barnaul zoo Lesnaya Skazka.
Anatoly Ziyatov visited the bear he rescued in Barnaul zoo 'Lesnaya Skazka'. Pictures: Barnaul zoo, EMERCOM in Altai region
Altai wildlife official Evgeny Baturin said: 'In the wild, a lost or abandoned bear cub is doomed to certain death.
'But this one got its way to the people, and found salvation. Now his life is not in danger. The bear is safe, fed and under the supervision of specialists.'
Zoo director Sergei Pisarev, who had already taken a female cub called Plush this year, is now raising funds to try to keep both animals, otherwise the apple tree bear - called Potap will be sent to another zoo. The target, one million roubles or $15,500.ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. - Two Orange County Sheriff's Office 911 dispatchers are off the job on Wednesday after deputies say they did not handle the calls in a triple homicide case appropriately.
[AUDIO: 911 call released]
Deputies said an investigation was launched by Orange County Sheriff Jerry Demings in the March 17, 2014 shooting call at 8137 Curry Ford Road that resulted in the deaths of Richard Button, 65; Todd Lemme, 57, and Deborah Watson, 54. Local 6 first reported Watson called 911 during the shooting, but deputies didn't find the trio until the next morning.
According to an OCSO release, through an exhaustive search, critical information was not provided. The call initiated a triple homicide investigation and Leonard Lewis was arrested in the slayings three weeks later.
An investigation through the Office of Professional Standards found that the 911 call handlers, Public Safety Communicators Tamela Moses and Porscha Williams, "did not relay pertinent and critical information to responding deputies or once they were on scene. While the victim's conditions would not have changed, the discovery and detention of those responsible could potentially have begun in earnest on the night of the call. "
Moses has been terminated and Williams resigned from her position during the investigation.
Local 6 asked Jeff Williams of OCSO if dispatchers needed new training, to which Williams replied, "No, I think everyone just needs to remember the basics."
Watch Local 6 for more on this story.
Copyright 2014 by ClickOrlando.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.MIDDLETOWN, Ohio - Three women were charged with murder Friday after one of two boys found badly beaten in a Middletown motel room died.
Alexander Stephens, 5, was found by police Wednesday night with his brother, 6, in a motel room at Middletown's Parkway Inn, WCPO reports. Police were called to the room on a report of a dead child.
Neither of the boys was dead, but they were both taken to Cincinnati Children's Hospital due to the severity of their injuries. Alexander died Friday morning, according to WCPO.
Alexander's brother's current condition is unknown.
The Middletown police chief posted a heartfelt message on Facebook after receiving word of Alexander's death.
The three women inside the room were the boys' mother, 26-year-old Theresa Hawkins-Stephens; Hawkins-Stephens' friend Rachael Bostian, 29 and Bostian's mother Ramona Bostian, 56. All were originally charged with two counts of felonious child endangering and assault, but now each faces a murder charge, WCPO reports.
The boys' mother and her friend Rachael Bostian received a $1 million bond during their Friday morning arraignment, while Ramona Bostian's bond was set at $500,000. The women are scheduled for a preliminary hearing on May 6 in Middletown Municipal Court, according to WCPO.
Court documents state that Hawkins-Stephens tied up her sons after they were accused of stealing food. They were repeatedly hit and slapped, and the boys were left tied up for more than 24 hours without food or water, WCPO writes.
Middletown is nestled about 50 miles north of Cincinnati and about 25 miles south of Dayton.
If you'd like to comment on this post, please visit the cleveland.com crime and courts comments section.Actor Michael Shannon has a theory about how Donald Trump won a decisive victory in the presidential election earlier this month — namely, that the United States is full of “ignorant jackasses” who voted for him.
In an interview with RogerEbert.com’s Nick Allen earlier this week to discuss his latest film, Nocturnal Animals, the 42-year-old actor said called those who voted for the Republican candidate over Democrat Hillary Clinton “so goddamn stupid” and said the eight years of Obama’s presidency now “feels like a lie.”
“The big red dildo running through the middle of our country needs to be annexed to be its own country of moronic assholes,” Shannon told the outlet. “You can call it the United States of Moronic Fucking Assholes.”
When asked by Allen whether those who voted for Trump were always assholes or whether they’d become them over time, Shannon unloaded:
I don’t know how people got so goddamn stupid. But it’s really weird, because it’s like the last eight years, now it feels like a lie. Like, this has been festering underneath the whole time. Racists, sexists. And a lot of these people, they don’t know why the fuck they’re alive. They know it. They’re doing drugs, fucking killing themselves. Because they’re like, ‘Why the fuck am I alive? I can’t get a job, I don’t know anything about anything, I have no curiosity for life or the world.’ So this Trump thing is like getting a box of firecrackers, or something. It’s like, ‘Well, this will be fun for a little while, this’ll kill some time.’ Because, y’know, the jackass will be amusing on television, stay stupid shit. Make everybody clap. Hillary would have been too boring, I suppose. It’s the worst thing that’s ever happened. It’s the worst. This guy is going to destroy civilization as we know it, and the earth, and all because of these people who don’t have any idea why they’re alive.
Shannon, who earned an Oscar nomination for his role in the 2008 film Revolutionary Road, said that despite being an in-demand actor, he hasn’t lost touch with the real world.
“I don’t mean to sound cocky, but I guess the one thing I always try to do, I always resist the notion that I’m sort of star or something,” he said. “I still walk down the street, take the subway, try and stay in the real world as much as possible. It’s so you don’t become some insulated pompous asshole who doesn’t have the slightest idea how the world works. Like Donald Trump.”
Read the rest of Shannon’s interview here.
Follow Daniel Nussbaum on Twitter: @dznussbaumNewly disclosed documents from former US intelligence contractor Edward Snowden have revealed that Australian intelligence efforts against Indonesia do not just target suspected terrorists or key political figures but involve massive penetration of Indonesia’s phone networks and data collection on a huge scale.
Top secret documents reported by The New York Times have disclosed new details of cooperation between the US National Security Agency and the Australian Signals Directorate, and for the first time reveal the Australian electronic espionage agency's comprehensive access to Indonesian's national communications systems.
According to a 2012 National Security Agency document, the Australian Signals Directorate has accessed bulk call data from Indosat, Indonesia’s domestic satellite telecommunications provider including data on Indonesian officials in various government ministries.
Another 2013 document states that the Australian Signals Directorate obtained nearly 1.8 million encrypted master keys, which are used to protect private communications, from the Telkomsel mobile telephone network in Indonesia, and developed a way to decrypt almost all of them.
Australia’s relations with Indonesia have already been strained by revelations last November that the Australian and US embassies in Jakarta house covert electronic surveillance facilities, code-named "Stateroom”, and that the Australian Signals Directorate intercepted the mobile phones of Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, his wife and many of his closest political associates.Illustration by John Blackford
Update - Is it $9 billion or possibly as much as $18 billion?
The NY Fed will not say...
--
Vanity Fair
Between April 2003 and June 2004, $12 billion in U.S. currency - much of it belonging to the Iraqi people - was shipped from the Federal Reserve to Baghdad, where it was dispensed by the Coalition Provisional Authority. Some of the cash went to pay for projects and keep ministries afloat, but, incredibly, at least $9 billion has gone missing, unaccounted for, in a frenzy of mismanagement and greed. Following a trail that leads from a safe in one of Saddam's palaces to a house near San Diego, to a P.O. box in the Bahamas, the authors discover just how little anyone cared about how the money was handled.
Hidden in plain sight, 10 miles west of Manhattan, amid a suburban community of middle-class homes and small businesses, stands a fortress-like building shielded by big trees and lush plantings behind an iron fence. The steel-gray structure, in East Rutherford, New Jersey, is all but invisible to the thousands of commuters who whiz by every day on Route 17. Even if they noticed it, they would scarcely guess that it is the largest repository of American currency in the world.
Officially, 100 Orchard Street is referred to by the acronym eroc, for the East Rutherford Operations Center of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. The brains of the New York Fed may lie in Manhattan, but xeroc is the beating heart of its operations—a secretive, heavily guarded compound where the bank processes checks, makes wire transfers, and receives and ships out its most precious commodity: new and used paper money.
On Tuesday, June 22, 2004, a tractor-trailer truck turned off Route 17 onto Orchard Street, stopped at a guard station for clearance, and then entered the eroc compound. What happened next would have been the stuff of routine—procedures followed countless times. Inside an immense three-story cavern known as the currency vault, the truck's next cargo was made ready for shipment. With storage space to rival a Wal-Mart's, the currency vault can reportedly hold upwards of $60 billion in cash. Human beings don't perform many functions inside the vault, and few are allowed in; a robotic system, immune to human temptation, handles everything. On that Tuesday in June the machines were especially busy. Though accustomed to receiving and shipping large quantities of cash, the vault had never before processed a single order of this magnitude: $2.4 billion in $100 bills.
Under the watchful eye of bank employees in a glass-enclosed control room, and under the even steadier gaze of a video surveillance system, pallets of shrink-wrapped bills were lifted out of currency bays by unmanned "storage and retrieval vehicles" and loaded onto conveyors that transported the 24 million bills, sorted into "bricks," to the waiting trailer. No human being would have touched this cargo, which is how the Fed wants it: the bank aims to "minimize the handling of currency by eroc employees and create an audit trail of all currency movement from initial receipt through final disposition."
Forty pallets of cash, weighing 30 tons, were loaded that day. The tractor-trailer turned back onto Route 17 and after three miles merged onto a southbound lane of the New Jersey Turnpike, looking like any other big rig on a busy highway. Hours later the truck arrived at Andrews Air Force Base, near Washington, D.C. There the seals on the truck were broken, and the cash was off-loaded and counted by Treasury Department personnel. The money was transferred to a C-130 transport plane. The next day, it arrived in Baghdad.
That transfer of cash to Iraq was the largest one-day shipment of currency in the history of the New York Fed. It was not, however, the first such shipment of cash to Iraq. Beginning soon after the invasion and continuing for more than a year, $12 billion in U.S. currency was airlifted to Baghdad, ostensibly as a stopgap measure to help run the Iraqi government and pay for basic services until a new Iraqi currency could be put into people's hands. In effect, the entire nation of Iraq needed walking-around money, and Washington mobilized to provide it.
Continue reading at Vanity Fair...Do Baby Girls Cause Divorce? (Ep. 135): Full Transcript
This is a transcript of the Freakonomics Radio podcast “Do Baby Girls Cause Divorce.”
[MUSIC: The Jaguars, “By By Mai Thai” (from The Jaguars)]
Enrico MORETTI: I’m Enrico Moretti and I’m a professor of economics at Berkeley.
Stephen J. DUBNER: Okay, very good. So Enrico, a listener wrote to us with a very, very straightforward questions which is this, “In marriages where a baby boy is born, is there less chance of the husband leaving the marriage?” So we can get into the details later, but can you…You know, economists are famous for never giving a yes or no answer to anything. I’m wondering if you can give us a yes or no answer to that question?
MORETTI: Yes, it’s an easy answer. And the answer is yes. Parents who |
talk about how to create organized change for the trans community. We need to create an actual community and not just a “community.” We need to stop the casual and active racism that pervades our discourse and we need to accept that trans women come in all sizes, shapes, colors, and narratives. No narrative is less or more valid. No sexual orientation is more or less valid. And goddammit, failing to meet Caucasian heterocentric beauty standards doesn’t make you less of a woman, no matter what Jennifer Usher (aka “Just Jennifer”, which you Google at your own risk!) says.
We’re making great strides in terms of rights and visibility, and the rising tide is lifting some boats. Trans women of color are still openly considered disposable by much of the community, but that has more to do with how race and color affect media in general in North America. And recently the truly awesome Trans 100 project dropped a list of real people and what they’re doing in our communities…you’ll note how there are a lot of communities absent, because there’s still no access to community for many if not most trans women in a lot of places. But what we need is what we’re constantly demanding of the rest of the LBGT community: unity. I’m not silly enough to think we agree on everything, or facile enough to believe there won’t always be tyrants within our midst, but we ned to establish goals and work to demand them. We need to work to spread access to accurate identification, to outlaw discrimination both in fact and by policy, and to be outraged about every one of us killed every time it happens, not one day a year. We need to uplift those who fight for all trans women, like Janet Mock, Cecilia Chung, Mia Tu Mutch, or Trudy Jackson (too awesome to be contained by a website) and talk about these folks. And how about trans guys who have our back all the time like Dr. Kortney Ryan Ziegler or Shannon Minter while we’re at it?
We’re making progress, people. We’re creating change even with the constraints we have! Do you realize how far-fetched it would have been had you found me in high school and told me that someday I’d be telling strangers I was trans? I would have stuck my chewing gum in your hair. You can say what you will about the Trans 100, but it’s an instrument of visibility, acceptance, hope, and love…and at least 80 out of 100 of those people are people leading the community forward. But you know how we can really move forward? Quit policing who is and isn’t allowed in “the community.” If you can be respectful of others and you’re trans, you belong in the community. If you want to keep cutting others down at the legs, you can stick to your angry little island. I’m sure “Just” Jennifer Usher and her 54 sock puppets would love the company.
I just wish I could wave a magic wand and make this happen, and it breaks my heart that none of us can as things stand. So for now, I’m going to go get four of those awful not-exactly-taco things ($1.98 for a full stomach, the poor girl’s best friend), spend 30 minutes wandering around either Wikipedia or Azeroth aimlessly, and go to sleep. And maybe, just maybe, you can tell me where do we go from here…
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Like this: Like Loading... RelatedAs warnings continue to be sounded about the bubble in China's housing market, real estate industry insiders are warning of another, but one that few people are aware of.
That bubble has formed in the market for urban complexes in second and third- tier cities. Urban complexes are modern developments covering large areas that usually bring together residential blocks, offices, shopping malls and entertainment facilities such as cinemas and clubs.
George Yeung, managing director in North China for Colliers International, said so many urban complexes have sprung up across the country that the market is almost at saturation point. Colliers International, based in Seattle, is one of the four biggest commercial property service companies in the world.
"If bubbles in residential properties burst, people can still sell them if the sticker price is low enough, because people always need a place to live," Yeung said. "But once the commercial property market crashes, nobody is willing to rent a shop that loses money every day, when there is no customer but accumulating rental and utility fees."
A report issued at a Chinese commercial real estate conference in Beijing this month suggested that the commercial property market in some second and third-tier cities has already shown signs of overheating. In the first half of the year, 4,496 plots of land for commercial purpose were sold, 53 percent more than in the corresponding period last year, it said.
Urban complexes account for a significant proportion of those sales. In Hohhot, in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region, more than 30 urban complexes are being built for an area whose population is only 3 million. The problems that those numbers present become clearer when you consider a rule of thumb in the industry: an urban complex can have a direct influence on about 300,000 residents, which means three or four complexes would be enough for a city with a population of 1 million.
However, mini-cities are also expensive to build: a single urban complex requires at least several billion yuan, so if it does not succeed, the results can be ruinous for investors.What makes the proposition even more challenging is that most of the property developers investing in urban complexes often have a common ambition: to attract top international brands such as Chanel and Gucci to set up shop in their complexes.
"I'm really concerned about whether China's consumption power can support the expansion of so many luxury brands," Yeung said. "Especially when the new leadership is cracking down on extravagant government expenditure. Previously, 70 percent of these top brands were bought as gifts to deal with guanxi - a term which loosely means "connections" - and I don't think the money was from the buyers' own pockets"
In addition, the property developers are in a poor bargaining position with the top brands and cannot expect them to pay top dollar to lease space, Yeung said. That is because the exclusive brands realize they have the pulling-power to draw shoppers to a mall, pulling-power the developers cannot do without. That reduces developers to the role of supplicants, willing to pay, even if begrudgingly, large sums to renovate grand stores for the most attractive tenants.
"It's just like McDonald's," Yeung said. "Wherever it goes, it brings a large crowd. So it is impossible to negotiate a good rent with it. And even if it signs a lease with you, it will not be for very long.
"But developers need to attract these brands to convince other less-influential brands. For instance, other fast-food brands will feel safe once they see McDonald's is there. Then you recoup from these brands the money you have lost to McDonald's."
Complicating matters for the developers is that even as they are trying to attract big, well-known brands for retail premises, they have to keep a close eye on how much money is coming in from the sale of residential blocks, keenly aware that the cash flow from leased office or shop space is notoriously slow. In the case of an average five-star hotel it takes more than 10 years to break even.
A typical case is Wanda Group, one of China's biggest property developers, which prefers to buy land in remote areas and build huge urban complexes. Instead of boasting fancy shops and international brands, these centers feature pleasant residential blocks with good supporting facilities.
"This strategy has been successful in quickly recouping investment," Yeung said. "But it also shows that urban complexes are still not really pulling in the kind of revenue commensurate with such big projects."
Unlike residential properties, whose prices always seem to be rising, commercial property is a lot less predictable, given the many variables that can affect the business, industry experts say. The shopping malls at the southern end of Chang'an Avenue in Beijing, which some reckon, seem fated never to enjoy good returns. That lack of optimism is borne out by facts and figures. In 2010, a high-end shopping mall, MaisonMode, from Hong Kong, closed for lack of custom; and while there are more than 30 malls in the northern stretch of Chang'an Avenue, there are fewer than 10 in the southern stretch.
Yang attributes this lack of success to a lack of convenient transport. another. But this is rarely seen in the "Many things can affect the operation of an urban complex, but the most crucial one is transport," Yeung said.Photo by Getty Images
Earlier this month, a 38-year-old single dad borrowed his son’s iPad and came across his Google search history. “A lot of the search terms were along the lines of ‘I’m gay, what now’,” wrote the dad on Reddit, going by the username HeMeYou. “He has seemed slightly down recently, as in, he isn’t as cheerful as he once was, and I desperately want to tell him that I love him regardless of which sexuality he is.”
The father, who makes clear in the post that he is “100% supportive,” was looking for advice on how to communicate that to his son. “What are my options? Should I wait for him to tell me? Or should I make a few hints at it?” he wonders.
STORY: Does My Kid Need Therapy?
Comments poured in, like this clever one from Redditor atomicsiren: “Google ‘how to tell my son I will love and support him no matter what’ and leave it in his search history.”
A few days later, the dad posted an update: “I started off with talking about general media with him, for instance I mentioned how awesome it was that Tim Cook (CEO of Apple) came out as being gay and I asked him what he thought about it and I was completely expecting him to give a typical teenager response like “yeah.. its good” or something like that but he actually gave me a detailed response which I absolutely loved because for the first time in a good while I’ve actually held a conversation with my son that felt really… rewarding,” he wrote.
STORY: What to Consider When Sharing Your Kids Online
The next day, after picking his son up from school, the dad asked his son if he had any crushes. “I wanted to make sure I didn’t say a gender when I asked him, so instead of ‘he’ or ‘she’ I used ‘they’,” he writes. At the end of the conversation, dad kept up the gender-blind speech, explaining to his son: “Well, whoever it is, they should be so lucky to have you as a boyfriend.”
His gentle, supportive prodding worked: Later that evening, at the dinner table, his son told him he was gay. “I looked at him and couldn’t help myself from smiling, and I told him ‘____, you know I love you so much… right?’ and I got up and gave him a huge hug,” he writes. “I had my arm around him and he was leaning his head on my chest, and all I could think of was that I’m the happiest father on earth right now.”
STORY: The New Face of Transgender Youth
The deep Reddit exchange, with a little help from BuzzFeed, has gone viral, and Twitter users have been weighing in with approval. “Having a proper little weep at this story,” tweeted one fan, with others called out the dad for being “awesome” and providing “probably (definitely) the best thing you’ll read today.” Another noted, “Hey world? THIS is how you nail parenting…”
Psychotherapist Jonathan Alpert, author of “Be Fearless: Change Your Life in 28 Days,” agrees this father did everything right when approaching his son. “He didn’t put any pressure on his son, he put a safe and nurturing environment for him to be honest,” Alpert tells Yahoo Parenting. “At 13, the body is going through so many changes and kids are in the throes of puberty. That by itself can cause someone’s mood to be all over the place and create some confusion. Kids that age might not know what they’re feeling, and that’s OK. This father created a safe and loving space for his son to feel comfortable.”This article is a part of a series based on 6 months as resident speaker at VideoBrains called A Psychogeography of Games. Psychogeography is a big chewy word put together by drunk French dudes in 1955 to talk about how the landscape of our lives affects how we feel, think and act. Here, I’m particularly interested in how the geography of our lives affects how we make games – the psychogeography of our games. So, in 2015, I’m going on a series of walks with some of my favourite game designers, in places that have affected how they think about what they make, and turning these into talks and articles.
This first piece is about a walk with Jake Elliott (Kentucky Route Zero [official site]). Except that because I don’t fly, the first walk happened in two different continents – we walked on the same day, on different continents, to similar places.
……………
It’s spring. A tall, blue, who-knows-if-it’s-coat-weather day.
The 14:03 to Dalston Junction arrives at 14:06.
I get off at Shoreditch High Street station. It’s a new build, all high concrete ceilings, vending machines shrunken by the width of the ticket hall. I frown at Boxpark and it’s popped up shops. Less than 200m on, a Tower Hamlets branded litterbin overflows, two homeless men talk, sat on a discarded mattress. My podcast long finished, I leave my headphones in.
I nearly walk past the entrance. It’s thresholded by expensive stores in subtle navy blue and I worry again that not knowing London well enough I’ve chosen a Disneyland of a market – Greenwich, Borough – but on entering I find cobbles. Stalls covered in sedimentary layers of knick knacks.
I breathe out.
……………
Jake and I talk over email to begin with. He explains that he lives just outside Elizabethtown, Kentucky. Kentucky is a large state – I type this and I think about the banality of that statement. I come from the second largest county in England, but I can cycle across it in less than half a day. Kentucky would take 30 hours, crossing 1 time zone.
Kentucky is largely flat farmland. There’s not really a way away from Jake’s house without using a car. His favourite place to walk is Peddler’s Mall, a flea market on the site of an old Walmart in Elizabethtown.
We decide that the walk we will go on, on the same day, will be through our local flea markets, I choose Spitalfields, he, Peddler’s Mall.
On the 2nd of April, on both sides of the Atlantic, we sift through the layers of pre-owned miscellany and choose 8 items between us, posting them to one another in the days following.
……………
11th of May, 10pm BST, 5pm Eastern Time. Skype.
Jake tells me about his wife driving them to the Peddler’s Mall – about hoping that their 3 year old will fall asleep on the way.
He tells me about the run down car park, weeds growing up between the concrete, the shell of a Walmart in which the Peddler’s Mall now sits. Each booth unmanned, items tagged with a unique serial number.
He talks to me about the landscape that stands strongest in his childhood – the redwoods of Sacramento, where his grandparents bought a place to make into an off-grid refuge, ready for the collapse of society.
I tell him about sitting at the kitchen table when I was 3 or 4, colouring in the contours of a map of Lincolnshire, red, yellow, green; where would flood when the ice melted.
He tells me of the 3-hour car journey from Elizabethtown to Nashville Tennessee with his wife and sister-in-law. He says “the landscape here is really amazing […] some of the more mountainous parts of it are just really intoxicating.” Jake explains that was the germ of the idea for the game was in this passenger journey: “travelling on these highways. […] A lot of the game feels like you’re a passenger, to me. […] You don’t know where you’re headed exactly, not just you, but the characters don’t know where they’re headed […] they accept when people tell them to go places, even kind of strange places”.
I think of sitting in the passenger seat of a mini. I think of leather bucket seats and the computer he and I built together, touchscreen nestled in the central pillar of the dashboard. I think of dark nights in Leicestershire, scrolling through Winamp, choosing soft electronic music voiced by Benjamin Gibbard. The sub that replaced the boot hums and I can smell the heat on our skin.
……………
The dialogue of Kentucky Route Zero kills me. It’s so delicate, so perfect, so evocative not just in the fact of it – in the elegance of the choice of it. Dialogue borrowed from the future, wandering a museum as you hear your choices remembered, reported by the people you encounter. Dialogue shifting between owners, the typical hero fizzes and fades, as you’re retuned to the angle of one of his co-adventurers.
The characterisation is pre-owned by the writer, Jake describes how it’s important for him not what the player chooses, but that they see the choices, all the ways of being the character the player guides.
I ask Jake if there’s a place that he thinks of, when he and Tamas talk about the Zero. He says: a 5 day bus trip from Seattle to New Orleans. Not a place exactly, but “It felt like [one], people would come and go, you would be on the bus with maybe the same 30, 40 people for a day and some of them would filter off as they reach their destination […] all these different overlapping trips, no regard for time of day […] it became this very surreal experience […] that’s how I feel about the Zero, you’re kind of half asleep, but very grounded, you’re still eating and going to the bathroom and negotiating other people’s boundaries, but dreamlike.”
I ask him what the taste of the Zero would be, and he says “gas station coffee – it’s been sitting there on a burner for 12 hours.”
……………
The people who came up with psychogeography also talked about détournement — a playful reclaiming of the edifices of capitalism, ways of joyfully re-making the world around us on our own terms. Play that asks ‘who says this is how we should do things?’ That recognises the absurdity that we accept as everyday, offers new absurdities.
Another French dude called Baudrillard talked in 1981 about the way the media replaces [what is] with [the way things appear], and that after a while we think about things as [the way they appear], and forget what they [actually are]. A moment becomes a photograph, a moment becomes a moment only if it is photographed.
In 1946 Hannah Arendt talked about the disrupted scale of the modern world – things “torn out of their functional context” – the city evicts us from a human scale, motor travel from a human pace, mobile phones and mp3 players from the need to seek immanent – nearby – human interaction. Contextless, we pass through “frictionless passageways designed as conduits or simply so vast or alien they have lost contact with human proportion”.
In Kentucky Route Zero, Xanadu says “it’s like a real place, they pick up garbage, they deliver mail, they go to work and to church… but it has an awful kind of emptiness”
The characters in Kentucky Route Zero aren’t only missing their functional context, they kind of forgot they were looking for it. They live lives of inbetween; delivery drivers, artists working desk jobs, boys who have lost their family, scientists tuning televisions in and out of static. All wandering a landscape of pre-used spaces.
Jake says that “a pretty consistent motif in the game [is] space that used to be something else, […] about the politics of reclaiming it, squatting [also] the mega-corporation side where a company will raze a neighbourhood and build something else […] — the battle between the human and the superhuman scale, […] And debt. Homelessness. Having been displaced from your home.”
The landscape of Kentucky Route Zero is heavy with the scale of the United States. But it’s also heavy with the landscape of our lives. Our generation’s lives. It’s Homer’s Odyssey for a generation who can’t remember a time before capitalism won. It’s debt, and mouldy whisky, transcendent gigs on sticky floors, computers that break you and are broken. It is the songs your parents and their friends used to sing, lost houses, forgetting that owning a house was a thing. It’s a contemporary homelessness: people you travel with and you feel you might travel with to the ends of the earth, until they are suddenly,
gone.
If you enjoy this work, you can help support it by backing me on Patreon (VideoBrains is brilliant, but unpaid, so any help you can offer is much appreciated, please also consider supporting VideoBrains, run by the super Jake Tucker).Image: iStock
The other day I discovered I had a new sense.
I was driving across the high plains in the north of Nevada, an empty landscape of hills and mountains, pockmarked by mines and illuminated by the occasional casino. There aren't many people there, in the empty country. Pickups roll by, flying "I am carrying explosives" flags, and the odd bullock sits at the side of the freeway, staring at the cars.
The emptiness meant that for much of the journey I was out of reach of a cellular network. Every now and then, as I drove around a small town or past a truck stop, I'd suddenly get a burst of data, and my inbox would get a trickle of email and social network notifications.
So where did the new sense come in?
For nearly a year now I've been wearing a smarter-than-average fitness wearable device. The Microsoft Band isn't a fully autonomous smartwatch, but it is a more than capable connected wristband. A haptic actuator in the band vibrates when messages arrive on my phone, letting me know that I can check them when I get to a rest area or a gas station.
Read this Microsoft Band is a game changer We’ve had the PC, and the smartphone, and then the tablet. Now we are entering a new era, that of the wearable. And Microsoft’s sudden and rather dramatic entrance into the market with the Band is set to be a game changer. Read More
That buzz on my wrist was a new sense in action: it let me know that I was in a pool of modern civilization, connected to the wider world, no longer in the bubble of car and iPod audiobooks that was carrying me from San Jose to the far side of Utah. It was a new sense that was a harbinger of an interesting tomorrow.
As we wear more and more devices, we're going to be living in a world where we gain more and more senses beyond the traditional five. Knowing I was in cellular coverage wasn't particularly useful; after all, I was driving down a desert freeway at 75 mph surrounded by trucks full of high explosives. Looking at my email wouldn't have been at all sensible. But it's an interesting example of where we're going with wearables and with haptics.
That's just one example from recent months. It's clear that this blend of sensors, the Internet of Things, and haptics is changing the way we interact with the world. It's not just my Band, and its interactions with my phone, it's devices like the Apple Watch sharing heartbeats across the network, and software like Cortana letting me build geo-fences around my world.
A friend paired my iPad with their smart door lock. Now I can just reach out and enter their home any time I'm visiting - unless of course they've revoked my access. The door glows blue to let me know I can turn the handle, and if I had an Apple Watch, I'd be able to use it instead. Even the rental car I'm driving in Silicon Valley is sending me signals, as my iPod connects to its Bluetooth and its wireless key fob unfolds the wing mirrors as I walk towards the door.
Combining these technologies with cloud services and intelligent assistants extends them further. Park a car in a street, photograph the meter, and give your phone instructions to remind you when your time is up: suddenly you're able to use an app to add a few minutes more to your parking if your meeting is over running. Similarly, you can tie your smart thermostat to your phone, so your home is the right temperature when you walk in through the door - while everything's been in low power mode while you were away from home, saving energy and money.
Mixing sensors on our bodies, in our homes, and in our devices is bringing about an intriguing, science-fiction-like world. This isn't tomorrow, this is today, all over the developed -- and the developing -- world. As we bridge the Internet of Things and our personal area networks, we're immersed in a sea of low power radio, linking us to our machines and linking our machines to us.
One month with the Apple Watch: Pain, joy, and daily experiences The Apple Watch Sport edition has been strapped on my wrist for a month and for the most part it has exceeded all of my expectations. It's even better now that I realized I was wearing it wrong. Read More
It's not hard to see a piece of software monitoring my wearables, letting me know that I should move. That's already a function of the Apple Watch, and anecdotes from Cupertino talk of meetings being interrupted by people getting up and walking around. From the other side of the machine and human divide, Amazon's Echo can be a hub for multiple devices, making Alexa a voice for the ambient computing environment in our homes.
We're only going to get more connected, with more haptic notifications from our wearables. Two buzzes as you walk to the door? Time to get your umbrella, as your local micro-forecast is showing a 65 per cent chance of rain in your walk to the train station. Three buzzes as you leave for lunch? There's a special on at Joe's Deli, and it's your favorite pasta. Another two when it's time for home? The cat is out of food and you need to pick some up on the way.
It might be stretching things to call these new senses, after all, as we're just bringing the existing sensor we have into a much more personal set of devices. But as we internalize our responses to these new stimuli, they're going to become something very like them. We'll know when the things that matter to us are happening, and we'll be able to affect them through our devices.
We are already cyborgs, on a road to a future where our machines complement our lives. It's up to us to make the best of the tomorrow we're building.
Read moreSpoilt rotten by my SS please wish you wernt so humbly anonumus. People this legend sent me SIX pairs of socks...let me just tell you im moving into a new place on my own with floor boards and this winter i will be kept warm sliding around like a cool cat dancing in awesome socks. They even got me awesome non slip ones and best of all!! I mentioned i love creeping out my co-workers by wearing over the top socks with very tame business suites/outfits...well im wearing the socks with kitty cat ears tomorrow....This sounds very tame but i work in insurance people! YAY snazy socks! If you can tell me something to prove ur my santa please do reveal yoself!! or mabye your just a real classy kid, ppl elf this sh*t up - for the sake of creeping out uptight co-workers!!! :)A self-styled octopus hunter is in hot water after he caught a cephalopod in Seattle's Puget Sound.
"I eat it for meat. It's no different than fishing," Dylan Mayer, 19, told KOMO. "It's just a different animal."
But many divers and others in the community see it differently. On November 1st, the Northwest Institute for Diving posted photos of Mayer's catch on their Facebook page, generating outcry surrounding the controversy.
Mayer's family released a statement to MyNorthwest that claims the teenager has received threats of violence after his name was made public and posted on various blogs and local media sites.
"Our families do not deserve to live in fear based on the threats that have been made," the statement said. "Please keep this issue in perspective. This was about a couple of young men that were going fishing for the day. Nothing more. Nothing less. They were not aware they were doing anything wrong."
Mayer's actions were completely legal, but some question whether Alki Beach was the best place to go octopus hunting.
"Duck hunting is legal. It's perfectly legal," diver Bob Bailey said. "Imagine how you would feel if, while you were enjoying these ducks in the park, someone walked up and shot them. That's very much analogous with how divers feel when someone pulls an octopus out of a popular site."
Mayer told KIRO radio he would not go hunting in that location in the future.
"I'm not gonna go there again," Mayer said. "That was a misunderstanding. I didn't know people were gonna get that mad. I didn't think they'd get mad at all."The decline of PC sales finally caught up with Microsoft, resulting in weak quarterly results that force Steve Ballmer to propose a radical change of direction
Last week's Monday Note focused on Microsoft's conversion from a divisional to a functional organisation. It resulted in interesting discussions in the comments section as well as in email exchanges and conversations around a couple of Valley watering holes. Some thought Microsoft's statements had the sincerity of a death-bed conversion, others pointed to the challenges in remaking a cricket team into a football squad, most expressed doubts about Microsoft's ability to successfully adapt to a world where the PC no longer reigns supreme.
On Thursday, Microsoft released its numbers for the quarter ending in June, the last of their 2013 fiscal year. They were not good. MSFT lost more than 11% the following day, taking its long-suffering partner HP (-4.5%) with it.
Wall Street's brutal dumping of the stock after "shockingly" bad news isn't surprising, but what should we make of the dogged complacency of the financial seers leading up to the announcement? Did they really not see this coming? Despite a historic five-quarter decline in PC sales, investors hadn't wavered in their belief that Microsoft would find ways to compensate for plummeting Windows + Office profits.
Perhaps I ought to have written cronyism instead of complacency, above. Before the SEC frowned on the excesses of "managed earnings", Microsoft was famous, and comfortable, for always emerging just a penny above its wink-and-nudge guidance. To pull off this funambulist exploit, the company shuffled money in and out of the Unearned Revenue cupboard and other reserves. To paraphrase the old saying, You Didn't Get Fired For Owning Microsoft.
If you think the accusation of cronyism is too strong, take a stroll through the latest earnings call transcript, courtesy of Morningstar, especially the Q&A section. With such an earnings surprise, you'd expect Wall Streeters to inflict company execs with combative questioning and probing follow-ups; you'd look for Steve Ballmer to be front and centre, explaining and hectoring. Instead, we have Amy Hood, the newly appointed (but very experienced) CFO, parrying deferential questions (and very few follow-ups) with mind-numbing answers such as this one:
I think I feel good. I think in some ways the reorg we announced last week along with our increased focus and our single strategy has allowed us to really look and say what are the things we're going to put behind and focus and to improve our execution and so I feel quite good about our ability to do that. And you have heard us say before many of the reasons we did this reorg are about doing things better and more efficiently.
Pity the long-suffering analyst … and if their suffering continues, perhaps we should expect Ballmer himself to show up at the late September analyst indoctrination event in Redmond.
The Microsoft surprise, dubbed by TechCrunch its biggest drop of the century, has infused the discussions of the company's future, what Ballmer will do with his new organisation now that the Redmond Giant (finally!) seems to be aware that it's playing catch up in a post-PC era.
As luck would have it, I got hold of a draft of Ballmer's memo to a small group of Microsoft execs. I can't vouch for its authenticity – it was "regifted" through a series of contacts, friends and foes of old OS wars – but I hope you'll find it interesting:
[Confidential – Burn Before Reading]
From: Steve Ballmer
To: Microsoft Leadership Team - Do not Distribute
Date: July 20, 2013, 6 a.m.
Subject: Windows Mobile 9
It's time for me to confess a serious strategic mistake – and to ask for your commitment to change course and breathe new life into our legacy business.
This is about tablets.
Our own unsuccessful attempts to enter the tablet market (Windows for Pen Computing in 1991, and the Tablet PC in 2002) lured us into thinking there was "no there there". Because of this, we downplayed the impact of a new wave of devices from Apple and Android licensees.
Neither our PR campaign to negate the advent of a post-PC era nor Frank Shaw's valiant efforts to position the new devices as "PC Companions" has had any effect on the market. We even leveraged our long and cosy relationship with IDC and Gartner and got these to firms to create a dismissive category label for these new machines: media-consumption tablets – with the clear implication that they were unsuitable for business uses. All these exertions were for naught. For five consecutive quarters, we've watched PC sales decrease and tablet shipments skyrocket.
This has become a significant threat to the very foundation of our business model.
For more than two decades, the Windows + Office tandem has been a source of incredible power and wealth, it has enhanced the life of more than a billion users and has allowed our company to expand into other high-margin enterprise products and services.
For all these years, we scrupulously followed McKinsey's "not a Single Crack In The Wall" advice, we've managed to successfully Embrace and Extend each and every possible threat to the Windows + Office combo.
While we initially underestimated these new tablets, their threat soon became obvious and we started thinking of ways to protect our franchise.
That's when I took the company in the wrong direction.
To prevent these tablets from penetrating the Office market, I followed our Embrace and Extend strategy and endorsed the creation of hybrid software and hardware: The dual-mode (Desktop and Touch UI) Windows 8 and Surface tablets.
The results are in. Windows 8 hasn't taken the market by storm. The Windows 8 tablets manufactured by our hardware partners are sitting in warehouses. We just took a $900m write-off on our RT tablets, now on fire-sale.
It doesn't matter who actually proposed or implemented the failed strategy, I endorsed it. What matters most – the only thing that matters – is what we're going to do now.
I have a plan. It's conceptually simple but I won't sugarcoat the situation. It will be extremely difficult to execute, particularly given the urgency.
First, I am tasking Terry Myerson, our EVP Operating Systems, with creating Windows Mobile 9, a tablet-capable version of Windows Phone 8 that will serve all of our mobile products. Until last week's reorg, Terry was leading our Windows Phone group and is therefore ideally suited to the new task.
Qi Lu, EVP Applications and Services, will work with Tim to deliver a full, real Windows Mobile Office without the limitations imposed by RT. And, in keeping with our strategic need to spread Office everywhere and to provide the widest base for our on-line Office 365, Qi Lu will also produce Office versions for Android and iOS platforms.
Moving to hardware, we cannot rely on Nokia and other hardware partners to create enough momentum for this new platform, so I've asked our JLG (Julie Larson-Green) to develop first-party mobile devices – a Microsoft smartphone and a Microsoft tablet – that run Windows Mobile 9. The use of the somewhat damaged Surface name for these products will be evaluated as we go.
Everyone else in the company, from Operations to Evangelism, from HR to Finance is expected to give their full support to this most urgent, most vital initiative. In particular, our most recent hire, Mark Penn, EVP Advertising and Strategy, is tasked to come up with the right narrative for the strategic transition to Windows Mobile 9. Earned in unforgiving Washington politics, Mark's long experience with complicated situations will help us navigate the troubled media waters ahead of us.
I know you love this company as much as I do. Thanks for pouring all your energy into this effort.
Steve
I know I didn't fool anyone with this apocryphal memo. While it could be viewed as satirical, it's actually deadly (that's the right word) serious. And it raises serious questions.
First, there's the small matter of implementation. To mangle Brooks's law, nine engineers can't gestate an operating system (or an Office Suite) in one month. Coming up with a "sincere" tablet OS and the corresponding Office version will take time, time during which Android and iOS tablets will continue to cannibalise PCs – and gain hardware and software muscle. This leads to the inevitable question: has Microsoft arrived too late to the tablet feast?
Then there's the question of price and its impact on Microsoft's financials. Software on today's tablets is either free, or priced at a fraction of its desktop PC equivalent. (In retrospect, significantly lower prices for tablet software might have played a role in Microsoft's "safe" decision to stick with a PC/tablet hybrid.) If they go the real tablet route, Ballmer and co will have to tell shareholders to expect lower numbers, even if Office 365 subscriptions partially compensate for the loss in Windows licences and conventional desktop software.
Another thought arises from Ballmer's (actual, not mythical) reference to "first-party devices", meaning smartphones and tablets made by (for) Microsoft and sold by the company, whether through its own stores, its intramural booths at the likes of best buy, or through more conventional retail channels. The math could be attractive: 30% gross margin on a $ |
. Tror jag ska ta o bygga mej en sån själv så att jag verkligen kan visa hur kraftig en liten mega är.
Hur lång tid tog det att implementera?
Återigen riktigt snyggt!
Anonymous
Sun 4-Jan-2009 16:53 Awsome work!
I really loved this piece of Art when I saw it first, and I'm still in love. Being an Electrical Engineer I smile like hell when I see this demo. :))
Only one bug report:
This should be 31496 Hz, or 31.496 kHz I think:
""Sound is generated during the horizontal blanking periods. That gives a sample rate of 31496 kHz.""
Cheers....
NTAmi
lft
Linus Åkesson
Thu 8-Jan-2009 20:13 Only one bug report:
This should be 31496 Hz, or 31.496 kHz I think
Well spotted! I've fixed it now. Thanks! Well spotted! I've fixed it now. Thanks!
Anonymous
Wed 14-Jan-2009 16:41 WOW! You guys are just sick! Amazing!
Best Regards
Ruben Täufer
Germany
Anonymous
Wed 14-Jan-2009 23:30 I cannot decompress lft_craft_src.tar.gz on XP.
How can it be decompressed?
Any help would be appreciated.
Anonymous
Fri 16-Jan-2009 00:47 I cannot decompress lft_craft_src.tar.gz on XP.
How can it be decompressed?
Any help would be appreciated.
Download winRAR or 7-zip =) Download winRAR or 7-zip =)
Anonymous
Tue 24-Feb-2009 02:17 I'm pretty bad at analogue electronics but you write in the description that the red,green and blue lines vary between ground and 0.7V. But when i look at the ladder in your ascii schematics for for example red (PC4, PC5) i would have thought that when both is set to 1 (5V) you get 3.75V? Am i missing something?
lft
Linus Åkesson
Mon 2-Mar-2009 08:31 I'm pretty bad at analogue electronics but you write in the description that the red,green and blue lines vary between ground and 0.7V. But when i look at the ladder in your ascii schematics for for example red (PC4, PC5) i would have thought that when both is set to 1 (5V) you get 3.75V? Am i missing something?
Yeah, actually I think there's something strange going on, because I realize I haven't connected the AVcc pin, which powers port C according to the datasheet. So presumably port C is severely current limited. When you calculate signal levels, you have to take into account the input impedance of the VGA monitor (75 Ohm), but that still gives you a signal range from ground to 1.27 V, which is clearly out of spec. The proper theoretical value for R would be 460 Ohm. Anyway, I learned the hard way in another project: Always connect AVcc! Yeah, actually I think there's something strange going on, because I realize I haven't connected the AVcc pin, which powers port C according to the datasheet. So presumably port C is severely current limited. When you calculate signal levels, you have to take into account the input impedance of the VGA monitor (75 Ohm), but that still gives you a signal range from ground to 1.27 V, which is clearly out of spec. The proper theoretical value for R would be 460 Ohm. Anyway, I learned the hard way in another project: Always connect AVcc!
Anonymous
Thu 12-Mar-2009 07:10 Class! I try to create that or like..... The Author of the site many thanks and respect from Russia!
Anonymous
Sat 28-Mar-2009 23:52 One more respect to Author from Russia!!! Linus is a genius!
Anonymous
Fri 3-Apr-2009 10:14 I'm thinking how to change it in to a "graphic&sound card".
How to force it to display data from UART (or other interface).
Anyway, awsome work. I'm highly impressed.
I apologize for my English.
Anonymous
Wed 8-Apr-2009 13:23 This is sweet!
It kicks ass!
Anonymous
Thu 9-Apr-2009 03:32 Hi
I have some questions. This is really one of the most amazing things i have seen, and since you have uploaded the source and schematics i wanted to build my own copy of your demo board to see if it actually works. (I REALLY want to see it with my own eyes and show it to my friends)
So,
I have an atmega168 lying around, which almost is identical to atmega88, but with more flash. My board is ready and built according to your ASCII description, but I can't make it work for some reason. Im quite new to microcontrollers and im not familiar enough with assembler to understand most of your code (I have tried for hours, really). Linux is my main OS and i have avr-gcc, avrdude, the build-essential metapackage and so on installed, so compiling your sources went without problems. The hex-file is uploaded and the fuses are set as you described. But as mentioned, it does not work.. there is no signal on any pin.
I think this is because the source is unchanged, and written for atmega88, so there are most likely some things that need to be changed in order to run it on atmega168, but i dont even know where to start. Usually i use eclipse with the avr plugin, so i dont really know how most things actually work. Here is a comparision between atmega48, 88 and 168: http://www.atmel.com/dyn/resources/prod_documents/doc2554.pdf
Would you pleeease help me getting started, i really want to make this work. I will upload my eagle schematics and board layout once im sure it works, together with the atmega168 hex file in case someone is interested.
Anonymous
Wed 22-Apr-2009 09:41 amazing work man, the sounds of your demo brought me back to my youth playing games on ancient hardware :D
Anonymous
Thu 23-Apr-2009 03:13 lft wrote: the author should have drawn schematic more legibily using some circuit drawing software instead of this lousy ascii patterns
arun -
India
If you want to, feel free to draw the schematic using such a program, and I'll put it on the page. If you want to, feel free to draw the schematic using such a program, and I'll put it on the page.
I will take this up.
Ill draw it in eagle I will take this up.Ill draw it in eagle
Anonymous
Thu 23-Apr-2009 05:16 lft wrote: the author should have drawn schematic more legibily using some circuit drawing software instead of this lousy ascii patterns
arun -
India
If you want to, feel free to draw the schematic using such a program, and I'll put it on the page. If you want to, feel free to draw the schematic using such a program, and I'll put it on the page.
I will take this up.
Ill draw it in eagle I will take this up.Ill draw it in eagle
Finished!
I replaced the pnp transistor with a P-Mosfet
I can Make the PCBS for these, but they will cost about $40-$60 a board fully assembled.
I used axle resistors and diodes in the schematic
Here is the schematic: http://dump.no/files/de4e5c2db4de/craft-sch.7z
In it is a High Contrast and Low Contrast Image of the Schematic, Also an Eagle CAD schematic file.
Eagle CAD is Freeware, many people use it: http://www.cadsoft.de/
Enjoy :3 Finished!I replaced the pnp transistor with a P-MosfetI can Make the PCBS for these, but they will cost about $40-$60 a board fully assembled.I used axle resistors and diodes in the schematicHere is the schematic: http://dump.no/files/de4e5c2db4de/craft-sch.7zIn it is a High Contrast and Low Contrast Image of the Schematic, Also an Eagle CAD schematic file.Eagle CAD is Freeware, many people use it: http://www.cadsoft.de/Enjoy :3
Anonymous
Thu 23-Apr-2009 05:24 Hi
I have some questions. This is really one of the most amazing things i have seen, and since you have uploaded the source and schematics i wanted to build my own copy of your demo board to see if it actually works. (I REALLY want to see it with my own eyes and show it to my friends)
So,
I have an atmega168 lying around, which almost is identical to atmega88, but with more flash. My board is ready and built according to your ASCII description, but I can't make it work for some reason. Im quite new to microcontrollers and im not familiar enough with assembler to understand most of your code (I have tried for hours, really). Linux is my main OS and i have avr-gcc, avrdude, the build-essential metapackage and so on installed, so compiling your sources went without problems. The hex-file is uploaded and the fuses are set as you described. But as mentioned, it does not work.. there is no signal on any pin.
I think this is because the source is unchanged, and written for atmega88, so there are most likely some things that need to be changed in order to run it on atmega168, but i dont even know where to start. Usually i use eclipse with the avr plugin, so i dont really know how most things actually work. Here is a comparision between atmega48, 88 and 168: http://www.atmel.com/dyn/resources/prod_documents/doc2554.pdf
Would you pleeease help me getting started, i really want to make this work. I will upload my eagle schematics and board layout once im sure it works, together with the atmega168 hex file in case someone is interested.
My guess is the registries for the timer interrupts are different on the 88 then the 168.
You should see some signals on the pins tough.
Read the atmeag168 manual and the atmega88 manual
Look at the registries on the chips
Compare them, to what he is setting in code, make changes...
here is my email: (godberg[at]gmail{Dot}com)
I am also the one who posted the eagle schematic...
I'll help you out. My guess is the registries for the timer interrupts are different on the 88 then the 168.You should see some signals on the pins tough.Read the atmeag168 manual and the atmega88 manualLook at the registries on the chipsCompare them, to what he is setting in code, make changes...here is my email: (godberg[at]gmail{Dot}com)I am also the one who posted the eagle schematic...I'll help you out.
Anonymous
Mon 4-May-2009 02:31 Hi
I have some questions. This is really one of the most amazing things i have seen, and since you have uploaded the source and schematics i wanted to build my own copy of your demo board to see if it actually works. (I REALLY want to see it with my own eyes and show it to my friends)
So,
I have an atmega168 lying around, which almost is identical to atmega88, but with more flash. My board is ready and built according to your ASCII description, but I can't make it work for some reason. Im quite new to microcontrollers and im not familiar enough with assembler to understand most of your code (I have tried for hours, really). Linux is my main OS and i have avr-gcc, avrdude, the build-essential metapackage and so on installed, so compiling your sources went without problems. The hex-file is uploaded and the fuses are set as you described. But as mentioned, it does not work.. there is no signal on any pin.
I think this is because the source is unchanged, and written for atmega88, so there are most likely some things that need to be changed in order to run it on atmega168, but i dont even know where to start. Usually i use eclipse with the avr plugin, so i dont really know how most things actually work. Here is a comparision between atmega48, 88 and 168: http://www.atmel.com/dyn/resources/prod_documents/doc2554.pdf
Would you pleeease help me getting started, i really want to make this work. I will upload my eagle schematics and board layout once im sure it works, together with the atmega168 hex file in case someone is interested.
My guess is the registries for the timer interrupts are different on the 88 then the 168.
You should see some signals on the pins tough.
Read the atmeag168 manual and the atmega88 manual
Look at the registries on the chips
Compare them, to what he is setting in code, make changes...
here is my email: (godberg[at]gmail{Dot}com)
I am also the one who posted the eagle schematic...
I'll help you out. My guess is the registries for the timer interrupts are different on the 88 then the 168.You should see some signals on the pins tough.Read the atmeag168 manual and the atmega88 manualLook at the registries on the chipsCompare them, to what he is setting in code, make changes...here is my email: (godberg[at]gmail{Dot}com)I am also the one who posted the eagle schematic...I'll help you out.
Thanks for the reply!
I tried compiling it for the atmega 168 and it did not work. The problem seems to be related to many relative branch instructions. They did not work with 16 kb memory in some places for some reason. I tried simply replacing them with jmp instructions, but that seems to consume too many clock cycles, so the timing was way off after that. The registers used by this project however seemed to be the same on both mcus.
Well, i have replaced the atmega168 with an atmega88, and now it works perfectly!
Another thing i was thinking about is the way the sound is generated. As one 8-bit timer is free it should be possible to generate sound by running the timer in fast pwm with no prescale and simply adjusting the duty cycle by writing to OCRXX for the timer. Then the output from the OCXX pin for the timer could be used to simulate the analog sound value with a 78 kHz frequency with variable duty cycle. Doing this would be easier in software and much easier in hardware as one of the DA-converters is not needed any more, and i think it would give almost the same sound. Thanks for the reply!I tried compiling it for the atmega 168 and it did not work. The problem seems to be related to many relative branch instructions. They did not work with 16 kb memory in some places for some reason. I tried simply replacing them with jmp instructions, but that seems to consume too many clock cycles, so the timing was way off after that. The registers used by this project however seemed to be the same on both mcus.Well, i have replaced the atmega168 with an atmega88, and now it works perfectly!Another thing i was thinking about is the way the sound is generated. As one 8-bit timer is free it should be possible to generate sound by running the timer in fast pwm with no prescale and simply adjusting the duty cycle by writing to OCRXX for the timer. Then the output from the OCXX pin for the timer could be used to simulate the analog sound value with a 78 kHz frequency with variable duty cycle. Doing this would be easier in software and much easier in hardware as one of the DA-converters is not needed any more, and i think it would give almost the same sound.
Anonymous
Wed 3-Jun-2009 07:04 Awesome.
Just awesome.
I don't have any other words.
Anonymous
Sat 6-Jun-2009 21:08 Wow!
I am really impressed!
Need to learn some assembler, i think....
Enleth
Mon 8-Jun-2009 22:53 Hello,
first, I must say that I'm really in awe, and that reading the craft source code was possibly the most educational AVR experience I've ever had.
However, I've got a problem with getting my own copy to work - basically, the video is there, perfectly stable and all correct, but there's no sound. I've already octuple-checked (is that even a word?) all the connections, resistor values, polarity of the capacitor and so on, and still I've got no clue as to why wouldn't it work. There's a silent "knock" in the speakers when the microcontroller kicks in after reset, some interference from the video signal can be heard (the sound fluctuates with the "waves" in the opening screen and changes completely witch each screen), but absolutely no signs of music - and, most importantly, the "analyzer" screen (the one with a 3D cube and Manderbolt) indeed shows the vertical stripes completely motionless (save for the moment when they slide off to make more space for the cube).
I'm using a new ATmega88, with the fuses programmed correctly (well, the video wouldn't be there otherwise), and the circuit was built on a breadboard.
Any hints?
Anonymous
Tue 9-Jun-2009 23:43 Enleth wrote: Hello,
first, I must say that I'm really in awe, and that reading the craft source code was possibly the most educational AVR experience I've ever had.
However, I've got a problem with getting my own copy to work - basically, the video is there, perfectly stable and all correct, but there's no sound. I've already octuple-checked (is that even a word?) all the connections, resistor values, polarity of the capacitor and so on, and still I've got no clue as to why wouldn't it work. There's a silent "knock" in the speakers when the microcontroller kicks in after reset, some interference from the video signal can be heard (the sound fluctuates with the "waves" in the opening screen and changes completely witch each screen), but absolutely no signs of music - and, most importantly, the "analyzer" screen (the one with a 3D cube and Manderbolt) indeed shows the vertical stripes completely motionless (save for the moment when they slide off to make more space for the cube).
I'm using a new ATmega88, with the fuses programmed correctly (well, the video wouldn't be there otherwise), and the circuit was built on a breadboard.
Any hints? Hello,first, I must say that I'm really in awe, and that reading the craft source code was possibly the most educational AVR experience I've ever had.However, I've got a problem with getting my own copy to work - basically, the video is there, perfectly stable and all correct, but there's no sound. I've already octuple-checked (is that even a word?) all the connections, resistor values, polarity of the capacitor and so on, and still I've got no clue as to why wouldn't it work. There's a silent "knock" in the speakers when the microcontroller kicks in after reset, some interference from the video signal can be heard (the sound fluctuates with the "waves" in the opening screen and changes completely witch each screen), but absolutely no signs of music - and, most importantly, the "analyzer" screen (the one with a 3D cube and Manderbolt) indeed shows the vertical stripes completely motionless (save for the moment when they slide off to make more space for the cube).I'm using a new ATmega88, with the fuses programmed correctly (well, the video wouldn't be there otherwise), and the circuit was built on a breadboard.Any hints?
Hi
I have also rebuilt craft, and it works perfectly for me. I think you forgot to program the eeprom from eeprom.raw. I tried uploading flash.hex only, and i got the same behaviour you described.
Try downloading both flash.hex and eeprom.raw to the avr, and it should work. I'm using AVRDude from the command line, and i noticed i have to upload both files at the same time. If you are using AVRISP mkii with avrdude, try something like
<code>
avrdude -c avrispmkII -P usb -p m88 -e -U flash:w:test.hex -U eeprom:w:eeprom.raw
</code>
I'm not sure the command above is 100% correct, but i think it works.
Good luck! HiI have also rebuilt craft, and it works perfectly for me. I think you forgot to program the eeprom from eeprom.raw. I tried uploading flash.hex only, and i got the same behaviour you described.Try downloading both flash.hex and eeprom.raw to the avr, and it should work. I'm using AVRDude from the command line, and i noticed i have to upload both files at the same time. If you are using AVRISP mkii with avrdude, try something like avrdude -c avrispmkII -P usb -p m88 -e -U flash:w:test.hex -U eeprom:w:eeprom.raw I'm not sure the command above is 100% correct, but i think it works.Good luck!
Enleth
Fri 12-Jun-2009 18:58 I think you forgot to program the eeprom from eeprom.raw. I tried uploading flash.hex only, and i got the same behaviour you described.
You got it right there - thanks. As always, the problem is both in the most obvious and the most obscure place at the same time.
Now, it works perfectly. You got it right there - thanks. As always, the problem is both in the most obvious and the most obscure place at the same time.Now, it works perfectly.
Anonymous
Sat 25-Jul-2009 18:24 Really impressive work! Found you during research for PAL Signals...
Anonymous
Wed 29-Jul-2009 23:54 Man you rocks!!! Reminded me oldschool times.
Anonymous
Mon 7-Sep-2009 14:41 one of the most powerfull projects i've ever seen!
i'm just fooling around with one square wave and a rgb led...
Anonymous
Fri 2-Oct-2009 01:59 Hi
I have rebuilt craft for the second time this evening, and i wanted to contribute with something as this project is amazing and i really appreciate the effort of making it open source. I have made a PCB using the open source software KiCad under Linux. Here is a link to the files needed to recreate it (most components are smd, but making this by hand should be easy as the resistors and capacitors are 0805 and the pcb is single-sided):
http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/1026013/Projects/Craft_PCB.zip
Included are the KiCad project files and some other files:
* 3d rendering of the top and bottom of the PCB as jpg.
* The schematic as ps and pdf.
* The copper layer as ps and pdf.
* The copper silkscreen as ps and pdf.
* The component silkscreen as ps and pdf.
The board is 48mm x 55mm.
Hope this helps someone, feel free to use it however you like. I could make the pcb smaller, but i did not have much time as i made everything this afternoon/evening.
Linus, feel free to add these files to the download section and to use the included schematic in the description if you like, as it is a bit easier to read than the ascii one.
Anonymous
Thu 26-Nov-2009 15:21 Should be even easier with the XMEGA which has multiple SPI channels + DMA.
lft
Linus Åkesson
Thu 26-Nov-2009 16:56 Should be even easier with the XMEGA which has multiple SPI channels + DMA.
True, but "easier" was not my intention. =) True, but "easier" was not my intention. =)
hobgoblin
Ashley Fraser
Wed 9-Dec-2009 16:21 You sir are a genius, this has got to be the most impressive display I have ever seen on an 8 bit MCU, hell it's better than what I've seen some (most) much more powerful MCUs do.
I happened upon this page accidently as I have been spending the entire day trying to find enough documentation to do some VGA stuff and I have to say that I am glad I did, you made my day.
Anonymous
Sun 13-Dec-2009 10:32 Hey, great project. I've cloned your PCB but the Video doesn't work. Seems like Sync is broken. I've tried this with three monitors. Any idea? The colors seem to be right (they change) but no real video signal is visible.
Anonymous
Sun 13-Dec-2009 10:37 Another strange thing is: The music does only play if the monitor is connected..
Anonymous
Tue 15-Dec-2009 12:57 After circuit analysis I've found out that the 0V peak at the VGA-Sync Signals is acually at circa 1.7V. Are there any Port registers wrong and Pins not defined as output?
lft
Linus Åkesson
Mon 21-Dec-2009 10:27 After circuit analysis I've found out that the 0V peak at the VGA-Sync Signals is acually at circa 1.7V. Are there any Port registers wrong and Pins not defined as output?
There is a known error, namely that AVcc has been left floating in my design. Since AVcc powers port C, this will cause current limiting on the RGB outputs.
However, I haven't had any trouble with the sync levels. Have you verified that there are no cuts or shorts? There is a known error, namely that AVcc has been left floating in my design. Since AVcc powers port C, this will cause current limiting on the RGB outputs.However, I haven't had any trouble with the sync levels. Have you verified that there are no cuts or shorts?
Anonymous
Tue 12-Jan-2010 11:27 So very good - keep up the good work
-Dingo_aus
Anonymous
Tue 19-Jan-2010 02:03 And there I was playing away on my Arduino; happy to get 32 leds to flash in the correct sequence.
Exceptional work. Well done!
Anonymous
Mon 5-Apr-2010 00:51 Adorable work!
One question: I also tried using the MOSI pin to generate a video signal, but after the 8th bit is shifted out, the MOSI line stays high for a short time, before the next byte gets shifted out. How did you solve this?
Markus
lft
Linus Åkesson
Tue 6-Apr-2010 15:47 I also tried using the MOSI pin to generate a video signal, but after the 8th bit is shifted out, the MOSI line stays high for a short time, before the next byte gets shifted out. How did you solve this?
I decided to live with it. The MOSI trick is used when displaying text, either statically or in the sine scroller. In the font, every character is eight pixels wide, and the extra delay after the eighth bit forms the space between characters. The pin is connected to the video signal in such a way as to make it white when low and transparent when high. I decided to live with it. The MOSI trick is used when displaying text, either statically or in the sine scroller. In the font, every character is eight pixels wide, and the extra delay after the eighth bit forms the space between characters. The pin is connected to the video signal in such a way as to make it white when low and transparent when high.
Anonymous
Sun 13-Jun-2010 05:09 Could you please make a parts list? I know the schematics include all parts, but still, it would make it easier to acquire all components.
Anonymous
Thu 17-Jun-2010 22:14 Hi, i have a little problem here with craft. some colours doesn't seem to be the correct ones, cyan is missing in the plasma (showing another shade of blue instead) or the first tunnel isn't coloured red and white (it's purple and violet) for an example. any idea? i checked the hardware a few times and it looks ok.
lft
Linus Åkesson
Tue 22-Jun-2010 19:29 Hi, i have a little problem here with craft. some colours doesn't seem to be the correct ones, cyan is missing in the plasma (showing another shade of blue instead) or the first tunnel isn't coloured red and white (it's purple and violet) for an example. any idea? i checked the hardware a few times and it looks ok.
Did you connect AVcc? In the original design, AVcc was left floating (by mistake), and this probably affects the amount of current that can be sourced from PORTC. Otherwise I really don't know. Did you connect AVcc? In the original design, AVcc was left floating (by mistake), and this probably affects the amount of current that can be sourced from PORTC. Otherwise I really don't know.
Anonymous
Fri 25-Jun-2010 13:21 lft wrote: Did you connect AVcc? In the original design, AVcc was left floating (by mistake), and this probably affects the amount of current that can be sourced from PORTC. Otherwise I really don't know. Did you connect AVcc? In the original design, AVcc was left floating (by mistake), and this probably affects the amount of current that can be sourced from PORTC. Otherwise I really don't know.
At first I also connected the AVcc Pin, but then I disconnected it again since I found out that there's something wrong with the colours and I thought it could have something to do with AVcc but disconnecting it didn't change anything.
Anyway I also don't know what's the Problem here but I let you know what's wrong when I get it solved. At first I also connected the AVcc Pin, but then I disconnected it again since I found out that there's something wrong with the colours and I thought it could have something to do with AVcc but disconnecting it didn't change anything.Anyway I also don't know what's the Problem here but I let you know what's wrong when I get it solved.
Anonymous
Tue 20-Jul-2010 14:25 Sinistra (sinistra92)
This is really amazing,
I am into digital electronics as well, therefore it's a mine of information for me.
Thank you for such a great avr project.
Anonymous
Fri 23-Jul-2010 11:08 Im surprised you did'nt build the screen yourself too.
Hate to admit it, but the only word I can think of: awesome!
Anonymous
Fri 23-Jul-2010 18:48 I am quite amazed, not only is your build incredible, the music is actually really awesome, props from me ;)
Anonymous
Mon 9-Aug-2010 14:45 Wow, this is way up there on my favorites list. True blue ribbon winner project. Excellent use of additional capabilities shift register.
The best I have seen so far video & audio with AVR with such minimal parts and no overclocking...
I'd wait for this to download over 300bps, :P
Anonymous
Sun 24-Oct-2010 05:32 For all you guys interested in prototyping your circuits on this kind of PCBs (often called "perfboards"), a quick google search gave me this two links:
DIY Layout Creator (written in Java -> Free)
http://www.synthdiy.com/show/?id=2489
Lochmaster
http://www.abacom-online.de/html/lochmaster.html
I'm currently testing Lochmaster, and I must say that it's way better than nothing. It is certainly limited but one shouldn't wish a full-featured suite for simple circuit prototyping.
These two taken from this site:
http://www.sphere.ws/blog/?p=139
I hope this links are useful.
- Netshark
Anonymous
Wed 3-Nov-2010 12:17 Hi linus good work!!!!
can i get the correct schematic as i a a begineer to micro controller i am unable to get the schematic which u have did in text format. i read the comments someone has given the schematic in eagle format but unfotunately io didnt found that. so can u or anyone else mail me the schematic
My mail id is azhar.karnalkar@gmail.com
thanks in advance. and a great work man.
Anonymous
Sat 13-Nov-2010 19:39 Way to go Linus! I really love the both the audio and video.
Just so you know, Craft is now the ringtone of my cellphone and Turbulence is the alarm tone :-)
Anonymous
Tue 7-Dec-2010 05:45 I'm thinking that you are not human.
And i am scared when i realize that 'bad' programming a modern processor to do the same thing can probably waste 100 times the same energy. buh...!!!
thank you!
i'm italian so i can't speak/write in good english. eheh bye.
Anonymous
Sat 18-Dec-2010 00:41 Hey, youre awesome!
And the Soundtrack of Craft is beautiful :)
Anonymous
Wed 29-Dec-2010 11:25 its really W O N D E R F U L)))) very nice
I am addicted to needlework and crafting too....check it out my site http://www.oxima-homemade.com/en.html
Anonymous
Fri 28-Jan-2011 04:16 all I can say is WOW
Anonymous
Sat 29-Jan-2011 22:08 Amazing! It sounds exactly like AY8910/12 chip in famous ZX Spectrum.
Anonymous
Tue 22-Feb-2011 16:09 Dude, you are awesome, I'm really amazed! Keep on creating amazing stuff like this!!
Anonymous
Sun 5-Jun-2011 09:01 Linus the names of 2 people very good with computers
Anonymous
Tue 12-Jul-2011 13:16 Fantastic project Linus, very inspiring. I have a spare '88 somewhere so I think I'm going to build one. Many thanks for sharing!
Anonymous
Tue 26-Jul-2011 03:40 Really impressive. I'll be showing this to friends at KTH (kth.se), and probably build one or two. On my main lab board I have an AT90USB chip, which has to run at 16MHz to support USB, so I'd guess that means lower horizontal resolution. I think an Xmega could be really impressive, using its DMA engine to output high resolution colour signals.
-- Yann Vernier / LoneTech
Anonymous
Tue 26-Jul-2011 03:42 lft wrote:... would it be possible to create some kind of simple vga-driver for the MEGA88 in a way that you can set some graphic elements on the screen using a I²C or RS232 interface?
What I would like to see is a lib for the MEGA8. We just flash it and can do the following for example:
- setPixel(x,y,color)
- setCircle(x,y,radius, color, bfill)
- setText(x,y,cString, color,...)
- other handy stuff
Hi! The main problem with this approach is that the chip would have to keep track of a frame buffer. 1 kB of RAM is not a lot. Even if we opt for a simple black and white bitmap, there would only be room for 128 x 64 pixels. One alternative would be to use a tiled display, but without external RAM it would still be very limited.
Once we start using external RAM, we can do lots of things, and that area has been explored by others in several projects. Hi! The main problem with this approach is that the chip would have to keep track of a frame buffer. 1 kB of RAM is not a lot. Even if we opt for a simple black and white bitmap, there would only be room for 128 x 64 pixels. One alternative would be to use a tiled display, but without external RAM it would still be very limited.Once we start using external RAM, we can do lots of things, and that area has been explored by others in several projects.
Anonymous
Fri 29-Jul-2011 03:45 Thats astonishing work - cool music too!
Anonymous
Sat 31-Dec-2011 11:33 nihao! I'm a student from china.I am very interested in your work.Can you give me more details about all Data or the Electronic Components List,thank you this is my
gmail wkp1517@gmail.com. Thank you!!! >_<
Anonymous
Wed 4-Jan-2012 19:28 btw, i don't know if you know Uzebox, and what is your oppinion about this - http://uzebox.org - is this interesting enough for you coding something there as well?
tesla1980
Thomas
Thu 12-Jan-2012 12:20 Hello, i also build your craft before 3 Years now. Its just amazing. I have one problem : at the end its over and i wish to loop the programm, but i have no idea how to change the code and to compile it. Can you make this 4 me, please and send me via Email!?
Anonymous
Sat 11-Feb-2012 16:07 Wonderful project!
When did you do electronically?
Anonymous
Sun 12-Feb-2012 13:21 some 1 on mirc posted this today.. and I its so very AWESOME!!!!
this from 1 microcontroller. I feel tempted to just rebuild this as a standalone hehe
Did ya ever make more demo's on this hardware?
tesla1980
Thomas
Sun 12-Feb-2012 22:35 Please help me! Can anyone tell me how to change the c - code to make that the whole program loops itself? Where i |
A); (B) PAs where lions were considered absent. The letter W represents scores for W-Arly-Pendjari while M indicates those for Mole NP (see text). Management scores range from 0–3, with 3 representing the best management scenario. For example, in the case of ‘Current Budget’ 0 = No PA budget; 1 = inadequate budget which creates serious management constraints; 2 = acceptable budget, but could be further improved to fully achieve effective management; 3 = sufficient budget which fully meets the needs of the PA. See Table S1 for full descriptions of scores.
METT scores indicate that the majority of PAs are experiencing severe management deficiencies over most facets of PA management ( Fig. 4 ). Scores for only two PAs, WAP (where lions are present) and Mole (where lions are absent), suggest that they were being managed adequately ( Fig. 4 ).
Protected area budget (measured as total budget (US$) and budget/area (US$/km 2 )) was positively associated with lion persistence ( Fig. 3 ), and PAs with lions were, on average, more than twice as large as those without, although the latter difference was not statistically significant, possibly due to the small sample ( Table 2 ). Total PA budget significantly increased with area (spearman's rank coefficient = 0.65 p = 0.02).
We identified METT assessments for 12 of the 21 LCU PAs ( Table S2 ). Details of individual assessments can be found in Table S4. Due to the small sample sizes, we have not attempted multivariate analyses, and have presented statistical correlations only where continuous data (on PA budgets, staffing, area and human population density), as opposed to ordinal scores, were available.
Wildlife experts attending the 2005 workshop identified 17 LCUs in West Africa ( Fig. 1 ), totaling 254,430 km 2, or 5.8% of historic lion range in West Africa. We identified 21 large (>500 km 2 ) PAs within those LCUs ( Fig. 1, Table 1 ), with a total area of ∼95,000 km 2, or 37% of total LCU extent. We surveyed thirteen of those PAs for lions, while the remaining PAs were surveyed by other researchers focusing on lions (n = 2), Western chimpanzees Pan troglodytes ssp. verus (n = 2), and general faunal inventories (n = 4) ( Table 1 ). Of the 21 LCU PAs surveyed, lions were confirmed in only four ( Table 1 ; Fig. 2 ). In two additional PAs, both in Guinea, lions had not been observed for >10 years; however, credible reports of vocalizations suggest they may still be present. Among the four PAs in which lion persistence was confirmed, three contain <50 individuals, and the only large population is in the W-Arly-Pendjari (WAP), with an estimated 356 (range: 246–466) lions ( Table 1 ). The total number of lions remaining in West Africa is estimated at 406 (range: 250–587) individuals, while the confirmed lion range (the total size of PAs where lions were confirmed, including potential sites in Guinea) is estimated at 49,000 km 2, or 1.1% of historic lion range in West Africa.
Discussion
The lion has undergone a catastrophic collapse in West Africa. Our results suggest that lions have lost almost 99% of their historic range, and that only ca. 400 individual lions persist across the region. Most of these lions (ca. 350 individuals, or 88% of the total population) persist in a single population in WAP, and there is strong evidence for ongoing declines in the region's other three populations. In Nigeria, numbers dropped from an estimated 44 lions in 2009 to 34 in 2011 [36]. In Senegal's Niokolo-Koba NP, continuing calamitous declines in prey populations (Fig. 5B) are almost certainly causing concomitant declines in lions. These trends suggest that WAP already or will soon contain >90% of West African lions. Given that 40–60% of a lion population typically consists of immature individuals [37], [38], and that our track counts in WAP included large cubs and sub-adults, it is very likely there are <250 adults remaining in the entire West African region. Accordingly, our results warrant listing of the lion as critically endangered in West Africa under criterion C2a(ii), which applies for declining populations with <250 mature individuals, where >90% of individuals persist in one subpopulation [39].
Priorities for lion conservation in West Africa Our surveys covered all large (>500 km2), formally designated PAs within LCUs in West Africa. While lion range in this region is largely restricted to PAs [4], [11], we cannot exclude the possibility that some lions roam outside the surveyed PAs. However, the 21 LCU PAs covered in this study represent the best remaining lion habitat in West Africa [4]. We deem survey effort adequate (see Table S3) to draw inference on the occurrence of resident lions across sites, and we are confident that no resident lion populations were overlooked by our efforts. Further survey work may be required in Haut Niger NP and Kankan FR in Guinea to assess the possible presence of lions. However, given the lack of physical evidence for over a decade and the poor management scores of those two PAs (see Table S4 and below), we believe any remaining populations would be relict and close to extinction. While continued survey and monitoring work is warranted, the highest conservation priority for lions in the region should be strengthening protection of the known remaining populations. Lions are more likely to disappear from small PAs than from larger ones. Critical PA size for lions based on data from East Africa is 291 km2, using an average lion density of 16.2 adults 100 km−2 [22]. In comparison, average density across our four sites with lions was 1.0 lions 100 km−2, >15 times lower than in East Africa. Assuming the same lower limit for a viable lion population size in West Africa, critical PA size would exceed 4,000 km2 at current lion densities and even that may be inadequate. Newmark [40] revealed that extinction rates in Ghanaian PAs were estimated to be 13–77 times higher than in equivalent-sized PAs in Tanzania, suggesting that larger size alone a may provide insufficient protection against the intense hunting pressure impacting West African PAs. In addition to the lower carrying capacity of West African savannas for large herbivores [41], higher extinction risks for West African mammals is driven by intense bushmeat hunting pressure within and adjacent to PAs [13], [14], facilitated by ineffective PA management (Fig. 4) [12]. Our findings highlight the urgent need for very large (>4,000 km2) and well protected PAs to assure the survival of lions and other threatened large mammals in West Africa. Three of four extant lion populations in West Africa occur in PAs close to or larger than 4,000 km2 (Table 1), representing the best prospects for saving the taxon. WAP currently harbors the only population >50 animals, and is the most viable. However, lion population density is extremely low in the eastern half of WAP, i.e. the tri-national W NP (Henschel et al. in prep). An aerial survey covering W immediately following our lion survey in 2012, recorded >50,000 head of cattle inside the national park, underlining the weak management effectiveness in W NP [42]. In contrast, the western half, Arly-Pendjari, supports higher lion densities, stable or increasing prey populations (Fig. 5A), and incursions by livestock into the PA are rare [42].The stark contrast in management effectiveness between the eastern and western halves of WAP may be due to the disparity in management budget allocations; of the US$197/km2 available for the WAP in aggregate, 90/km2 are spent in W, compared to 323/km2 in Arly-Pendjari (Henschel et al. in prep). A significantly higher operational budget is required in W to attain conservation outcomes comparable to Arly-Pendjari. Lion populations in Niokolo-Koba and Kainji Lake NPs are small and appear to be declining. While no data on management effectiveness and lion prey populations exist for Kainji Lake NP, management effectiveness scores are low in Niokolo-Koba NP, potentially due to inadequate funding (Table S4), and prey populations have collapsed to extremely low levels over the past 20 years (Fig. 5B). Both PAs hold great potential due to their large size, and are surrounded by suitable lion habitat and moderate human population densities (Table S3) [4]. Furthermore, Kainji Lake NP is potentially still connected to WAP, through suitable lion habitat in Benin [4]. Besides lions, Niokolo-Koba also harbors the last important population of the critically endangered Western giant eland (Tragelaphus derbianus ssp. derbianus) [43], and the only confirmed population of the critically endangered West African sub-population of African wild dogs (Table S3) [44]. Both PAs will require immediate financial and technical assistance to avert the local extirpation of lions and other critically endangered taxa. At 2,244 km2 Nigeria's Yankari Game Reserve is smaller than our putative minimum and its lion population is very small and declining (Table 1). Yankari is completely surrounded by intensive cultivation [45], and the second-highest human population density of all 21 LCU PAs surveyed (Table S3). As a consequence, Yankari's lions and indeed all large-medium mammals are likely to be effectively isolated from neighboring populations in Nigeria (Kainji Lake NP, ca 650 km distant) and Cameroon (Benoué Complex, ca 260 km distant). Drastic interventions, such as fencing the reserve, may be the only solution to safeguard this population [33]. Fencing Yankari could prevent inevitable encroachment by people and livestock, reduce human-lion conflicts at the PA boundary and perhaps reduce penetration of the PA by poachers.When Michael Loftin and friends started the environmental group 808 Cleanups in 2014, they realized social media was sometimes to blame for the trashing and overuse of natural settings.
With the rise of platforms like Facebook, Yelp and Meetup, Loftin noticed some hiking areas were getting overrun. Hundreds of new visitors without a “sense of responsibility” were “causing a major, major problem,” he said.
Social media has popularized many Hawaii attractions, not always for the better.
But it wasn’t long before 808 Cleanups came to realize that social media could also be a friend to the environment.
Michael Loftin/808 Cleanups
The organization has been trying to flip the script and use Facebook to attract volunteers. It also uses Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Yelp to share photos of its cleanups and the messes left behind at public attractions.
“We thought, ‘Well if this (social media) is a powerful tool for bad, what if we used it as a powerful tool for good?’” Loftin said.
Using its Facebook page to connect with volunteers, 808 Cleanups reacts quickly to problem areas, Loftin said. Members of its Facebook community post geotagged photos of trash or garbage to alert volunteers to problem areas.
They remove graffiti in natural settings, nails left from wood pallets burned in bonfires and trash from illegal dumping.
When volunteers log on to share their stories, 808 Cleanups is able to better track their progress and keep records, Loftin said.
The group also hopes to deter litter by showing social media users the magnitude of trash left behind at public places.
Beachgoers, please don't use wood pallets for fires, they leave nails behind. Found hundreds today at Yokohama Bay. pic.twitter.com/NAb3XR7FbD — 808cleanups (@808cleanups) November 24, 2014
Removing 34,000 Pounds Of Trash
Over the Fourth of July weekend, public places around the islands were trashed by visitors. Oahu’s Kaena Point Natural Area Reserve was hit hard. The beach’s popularity increased after social media picked up on the location, said Division of State Parks Administrator Curt Cottrell in a release.
A Kaena Point beach page on TripAdvisor has 215 reviews and is ranked the fourth best of 23 Waianae attractions. The area was featured on the site’s “Honolulu off the beaten path” series.
But using social media as a tool for volunteer outreach, 808 Cleanups has removed more than 34,000 pounds of trash this year statewide — mostly on Oahu. In June, 370 volunteers removed 3,714 pounds of trash and 69 graffiti tags across 150 cleanup sites.
“We’ve got to increase awareness, show people what we’re cleaning up and why it affects the environment.” — Michael Loftin, 808 Cleanups
Some volunteers are looking to carry out the group’s mission on the Big Island, Loftin said. He hopes to see 808 Cleanups expand like a franchise and send supplies to whoever needs them. With the help of GoFundMe, a website that collects donations, 808 Cleanups raised $2,750 this year. For the first time in more than a year, Loftin said there were enough donations and sponsorships to provide supplies to volunteers showing up for cleanups.
The Home Depot has been a sponsor of 808 Cleanups from the start, Loftin said. Friends who worked at the Kapolei store shared the group’s mission with their manager. The idea was a hit and The Home Depot regularly donates cleaning supplies and buckets. It’s mutually beneficial, Loftin said — 808 Cleanups gets more resources while The Home Depot gets visibility from its clearly labeled orange buckets.
Hawaii-based Snorkel Bob’s provides snorkel gear for underwater cleanups and other sponsors lend soy-based paint stripper, dive weights and even volunteers.
Loftin, the organization’s executive director, spends 50-60 unpaid hours per week communicating with volunteers or working cleanups. All donations go straight to fieldwork, he said.
Volunteers post photos of garbage-filled buckets and truck beds on the group’s Facebook page. One volunteer’s post showed dozens of trash bags left on Waimea Bay after a July 5 cleanup.
Loftin estimated about 10 percent of the nonprofit’s 3,310 Facebook members are active volunteers, but he said that the social media presence is still key to outreach. The organization is always looking for more help, from lone volunteers and bigger groups.
“We actually don’t really have to work for volunteers, they come to us,” Loftin said.
Pulled exactly 2,354 lbs of trash today with about 80 volunteers. Thank you so much to everyone who came out! pic.twitter.com/vBagRDmzjx — 808cleanups (@808cleanups) March 15, 2015
A Fine Line Between Aloha And Abuse
Volunteers have hauled out more than a ton of trash in a single cleanup at Tantalus Lookout, while another cleanup in Kahuku netted 1,000-2,000 pounds of debris. At Nimitz Beach, volunteers collected hundreds of pounds of nails and glass leftover from pallet bonfires, Luftin said.
808 Cleanups also posts signs to notify visitors of hazards in the area, like bees spotted on the Koko Crater Trail in 2014. Loftin said regulars who frequent a trail or beach can volunteer to “adopt a site” and orchestrate regular cleanups.
Volunteers have encountered everything from used sanitary products to computer parts, he said. People may think that small amounts of litter don’t have a big impact, but it adds up and can be washed into the ocean, he said.
Kahi Pacarro said he walks a fine line, between showing his guests and friends aloha and protecting his favorite spots. He said he asks them to turn their location tags off to avoid calling attention to some sites.
“We’ve got to increase awareness, show people what we’re cleaning up and why it affects the environment,” Luftin said.
Kahi Pacarro, executive director of Sustainable Coastlines Hawaii, said he too has noticed an increase in people at certain natural settings because of online sharing. The Hawaii native said he’s seen “local gems” that once had few visitors become hot spots.
As a surfer, Pacarro noticed real-time streaming network Facebook Live, which debuted in April and allows people to view weather and crowd conditions remotely, brought more visitors to the beach.
He walks a fine line, he said, between showing his guests and friends aloha and protecting his favorite spots. He said he asks them to turn their location tags off to avoid calling attention to some sites.
Like 808 Cleanups, his organization has harnessed social media to connect with volunteers, reach a new audience and share photos of cleanups and Hawaii’s picturesque sites. Sometimes the organizations have collaborated.
On its website, Sustainable Coastlines Hawaii provides tips for volunteers looking to accomplish cleanups on their own. The group also organizes large-scale cleanups and provides some tools for collecting trash.
The organization regularly posts links to sites that accept online donations in order to fund its projects. Lately, it has been plugging the Ala Wai Trash Water Wheel, a floating mechanism that collects debris and reduces ocean pollution.
While the nonprofit regularly posts on Facebook and Twitter accounts, Pacarro said the visually driven dynamic of Instagram resonates on an emotional level with people.
“From our standpoint, the ability to share the degradation of the environment at the hands of humans has inspired people to take proactive steps,” he said.Terri’s D’Addario Bass Guitar String Shop
Shopping for any kind of strings for for a guitar, mandolin or really any string instrument can be a bit tricky. You wouldn’t think it should be, but for any instrument there are various gauges, (thicknesses) types of material and so on. This gets even more confusing when look for bass guitar strings. For some reason basses have a lot more options that most other instruments. Our goal is to make shopping for bass guitar strings easier.
These options include:
String Gauge The thickness of the string is called string gauge. Typically string gauges are measured in thousands of an inch. A typical bass guitar E-string might be 105/1000 of an inch. This is usually written as.105 and our string finder will show these number with out a decimal. So string set might appear as 045-065-080-100. This would show four strings in a set running form 40/1000 on an inch to 100/1000 of an inch.
The thickness of the string is called string gauge. Typically string gauges are measured in thousands of an inch. A typical bass guitar E-string might be 105/1000 of an inch. This is usually written as.105 and our string finder will show these number with out a decimal. So string set might appear as 045-065-080-100. This would show four strings in a set running form 40/1000 on an inch to 100/1000 of an inch. String Length For many instruments the scale length (or distance from the bridge to the nut) is fairly standard. However, with bass guitars there are several scale lengths. The common are… Short Scale – 30 inches Medium Scale – 32 inches Long Scale (this is the most common – or standard) – 34 inches Extra (Super) Long Scale – 35 inches
For many instruments the scale length (or distance from the bridge to the nut) is fairly standard. However, with bass guitars there are several scale lengths. The common are… String Construction For guitar, most strings are either nickel strings, for electric, bronze, for acoustic and nylon, for classical guitar. For bass guitar string construction includes… Nickel strings are most common for electric bass guitar Bronze strings are most common for acoustic or acoustic/electric bass guitar Tape Wound string are strings with a nylon coating over a metal string. These strings have the deadest sound.
For guitar, most strings are either nickel strings, for electric, bronze, for acoustic and nylon, for classical guitar. For bass guitar string construction includes… Windings For guitars, most strings are either a single piece of steel, (no winding), or have a winding wrapped around the core (wound). The winding is usually round wire. For bass we have… Round Wound – The windings are made of round wire giving the string a rougher feel, like a metal file. Flat Wound – The windings are made of rectangular wire giving the string a smooth/flat feel. Half Would – Since round wounds have a brighter sound but are harder on your fingers, strings can be wound with a flat surface and a round back. These strings feel more like flat wound on the hands but have a sound more like round wound strings.
For guitars, most strings are either a single piece of steel, (no winding), or have a winding wrapped around the core (wound). The winding is usually round wire. For bass we have… String Sets (or Number of Strings) With guitar, most guitars have 6-strings. There’s also 12-string and even 7-string guitars. For bass we have… 4-String Traditionally the most common bass configuration. (E-A-D-G) 5-String This is becoming the most common bass guitar configuration. (B-E-A-D-G) 6-String (B-E-A-D-G-C) 8-String (e-E-a-A-d-D-g-G) There are other variations such as Fender V (E-A-D-G-C), Fender VI (E-A-D-G-B-E), or other like F#-B-E-A-D and other 10-String or 12-String combinations
(or Number of Strings) With guitar, most guitars have 6-strings. There’s also 12-string and even 7-string guitars. For bass we have…
As you can imaging this has to be nightmare for string manufacturers. And it’s even worse those trying to shop for a new set of strings for their bass guitar. I hope that the string finder will help you sort out all the confusion.
Please check out Terri’s D’Addario Bass Guitar String Shop for links to our “Bass Guitars Strings Shop”.
TerriCourt process to be streamlined, with telcos not expected to appear in court
Court action by copyright holders seeking to have Internet service providers (ISPs) block their customers from accessing a range of piracy-linked websites is set to become a lot quicker and, consequently, cheaper.
Telcos targeted by Village Roadshow in its latest Federal Court application for a site block have confirmed that they have no intention of entering an appearance in court. The only possible exception is TPG – with the telco indicating that should Roadshow change the site-blocking orders it is seeking, or the court be inclined to vary them, it would seek to appear in court.
Along with TPG, Telstra, Optus and Vocus are named in the Roadshow application.
The telcos’ decision means that the hearing, which will take place in May, is expected to last only half a day – significantly shorter than the hearings for the first applications by Roadshow and Foxtel, which were heard jointly.
Roadshow will only have to convince the court that the sites engage in or facilitate the infringement of its copyright, that they are hosted overseas and that it has made efforts to contact the sites’ operators.
A case management hearing for the application was held today in Sydney.
The presiding judge – Justice Nicholas – indicated he was keen to streamline the process, suggesting that a consistent glossary be used for the applications (to avoid “30-page affidavits that start with, ‘This is how the Internet works’”) and that live demonstrations of sites instead of large collections of screenshots could be more effective.
(Though he noted that the applicant would have to provide its own Internet access – the judge was not keen for pirate sites to be accessed using the Federal Court’s Internet link.)
Schedules of evidence would be “much more helpful than many pages of written submissions,” Justice Nicholas said.
The application, if successful, will affect customers of Telstra, Optus, Vocus and TPG as well as customers of those ISPs’ subsidiaries, such as iiNet, Internode and Dodo.
Computerworld has published the full list of sites targeted. Forty-one sites are targeted by Roadshow, and counsel for the company today told the court that some details may change by the time of the hearing.
Roadshow launched the second wave of its anti-piracy efforts in February. In its half-year results, the company had foreshadowed the anti-piracy crackdown.
Roadshow’s court action against sites it says facilitate piracy follows the successful applications for injunction last year by the entertainment company and Foxtel.
The Federal Court granted site-blocking applications that compelled Australia’s biggest ISPs to block access to Solar Movie, The Pirate Bay, Torrentz, TorrentHound and IsoHunt.
Roadshow and Foxtel last year clashed with ISPs over a number of issues relating to the applications, including which party should pay for the cost of imposing a site block. The telcos did not take a stance on whether the sites should or should not be blocked.
In the new application, Roadshow has modelled its proposed court orders on those handed down by the judge that case: Roadshow will pay ISPs $50 per domain name blocked.
The new application also follows the orders in another important respect. In the previous court action, Roadshow had sought the right to add mirror and proxy sites of the targeted pirate sites to the list of those the ISPs were compelled to block. ISPs fought — successfully — for a court process to provide oversight.
As a result, Roadshow and Foxtel are required to file an affidavit with the court if, for example, a site shifts to a new domain or URL. Roadshow is not seeking to recontest the issue and its proposed orders in the current matter would see it follow the affidavit process to block proxies.
Under the proposed orders, an ISP must redirect customers that attempt to access a blocked site to a landing page hosted either by the ISP or set up by Roadshow.
The site blocks sought will operate for three years, Roadshow proposes.
A separate site-blocking application has been launched by Australian music labels, which are seeking to have Telstra, Optus, TPG and Foxtel’s broadband arm block access to Kickass Torrents. A judgement is yet to be handed down in that case.The United States remains one of the world’s strictest nations when it comes to denying the right to vote to citizens convicted of crimes. An estimated 6.1 million Americans are forbidden to vote because of “felony disenfranchisement,” or laws restricting voting rights for those convicted of felony-level crimes.
Table of Contents:
Overview
In this election year, the question of voting restrictions is once again receiving great public attention. This report is intended to update and expand our previous work on the scope and distribution of felony disenfranchisement in the United States (see Uggen, Shannon, and Manza 2012; Uggen and Manza 2002; Manza and Uggen 2006). The numbers presented here represent our best assessment of the state of felony disenfranchisement as of the November 2016 election.
Our key findings include the following:
As of 2016, an estimated 6.1 million people are disenfranchised due to a felony conviction, a figure that has escalated dramatically in recent decades as the population under criminal justice supervision has increased. There were an estimated 1.17 million people disenfranchised in 1976, 3.34 million in 1996, and 5.85 million in 2010.
Approximately 2.5 percent of the total U.S. voting age population – 1 of every 40 adults – is disenfranchised due to a current or previous felony conviction.
Individuals who have completed their sentences in the twelve states that disenfranchise people post-sentence make up over 50 percent of the entire disenfranchised population, totaling almost 3.1 million people.
Rates of disenfranchisement vary dramatically by state due to broad variations in voting prohibitions. In six states – Alabama, Florida, Kentucky, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Virginia – more than 7 percent of the adult population is disenfranchised.
The state of Florida alone accounts for more than a quarter (27 percent) of the disenfranchised population nationally, and its nearly 1.5 million individuals disenfranchised post-sentence account for nearly half (48 percent) of the national total.
One in 13 African Americans of voting age is disenfranchised, a rate more than four times greater than that of non-African Americans. Over 7.4 percent of the adult African American population is disenfranchised compared to 1.8 percent of the non-African American population.
African American disenfranchisement rates also vary significantly by state. In four states – Florida (21 percent), Kentucky (26 percent), Tennessee (21 percent), and Virginia (22 percent) – more than one in five African Americans is disenfranchised.
State Disenfranchisement Law
To compile estimates of disenfranchised populations, we take into account new U.S. Census data on voting age populations and recent changes in state-level disenfranchisement policies, including those reported in Expanding the Vote: State Felony Disenfranchisement Reform, 1997-2010 (Porter 2010). For example, in 2007, Maryland repealed its lifetime voting ban that had applied to some individuals post-sentence, and in 2016 eliminated the voting ban for persons on probation or parole.
Other states have revised their waiting periods and streamlined the process for regaining civil rights. As shown in the following table, Maine and Vermont remain the only states that allow persons in prison to vote. Thirty U.S. states deny voting rights to felony probationers, and thirty-four states disenfranchise parolees. In the most extreme cases, twelve states continue to deny voting rights to some or all of the individuals who have successfully fulfilled their prison, parole, or probation sentences (for details, see notes to Table 1).
Table 1. Summary of State Felony Disenfranchisement Restrictions in 2016
No restrictions (2) Prison only (14) Prison & Parole (4) Prison, parole, & probation (18) Prison, parole, probation, & post-sentence (12) Maine Hawaii California3 Alaska Alabama1 Vermont Illinois Colorado Arkansas Arizona2 Indiana Connecticut Georgia Delaware4 Massachusetts New York Idaho Florida Maryland6 Kansas Iowa5 Michigan Louisiana Kentucky Montana Minnesota Mississippi New Hampshire Missouri Nebraska7 North Dakota New Jersey Nevada8 Ohio New Mexico Tennessee9 Oregon North Carolina Virginia12 Pennsylvania Oklahoma Wyoming13 Rhode Island10 South Carolina Utah South Dakota11 Texas Washington West Virginia Wisconsin
Notes:
1. Alabama – In 2016, legislation eased the rights restoration process after completion of sentence for persons not convicted of a crime of “moral turpitude.”
2. Arizona – Permanently disenfranchises persons with two or more felony convictions.
3. California – In 2016, legislation restored voting rights to people convicted of a felony offense housed in jail, but not in prison.
4. Delaware – The 2013 Hazel D. Plant Voter Restoration Act removed the five-year waiting period. People convicted of a felony, with some exceptions, are now eligible to vote upon completion of sentence and supervision. People who are convicted of certain disqualifying felonies – including murder, bribery, and sexual offenses – are permanently disenfranchised.
5. Iowa – Governor Tom Vilsack restored voting rights to individuals who had completed their sentences via executive order on July 4, 2005. Governor Terry Branstad reversed this executive order on January 14, 2011 returning to permanent disenfranchisement for persons released from supervision after that date.
6. Maryland – Eliminated the ban on voting for persons on probation or parole supervision in 2016.
7. Nebraska – Reduced its indefinite ban on post-sentence voting to a two-year waiting period in 2005.
8. Nevada – Disenfranchises people convicted of one or more violent felonies and people convicted of two or more felonies of any type.
9. Tennessee – Disenfranchises those convicted of certain felonies since 1981, in addition to those convicted of select crimes prior to 1973. Others must apply to Board of Probation and Parole for restoration.
10. Rhode Island – A 2006 ballot referendum eliminated the ban on voting for persons on probation or parole supervision.
11. South Dakota – State began disenfranchising people on felony probation in 2012.
12. Virginia – When the Virginia Supreme Court overturned Governor Terry McAuliffe’s blanket restoration of voting rights for people who had completed their sentences, he individually approved voting rights for 12,832 individuals in August, 2016.
13. Wyoming – Voting rights restored after five years to people who complete sentences for first-time, non-violent felony convictions in 2016 or after.
Methodology
We estimated the number of people released from prison and those who have completed their terms of parole or probation based on demographic life tables for each state, as described in Uggen, Manza, and Thompson (2006) and Shannon et al. (2011). We modeled each state’s disenfranchisement rate in accordance with its distinctive felony voting policies, as described in Table 1. For example, some states impose disenfranchisement for five years after release from supervision, some states only disenfranchise those convicted of multiple felonies, and some only disenfranchise those convicted of violent offenses.
In brief, we compiled demographic life tables for the period 1948-2016 to determine the number of released individuals lost to recidivism (and therefore already included in our annual head counts) and to mortality each year. This allows us to estimate the number of individuals who have completed their sentences in a given state and year who are no longer under correctional supervision yet remain disenfranchised. Because data on correctional populations are currently available only through year-end 2014, we extended state-specific trends from 2013-2014 to obtain estimates for 2016. Our duration-specific recidivism rate estimates are derived from large-scale national studies of recidivism for prison releasees and probationers. Based on these studies, our models assume that most released individuals will be re-incarcerated (66 percent) and a smaller percentage of those on probation or in jail (57 percent) will cycle back through the criminal justice system. We also assume a substantially higher mortality rate for people convicted of felony offenses relative to the rest of the population. Both recidivists and deaths are removed from the post-sentence pool to avoid overestimating the number of individuals in the population who have completed their sentences. Each release cohort is thus reduced each successive year – at a level commensurate with the age-adjusted hazard rate for mortality and duration-adjusted hazard rate for recidivism – and added to each new cohort of releases. Overall, we produced more than 200 spreadsheets covering 68 years of data. These provide the figures needed to compile disenfranchisement rate estimates that are keyed to the appropriate correctional populations for each state and year.
Disenfranchisement in 2016
Figure 1 shows the distribution of the 6.1 million disenfranchised individuals across correctional populations. People currently in prison and jail now represent less than one-fourth (23 percent) of those disenfranchised. The majority (77 percent) are living in their communities, having fully completed their sentences or remaining supervised while on probation or parole.
Variation Across States
Figure 1. Disenfranchisement Distribution Across Correctional Population, 2016
Due to differences in state laws and rates of criminal punishment, states vary widely in the practice of disenfranchisement. The maps and tables below represent the disenfranchised population as a percentage of the adult voting age population in each state. As noted above, we estimate that 6.1 million Americans are currently ineligible to vote by state law. As Figure 2 and the statistics in Table 3 show, state-level disenfranchisement rates in 2016 varied from less than.5 percent in Massachusetts, Maryland, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Oregon, Rhode Island, and Utah (and zero in Maine and Vermont) to more than 7 percent in Alabama, Florida, Kentucky, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Virginia.
Figure 2. Total Felony Disenfranchisement Rates, 2016
Figure 3. Total Felony Disenfranchisement Rates, 1980
These figures show significant growth in recent decades, even as many states began to dismantle voting restrictions for formerly disenfranchised populations. Figure 3 displays disenfranchisement rates in 1980, retaining the same scale as in Figure 2. At that time, far more of the nation had disenfranchisement rates below.5 percent and no state disenfranchised more than 5 percent of its adult citizens.
The cartogram in Figure 4 provides another way to visualize the current state of American disenfranchisement, highlighting the large regional differences in felony disenfranchisement laws and criminal punishment. Cartograms distort the land area on the map according to an alternative statistic, in this case the total felony disenfranchisement rate. Southeastern states that disenfranchise hundreds of thousands of people who have completed their sentences, such as Florida, Kentucky, and Virginia, appear bloated in the cartogram. In contrast, the many Northeastern and Midwestern states that only disenfranchise individuals currently in prison shrivel in size. This distorted map thus provides a clear visual representation of the great range of differences in the scope and impact of felony disenfranchisement across the 50 states.
Figure 4. Cartogram of Total Disenfranchisement Rates by State, 2016
Trends Over Time
Figure 5 illustrates the historical trend in U.S. disenfranchisement, showing growth in the disenfranchised population for selected years from 1960 to 2016. The number disenfranchised dropped from approximately 1.8 million to 1.2 million between 1960 and 1976, as states expanded voting rights in the civil rights era. Many states have continued to pare back their disenfranchisement provisions since the 1970s (see Behrens, Uggen, and Manza, 2003; Manza and Uggen, 2006). Nevertheless, the total number banned from voting continued to rise with the expansion in U.S. correctional populations. The total disenfranchised population rose from 3.3 million in 199 |
need to know how to sell yourself and your services so that companies pick you out of thousands of others and come back to you after you’re done.
The buy-side financial analyst. He or she basically researches what options of investment there are on the market so that they can help their clients invest. They work with mutual, hedge and pension funds, but they can manage investment portfolios for wealthy individual clients.
These are the three types of financial analysts.
One thing that is very important for you to remember regarding this is that you don’t need to decide right off the bat what type you would like to be.
Independently of that, when you first get hired as a financial analyst, you will start as a junior which means that your main attributes will be to gather data, work on the financial models, keep-up with the news and changes, update the files and the spreadsheets and attend meetings with senior analysts so that you can learn.
Therefore, whatever of the three you choose, at first, you will be doing exactly the same job. This is a good thing because it will allow you to see the underbelly of the business and make an informed decision regarding what your next steps will be.
What studies do you need to be a financial analyst?
Normally, most companies require a bachelor’s degree in a financial related field, because you need to know the basics. But you can also reach for this career of you have a master’s degree either in finance or in business administration and you then take some financial analysis courses on the side.
One thing you need to know here is that you must get your certification as a financial analyst; otherwise, you will not get hired. But the good thing is that many companies nowadays have become far less strict upon hiring and do not require a person to have the certification beforehand, as long as he or she has the proper studies.
Companies are actually glad to put your through training and classes and to pay for them.
Getting the certification will definitely get you ahead in the business. You can also take some advanced courses related to your specialty so that you can focus solely on that and become the best in the branch.
And, if you are truly ambitious, you can take some management courses as well and go on to become a fund manager, usually a position held in high regard by financial analysts and one reserved only for the best.
Courses can most easily be taken online. All you have to do is to visit some research hubs, like usnews.com, which have developed special platforms to help you decide what you want or need to study and where exactly you can do that.
What skills are required for financial analysis?
As a financial analyst, you need a very strong and specific set of skills, so that you can perform the required analysis of the information regarding investment plans for your client-companies. Here they are:
Complex problem solving – you need to be able to resolve any issue that comes your way and find a suitable solution for your client.
– you need to be able to resolve any issue that comes your way and find a suitable solution for your client. Mathematics – normally, as a financial analyst, the way in which you solve a problem is via math.
– normally, as a financial analyst, the way in which you solve a problem is via math. System analysis – you need to be able to identify how a system works and, also, how it needs to be changed in order to get better results.
– you need to be able to identify how a system works and, also, how it needs to be changed in order to get better results. Persuasion – giving the fact that you will be basically pitching ideas to your clients about their financial investment, you need to be persuasive.
– giving the fact that you will be basically pitching ideas to your clients about their financial investment, you need to be persuasive. Decision making – this is a very strong skill you must possess. Taking into consideration factors such as costs and benefits of potential actions, you have to be able to choose the right one.
– this is a very strong skill you must possess. Taking into consideration factors such as costs and benefits of potential actions, you have to be able to choose the right one. Negotiation – pleading your case and trying to get most out of a situation is part of the job also.
How do you find a job as a financial analyst?
The internet is your best friend once again when trying to find a job as a financial analyst.
All the jobs are posted online, of course, but there are two ways of finding an opening. They depend on whether you have gone to a field-related college or not.
If you have and you have decided since the beginning that this is the career path for you, then the seniors in the field suggest you should never wait until you graduate to start finding jobs and companies.
While still in college, prospect the market, talk to your colleagues, professors, and older students and get to know the market. This is called networking and the sooner you start doing it, the better.
It does not mean that you need to start working straight away, but rather to make yourself known, understand how the business works, learn which are the best and worst companies to work for, what does their client portfolio look like, what is the office atmosphere and so on.
Also, this is a very good time for you to put yourself out there and make yourself remembered. Later on, after you graduate, get your certificate and go to an interview, they will remember you and half the battle is already won.
The second way of finding a job refers to those people who didn’t go to a field-related college, are older and are just now starting on the financial analysis road.
For those of you out there, learning as much as possible is the key. Find companies and job openings online and go to the interviews with as much knowledge as possible in your back pocket. This is your ticket of convincing companies that, even if you didn’t study finance, this is what you want and were meant to do.
As far as finding jobs go, look for online job market tools, such as indeed.com, which allows you to find financial analysis job in your city or area.
Tips for the interviews
You might think that an interview for a financial analyst position is your typical job interview and you would be right to some extent. Only that there are some tips and tricks you need to know so that you can home in on your success as much as possible.
First of all, most companies still like to subject all their candidates to a test. It’s usually a 30 minutes written quiz with questions regarding technicalities of the business. This is good news for the people who haven’t graduated from field-related colleges, because here is where they can prove they are just as qualified as or even more so than those who have a finance degree under their belt.
Second of all there’s the usual interview advice one gets before participating. Only that, in this case, they really do matter. You will hear advice such as be yourself, be strong, confident, professional and likable.
Yes, be all those things and more.
What you need to understand from the beginning and not take lightly is the fact that this is a very serious position and one that requires a lot of responsibility on your part and much confidence from your employer.
You will be dealing with companies and their finances – budgets, assets, worker’s salaries, bonds, stocks, and investments. Basically, you will be telling companies what to do with their money. And this is why your employer needs to see you as a very serious and reliable person.
Thirdly, you need to check out what kind of profile the company you’re applying to, has. In recent years, there has been a shift in the market. Some financial companies are becoming a lot more relaxed when it comes to their employees and understand that coming to work in jeans or a suit doesn’t decide how good of a financial analyst you are.
This is why they are taking the friendly and casual approach towards both their clients and their employees. So, if your company’s profile is like that, wear something smart casual, act friendly, smile a lot and be relaxed.
However, keep in mind that most companies still work in the traditional way, which means suit and tie are obligatory. Here is the story of a recent graduate who managed to get a job at a Silicon Valley company as a financial analyst, telling all about her interviewing experiences.
How much does a financial analyst make?
This is the question on everybody’s minds when they think about a career in financial analysis.
You needn’t worry, for the outlook is good. USnews.com has made some statistics showing exactly how much a job in financial analysis is paid, how the rates have grown in the past years and how it compares to other jobs. In 2013, financial analysts in the US received an average salary of $78, 380 per annum. The lowest paid analyst received $48, 100 and the highest paid received $152, 420. It’s also good to know that the best areas as far as salaries go are New York City, of course, Bridgeport,
In 2013, financial analysts in the US received an average salary of $78, 380 per annum. The lowest paid analyst received $48, 100 and the highest paid received $152, 420. It’s also good to know that the best areas as far as salaries go are New York City, of course, Bridgeport,
It’s also good to know that the best areas as far as salaries go are New York City, of course, Bridgeport, Connecticut, and San Francisco. But you can also try in California, especially San Jose and Colorado Springs in Colorado.
Compared to other best jobs, the financial analyst comes third as far as salaries go and the financial advisor comes in fourth, after marketing manager, the highest paying job at the moment and the sales manager, the second highest paying job. But being in the top 5 best-paying jobs in the world does indeed count for something and it can serve you as a great incentive to pursue this career.
In order to start off your career or to be successful as a financial analyst, apart from the knowledge, you also need to familiarize yourself with the tools of the trade, which are mostly reports, Excel spreadsheets, and PowerPoint presentations.
Getting in the game already familiarized with the Office package is definitely a plus. It’s not possible to be a financial analyst without knowing these things and they can help you to turn from average to great. Learn how to make user-friendly, easy to read and to comprehend Excel spreadsheets, as well as eye-catching PowerPoint presentations and you will be one step ahead of everybody else in the game.
Getting in the game already familiarized with the Office package is definitely a plus. It’s not possible to be a financial analyst without knowing these things and they can help you to turn from average to great. Learn how to make user-friendly, easy to read and to comprehend Excel spreadsheets, as well as eye-catching PP presentations and you will be one step ahead of everybody else in the game.
Learn how to make user-friendly, easy to read and comprehend Excel spreadsheets, as well as eye-catching PP presentations and you will be one step ahead of everybody else in the game.
You will learn how to make reports in college or while getting your certification so don’t worry about the format per se. Broadly speaking a financial report has the following components:
The company overview, so that all the parties involved can understand the business or the trade.
The investment thesis, which is basically the motivation why you believe certain decisions should be made regarding the company’s capital. You can include here a detailed analysis of the company’s current financial situation.
Valuation is the most important part of any report as it shows exactly how much the company is worth on the market.
The risk management section, where you present your audience with all the risks they might face if they follow your advice.
Miscellaneous information, which can include different things, based on the type of business the company’s in. For example, let’s say it’s a company making bio-friendly cosmetics; you will need to put in here information about the legal side of the business, animal testing, disclaimers for personal use and the human body and so on.
The conclusion section is fairly self-explanatory. However, remember to make all your conclusions as short and clear as possible, because this is the main things your clients will remember after the meeting, not numbers and tables.
You can find many tutorials on how to make a financial analysis report online, YouTube videos that walk you through the analysis one step at a time, as well as examples and samples, on specialized sites, such as businessferret.com. As far as the later PP presentation goes, remember to make it catchy and short. Brevity is your friend when it comes to PowerPoint.
What financial analysis techniques are there?
Normally, when it comes to financial analysis, the techniques used depend on the results you’re after. There are two financial statements that need to be used in the analysis – the balance sheet and the income statement. Analyzing them usually uses these 4 techniques:
Trend analysis; also called time-series analysis, which forecasts how the business evolves and performs as time goes by. It’s based on historical information extracted from the financial statements and on forecasted information taken from the forward-looking statements or pro-forma. Common size financial statement analysis that actually means analyzing balance sheets and the income statement by means of percentages. The percentage change financial statement analysis that you can use to calculate the growth rates as far as all the income statements are considered and the balance sheet accounts in relation to the base year. Benchmarking, also known as industry analysis, means comparing your client-company to other companies, in order to determine how it’s performing in relation to the industry.
As stated above, there are many pros when it comes to being a financial analyst, but there are many cons as well, which is why you need to think all the process through very carefully before you make any decisions. Becoming a financial analyst means working long hours, studying hard and passing all sorts of tests and certifications. But, in the end, the results are more than satisfactory, on all levels.
Image Sources:1, 2, 3, 4, 5
Next Batch Starts on 11th March, 2019Things an NHL player should do when his weight and conditioning are constant points of contention and ridicule: Hit the exercise bike, hire a personal trainer, impose some dietary restrictions.
Things an NHL player shouldn't do when his weight and conditioning are constant points of contention and ridicule: Suffer an injury while eating a stack of "delicious pancakes."
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Oh, Dustin Penner. From Rich Hammond of LA Kings Insider comes the story of the Los Angeles Kings forward who missed a game and is questionable for Monday night's tilt with the Washington Capitals because of Aunt Jemima's Revenge:
"I woke up fine, sat down to eat and it locked right up. It never happened to me before. I couldn't stand up. I was probably at the third stage of evolution. So my wife helped me get dressed, and then I drove to the rink here, to hope they could do some magic and get it opened up. Kinger [trainer Chris Kingsley] just looked at me and said, 'Go home.' So I got some treatment and went home. "Apparently it's one of those mysterious things, where you can throw it out (from) sneezing. I just leaned over to dip into some delicious pancakes that my wife made. It's just like it [the pain] wraps around you and squeezes. … So it was disappointing. Hopefully it's just an isolated incident, and not something that's going to become chronic."
Or else he'll have to switch to waffles …
The evolution joke makes us think Penner can have a laugh about this stuff; obviously, we don't want to see a guy already struggling through this season suffer through a back injury.
[ Y! Health: Back disorders, symptoms and treatments ]
Not to get too syrupy here, but we're rooting for the guy, even though the odds are stacked against him.
Story continues
From David Staples of the Edmonton Journal, who hipped us to the story and obviously saw a lot of Penner:
Penner was a good player while he was in Edmonton, even as he drove some crazy with his seemingly languid style of play. I saw him as a smart but lumbering player, not a lazy bones. If he gets healthy, he can help the Kings. Credit to Penner for telling the truth about how he got injured in this case, as he had to know his critics would feast on such an anecdote.
As Staples notes, and as so many of us are painfully familiar with, back injuries can occur through the simplest of activities: Getting out of bed, tying one's shoes, lifting a child.
Or eating a plate of pancakes.
We eagerly anticipate Dustin Penner's public safety video to be shown at all Los Angeles area IHOPs about the dangers of pancake consumption.
We also await the news from Winnipeg when Dustin Byfuglien and Kyle Wellwood separate their shoulders while devouring 25 Double Downs at KFC during their mid-morning snack...
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• Recruiting crossovers are rare for rivals LSU and AlabamaThere are lots of opportunities for negotiation these days. Bargain hunters wander through weekend garage sales and haggle with the sellers. Car buyers have to settle on a final price for a car with a dealer. House hunters send proposals back-and-forth trying to decide on a selling price for a house.
There is a lot of interesting psychology in these negotiations.
The first thing that happens in most negotiations is that either the buyer or the seller makes an offer. That initial offer serves as an anchor. Research on the rules that people use to make judgments suggests that we often use a strategy called anchoring and adjustment. According to this strategy, we start with some anchor point and then adjust our about the true value based on other information.
In the case of a negotiation, we know that people try to buy low and sell high. So, if the buyer makes an offer, the seller knows that the initial offer needs to be adjusted upward to get a fair price.
The key question is how much that offer should be adjusted.
This issue was addressed by Yossi Maaravi, Yoav Gonzach, and Asya Pazy in a paper in the August, 2011 issue of the Journal of and Social Psychology. They were interested in the role that persuasive arguments might play during negotiations.
Because people use the initial offer as an anchor, many people have suggested that including a persuasive argument for why the anchor is correct may minimize the amount that people adjust the anchor when making their counteroffer in the negotiation. For example, if you are interested in buying a house, the seller might ask for $350,000, arguing that the house was newly renovated and is near good schools.
Maaravi, Gonzach, and Pazy argued that when people hear an argument in favor of the initial offer, they think of counter-arguments. These counterarguments may actually push the counteroffer further away from the initial offer than it would have been had there been no persuasive argument. Someone looking at a house might find all the areas that still need renovation and think about other houses even closer to the better schools in town and give a low offer on the house.
They supported this view in a number of studies. In one of the four experiments in this paper, half the people played the role of the seller of a factory, while the rest played the role of the buyer. Everyone received detailed information about the factory.
In some groups, the seller was asked to make the first offer. For half of these groups, the seller also had to give arguments in favor of their offer. In this case, the counteroffers by the buyer were lower when the seller made arguments in favor of the initial bid than when the seller gave no arguments. The buyers were asked to write down reasons for their counteroffers, and they gave more reasons for making a low bid when they were responding to arguments by a seller than when there were no arguments. The final price the group agreed on was also lower when the seller made arguments with the initial offer than when no argument was made.
The opposite pattern was observed for groups where the buyer went first. In this case, sellers generated more reasons why the buyer's initial offer was bad when the buyer made arguments along with the initial offer than when there were no arguments. The sellers made higher counteroffers when there were arguments along with the initial offer than when there weren't. Finally, the purchase price was higher when the buyer made arguments than when there were no arguments made.
Putting all this together, then, it appears that it is hard to be persuasive when negotiating. People enter negotiations knowing that the other party is an adversary. Each side wants to get the best deal, and so they treat every piece of information given by the other party with skepticism. They find reasons why persuasive arguments are flawed and use those counterarguments when adjusting the anchor set by the initial offer.
What does this mean for you?
If you are involved in a negotiation, it is probably a good idea to make the first offer. That initial offer serves as an anchor. However, after you make that initial offer, resist the temptation to give reasons to justify that initial bid. Instead, let the other party come back with a counteroffer. Chances are, that counteroffer will not be adjusted as far away from your initial offer as it would have been if you had made arguments in your own favor.
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Dear Raheem,
. Your games with the media have worked out for you and you're heading off down the East Lancs Road to play for the second most famous team in the North West's second most famous city.
Good luck on your new adventure, no hard feelings, hope it works out for you.
I can't say that I speak on behalf of all Liverpool fans in wishing you good luck and especially not in saying no hard feelings - I've heard lots of things wished on you and luck certainly hasn't been the main one. But still, all good things must come to an end and you've got a new set of fans to try and make happy now. As I say, good luck with that.
Career in pictures: Raheem Sterling
Those new fans will probably disagree with the bit about theirs being the second most famous city in the North West, as of course they're entitled to, but it would be hard for them to disagree with the bit about them being the second most famous club in their city. Take money out of the picture for a second - go on, try - and you've kind of moved to Manchester's Everton.
In my experience their fans are actually great people, the vast majority of those I've known down the years have a great sense of humour - they needed one - and a massive amount of humility. No doubt there'll be a new breed of fan infiltrating the old guard, as happens at any club with new found success, those who are only there for the trophies and won't be there to help fight for more if they show any signs of drying up. I can think of a few players like that. On the whole though, you're moving to a club with a great set of fans - but leaving behind a club with a much larger set of great fans.
You probably didn't read it, but your short-lived new team mate James Milner
(Image: Getty)
. He loved his time at Manchester City and no doubt felt a certain amount of sadness at leaving behind those fans, his friends and so many memories, but already he is talking about "the magnitude" of Liverpool FC and "globally how well that it is known". As he said, Liverpool "is that next level again."
I fully understand where you're coming from in wanting to play at a club where you can win things and play at the highest level with or against the best players in the game. Believe it or not, Liverpool fans want their club to do that too. We're not happy at only winning one trophy in nine years or dropping straight out of the Champions League (when we actually do qualify for it), but we're not about to ditch our Red shirts and scarves and raid one of Mike Ashley's shops to kit ourselves out in sky blue. We'll stay and fight. That’s what we do.
We've not forgotten the heights of the best half-season you had with us, the second half of the 2013-14 season. We'll never forget it, even if there was nothing to show for it in the end. We'll never forget lining Anfield Road as the team bus drove slowly down it through banners dripping with references to this club’s great history and thick smoke from all the pyro as fans sang their hearts out and showed everyone on that team bus exactly what this club is all about.
This club is all about its fans, even if sometimes it seems to completely forget that.
These fans fought for their club when you were still at school, at the Merseyside school you moved to so you could finish your education after Rafa Benitez and Frank McParland had brought you to Liverpool's Academy and given you your break. While you were there, we were marching on Anfield and making ourselves heard around the world and especially on Wall Street. We made sure everybody knew we wouldn't be giving our club up as easily as our then owners and the people they'd put our club in hock to hoped we would.
We fought so that there was still a club there for you to get your big chance at.
If we’d had your kind of fight there wouldn’t be a Liverpool Football Club any more.
(Image: Getty)
You'll see more of our kind of fight soon if Liverpool don't start to find the success that you also claim to be leaving for. You'll see it from a distance, but you'll definitely see it if it's needed.
Of course it might not be needed, and we really hope it isn’t, because it might just be that we go into this season with a squad of players with the hearts and attitude to fight tooth and nail on the pitch for the success these fans crave, instead of a squad scattered with half-hearted types who expect it all handed to them on a plate.
You've almost certainly done us a massive favour, so thanks for that.
didn’t just get the ball rolling on you getting your big money move to that club 30 miles away, it highlighted the fact - and it is a fact - that Liverpool are falling way below expectations. It's already quite clear that Liverpool fans won't allow their expectations to be lowered any more than they already have been and the time for excuses has long since passed.
There’s also the £49million fee we’re going to get for you. For all the potential you have – and you’ve plenty of it – you’ve yet to have one good full season in the first team. It could turn out to be a lucrative deal for your new club, if you turn out to be as good as your potential suggests you can be. But it’s more of a gamble for Manchester City than it is for Liverpool. The gamble from our side is whether or not we can spend that windfall wisely.
Owners, managers, coaches and players come and go, some leave on better terms than others, some leave more of a mark than others. In five years’ time will Liverpool fans have much they remember you for in a Red shirt? Nothing you’d like to be remembered for anyway.
(Image: Andrew Powell)
You’ll be remembered for
and acting like one.
Good luck and goodbye.
Best wishes,
Jim, Liverpool fan
NOW TAKE OUR QUIZ: Were these things MORE or LESS expensive than RaheemBritish sports club West Bromwich Albion has had its major sponsorship withdrawn by its Jewish Supremacist backer over a “quenelle salute” by one of its players—even though the head of French Jewry has declared that salute not to be related to anti-Semitism!
The incredible turn of events took place after the English Premier League soccer team’s sponsor, Alex Chesterman, a Jewish businessman and owner of a UK-based real estate website called Zoopla, announced that it would not renew its sponsorship following player Nicolas Anelka’s use of the “quenelle salute” at a recent match.
“Of course, I am neither racist nor anti-Semitic and I fully assume my gesture,” Anelka, who is of North African origin, tweeted the day after he made the gesture. He claimed the gesture was anti-establishment and had nothing to do with religious affiliation.
The bizarreness of the situation was amplified when the president of France’s main Jewish group, Roger Cukierman of the CRIF, announced in an interview with the Le Figaro newspaper that Anelka’s punishment “seems to me a bit severe” because “when performed at a place without any Jewish connection, it seems to me like an anarchist gesture against the establishment, which, it seems, does not merit severe punishment,” he said.
In response to the Jewish Supremacist pressure, the UK Football Association announced that Anelka would be banned for at least five matches for improper conduct, aggravated because it “included a reference to ethnic origin and/or race and/or religion or belief” for performing the gesture on the pitch after scoring a goal on Dec. 28.
As noted anti-Zionist campaigner Gilad Atzmon pointed out, “Jewish money, philanthropy and endorsement come with a price tag. The beneficiary is expected to subscribe to Jewish politics and interests while being extremely attentive to Jewish sensitivities.”
* The move to punish the British sports club is made even more outrageous by the total lack of any action against the Israeli soccer club Maccabi Haifa, whose fan base has racially abused a black South African player to the point where he has fled Israel.
According to an article in the Israeli Haaretz newspaper, South African player Dino Ndlovu still has two-and-a-half years remaining in his contract with Maccabi Haifa, but he says going back is not an option.
“I don’t want to go back there,” Ndlovu said. “I’ve had difficulties there over the last three months and asked the team to loan me out after the club’s fans racially abused me.”
“The fans were booing me and told me to go home to Uganda,” Ndlovu said.
Of course, nothing will be said or done about Jewish Supremacist racism, as it is always one rule for the Zionist Supremacists, and another for everybody else, as the Anelka example has proved once again.How Anti-Muslim Rhetoric Helps The Cause Of Those That Would Kill Us
America's obsession over the fate of the Burlington Coat Factory in Lower Manhattan, and a general rise in anti-Islamic rhetoric, plays right into the hands of the people that are actually our enemies.
Doug Mataconis · · 28 comments
While America spends August engaged in a rather bizarre debate about land use in Lower Manhattan, some are saying that the rhetoric surrounding the Park51 community center/mosque project, as well as other protests against mosques elsewhere in the United States, is exactly what those who would use Islam as a rallying cry for terrorism want to hear:
WASHINGTON — Some counterterrorism experts say the anti-Muslim sentiment that has saturated the airwaves and blogs in the debate over plans for an Islamic center near ground zero in Lower Manhattan is playing into the hands of extremists by bolstering their claims that the United States is hostile to Islam. Opposition to the center by prominent politicians and other public figures in the United States has been covered extensively by the news media in Muslim countries. At a time of concern about radicalization of young Muslims in the West, it risks adding new fuel to Al Qaeda’s claim that Islam is under attack by the West and must be defended with violence, some specialists on Islamic militancy say. “I know people in this debate don’t intend it, but there are consequences for these kinds of remarks,” said Brian Fishman, who studies terrorism for the New America Foundation here. He said that Anwar al-Awlaki, an American-born cleric hiding in Yemen who has been linked to several terrorist plots, has been arguing for months in Web speeches and in a new Qaeda magazine that American Muslims face a dark future of ever-worsening discrimination and vilification. “When the rhetoric is so inflammatory that it serves the interests of a jihadi recruiter like Awlaki, politicians need to be called on it,” Mr. Fishman said. Evan F. Kohlmann, who tracks militant Web sites at the security consulting firm Flashpoint Global Partners, said supporters of Al Qaeda have seized on the controversy “with glee.” On radical Web forums, he said, the dispute over the Islamic center, which would include space for worship, is lumped together with fringe developments like a Florida pastor’s call for making Sept. 11 “Burn a Koran Day.” “It’s seen as proof of what Awlaki and others have been saying, that the U.S. is hypocritical and that most Americans are enemies of Islam,” Mr. Kohlmann said. He called the anti-Islam statements spawned by the dispute “disturbing and sad” and said they were feeding anti-American sentiment that could provoke violence.
While this argument does make a certain amount of sense, Daniel Drezner is among those who thinks that “this will help the terrorists” arguments should be abandoned:
You know what? Let the terrorists win. …I’m getting really sick of “the terrorists will win” line of criticism being levied against those wishing to prevent construction of the mosque. You know, I remember oh so many years ago the constant use of “if you say X, or criticize policy Y, or challenge official Z, then the terrorists win” kind of discourse. It was horses**t then, and it’s horses**t now. I’ll be damned if I’m going to see debate in the United States circumscribed because of fears of how Al Qaeda will react.
I’m not sure that anyone is saying that debate should be circumscribed, but I do think it’s fair to point out that how we treat Muslims, or Islam in general, here in the United States can become a potential rallying cry for those who would do us harm:
Mr. Awlaki, whose Web diatribes calling for attacks on the United States have turned up repeatedly in terrorism investigations, has sought to counter the notion that American tolerance extends to Muslims. In a March posting, Mr. Awlaki, who lived in the United States for nearly 20 years, predicted that America would become “a land of religious discrimination and concentration camps.” “Don’t be deceived by the promises of preserving your rights from a government that is right now killing your own brothers and sisters,” he wrote. “Today, with the war between Muslims and the West escalating, you cannot count on the message of solidarity you may get from a civic group or a political party, or the word of support you hear from a kind neighbor or a nice co-worker. The West will eventually turn against its Muslim citizens!” Dalia Mogahed of the Gallup Center for Muslim Studies said the outcry over the proposed center “plays into Awlaki’s arguments and Osama bin Laden’s arguments” by suggesting that Islam has no place in the United States. She said that extreme anti-Muslim views in the United States ironically mirror a central tenet of extreme Islamists: “That the world is divided into two camps, and they’re irreconcilable, and Muslims have to choose which side they’re on.”
Ironically, there is a striking, often distressing, similarly between al-Awlaki’s insane ranting that Muslims in America are under threat of persecution and what you hear from Americans like Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer who have made themselves known as leaders of the “anti-Islamization” movement, and who have allied themselves with far-right Dutch politician Geert Wilders, who’s been known to say things like this:
The rhetoric of Wilders, Geller, and Spencer is repeated by Fox News hosts like Sean Hannity, politicians like Sarah Palin, Newt Gingrich, and Rudy Giuliani, and echoed in anti-mosque protests in Lower Manhattan, but also in Staten Island, Florida, California, Wisconsin, and Tennessee. Is it really that hard to believe that this rhetoric makes it’s way around the world to be exploited by men like al-Alwaki who wish to convince their fellow Muslims that the West is at war with them?
The right in this country has adopted the rhetoric of people who believe that we are in a religious conflict with all of Islam. That isn’t true, but when you start saying we are and people start believing you, it has the potential to become a self-fulfilling prophecy, and that’s a future that nobody should look forward to.When will it end?
There are times when I think perhaps I have overstated the level of misandry in our mainstream media. Then I open the morning paper or watch a program like The Project and my doubts are fiercely shredded and my resolve to keep speaking out with words or my pen is strengthened.
We have all witnessed the coverage of the kidnapping of 200 Nigerian schoolgirls by the terrorist jihadists Boko Haram. This coverage is appropriate and warranted. No one could suggest otherwise. It is the gobsmacking, gut-wrenching, breathtaking double standards that so appall and anger me.
The following is a quote from one of the only articles I have been able to locate on an incident that occurred in February of this year.
Islamic militants set fire to a locked dormitory at a school in northern Nigeria, then shot and slit the throats of students who tried to escape through windows. At least 58 students were killed, including many who were burned alive. They slaughtered them like sheep with machetes and gunned down those who ran away, said one teacher, Adamu Garba.
The headline of the article from which I have quoted the above extract is: “Dozens killed in attack on Nigerian school.”
It is at the end of the fifth paragraph that we discover that:
all of the dead were teenage boys or young men.
All of the schoolgirls were told to go home and were unharmed.
This was clearly a gender-based massacre. The fact that many schoolgirls were present but were deliberately left untouched by these killers while the boys were butchered underlines this fact in a most compelling manner.
You will note that there was no reference to gender in the headline or opening paragraph. It spoke of “students.”
There were no demands for intervention by the United States. There were no statements from the United Nations calling this atrocity a crime against humanity. There were no statements from Nigeria’s president or his wife. There were no “selfies” by self-important, arrogant celebrities and politicians holding up placards saying, “Stop butchering our boys!” or “Boys are human too!’ There was no publicity shot of Michelle Obama holding her own message. There was no segment on The Project or editorials from David Penberthy, Natasha Stott Despoja, or Julia Gillard.
But when the girls were kidnapped, the outpouring of grief and compassion was stunning and powerful. Action is now being taken. Tears have been shed by Nigeria’s first lady. Promises have been made by politicians. Celebrities have demonstrated their outrage and compassion with the push-button aplomb that is so prevalent in this age of posturing |
life and stay true to your larger goals and values.NEW YORK, NY - APRIL 09: Michael J. Fox and Robin Williams pose backstage at the hit play 'Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo' on Broadway at The Richard Rogers Theater on April 9, 2011 in New York City. (Photo by Bruce Glikas/FilmMagic)
Days after Robin Williams' death, his wife Susan Schneider revealed the actor had been diagnosed with early stages of Parkinson's Disease. Upon hearing the news, Williams' friend and Parkinson's activist Michael J. Fox took to Twitter to share his reaction.
Fox tweeted to his over 1.1 million followers Thursday evening that he was "stunned" to learn of Williams' condition:
Stunned to learn Robin had PD. Pretty sure his support for our Fdn predated his diagnosis. A true friend; I wish him peace. — Michael J. Fox (@realmikefox) August 14, 2014
According to the website for the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research, Fox was diagnosed with young-onset Parkinson's in 1991. He went public with his condition in 1998.
Seemingly related to the news but never mentioning Williams by name, the foundation addressed on its blog how depression and Parkinson's are often related:
"Depression is a symptom of Parkinson's disease, separate from the emotional response that comes with a diagnosis," per the FoxFeed Blog, in an entry posted Thursday, August 14. "As many as 50 percent of people with Parkinson's show clinically significant symptoms of depression at some point in their disease course."
As mentioned in Fox's tweet, Williams was a supporter of his foundation. According to its website, the actor and comedian had participated in the annual A Funny Thing Happened on The Way to Cure Parkinson's Gala, which raised nearly $5 million for Parkinson's research each year.
Alongside Williams and Fox, performers at the gala included The Who, James Taylor, Elvis Costello, Sheryl Crow, Tony Bennett, Bon Jovi, John Mayer, Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert and Wanda Sykes.David John Braben OBE (born 2 January 1964) is a British game developer, game designer, founder and CEO of Frontier Developments plc, co-creator of the Elite series, space trading computer games, first published in 1984. He is also a co-founder of and works as a trustee for the Raspberry Pi Foundation which in 2012 launched a low-cost computer for education.[1][2]
Personal life [ edit ]
Braben attended Buckhurst Hill County High School in Chigwell in Essex.[3] He studied Natural Sciences at Jesus College, Cambridge, specialising in Electrical Science in his final year. In May 1993 he married Katharin Dickinson in Cambridge.[4] His current wife is Wendy Irvin-Braben and he has two sons.[5][6]
Work [ edit ]
In 2008, Braben was an investor and non-executive director[7] of Phonetic Arts, a speech generation company led by Paul Taylor. Phonetic Arts was acquired by Google in 2010,[8] for an undisclosed sum.
In May 2011, Braben announced a new prototype computer intended to stimulate the teaching of basic computer science in schools. Called Raspberry Pi, the computer is mounted in a package the size of a credit card, and has a USB port on one end with a HDMI monitor socket on the other, and provides an ARM processor running Linux for an estimated price of about £15 for a configured system, cheap enough to give to a child to do whatever he or she wants with it.[9] The Raspberry Pi Foundation, a charity whose aim is to "promote the study of computer science and related topics, especially at school level, and to put the fun back into learning computing".[10]
Game development [ edit ]
Braben has been called "one of the most influential computer game programmers of all time", based on his early game development with the Elite series in the 1980s and 1990s.[11] Next Generation listed him in their "75 Most Important People in the Games Industry of 1995", chiefly due to the original Elite.[12]
Elite was developed in conjunction with programmer Ian Bell while both were undergraduate students at Cambridge University. Elite was first released in September 1984 and is known as the first game to have 3D hidden line removal. In 1987, Braben published Zarch for the Acorn Archimedes, ported in 1989 as Virus for the Atari ST, Commodore Amiga and PC.[13]
After Zarch, Braben went on to develop the sequel to Elite, Frontier, published in 1993 and founded Frontier Developments, a games development company whose first project was a version of Frontier for the Amiga CD32. Braben is still the CEO and majority shareholder of the company, whose projects since 2000 have included Dog's Life, Kinectimals, RollerCoaster Tycoon 3, LostWinds, Planet Coaster, Elite: Dangerous, Jurassic World Evolution, Kinect Disneyland Adventures, Zoo Tycoon, Coaster Crazy and games based on the Wallace & Gromit franchise.[14]
In 2006, Braben was working on an ambitious next-generation game called The Outsider, being developed by Frontier Developments. As said in an interview,[15] he was planning to start working on Elite 4 – as a space MMORPG game – as soon as The Outsider went gold. Braben said explicitly that this title was of a special value to him. The Outsider was abandoned due to removal of publisher support and was never published.
In 2012, Braben explained in an interview with developer website Gamasutra his opinion that the sale of secondhand games negatively affects development of new titles, also holding the price of games in general much higher than they would otherwise be.[16] However, later in 2014 he acknowledged: "Piracy goes hand in hand with sales. If a game is pirated a lot it will be bought a lot. People want a connected experience, so with pirated games we still have a route in to get them to upgrade to real version. And even if someone's version is pirated, they might evangelise and their mates will buy the real thing."[17]
On 6 November 2012, Braben's Frontier Developments announced a new Elite sequel called Elite: Dangerous on the Kickstarter crowdfunding site.[18] Elite: Dangerous achieved its funding goal, and listed as one of the most funded Kickstarter campaigns.[19] The game was released on 16 December 2014, and by April 2015 had sold over 500,000 copies.[20] As of August 2017, the game has sold over 2.75 million copies.[21]
Awards [ edit ]
On 5 September 2005, Braben received the Development Legend Award at the Develop Industry Excellence Awards in Cambridge.[22]
In 2012, Braben was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering.[23]
In 2013, Braben was co-award winner of Tech Personality of the Year at the UK Tech Awards 2013.[24] In the same year he was awarded an honorary degree by Abertay University. [25]
Braben was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2014 Birthday Honours for services to the UK computer and video games industry.[26][27]
In January 2015, he received the 2015 Pioneer, Game Developers Choice Award (GDCA), for his work on the Raspberry Pi and for working more than 30 years as a game developer.[28]
On 12 March 2015, Braben was awarded the BAFTA Academy Fellowship Award in video gaming at the 11th British Academy Games Awards.[29]
Braben is the recipient of three honorary doctorates from Abertay University (2013),[30] The Open University (2014)[31] and York University (15 July 2015).[32]
Games [ edit ]Off the back of the recent Climate Skeptics vs The Consensus image, we were curious how many scientists might make up ‘The Consensus’.
The Skeptical side claims at least 31,486 dissenters in their ranks, according to the PetitionProject.org. That sounds like a lot. But is it?
Of course, not all 12 million US scientists therefore agree with ‘The Consensus’. But this puts the PetitionProject’s 31,486 signatories in some kind of context.
Our maths here is somewhat coarse. Some better data suggests the ‘consensus’ figure is around 97.5% of publishing climatologists and around 90% of all publishing scientists supporting the human-induced climate theory. See this study for more details (PDF – Doran And Zimmerman 2009)
Actually, here’s how some of it looks:
Skeptical Field
Among the climate skeptic scientists, we wondered which fields of science were most represented. We expected climate and earth sciences. But we got…
In fact, when you adjust the PetitionProject’s odd categorisation – they filed ‘chemical engineers’ as chemists and physical engineers as ‘physicists’ – the total number of engineers who signed the petition, by our reckoning, jumps to 49%
Why so many engineers?
UPDATE 1: 23rd Dec 09. Thanks all for the excellent feedback (and barbs!). The language and presentation have been adapted now to hopefully better reflect our exploratory intentions.1.
Readers would be well advised to don a Hazmat suit before wading into the thrilling, pestilential world of French writer Gabrielle Wittkop. In a jungle, one is confronted with the “effluvia of rotting carcasses or the fetid exhalation of orchids and carnivorous plants;” in a Baltimore tavern the face of an old sailor “being eaten away like a pumpkin by phthisis;” in the New York City sewers the “eternal fungus of putrefaction” and the “sweet slime of the deep darkness;” and in Venice “baskets and pails are overflowing with filth…snot, purplish riches, gray-green defecations, iridescent stews, buzzing with life.” These are only some of the fleurs du mal that blossom in Murder Most Serene (translated by Louise Rogers Lalaurie) and Exemplary Departures (translated by Annette David), two works recently published in gorgeous editions by Wakefield Press. Wittkop’s only other novel to appear in English, The Necrophiliac, supplies some choice mephitic bits as well.
Wittkop was born in Nantes in 1920 and home-schooled by her father, devouring the books in his extensive library. In her translator’s postscript, David charts Wittkop’s literary influences from her early immersion with Marquis de Sade and other Enlightenment writers through her lifelong fascination with the “decadent romantisme noir” of Joris-Karl Huysmans, Comte de Lautrémont, André Pieyre de Mandiargues, Edgar Allan Poe, the subject of one of her stories, and E.T.A. Hoffmann, about whom she wrote a biography. While living in Paris during the Occupation, she harbored and then married a deserter from the German Army, the bisexual Justus Franz Wittkop. Both Wittkop and her husband would commit suicide in their 80s, he while suffering from Parkinson’s and she after receiving a diagnosis of lung cancer in 2002.
Wittkop is best known for The Necrophiliac, the narrator of which is an antiques dealer, a “situation almost ideal” for his off-hours pursuits: digging up freshly buried bodies, secreting them back to his Paris apartment and keeping them there, sometimes for weeks. Amid lurid, loving descriptions of his disinterred guests — he rhapsodizes over his “boyfriends with anuses glacial as mint, my exquisite mistresses with grey marble bellies” — there are occasionally moments of dark levity. Upon being propositioned by a prepossessing young man, he politely rejects him while thinking to himself, “I would love your eyes sunken in, your lips silenced, your sex frozen, if only you were dead; unfortunately, you have the bad taste to be alive.”
The Necrophiliac is ultimately about the intoxication and isolation of genuine connoisseurship. “The dead,” the narrator tells us, “are full of the unexpected,” a knowledge, and pleasure, he is condemned to savor alone while hiding from a “hostile world” that sees him as a monster. Of course he is a monster of sorts, but Wittkop succeeds, remarkably, in illustrating the perversely empathetic (“All these sexes under the earth, does anyone ever think of them?”) and elevating quality of the necrophiliac’s depredations:
The smell of the dead is that of the return to the cosmos, that of the sublime alchemy. For nothing is as flawless as a corpse, and it becomes more and more so as time passes, until the final purity of this large ivory doll with its mute smile and its perpetually spread legs that is in each one of us.
The devotion to his sordid obsession reveals, to him at least, a seldom glimpsed purity.
As both translators note in their accompanying essays to these new releases, and as should be evident from the The Necrophiliac’s subject, death and decay are two of Wittkop’s idées fixes. Take a representative description of a tree in a rainforest from the story “Mr. T.’s Last Secret” in Exemplary Departures:
Insect humors travel through the veins of the bark; liquefied, the reptile is reborn in the fetid pulp of fungus; the feather becomes leaf; the flower changes into a scale; eggs and soft roe burst into living myriads; death embraces resurrection, the two of them twinned like day and night
Passages like these adequately communicate her Eros-and-Thanatos aesthetic, and Wittkop’s prose usually glimmers as her subjects decompose. However, her decadent style is not without its flaws. Of a casino in Monte Carlo, she writes:
Like the vulva of some huge primeval hussy but also the secret charm of a Ganymede at its zenith, it gapes before the onrush, at the exact moment when the act is consumed in the triumphant erection of porphyry columns, so thick that they look as though about to burst, in the gold decorations reflected in the mirror where the chandeliers’ infinite galaxies explode, and in the simultaneous ejaculation of the innumerous thrusting palms, eternally soaring, as far the eye can see, toward the nudity of the ceilings.
Wittkop is not finished, still having to explore the “sphincter of the circular banquettes,” the “titanic birth labors announc[ing] themselves on the lips of the drapes,” and the spacious bathroom, “sanctuary for excrements.” (God knows how she would have allegorized the furnace room.) It is hard to defend such delirious imagery except to say that at least when she’s bad, she’s very bad. Contrast this architecture porn with an enticing, restrained, and more representative passage from another story, this one describing the spiraling staircase of a donjon that is
Unspeakably inviting, promising enchanted glimpses as it coiled itself despite the angular bones of its planks, forming a kind of sirens’ tail. It was, in short, as staircases admittedly are, destined to all kinds of betrayal.
Wittkop comes alive when she injects an element of sardonic sadism into her observations, the sense that there is enjoyment to be had at watching the dissolution (natural or violent) of a body. Her intense focus on the death throes of her protagonists, and on the post-mortem decomposition of their corpses, could be interpreted as a curious quest for self-knowledge. “But why this obstinate dwelling over a corpse’s pluck?” the narrator of Murder Most Serene asks after exhaustively describing a poisoned woman’s “spectacular final agony” and her autopsy. She provides the answer herself: “Simply because it is there inside us all, day and night.” Wittkop frames her macabre voyeurism in the tradition of the ancient injunction inscribed on the Delphic temple: Know thyself.
2.
Set in 18th-century Venice, Murder Most Serene is a novella concerning the not-so-gentle art of poisoning. Over the course of 30 years, a Venetian nobleman and bibliomaniac, Count Lanzi, witnesses each of his four wives perish — his “conjugal monomania” unflagging despite their particularly gruesome deaths. Count Lanzi is too busy wandering in his library, a “boustrophedonic labyrinth” wherein he indulges his “blind, vehement, irrational passion” for books to look too deeply into the matter. Poison is usually involved, or suspected in each case; when one of the curtailed marriages produces a deformed child, the unfortunate offspring is dispatched with less finesse.
The short work begins with a theatrical nod, Wittkop likening herself to a “bunraku master” who “controls his puppets’ movements” to the audience’s, and his own, delight: “I enjoy presenting their spectacle, and I watch it, too, my own spectator.” The action itself commences on a stagey note, with an exasperated Count Lanzi complaining, “Can a man not read without being constantly disturbed?” When the interruption turns out to be an announcement that yet another one of his wives has died, he responds “Again?!” This sounds like a Wildean quip: to lose one wife may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose four looks like carelessness. And indeed, the “strange, cruel drama” to come is accompanied by a laugh track of sorts, the peals of mirthless, diabolical laughter of a decadent society in the throes of “misrule:” “It is almost always Carnival, that endemic epidemic.” The case of the murdered wives concludes in 1797 just as Napoléon Bonaparte comes into the city with cleansing wrath that will abruptly put a stop to the Most Serene Republic’s cackling: “We cannot always be laughing…” read the novella’s last lines.
The mystery is largely an excuse for Wittkop to present the unfortunate spouses in their “spectacular final agon[ies]” and immerse us in the “flamboyant misrule” of Venice, “city of appalling gravity, where even the corpses weigh more heavily than elsewhere.” At one point, after pausing to describe how an old lecher places pornographic drawings between the pages of the missals in a church, the narrator dismisses it as “of no importance, merely anecdotal interest, a flourish.” On the contrary, the entire novella revolves around such “anecdotal interest,” lurid, impressionistic snapshots of a gossipy, shadowy world.
Murder Most Serene, in other words, is mostly local color, concerned with effects rather than causes. This explains the scant attention paid to interiority and the lavish attention paid to the aesthetics of how certain poisons, “painterly magicians,” act on the human visage:
Their effects are played out in color: suddenly, we see a sky-blue iris turn the rich purple of the abattoir; a camellia complexion takes on a tint of bluish mauve, coral-pink lips turn to coral-black, which is infinitely more precious, as everyone knows.
Note the touch of the aesthete’s snobbery. As with precious jewelry, so with poison: refinement is king.
3.
If Murder Most Serene Wittkop revels in the corruption of a society approaching a crisis (“the time of the Atreidae is come…”), Exemplary Departures casts an icy gaze on individual reckonings with death. The five titular “exemplary departures” are as follows: A shady American intelligence officer-cum-antiquarian disappears into a Malaysian jungle without a trace; a young Scottish girl on vacation in the Rhineland starves to death after being trapped atop a dilapidated castle tower, where she had gone to sketch the countryside; a delirious Edgar Allen Poe, “haunted by angels,” breathes his last in Baltimore’s Washington Hospital; a feckless shoe salesman drifts into homelessness and is beaten to death in a New York City sewer; and hermaphroditic twins — noble, sensual, completely absorbed in themselves — cavort in pre-Revolutionary Paris as seemingly immortal deities. Only at the moment of their grisly death are they bestowed a “fragile and derisory crown of a brief humanity.”
As Wittkop notes about one of these “departures,” it represents “a situation characterized by misunderstanding and revelation.” “Exemplary” is therefore used somewhat ironically, as the stories are neither models of noble deaths nor cautionary tales. These five stories are tragedies stripped of pathos, clinical examinations of creatures governed by a “conditioned determinism,” and moving inextricably, and heedlessly, toward their fates: “It is while blindly dancing the Dance of Death that we make our way toward our downfall.”
Again, a rire diabolique is usually audible in the background, a derisory chorus here comprised of monkeys, rats, crows, and grotesque statues. Straightforward Oedipal drama and fairy-tale villainy reign. The tales are less psychological than physiological; how a character thinks matters less than how a body moves, or perishes. Wittkop is an anatomizing narrator. “Idalia on the Tower” begins by zooming in on Idalia’s foot, the “slender low-arched foot with rosy nails cut straight and bluish skin the color of thin milk” that will eventually slip on the rotten stairs of the castle tower and leave her stranded: “Here we have what, moved by muscles, nerves, a very complex and dynamic mechanism, would cause the determining event, the very slow and painful death…” Later, Wittkop will redirect her anatomical gaze to the stranded, starving girl’s contracting “maxillary muscles,” her convulsing neck (“opisthotonus”) and various internal injuries so severe that the once supple body has “metamorphosed into a machine.” The “dynamic mechanism” highlighted in the story’s opening has begun to malfunction.
In “Claude and Hippolyte,” Wittkop’s anatomical gaze is primarily erotic, focusing on the twins of “unrestrained narcissism” who couple in front of mirrors, the better to revel in the “reflection of their strange genitalia…a hortus deliciosus…unfolded on the cold glass.” The more the merrier.
Finally, we have the opening of “A Descent,” which mercilessly dissects its protagonist in a piece of body shaming par excellence:
Seymour M. Kenneth had a slight paunch. Not much, in fact, a small deposit of fat evenly distributed over the flabby musculature of his abdomen, a pad just visible when Seymour was naked, but only then, an adiposity giving way to the pressure of a finger that would sink in no deeper than a few millimeters, in short, a concession. Had one been given the task to examine it…this paunch might have represented an avowal rather than a failure or a deficiency. One might have seen in it the symbol of a formless destiny, a propensity, to spinelessness. It wasn’t the elastic balloon of a cheerful, desperate person who eats his way to ruin, but the slowly accumulated burden of omissions, of wear and tear, of self-neglect, a pitiful gravidity that, so utterly unwarranted, would never reach its term, because nothing, not even failure, could be properly fulfilled in Seymour M. Kenneth’s life.
In fact, the hapless character does properly fulfill his lifelong, if not particularly ambitious, dream, which is to return to the womb. Our last view of him alive is in the tunnels below Grand Central Station, laying “curled up…a silent embryo,” his paunch morphing into either a fetus’s or mother’s stomach: “Spongy now, his belly was swelling up, spherical.”
I wrote earlier of Wittkop’s sardonic sadism, which is omnipresent but most evident in Exemplary Departure’s finest story, “Idalia on the Tower.” Consider how Wittkop describes how an exhausted Idalia, the girl trapped in her tower, repeatedly fails to build a stone plinth on which to stand and attract help. Rest assured, Wittkop informs us, the length and intensity of the girl’s struggles will make for an entertaining show:
In spite of its repetitions the spectacle is not as monotonous as one might fear. It is possible to see in it the delicate leitmotif of a choreographed figure and find much delight in observing Miss Dubb’s gestures. A certain duration of this pleasure can also be expected, seventeen being the age of great battles when one, even though deprived of both water and food, does not die quietly like a lamp that goes out for lack of fuel.
Elsewhere, Wittkop pauses a long description of a feast the starving girl has hallucinated with the following parenthetical: “You may have noticed the pleasure I have in presenting all this foodstuff for Miss Dubb, but who doesn’t like to present beautiful things?” That would be icy enough, but then Wittkop coolly resumes her mouthwatering inventory once again. This commitment to finding aesthetic pleasure in suffering is accompanied by a view of the universe as an indifferent, amoral universe in which divine retribution is illusory: “The eye that watches Cain is pure fiction.”
4.
“There is purity each time that a new threshold is crossed,” Wittkop writes in The Necrophiliac. The great threshold, of course, is between life and death, and the best deaths, at least according to Wittkop’s morbidly decadent philosophy, are stage-managed. In that same work, she describes the final moments of Gaius Petronius Arbiter, author of The Satyricon, who, upon being accused of treason, chose to have his veins opened in a bathtub rather than contest the charges. His exemplary departure is narrated thusly:
Surrounded by his concubines and his Greek slaves slipping their tongues into his mouth and caressing his hair…He heard their tender words pull back towards another planet because he himself was about to leave the earth…He sensed nothingness invade the network of his veins…while the dancers stuck their vulvas to his body like barnacles onto a ship and the fingers of these ephebi explored his secret parts. Floating into his bath as if into the maternal liquid, Gaius Petronius Arbiter sensed his life escaping him as sweetly as it had once come to him. That’s how death should be.
No objections here.Writing and production Edit
Release and artwork Edit
"I think a lot of people are afraid of being happy because of what others might think of it.... They're afraid to embrace that and embrace themselves and love themselves and do what they love and do what makes them happy." —Rihanna talking about the lyrical meaning behind "Diamonds" for MTV News.[7] On September 12, 2012, Def Jam France announced via Twitter that Rihanna would release a new single the following week and that her seventh studio album will be released in November. However, the tweet was shortly deleted and replaced with another clarifying that more information will be given on September 13.[8] In an interview with iHeartRadio at their annual music festival in September, Rihanna confirmed "Diamonds" as her new single and said that it would first be played on American radio beginning September 26.[9] She described it as an easy-going, but optimistic song that is "happy and hippy" rather than dance-oriented and said that the song "gives me such a great feeling when I listen to it. The lyrics are very hopeful and positive, but it's about love."[9] The single's cover artwork was revealed on September 24 and depicted Rihanna rolling diamonds in a manner suggestive of joint rolling.[10][11] On September 26, Rihanna posted the full lyrics of the song in a PDF on her official website Rihanna7.com.[12] "Diamonds" premiered the same day on the Elvis Duran and the Morning Show,[13] and on the following day, it was released as a digital download on the 7 Digital store.[14] In the United Kingdom, the song was released to 7 Digital on September 28.[15] Def Jam Recordings solicited the single to contemporary hit radio in the United States on October 2.[16] On November 5, it was released in Germany as a CD single, which it also contained the song's Bimbo Jones Vocal Remix.[17] On December 18, eight digital remixes of the single were digitally released.[18]
Composition and lyrical interpretation Edit
Critical reception Edit
Recognition and accolades Edit
Commercial performance Edit
Music video Edit
Background and concept Edit "With every song it's a different story, so the visuals are very specific to that story and that world. With 'Diamonds,' it was just a series of vignettes that we put together to help get the emotion across throughout the song 'cause the song changes and it builds, and there's no real way that you could do that." —Rihanna explaining the concept for the music video.[92] Rihanna began to film the music video for "Diamonds" on October 21, 2012, at the Mojave Desert in Lancaster, California.[34] It was directed by her regular collaborator Anthony Mandler, who previously directed her videos for "Russian Roulette" (2009) and "Man Down" (2011).[34] Photographs of the production leaked to the press the same day and showed Rihanna in a white and black dress in front of a fire. Ethan Sacks of the New York Daily News remarked that she "looked like a gem on the set of her video shoot."[93] Rihanna said that she wanted the video's abstract scenes to capture the appropriate emotion for the audience.[92] Mandler sought to create a "wider landscape" by suggesting and transfiguring ideas for viewers through the video: "[T]hey needed to feel like dream vignettes, like, when you wake up from a dream, you realize what you were dreaming about is not really what it was about, it was about something else."[94] He also tried to relate the video's concept to Rihanna's personal life: "What's truth or fiction? You know 'Is she drowning, or is she in complete ecstasy? Are those hands coming apart, or are they finding each other?'... we tried to bring up these deeper questions that relate to song and her life and finding beauty in chaos and finding beauty in pain and finding pain in beauty."[94] On November 7, a behind-the-scenes video was posted on MTV's official website.[95] It featured Rihanna in a "leopard-print" robe as she emerged from a trailer and headed to the shooting set. The scenes were intercut with police officers who chase armed fighters. Rihanna stands in a deserted landscape in the video's other scenes.[95] The music video for "Diamonds" premiered November 8 on MTV. The video was also made available for streaming at Rihanna.MTV.com.[95] It was digitally released on November 14 via the iTunes Store.[96] Synopsis Edit [97] A screenshot from the music video showing Rihanna's hand intertwined with that of a heavily tattooed man. Some critics believed the arm of the man resembled that of Chris Brown The music video opens with a view of Rihanna lying in open waters, as other scenes of diamonds being rolled in a manner suggestive of making a joint are intercut – a scene reminiscent of the single's artwork. As the video progresses Rihanna is shown running on a highway. In a black-and-white scene, Rihanna licks the joint and begins smoking it. The image fades to black as the song begins. Rihanna performs in the same black-and-white setting while in a black corset. Images of Rihanna on a bed in a room while singing are shown, with objects breaking, curtains falling and roses burning in reverse effect. Rihanna is shown again on the highway, running away from what appears to be the headlights of a chasing car. She then stops as she looks up to the night sky at an aurora view. Throughout the video, Rihanna's hand is shown intertwined with that of a heavily tattooed man, whose face is not shown in the video. As the second verse starts, Rihanna is shown in a desert where horses run freely. Scenes of a street battle are later shown, depicting burning cars and broken glass around the environment. As the video continues, the singer and her lover's hands are shown slowly slipping apart, with only their fingertips touching towards the conclusion of the video. The video ends with Rihanna once again floating alone in the open waters. Reception Edit James Montgomery of MTV News called it visually striking and observed a great deal of "evocative imagery (glamorous black-and-white close-ups, thick plumes of translucent smoke, oversaturated hill-scapes, artfully silhouetted stallions)". He said that, like the song, the video is by turns garish and very intimate.[98] The website's Jocelyn Vena thought that it had dreamlike and surrealistic images of Rihanna, who moves through set-ups that are occasionally exceptional.[99] E! Online's Bruna Nessif said that the video shows an abundance of elaborate imagery, narratives, and especially a "mysterious and sexy" Rihanna.[97] Additionally, she found it obvious that the body of a heavily tattooed man's arm, which Rihanna clings to desperately, is a reference to Chris Brown.[97] NME magazine observed Rihanna being shown in four environments that represent the four elements of the earth, air, water and fire.[100] Billy Johnson Jr. of Yahoo! Canada felt the video had failed to capture the song's vivid celebration of a love affair and stated, "It seems as though [Rihanna is] in chaos, reflecting on happier times."[101] Marc Hogan of Spin concluded that the video was a "confirmation of Rihanna's awkward segue into adult-contemporary-dom."[102] The video for "Diamonds" was Vevo's fourth most-viewed visual of 2013.[103] As of February 2019 the music video has received over 1.2 billion views on YouTube.[104] and is one of the 90 most viewed videos on the platform.
Live performances Edit
Cover versions and remixes Edit
Formats and track listing Edit
Digital download[14] "Diamonds" – 3:45 CD single[17] "Diamonds" – 3:45 "Diamonds" (The Bimbo Jones Vocal Remix) – 6:16 Digital remix single[130] "Diamonds" (Remix) [feat. Kanye West] – 4:48 Digital US remixes[18] "Diamonds" (Dave Audé 100 Edit) – 3:38 "Diamonds" (Gregor Salto Radio Edit) – 3:45 "Diamonds" (The Bimbo Jones Vocal Remix) – 6:17 "Diamonds" (The Bimbo Jones Downtempo) – 3:14 "Diamonds" (The Bimbo Jones Vocal Edit) – 3:14 "Diamonds" (Congorock Remix Extended) – 5:54 "Diamonds" (Congorock Remix) – 5:08 "Diamonds" (Jacob Plant Dubstep Remix) – 3:58
Credits and personnel Edit
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Radio and release history Edit
See also EditOne of the well-documented concerns confronting scholarly discourse about meditation is the plethora of semantic constructs and the lack of a unified definition and taxonomy. In recent years there have been several notable attempts to formulate new lexicons in order to define and categorize meditation methods. While these constructs have been useful and have encountered varying degrees of acceptance, they have also been subject to misinterpretation and debate, leaving the field devoid of a consensual paradigm. This paper attempts to influence this ongoing discussion by proposing two new models which hold the potential for enhanced scientific reliability and acceptance. Regarding the quest for a universally acceptable taxonomy, we suggest a paradigm shift away from the norm of fabricatIng new terminology from a first-person perspective. As an alternative, we propose a new taxonomic system based on the historically well-established and commonly accepted third-person paradigm of Affect and Cognition, borrowed, in part, from the psychological and cognitive sciences. With regard to the elusive definitional problem, we propose a model of meditation which clearly distinguishes “method” from “state” and is conceptualized as a dynamic process which is inclusive of six related but distinct stages. The overall goal is to provide researchers with a reliable nomenclature with which to categorize and classify diverse meditation methods, and a conceptual framework which can provide direction for their research and a theoretical basis for their findings.
Analysis of the Definitional and Taxonomic Issues
Overview of the Problems Related to Definition and Description
In this section we consider various attempts to define meditation, and discuss the conceptual issues and the difficulties encountered.
The contemplative traditions and subsequent westernization have produced a proliferation of many disparate meditative practices utilizing different techniques and espousing different goals. For example, if one searchers the Yellow Pages Online Directories for major international cities one can find numerous listings under the heading “meditation” i.e., Los Angeles—156, Chicago—122, N.Y.C.—307, London—126, Sydney—139, and Stockholm—108 (as of August 1, 2013). It is quite apparent that “meditation” has become a generic term, used to describe a host of secular, spiritual, and/or religious contemplative activities; as well as becoming a synonym for many other more mundane cognitive functions such as contemplation, reflection, concentration, and terms such as ponder, ruminate, cogitate, and deliberate. Although convenient for everyday usage, the casual use of a generic term to group any activity or practice can cause obvious difficulties in communication due to false assumptions of similarity.
Neuroscientists and other meditation researchers have also floundered on this point by commonly using the generic term “meditation” to refer to a wide variety of disparate methods which “inevitably trivializes the practices themselves” (Lutz et al., 2007, p. 500). In addition there has been a tendency to mix-and-match different methods as if they were equivalent which has resulted in an unfortunate conflation of definition (Awasthi, 2013). This struggle to clearly define meditation is affirmed by Bond et al. (2009) who identified five commonly used definitional themes in their review of the meditation research literature. Currently, the scientific literature contains two popularly used definitions for meditation. One “camp” has defined meditation essentially as a family |
.LAND OF THE FREE: The All Blacks are set to face the USA at Soldier Field in Chicago on November 2.
Chicago will be officially confirmed as the venue for the All Blacks' first end-of-year tour match on Tuesday.
USA Rugby, the New Zealand Rugby Union, AIG and the Chicago Sports Commission have scheduled a "joint announcement" which is expected to confirm a test on November 2 at Soldier Field, home of NFL heavyweights, the Chicago Bears.
"There is an announcement on Tuesday," NZRU chief executive Steve Tew said. "I can't pre-empt that but we're working towards confirming things, which is great.
"It won't come as a surprise to most because we've been reasonably open about it for some time."
USA Rugby has been in discussions with English Premiership clubs about getting full release of their players for the fixture.
"They've been working pretty hard on it so we'll let them make those comments on the day," Tew said.
The fourth home test between the All Blacks and the USA - following matches in 1913, 81 and 91 - will be first en route to playing England, Scotland and Wales for Steve Hansen's men.
Tew also left for Dublin yesterday for four-day meetings with fellow national CEOs. The prospect of moving the June tests to July to create a global season will be on the agenda but, despite support from English clubs, there appears a high chance Six Nations leaders will reject it.
"As I've said all along, it's a long shot," Tew said. "At best, it will be a work in progress. At worst, it might get knocked on the head."Welcome to
Full of suspense and intrigue, blind readers will find these best-selling Braille mystery titles truly captivating and spellbinding from beginning to end.
8 books on this shelf.
And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie, 323 pages. One of the most famous and beloved mysteries from The Queen of Suspense - Agatha Christie - is now a Lifetime TV movie. "Ten..." Ten strangers are lured to an isolated island mansion off the Devon... Item Number: 5416 $51.95 in Original Contracted Braille (Other Formats Available) Tell Me More
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The Harlequin Tea Set and Other Stories by Agatha Christie, 315 pages. In The Mystery of the Spanish Chest, Hercule Poirot unravels the psychological conundrums that motivate a killer. In The Edge, a woman must decide whether to follow her heart or her cons... Item Number: 5419 $50.95 in Original Contracted Braille (Other Formats Available) Tell Me More
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There was really nothing extraordinary about the 35-year-old. Shambhu Lal seemed to be like everyone else going about his business in this a lower-middle class neighbourhood of Rajsamand, Raigar Mohalla. He had been unemployed for some time, was married with three children and rarely interacted with his neighbours.But the introvert in real life, the police say, led a completely different life on social media. "It now seems he was addicted to hardline hate videos," a police officer said about the man spewing venom about Muslims into the phone camera after hacking a man to death. His victim was 45-year-old Mohammad Afrazul, a daily wager from West Bengal.Shambhu Lal was arrested within a day the video going viral and is being interrogated by the state's top police officers trying to figure what could drive the man to kill a man with such hatred and then setting his body afire. His hate speeches, three in all, had worried the administration so much that they had pulled the plug on internet services in the district.An administration on its tenterhooks had even refused permission to some people who wanted to take out a protest march through the town. The deployment of policemen has been strengthened around sensitive locations.But in neighbouring districts, Chittorgarh and Udaipur, there have been protest marches by social groups who demanded that Shambhu Lal be dealt with sternly.Back in the neighbourhood where Shambhu Lal grew up in a one-room set house - an ancestral property shared with his two brothers and parents who work in Anand town of Gujarat - there is a sense of shock and disbelief.A distant relative, a 55-year-old lady, agrees to talk a bit about him, reluctantly.Of how she thought that Shambhu was a well-meaning, quiet man. "He kept to himself... and was a little strange," she said, adding how he never interacted much with either relatives or neighbours.That is an assessment the police completely agree with. Shambhu Lal had got his 13-year-old nephew out of school early that day to make a video recording of his horrific crime.Neighbours say it was his parents and brothers who took care of his family because he wasn't good at keeping a job.But other men his age are evasive, they shrug their shoulders and walk off when asked about the video."He had bought a smart phone and was an expert at using it," said Anand Srivastav, the inspector general of police at Jaipur."He was addicted to hardline Hindutva hate videos which he has been seeing for 3 months," the officer said. The police say they are treating the murder as an attempt to spread communal discord but aren't too clear about what he wanted to achieve by his act.After huge 1st year, GR Football Club kicks off 2nd season Copyright by WOODTV - All rights reserved The Grand Rapids Football Club practices ahead of Friday's kickoff game. (April 14, 2016) [ + - ] Video
Tom Hillen -
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) -- The Grand Rapids Football Club will kick off its second season Friday.
Their first game will be against Grand Valley State University at the Allendale campus.
"We had a great first year. We didn't expect that the crowds we got last year, we didn't expect the success on the field would come that quickly," said Matt Roberts, the president of the Grand Rapids Football Club.
The team formed very quickly for their 2015 season and expectations for big crowds were set at what they thought was an achievable level. But West Michigan embraced the team more than it ever expected.
"When we started this we legitimately thought we would get 1,500 to 2,000. That was our goal was to get to 2,000 and our first game we had 2,400 and we ended up at 6,600 at the end of the season. We were shocked that it grew so quickly. The challenge now is how do we take another step forward," Roberts said.
The second year has brought a larger schedule and more home games at Houseman Field. They have also moved up a league this year, going from regional to national.
"Our goals and expectations are very high. We have a group of talented players and we're very excited as a coaching staff to start working with them," said head coach George Moni.
Last year the team went 5-5-3. This year Coach Moni expects an even better record.
"Our goal is to reach as high as we can and at the same time we want to lay the foundation for bigger things to come," he said.
The team is not only excited to return to the field but also to see their fans, who they call the Grand Army.
"We have a very big fan base -- the Grand Army -- they have been fierce supports of our team and we expect them to come and lead the way this season," Moni said.
The game on Friday starts at 7 p.m.
----------Palestinian civil society has today welcomed reports that the EU will no longer allow poultry and eggs from illegal Israeli settlements to enter the EU, in what amounts to the first EU ban on any Israeli products. The EU has informed Israel that it cannot accept the Israeli Agriculture Ministry's authority to certify products in Israeli settlements, which are illegally built in the occupied Palestinian territory, and therefore cannot import poultry and eggs from settlements. The decision is an implementation of the EU's commitment not to recognise Israeli sovereignty over occupied Palestinian territory, which was the motive behind the EU guidelines issued last June on Israel's participation in EU programs. "Palestinian civil society welcomes this small but significant step to ensure that the EU does not provide recognition or assistance to Israel's illegal settlements in occupied Palestinian territory, which continue to expand and forcibly displace Palestinian communities," said Jamal Juma' from Stop the Wall, a member organisation of the Palestinian BDS National Committee, the largest coalition of Palestinian trade unions, campaigns, NGO networks and political parties that leads the global BDS movement. "Israeli agricultural companies in illegal settlements are at the heart of the dispossession of Palestinian farmers, establishing farms on stolen Palestinian land and using illegally appropriated Palestinian water resources." "But if the EU is serious about taking concrete and effective measures to meet its legal obligations and end its complicity with Israeli violations of international law, it should start by banning all trade with illegal Israeli settlements, ensuring European companies stop participating in any Israeli project in the OPT, and imposing a two way arms embargo." "The EU-Israel Association Agreement and Horizon 2020, the main frameworks of European-Israeli cooperation, must be frozen if Europe wants to contribute to ending Israel's colonization of Palestinian land. Israel's sabotage of every effort to reach a just peace based on UN resolutions must lead to real, not just cosmetic, consequences." "Free trade agreements with Israel and trade that sustains illegal Israeli settlements are a form of support for Israel's violations of international law. We call on governments around the world to start to meet their obligations under international law not to aid or assist Israel's crimes against the Palestinian people." Juma' pointed out that the EU guidelines announced last June do not specifically mention trade and relate only to EU funding, but that this decision is a logical extension of the principal on which the guidelines are based, that the EU is legally obliged not to recognise Israeli sovereignty in occupied Palestinian territory. This has given hope to human rights activists around the world that the EU may extend this welcome ban to all Israeli companies operating in the OPT. According to a brochure published by the Israeli government, Israel exported $72m of fresh meat, including poultry, in 2012. Most Israeli food exports are to EU countries.The possibility of a loss in his home state of Pennsylvania might force Rick Santorum to drop out of the Republican primary sooner than he’d planned, say GOP strategists.
Santorum is notoriously strong-willed, and those close to him say that party elders will not be able to convince him to exit the race if he thinks he has a shot at the Republican nomination.
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But one of Santorum’s close friends told The Hill that while the former Pennsylvania senator remains confident about winning his home state and using that to build May momentum, if that confidence falters, he might exit the race. Pennsylvania state Sen. Jake Corman (R), a longtime friend of Santorum and his family, said if it appeared Santorum wasn’t going to win the state, the former senator could drop his campaign.
“He’s a realist; he doesn’t have his head in the clouds,” Corman told The Hill. “As long as he sees a pathway to the nomination he’s going to stay in it, but he won’t stay in it to prove a point. If he gets to the point where he doesn’t think he’ll be the nominee, he’ll get out.”
Santorum is running second in the delegate count to rival Mitt Romney, and the party establishment is increasing pressure on the former senator to exit the race and clear a path for the former Massachusetts governor.
And while he led Romney by six points in a Quinnipiac poll of Pennsylvania voters out Tuesday, that was before Romney’s win in Wisconsin on Tuesday night. It’s also a decline for the former senator, who led Romney by double digits earlier this month.
Many Republican strategists argue that Santorum has resurrected his political career after a bad 2006 Senate loss with his surprisingly strong presidential campaign — but that another loss in his home state could undo all that work, leading to predictions that if he thinks he could lose Pennsylvania, he might bow out.
“If he loses Pennsylvania twice, that’s going to really hobble him in the future. That’d be very hard to live down,” said Kirsten Fedewa, Mike Huckabee’s 2008 communications director.
Fedewa speculated that Santorum may be encountering what Huckabee faced near the end of his campaign.
“There’s a point on the campaign trail where you start seeing diminishing returns, thinner crowds, you’re not getting the big boost on your website fundraising, the enthusiasm factor is dying down,” she said. “He’s going to be feeling it on the stump and seeing the impact on his campaign. He’s an anti-establishment candidate, so what the establishment does or doesn't do isn’t going to persuade him — but when he sees the intensity factor waning, that’s going to weigh heavily.”
Santorum is campaigning hard in his home state. The last two primary nights he’s held his post-election rallies in Pennsylvania. He’s scheduled to spend Wednesday campaigning there.
The former senator has insisted he’ll stay in the race through the April 24 primaries that include Pennsylvania as well as a number of states friendly to Romney: New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Delaware, and fight on through May, when the map includes a number of states where Santorum could be in good shape.
But Romney is not going to cede Pennsylvania. His campaign sent full-time staffers to the state last week and he will stump there Wednesday. A super-PAC that backs him has made inquiries about the costs of television buys in the state and has indicated it will make a large buy there soon, according to local sources.
Romney also has the endorsement of four Pennsylvania lawmakers — one more than Santorum’s three, according to The Hill’s tally.
On top of that, Santorum’s fundraising might have slowed to a trickle as his star has faded — and if he continues his campaign, there could be severe backlash from establishment Republicans that might limit his future role in the party.
“The biggest problem for Santorum is there’s a three-week lull, no way to break the media narrative that Romney has this sewn up and a continued race will only hurt the nominee,” Republican strategist Matt Mackowiak told The Hill on Monday. “Santorum’s desperately trying to survive until May … when does the pressure become too much?”
PoliticsPA managing editor Keegan Gibson said many of the attacks Romney has leveled against Santorum have even more resonance in Pennsylvania: his endorsement of centrist former Republican Sen. Arlen Specter (Pa.) over now-Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) in their 2004 primary and his move from Pennsylvania to the Washington, D.C., suburbs with his family. Santorum’s “going Washington” was a major attack line from Sen. Bob Casey Robert (Bob) Patrick CaseyTrump claims Democrats ‘don’t mind executing babies after birth’ after blocked abortion bill Democrats block abortion bill in Senate GOP wants to pit Ocasio-Cortez against Democrats in the Senate MORE Jr. (D-Pa.) when he beat Santorum in 2006.
Another factor: Some of Toomey’s Tea Party backers remain angry at Santorum for his 2004 endorsement of Specter. Toomey himself has not endorsed Santorum, but recently praised Romney as a “conservative who will govern as a conservative.”
At a recent conservative confab in the state, Santorum was received politely but not raucously, and failed to garner a majority of the conference’s straw poll vote.
Former Rep. Phil English (R-Pa.), a Romney backer who managed Santorum’s first House race in 1990, called the results “stunning.”
“He’s done nothing to repair the damage that was created in the lead-up to 2006, and a lot of it was self-inflicted,” said English, who praised Santorum for his strong campaign but warned that if he continued to run the GOP establishment might blackball him in the future, which could severely limit his influence within the party.
“I supported Rick Santorum every time he ran for office and was thrilled he did as well as he did … but Rick Santorum has already effectively lost the nomination,” he said. “The question becomes, does he have any role in the future of the party?”
— This story was updated at 12:21 p.m.A handwritten letter in which Albert Einstein questioned the existence of God is going up for sale on eBay with bids starting at $3 million, just four years after it fetched $404,000 at auction.
The so-called "God letter," which the brilliant physicist wrote in German a year before his death in 1955, includes his thoughts on religion, God and tribalism. Einstein wrote the letter on Princeton University letterhead to philosopher Erik Gutkind after he read Gutkind's book "Choose Life: The Biblical Call to Revolt."
[pullquote]
"...The word God is for me nothing more than the expression and product of human weaknesses, the Bible a collection of honorable, but still primitive legends which are nevertheless pretty childish. No interpretation, no matter how subtle, can (for me) change this," wrote Einstein, who won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1921.
"For me the Jewish religion like all other religions is an incarnation of the most childish superstitions," the letter continues. "And the Jewish people to whom I gladly belong and with whose mentality I have a deep affinity have no different quality for me than all other people. As far as my experience goes, they are also no better than other human groups, although they are protected from the worst cancers by a lack of power. Otherwise I cannot see anything 'chosen' about them."
The letter ends, "With friendly thanks and best wishes, Yours, A. Einstein."
The letter has been stored in a temperature-controlled vault since it was last sold for $404,000 -- which was 25 times the pre-auction estimate. The buyer at the time is now selling it with the original envelope, stamp and postmark. Eric Gazin, president of Los Angeles-based Auction Cause, which will handle the sale on eBay, said the letter could fetch as much as triple the opening bid threshold. The bidding runs from Oct. 8-18, and information can be seen at www.einsteinletter.com.
"Few people have had access to the thoughts and uncensored opinions of this brilliant mind as it relates to his personal views on God and religion," Gazin said. "The personal nature of the letter and the timing of it in Albert Einstein's life adds to the implication of the certainty with which he wrote it."
Einstein experts say the letter supports the argument that the physicist held complex, agnostic views on religion. He rejected organized faith but often spoke of a spiritual force at work in the universe.
Einstein's most famous legacy is the special theory of relativity, which makes the point that a large amount of energy could be released from a tiny amount of matter, as expressed in the equation E=MC2 (energy equals mass times the speed of light squared).
The theory changed the face of physics, allowing scientists to make predictions about space and paving the way for nuclear power and the atomic bomb.I have loved dogs my entire life and promise your dog will be treated like family while in my home. As a responsible and overprotective pet owner you can feel at ease knowing your furry friend is happy and well cared for while you are away!
My house has a large yard for the dogs to play and run. I have separate areas to let dogs play with dogs of the same temperament and size.
I would love to offer my services to you! I can assure you I am an educated, trustworthy individual that will keep your pet happy, healthy and safe!
Why I love dog sitting
Growing up it was always at the top of my Christmas list and I watched 101 Dalmatians constantly. I love all dogs, big and small!
Meet my pets
I have a 3 year old Cavalier/Westie mix named Shea. She LOVES to play with dogs big and small! She is small, friendly and lovable. She is my child, first born and favorite.
About my yard
I have a large backyard where the dogs can run and play. The yard is fenced in but I never let the dogs outside unattended, just in case!
My experience administering medication
Yes, as long as there are instructions provided.Abstract
A gradual buildup of neuronal activity known as the “readiness potential” reliably precedes voluntary self-initiated movements, in the average time locked to movement onset. This buildup is presumed to reflect the final stages of planning and preparation for movement. Here we present a different interpretation of the premovement buildup. We used a leaky stochastic accumulator to model the neural decision of “when” to move in a task where there is no specific temporal cue, but only a general imperative to produce a movement after an unspecified delay on the order of several seconds. According to our model, when the imperative to produce a movement is weak, the precise moment at which the decision threshold is crossed leading to movement is largely determined by spontaneous subthreshold fluctuations in neuronal activity. Time locking to movement onset ensures that these fluctuations appear in the average as a gradual exponential-looking increase in neuronal activity. Our model accounts for the behavioral and electroencephalography data recorded from human subjects performing the task and also makes a specific prediction that we confirmed in a second electroencephalography experiment: Fast responses to temporally unpredictable interruptions should be preceded by a slow negative-going voltage deflection beginning well before the interruption itself, even when the subject was not preparing to move at that particular moment.The opening month of the football season is officially in the books. Now that we have four weeks wrapped up, we can officially move on from the new car feeling of the campaign and throw dirt on the feelings and assumptions that we had over the summer that didn’t come to fruition as quickly as we had hoped for. Let’s hit every matchup of the fifth week bullet point style.
Vikings @ Packers 9 Spread -9 19.3 Team O/U 28.3 61.5 Plays/Gm 55.8 63.5 Opp. Plays/Gm 72.0 47.6% Rush % 37.2% 52.4% Pass % 62.8% 44.5% Opp. Rush % 53.1% 55.5% Opp Pass % 46.9%
Teams average 38.2 rushing attempts per game versus the Packers, most in the league.
Green Bay is allowing 175.8 rushing yards per game, the most in the league.
With his 135 rushing yards last week, Jerick McKinnon became the fifth Vikings’ rookie running back to reach 125 rushing yards in a game.
became the fifth Vikings’ rookie running back to reach 125 rushing yards in a game. McKinnon had those 135 yards on 18 carries. Matt Asiata has 149 rushing yards on his past 45 carries.
has 149 rushing yards on his past 45 carries. Cordarrelle Patterson is being targeted on just 14.2 percent of his routes, which ranks 78th out of all receivers.
is being targeted on just 14.2 percent of his routes, which ranks 78th out of all receivers. Aaron Rodgers has thrown multiple touchdowns in eight of his 11 starts facing the Vikings.
has thrown multiple touchdowns in eight of his 11 starts facing the Vikings. Jordy Nelson ‘s target share over the first four weeks: 42.4, 38.1, 25.9 and 43.9 percent for a robust 37.7 share on the season.
‘s target share over the first four weeks: 42.4, 38.1, 25.9 and 43.9 percent for a robust 37.7 share on the season. 38.7 percent of Randall Cobb‘s PPR output (4th highest) is from touchdown receptions compared to 20.1 percent for Nelson (23rd).
Trust: Aaron Rodgers, Jordy Nelson, Randall Cobb
Bust: Eddie Lacy, Cordarrelle Patterson
Reasonable Return: Greg Jennings, Matt Asiata, Jerick McKinnon
Read More: Week 5 Fantasy Football Player Rankings
Ravens @ Colts 3.5 Spread -3.5 22.3 Team O/U 25.8 68.8 Plays/Gm 74.5 59.5 Opp. Plays/Gm 59.0 43.3% Rush % 40.9% 56.7% Pass % 59.1% 42.0% Opp. Rush % 40.7% 58.0% Opp Pass % 59.3%
The Colts have reached the red zone on 18 drives this season, most in the NFL.
Ahmad Bradshaw had three career receiving touchdowns on 139 receptions before this season.
had three career receiving touchdowns on 139 receptions before this season. 73.9 percent of Bradshaw’s PPR points have come from receiving output, the highest reliance on any PPR back inside the top 40 scorers.
Justin Forsett has 10 runs of 10 or more yards, tied for second most in the league with Rashad Jennings.
has 10 runs of 10 or more yards, tied for second most in the league with. The Colts have allowed 17 runs of 10 or more yards, second most in the NFL.
Steve Smith ‘s target share each week: 24.2, 34.5, 22.5 and 32.3 percent.
‘s target share each week: 24.2, 34.5, 22.5 and 32.3 percent. Torrey Smith‘s target share each week: 11.3, 10.3, 25.8 and 9.7 percent.
Trust: Justin Forsett, Andrew Luck
Bust: Trent Richardson, Ahmad Bradshaw, Dwayne Allen, Coby Fleener
Reasonable Return: Joe Flacco, Steve Smith, Torrey Smith, Lorenzo Taliaferro, Reggie Wayne, T.Y. Hilton, Owen Daniels
Bills @ Lions 7.5 Spread -7.5 18 Team O/U 25.5 62.2 Plays/Gm 68.0 67.2 Opp. Plays/Gm 58.2 44.6% Rush % 41.5% 55.4% Pass % 58.5% 36.8% Opp. Rush % 40.8% 63.2% Opp Pass % 59.2%
Golden Tate has at least five receptions in every game this season. He never even had a three game streak with that many receptions while in Seattle.
has at least five receptions in every game this season. He never even had a three game streak with that many receptions while in Seattle. Detroit is sixth in the league in rushing yards allowed (80.8) per game, fourth in passing yards per attempt (5.9) and third in the league in sack percentage per drop back (7.9 percent).
Bills are allowing just 71.5 rushing yards per game (3rd fewest), 2.8 yards per carry (2nd lowest) and have yet to allow a rushing score this season.
Kyle Orton ‘s last start in Detroit was week 5 of 2008. In that game he went 23-34 for 334 yards and threw two touchdowns.
‘s last start in Detroit was week 5 of 2008. In that game he went 23-34 for 334 yards and threw two touchdowns. The last quarterback to throw multiple touchdowns against the Lions was Mike Glennon in week 12 of 2013.
in week 12 of 2013. Fred Jackson has 42 PPR receiving points on the season, third most in the league behind Ahmad Bradshaw and Matt Forte.
has 42 PPR receiving points on the season, third most in the league behind Ahmad Bradshaw and. C.J. Spiller ranks 45th in rushing points per attempt (0.40).
ranks 45th in rushing points per attempt (0.40). Sammy Watkins averages 6.2 yards per target, which ranks 43rd at wide receiver.
Trust: Matt Stafford, Calvin Johnson
Bust: Joique Bell, Sammy Watkins, C.J. Spiller, Kyle Orton
Reasonable Return: Reggie Bush, Golden Tate, Eric Ebron, Fred Jackson
Browns @ Titans 1.5 Spread -1.5 20.8 Team O/U 22.8 63.7 Plays/Gm 58.8 66.7 Opp. Plays/Gm 67.8 47.1% Rush % 40.4% 52.9% Pass % 59.6% 44.5% Opp. Rush % 48.7% 55.5% Opp Pass % 51.3%
The Browns are the only team in the league yet to commit a turnover.
Andrew Hawkins has been targeted on 31.8 percent of his routes, second most in the league at wide receiver behind Jordy Nelson (34.3 percent).
has been targeted on 31.8 percent of his routes, second most in the league at wide receiver behind Jordy Nelson (34.3 percent). Tennessee is the only team that has yet to score in the first quarter this season.
Bishop Sankey is now averaging 5.7 yards per touch on the season but only six of his 27 touches have been in the first half of games.
is now averaging 5.7 yards per touch on the season but only six of his 27 touches have been in the first half of games. Kendall Wright ‘s 1.4 PPR points per target ranks 48th out of the top 50 PPR scorers.
‘s 1.4 PPR points per target ranks 48th out of the top 50 PPR scorers. Delanie Walker‘s 2.2 points per target rank second of all tight ends with 30 or more targets.
Trust: Andrew Hawkins, Jordan Cameron
Bust: Justin Hunter, Delanie Walker, Terrance West, Isaiah Crowell, Jake Locker
Reasonable Return: Bishop Sankey, Kendall Wright, Brian Hoyer, Ben Tate
Bears @ Panthers 2.5 Spread -2.5 21.5 Team O/U 24 65.2 Plays/Gm 61.8 60.0 Opp. Plays/Gm 62.8 37.2% Rush % 37.7% 62.8% Pass % 62.3% 43.3% Opp. Rush % 39.4% 56.7% Opp Pass % 60.6%
Carolina is 28th in the league in red zone attempts at 8, converting only three for touchdowns.
Chicago is allowing the most red zone attempts per game at 5.0.
Matt Forte is the only top 10 scorer at running back yet to score a touchdown.
The Bears are the only team in the league without a rushing touchdown yet this season.
With Brandon Marshall visibly affected by his ankle injury, Jeffery has gotten 28 percent of the targets the past two weeks opposed to 17 percent for Marshall.
visibly affected by his ankle injury, Jeffery has gotten 28 percent of the targets the past two weeks opposed to 17 percent for Marshall. 51.4 percent of Marshall’s PPR output has come from touchdown receptions, the highest reliance in the league.
Martellus Bennett averages 2.2 PPR points per target, higher than Marshall (1.8) and Jeffery (1.7).
Trust: Matt Forte, Jay Cutler, Martellus Bennett, Alshon Jeffery, Cam Newton, Kelvin Benjamin
Bust: Brandon Marshall
Reasonable Return: Darrin Reaves, Greg Olsen
Texans @ Cowboys 6 Spread -6 21 Team O/U 25 61.5 Plays/Gm 64.0 65.5 Opp. Plays/Gm 58.5 52.4% Rush % 50.8% 47.6% Pass % 49.2% 40.1% Opp. Rush % 36.8% 59.9% Opp Pass % 63.2%
43 percent of the Cowboys yards this season are rushing, the highest percentage for any offense in the league.
The Cowboys are averaging 165.0 rushing yards per game and 5.1 yard sper carry.
The teams that have faced Dallas are allowing only 98.7 rushing yards and 3.8 yards per carry to the other teams they have faced this season.
Murray’s 83.4 fantasy points from rushing alone would make him the highest scoring fantasy back in PPR leagues over the first month.
Murray is only the third back ever to have 20 attempts for 100 yards and a touchdown in all four games to start a season. The others were O.J. Simpson in 1975 and Emmitt Smith in 1995.
in 1975 and in 1995. DeMarco Murray has 17 carries of 10 or more yards through four weeks. He had 32 such runs in 14 games played in 2013.
has 17 carries of 10 or more yards through four weeks. He had 32 such runs in 14 games played in 2013. The Dallas DST has two top 10 weekly finishes while Seattle has zero still.
Terrance Williams ‘ 2.7 fantasy points per taget leads all receivers with 20 or more targets.
‘ 2.7 fantasy points per taget leads all receivers with 20 or more targets. DeAndre Hopkins averages 11.6 yards per target (4th) compared to Andre Johnson ‘s 7.7 (34th).
averages 11.6 yards per target (4th) compared to ‘s 7.7 (34th). Johnson’s 2.1 PPR points per reception rank 50th out of the top 50 PPR scorers.
Trust: DeMarco Murray, Dez Bryant, Ryan Fitzpatrick
Bust: Jason Witten, Terrance Williams
Reasonable Return: Tony Romo, DeAndre Hopkins, Andre Johnson, Arian Foster, Garrett Graham
Steelers @ Jaguars -6.5 Spread 6.5 26.5 Team O/U 20 65.5 Plays/Gm 59.8 61.8 Opp. Plays/Gm 74.5 41.2% Rush % 33.5% 58.8% Pass % 66.5% 38.9% Opp. Rush % 41.3% 61.1% Opp Pass % 58.7%
The Jaguars have scored on five of 17 drives with Blake Bortles after scoring on just five of 34 drives with Chad Henne at quarterback.
after scoring on just five of 34 drives with at quarterback. Jacksonville is allowing 2.8 passing touchdowns per game, most in the league.
Every team DST has finished inside the top seven against the Jaguars so far through four weeks.
Jacksonville has allowed double digit points to every kicker so far this season.
Le’Veon Bell is averaging 23 touches for 143 yards from scrimmage per game with five receptions or more in three games to start the season.
is averaging 23 touches for 143 yards from scrimmage per game with five receptions or more in three games to start the season. Antonio Brown has seven receptions of 25 or more yards, most in the league.
has seven receptions of 25 or more yards, most in the league. The Jaguars have allowed 11 passes of 25 yards or more, tied for the most in the league.
Trust: Ben Roethlisberger, Le’Veon Bell, Antonio Brown, Heath Miller
Bust: Toby Gerhart, Clay Harbor, Allen Hurns
Reasonable Return: Markus Wheaton, Blake Bortles, Allen Robinson
Falcons @ Giants 4.5 Spread -4.5 22.5 Team O/U 27 65.8 Plays/Gm 68.5 67.5 Opp. Plays/Gm 59.5 38.8% Rush % 47.1% 61.2% Pass % 52.9% 39.2% Opp. Rush % 42.0% 60.8% Opp Pass % 58.0%
The Falcons lead the league in yards per offensive play (6.8) and points per offensive play (.498).
Atlanta is averaging 4.2 touchdowns per game after only 2.5 per game in 2013.
Antone Smith averages 2.4 fantasy points per attempt, highest mark in the league.
averages 2.4 fantasy points per attempt, highest mark in the league. Devin Hester leads all receivers with double digit receptions in yards per target at 13.1.
leads all receivers with double digit receptions in yards per target at 13.1. Roddy White has just a 48.3 catch rate, his |
and agricultural communities as well as local and state government (see a partial list here http://www.donttaxflorida.com/docs/congressletter.pdf). The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services has intervened and asked the EPA to reconsider.
The counties and cities, storm-water utility wastewater treatment facilities, and a long list of affiliated businesses, entities and associations have, across the board, opposed the implementation of EPA’s numeric nutrient criteria in the state.
“The wastewater treatment facilities and storm-water association ran numbers that show (EPA’s regulations) would add $700 annually to the average homeowner’s utility bill. That’s extraordinary.”
On how the EPA’s actions could impact the rest of the country…
“It sets a precedent. Imagine if the EPA had decided to tackle this through the Mississippi River Basin and all the states that would have been affected.
“Activist groups have already indicated they’re seeking to pursue similar lawsuits in Kansas and other parts of the nation. Across the United States, there are hotbeds of activists suing to achieve regulations when they’ve been unsuccessful legislatively.”
Anything else?
“The Florida Department of Agriculture and the University of Florida did an economic analysis of the EPA plan. The implementation costs to agriculture are estimated at between $900 million and $1.6 billion per year.
“The EPA’s numbers were nowhere close to those estimates. Because of those discrepancies, Congress directed EPA to have a National Academy of Sciences review (see overview here http://www8.nationalacademies.org/cp/projectview.aspx?key=49374) of the economic impact. That’s currently underway and should be complete (early in 2012).”Mosul, Iraq (CNN) A Humvee screams into the field clinic a few kilometers from western Mosul's current front line. A teenage girl is carried out, listless. An elderly man is in complete shock, unable to utter a word, and is helped towards a bed. A woman struggling to breathe is quickly given oxygen.
Ten-year-old year old Mariam Salim and her older sister, Ina'am, are being tended to in the back.
"My parents are under the rubble, (another) sister is dead. I saw her," Ina'am mutters, her lips quivering.
Just as the family was trying to flee, the two girls say, a mortar hit their house causing it to collapse. The rest of the family is buried under the rubble.
"They are gone, they are gone." Mariam tells us. "My mother, father, sister, brother."
Mariam leans over to wipe the Betadine antiseptic off her sister's face -- the reality of what she has said perhaps not quite sinking in, or maybe she just needs something to focus on, a distraction from a loss she cannot yet comprehend.
Her sorrow seems to come in waves. Her body shakes as her eyes fill with tears, but just as quickly she is angrily asking questions, yelling to an older brother who made it out, "We were trying to get to you!" and then turning around and calmly cleaning Ina'am's face.
Their neighborhood is still under ISIS control, although the Iraqi forces are within eyesight and earshot. Those forces were not able to reach the siblings' home or their family members trapped under the destroyed house. They cling to a hope that at least maybe their parents and younger brother may still somehow be alive.
We drive closer to the frontline. Plumes of smoke rise, the explosions rumbling in the distance. The targets are ISIS fighters, but with each blast comes the reality that in the homes and streets hit -- whether by airstrikes, artillery, or ISIS bombs -- are civilians cowering under staircases, in basements. Children screaming, parents helpless to protect them.
Earlier, an Iraqi commander, visibly upset, had told us of corpses they pulled from under the rubble in one neighborhood. A mother was still cradling her baby.
JUST WATCHED 360° Experience: Journey to the frontline Replay More Videos... MUST WATCH 360° Experience: Journey to the frontline 02:28
'Where have you been for the last three years?'
Stumbling through the debris-strewn streets, past the blown-out buildings and burned-out vehicle husks, those who survived make their way towards the Iraqi forces. Escape rarely comes before the fighting picks up as Iraqi troops move in on ISIS forces. ISIS executes anyone who tries to flee when ISIS fighters are not otherwise occupied.
They arrive breathless, voices shaking, single sentences that hardly encompass what they have been through.
"Where have you been for the last three years?" a woman shouts at Iraqi troops.
Photos: Life, death and sorrow for Mosul civilians as war rages on Photos: Life, death and sorrow for Mosul civilians as war rages on Ten-year-old Mariam Salim cries as she is treated at a makeshift clinic in western Mosul. She was trying to make a run for it with her family on June 4, 2017, when their house collapsed from an explosion. Most in her family are buried under the rubble of what was their home. Hide Caption 1 of 7 Photos: Life, death and sorrow for Mosul civilians as war rages on Salim siblings: From left to right, Mariam, Ina'am and Shamil Salim, got out of their house as it collapsed, killing a sister and burying a brother and both parents under the rubble. Iraqi security forces cannot get to the house because it is still under ISIS control. Hide Caption 2 of 7 Photos: Life, death and sorrow for Mosul civilians as war rages on An Iraqi man shouts that ISIS killed his son when he tried to escape from the Zinjili neighborhood in western Mosul to a government-controlled area. ISIS took control of Mosul -- the largest city in Iraq -- in June 2014. The operation to liberate it started in October 2016 -- and is still ongoing. Hide Caption 3 of 7 Photos: Life, death and sorrow for Mosul civilians as war rages on Salim Sa'ed smiles and hugs his neighbor after they both were able to escape the Zinjili neighborhood, one of the very few districts still under ISIS control in western Mosul, on June, 4, 2017. Hide Caption 4 of 7 Photos: Life, death and sorrow for Mosul civilians as war rages on After years living under ISIS, Iraqi civilians escape the fierce battle raging in the Zinjili neighborhood in western Mosul -- one of the very few districts still under ISIS control -- on June, 4, 2017. People passing by a CNN crew said since the operation to liberate Mosul from ISIS started in October 2016, food has been getting scarcer by the day. Some said they have been living on soup made only of water and flour. Hide Caption 5 of 7 Photos: Life, death and sorrow for Mosul civilians as war rages on Iraqi civilians escape the fierce battle raging in the Zinjili neighborhood in western Mosul on June 4, 2017. As these women passed by Iraqi security forces, the woman in the orange hijab screamed, "Where were you for the last three years?" Hide Caption 6 of 7 Photos: Life, death and sorrow for Mosul civilians as war rages on Dave Eubank from the "Free Burma Rangers" volunteer organization carries a little girl to safety after spotting her hiding under her dead mother's hijab for two days. The child was rescued in western Mosul as gunfire raked the area. Photo courtesy of Free Burma Rangers (www.freeburmarangers.org/) Hide Caption 7 of 7
"Twenty days ago we tried to escape, they (ISIS fighters) caught him, shot him four times in the head," a man sobs. "My brother."
There is deep sorrow. There is anger. There is relief.
As ISIS is being squeezed into even smaller territory -- a handful of neighborhoods and Mosul's old city -- the civilians held hostage are running out of food.
Umm Abed has a family of 11
"We were eating flour and water." She says. It was only enough to feed the children, to ease their hunger pains. She and her husband stayed without food for four days.
Also on the front line is a forward field clinic manned by ex-US Army Special Forces soldier Dave Eubank and his team with the Free Burma Rangers, a non-governmental service organization.
Just days earlier they responded to a call from one of the Iraqi units.
"They said civilians coming, a lot (of them) shot. We got there and a guy came crying, crying, he said, 'My daughter was shot in front of me, her head was blown off.'" Eubank recalled.
The field was littered with dozens of bodies massacred by ISIS fighters as they were trying to flee. Men, women, young, old. Children shot in the face.
Thirteen bodies... and then, movement
"We saw these 13 bodies and then we saw movement. Here they are, look against the wall, these are all dead people." He shows us a photo on this phone. Bodies crumpled against each other.
After the photo was taken, life appears and the effort to save life is fast.
One man is alive, he moves his arm. From underneath a black hijab a little girl peers out. Her mother had been dead for two days. The little girl hid against her mother's corpse.
American forces supporting Iraqis with air assets drop a curtain of smoke. Using an Iraqi tank for cover Eubank and others move as close as they can.
"We got there and then the smoke lifted," Eubank said later. "And then ISIS just hammers them. And the people there are like, 'Come! come!' And the little girl gets out from under her dead mother's hijab and she sees us -- the tank is shooting, you know. "
"I called the Americans, I said, 'Please give me smoke again right now.' The Iraqis are already in on this. So the Americans dropped this perfect curtain of smoke I ran grabbed her.
"She was screaming, unwilling to let her mother go. No one knows her name, she still hasn't said a word."
The next morning, Eubank said, another man somehow managed to escape and told them of others who were still alive.
"With a brave Iraqi soldier, we ran across the road -- ISIS is on three sides of us, we can hear them talking. Crawled through, found a girl up the street, threw a rope to her. She tied herself. (She was) three days no sleep no water, wounded."
They managed to safely drag her over the rubble and rocks.
The depth of the suffering here impossible to articulate.
"It is hell," an elderly woman in a wheelchair said softly.
A hell that we cannot even begin to imagine.
The incomprehensible brutality of life under ISIS, the public executions, beheadings, school curriculums that taught of slaughter, mandatory black niqabs and long beards; smoking, cell phone, satellite TV bans. To endure that for three years followed by the incessant bombardment, fear and starvation.
People here have lost just about everything.
There is no past blueprint for this war, no one has fought an enemy like ISIS holding civilians hostage in this type of a dense urban battlefield. There are no words to comfort those who survive.
Just the endless, throat-grabbing, suffocating sorrow.The number of soldiers who committed suicide in January could reach 24, a count that would be the highest monthly total since the Army began tabulating suicides in 1980.
The latest Army figures, released Thursday, show seven confirmed suicides last month, with another 17 deaths still being investigated. The Army has said the vast majority of suspicious deaths typically turn out to be suicide.
If confirmed, the suicide count for last month would exceed those killed in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan during the same period. In January 2008, five soldiers committed suicide.
“Each of these losses is a personal tragedy that is felt throughout the Army family,” said Gen. Peter Chiarelli, the vice chief of staff of the Army. “The trend and trajectory seen in January further heightens the seriousness and urgency that all of us must have in preventing suicides.”
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Suicides among soldiers in 2008 rose for the fourth year in a row, reaching the highest level in nearly three decades. Army officials say the stress of long deployments to war zones plays a role in the increase.Weather Report – “Black Market” from the album “Black Market”
If you like this you can buy the CD from Amazon here, download the track from Amazon here or download from iTunes here.
Weather Report was a jazz fusion band co-led by keyboard player Joe Zawinul and the saxophonist Wayne Shorter. “Black Market” was recorded in December 1975 and released in April 1976 on Columbia Records and won the album of the year award from Down Beat magazine.
“Black Market”
1) Black Market (J. Zawinul); 2) Cannon Ball (J. Zawinul); 3) Gibraltar (J. Zawinul); 4) Elegant People (W. Shorter); 5) Three Clowns (W. Shorter); 6) Barbary Coast (J. Pastorius); 7) Herandnu (A. Johnson)
Wayne Shorter — Soprano and tenor saxophones, Lyricon by Computone
Joe Zawinul — Yamaha Grand Piano, Fender Rhodes Electric Piano, Arp 2600 Synthesizer, Oberheim Polyphonic Synthesizer
Alphonso Johnson – Electric Bass and Charles La Boe Electric Bass, Gertu
Jaco Pastorius – Fender Electric Bass (2,6)
Narada Michael Walden – Drums (1,2)
Chester Thompson – Ludwig Drums (1 & 3-7)
Alex Neciosup Acuña – Percussion, Congas (2-5 & 7)
Don Alias – Percussion (1,6)
Summary Reviewer MusoAnorak Review Date 2015-03-05 Reviewed Item Weather Report - Black Market Author Rating 5Rudy Giuliani, while speaking at a dinner in New York two weeks ago, made news – in a negative way – by opining aloud about President Obama’s love of country.
“I know this is a horrible thing to say, but I do not believe that the president loves America,” Giuliani said.
The former New York City mayor was roundly criticized for this remark, which serves now as a warning to public speakers everywhere. Call it the Giuliani Rule: Any rumination prefaced by the phrase “I know this is a horrible thing to say” should probably go unuttered.
Democrats pounced on the ex-mayor’s lapse, demanding that other Republicans repudiate it. Prominent political journalists asked 2016 Republican presidential contenders to respond. Some conservatives, noting that Giuliani hasn’t held office – or any official GOP role – in 14 years, complained of a double standard in the media. As Florida Sen. Marco Rubio put it puckishly, “Democrats aren’t asked to answer every time Joe Biden says something embarrassing, so I don’t know why I should answer every time a Republican does.”
The New York media was less forgiving. Familiarity with Giuliani over the years has bred, if not contempt, deeps doubts about his maturity and prudence. In the New York Daily News, columnist Mike Lupica accused hizzoner of sounding like a “crackpot” who “makes news by pandering in an unhinged way.”
When Giuliani doubled down on his comments, Daily News reporters Erin Durkin and Eli Rosenberg characterized them as “McCarthy-esque rants.” That’s not a description one normally finds in a straight news story, so one might conclude that the paper has a staunch institutional position against questioning the patriotism of others. One would be wrong.
Only a week later, the same newspaper showed the pictures of four prominent Republican senators – Mitch McConnell, Ted Cruz, Tom Cotton and Rand Paul – over the bold-faced, all-caps headline, “TRAITORS.” The accompanying editorial accused these four officeholders and 43 other GOP senators who signed an open letter to the leaders of Iran regarding ongoing nuclear arms talks of “un-Patriot games” and “treachery.”
Although this might be attributed to the idiosyncrasies of Daily News owner Mort Zuckerman, who is known to hold strong opinions about the Middle East, there’s a larger problem. This anti-patriotic cudgel was first wielded at the White House. And it’s been picked up by an array of liberal activists, left-leaning news organizations and very prominent Democrats.
Recovering instantly from their Giuliani-induced apoplexy, these Paladins of liberalism launched their own “McCarthy-esque” attacks.
Ed Gilgore, writing in the Washington Monthly, called the Republican letter “sedition in the name of patriotism.” Obscure law professors claimed that the 47 senators violated something called the Logan Act, a 1798 statute forbidding private citizens from negotiating on behalf of the nation “without the authority of the United States.” An unnamed character assassin placed on the White House website a petition calling for the senators to be criminally prosecuted for treason. Hundreds of thousands of amateur constitutional scholars clicked their signatures on this ugly little petition, and when White House press secretary Josh Earnest was asked about it, he was too cute by half.
“For a determination like that,” he said with a straight face, “I’d refer to the Department of Justice.” (The correct response to this question goes like this: “I know the people signing that petition are trying to show support for the president, and we appreciate it, but calling that open letter a violation of Logan Act is insane.”)
But why would Josh Earnest say that? President Obama’s own response to the letter encouraged all this loose talk about treason. “It’s somewhat ironic to see some members of Congress wanting to make common cause with the hard-liners in Iran,” he told reporters. “It’s an unusual coalition.”
Hillary Clinton, holding a press conference ostensibly to explain why she hid her work product at the State Department, took a similar tack. Although no one asked her about the GOP letter, she gave her opinion: “Either these senators were trying to be helpful to the Iranians, or harmful to commander in chief in the middle of high stakes international diplomacy.”
Among the nastiest slurs were those emanating from the Twitter account of Colorado Rep. Jared Polis, a liberal Democrat, who sent out tweets castigating Tom Cotton as “Tehran Tom”:
“Tehran Tom took his case directly to the Iranian government.”
“Tehran Tom asks Iranian Revolutionary Guards for help in battle against U.S. diplomats.”
Hypocrisy may be too mild a word for liberals who complain when their patriotism is questioned, and then immediately resort to that tactic when they perceive an opening. But even taking these smears at face value, they make little sense.
Let’s start with the claims made by Obama and Hillary Clinton. No, the 47 senators don’t want to “help Iran” or want the same thing as Iran “hard-liners.” They want to gum up the negotiations with Iran because they believe your administration has been too easy on Iran. The Republican senators want stronger sanctions and tougher requirements. They want to cripple Iran’s nuclear program – precisely the opposite of what Iran’s hard-liners want.
Let’s also be clear that the 47 Republicans didn’t negotiate with the ayatollahs. They wrote an open letter – really an op-ed, conveying their concern that the Obama administration is essentially negotiating an international treaty without seeking Senate ratification. Unlike the Logan Act nonsense, this is a serious argument involving separation of powers, which Obama often treats as an inconvenience instead of a hallowed constitutional doctrine.
As for calling Tom Cotton a traitor – this is a man who, after graduating from Harvard Law School, joined the U.S. Army after 9/11 and fought in Iraq and Afghanistan – that’s just, well, Orwellian.
Having said all that, if Sen. Cotton or his 46 co-signatories had sought my counsel, I would have advised against writing the letter in that form. I found it politically tone deaf, disrespectful to the nation’s elected president, confusing to America’s allies – and counterproductive.
But demonizing those senators is a much greater offense. The end of civil discourse doesn’t just make political compromise in Washington harder. It makes it hard to remember why we’re fighting about these things in the first place. This was a point made starkly by George Orwell himself during World War II. As Allied bombers razed German cities in 1944, Orwell received a letter from a troubled reader. Although he realized “the Hun [has] got to be beaten,” the letter-writer said, he worried about the civilians being killed by American and British pilots.
“It seems to me,” Orwell replied in his column, “that you do less harm by dropping bombs on people than by calling them ‘Huns.’”
Staff opinion columnist Carl M. Cannon also is Washington editor of the website RealClearPolitics.TL;DR on the bottom.
New Information:
shinyquagsire23 looked through the fighter table and found this:
After Mewtwo + 7 there are 5 additional “Mario”s listed. This means, that there are 5 additional unused characters in the fighter table in the latest update. Right now, we know for sure that Lucas is coming. After Lucas, it is heavily suggested that Roy (Fire Emblem) and Ryu (Street Fighter) will be incoming as DLC. Therefore, we have two additional slots for DLC. Whether the two slots will be used for the ballot results, or for pre-ballot result DLC is unknown. Stay tuned for additional information.
Introduction:
On April 15th, 2015 Club Nintendo users finally had the chance to play as Smash Veteran, Mewtwo. With the new fighter an update was released for both the 3DS and the Wii U which introduced a number of gameplay balance changes, and support for upcoming DLC. However, this news was quickly overshadowed by future DLC discoveries.
shinyquagsire23, an active member of the 3DS homebrew scene, posted on reddit claiming that there was a number of unused tracks in this update. The tracks were housed under a new folder, thus indicating that they were accidentally left in. Based on the numbering and names of these tracks, users were able to quickly figure out what the tracks were. The biggest shocker was that Ryu (from Street Fighter) and Roy’s (From Fire Emblem) victory songs were included in this folder– two potentially previously unannounced DLC fighters. Because of this, the Internet went on fire as users within the Smash community tried to find additional sources to confirm. Around 10 hours later, additional confirmations started to pour in as other data-miners and hackers backed shinyquaqsire23’s claims. Now, there are over 5 unique confirmation, which further proves that these files are indeed left in the update.
Below, are the list of files that were accidentally included in the update:
snd_bgm_F27_AIR_MoriStage_3DS.nus3bank
snd_bgm_H12_BW_Sentou_Zekrom_Reshiram_3DS.nus3bank
snd_bgm_SF01_SF2_Ryu_3DS.nus3bank
snd_bgm_T09_SDX_PupupuLand_3DS.nus3bank
snd_bgm_V01_PAC_PacMan_3DS.nus3bank
snd_bgm_Z80_F_Mewtwo_3DS.nus3bank
snd_bgm_Z81_F_Ryu_3DS.nus3bank
snd_bgm_Z82_F_Lucas_3DS.nus3bank
snd_bgm_Z83_F_Roy_3DS.nus3bank
Based on the track naming convention within Smash, users were able to identify the music tracks.
“MoriStage” is the Forest Stage song from Kirby’s Air Ride.
“Sentou Zekrom Reshiram” already exist the base version of the game. The file was updated in a previous patch.
“Ryu” is Ryu’s Theme from Street Fighter 2.
“PupuLand” is the N64 remix of Dream Land from Kirby Super Star
PacMan is a song that already exists in the base version of the game. Reportedly, it was altered in this latest patch,giving further credibility to this data-mining.
Mewtwo, Ryu, Lucas and Roy are all victory songs.
We can decipher the meaning behind the tracks not only by listening to them, but by the naming convention.
What Do You Mean, ‘naming convention’?
Brawl introduced a unique track naming system. This system is relatively straight forward once you look at the tracks. However, let me quickly break down some tracks:
snd_bgm_A53_MKT8_RainbowRoad_00000000.idsp
First off- snd_bgm indicates that the track is background music.
The first letter indicates its part of group “A”, which in Brawl and Smash 4 translates to the Mario series. 53 is the track number within that series.
MKT8 indicates that the song is from Mario Kart 8. “Rainbow Road” is the name of the track. The last number indicates if there has been a revision.
snd_bgm_A56_GLX_SuperMarioGalaxy_00000000.idsp
A = Mario
56 = track number in Mario series.
GLX = Mario Galaxy
Super Mario Galaxy theme song.
The Smash 4 system builds upon the existing Super Smash Brother’s Brawl system. Brawl’s system was even ordered by release date of games, which allowed users to identify some of the tracks that have been completely dropped or deleted from the game. Smash 4 new songs are placed immediately after Brawl’s songs. Below is a list of the series letters:
A – Mario
B – DK
C- Zelda
CRS – Menu music, music for modes
D- Metroid
E – Yoshi
F – Kirby
G – Starfox
H – Pokemon
I – F-Zero
J – Fire Emblem
K – Mother
L – Pikmin
M – Wario
N – Animal Crossing
O – Is missing. Was missing in Brawl.
P – Kid Icarus
Q – Famicon ・new series
R – Game and Watch, Punch Out, DS, Other ・Additional new series
S – Megaman (Used to be Metal Gear in Brawl)
T – 64 Songs
TEST1-5 – blank files, for testing purposes
U – Sonic
V – Pacman
W – Melee Songs
X- Music from Brawl
Y – Only two tracks here: snd_bgm_Y05_SBX_BossSentouKyoku1 and snd_bgm_Y07_SBX_BossSentouKyoku2. The two boss battle tracks. (Presumably for Subspace)
Z- Fighter related tracks (winning theme music)
New Kirby Stage:
Since there are two new Kirby songs, it would appear that Kirby is getting a new stage. Frostwraith, an active member of SmashBoards noticed in several 3DS Classic playthroughs that if the Kirby path was chosen, it would now sometimes load Battlefield instead of Dream Land. Theoretically, this is because the game is trying to load a new stage that isn’t in the current file set.
shinyquagsire23 investigated the stage table in Smash 3DS, and found that the number of additional slots was increased from 4 to 14. However, because each stage has both an omega version and a regular version the actual number of potential extra stages is increased from 2 to 7.
“Z” Fighter Numbering:
I marked my guesses with a question mark. I’m assuming based off the order of instance slots in Brawl. Only myu2 and Roy were leftovers in Brawl.
Bold, and caps lock so people will read it:
NOT ALL OF THESE FILES ARE IN SMASH 4. I’M SHOWING A THEORY OF WHAT A COMPLETED LIST LOOKS LIKE SO PEOPLE CAN BETTER UNDERSTAND THE MEANING BEHIND THE TRACK NAMES THAT WERE FOUND.
Fighters that were missing for a version were given new numbers in the newest version. See Mewtwo for definitive proof. This means that Lucas and Roy will also get a new number when they are released.
snd_bgm_Z00_F_MiiFighter_00000000.idsp
64 Fighters (Notice the lack of Jigglypuff)
snd_bgm_Z01_F_Mario_00000000.idsp
snd_bgm_Z02_F_Donkey_00000000.idsp
snd_bgm_Z03_F_Link_00000000.idsp
snd_bgm_Z04_F_Samus_00000000.idsp
snd_bgm_Z05_F_Yoshi_00000000.idsp
snd_bgm_Z06_F_Kirby_00000000.idsp
snd_bgm_Z06_F_Kirby_00000000_001.idsp
snd_bgm_Z07_F_Fox_00000000.idsp
snd_bgm_Z08_F_Pikachu_00000000.idsp
snd_bgm_Z09_F_Luigi_00000000.idsp
snd_bgm_Z10_F_Captain_00000000.idsp
snd_bgm_Z11_F_Ness_00000000.idsp
Melee Newcomers
snd_bgm_Z12_F_Koopa_00000000.idsp
snd_bgm_Z13_F_Peach_00000000.idsp
snd_bgm_Z14_F_Zelda_00000000.idsp
snd_bgm_Z15_F_Sheik_00000000.idsp
snd_bgm_Z16_FICHICLIMBER (FILE NOT IN SMASH 4)
snd_bgm_Z17_F_Marth_00000000.idsp
snd_bgm_Z18_F_GameWatch_00000000.idsp
snd_bgm_Z19_F_Falco_00000000.idsp
snd_bgm_Z20_F_Ganon_00000000.idsp
Brawl Newcomers
snd_bgm_Z21_F_Wario_00000000.idsp
snd_bgm_Z22_F_Metaknight_00000000.idsp
snd_bgm_Z23_F_Pit_00000000.idsp
snd_bgm_Z24_F_ZeroSamus_00000000.idsp
snd_bgm_Z25_F_Pikmin_00000000.idsp
snd_bgm_Z26_F_Lucas (FILE NOT IN SMASH 4)
snd_bgm_Z27_F_Diddy_00000000.idsp
snd_bgm_Z28_FPOKETRAINER (FILE NOT IN SMASH 4)
29 Squirtle?? (FILE NOT IN SMASH 4/BRAWL)
30 Ivysaur?? (FILE NOT IN SMASH 4/BRAWL)
31 Charizard?? (FILE NOT IN SMASH 4/BRAWL)
snd_bgm_Z32_F_Dedede_00000000.idsp
snd_bgm_Z33_F_Lucario_00000000.idsp
snd_bgm_Z34_F_Ike_00000000.idsp
snd_bgm_Z35_F_Robot_00000000.idsp
36 “Pramin” [reworked Pichu]?? (NOT IN SMASH 4/BRAWL)
(Let’s bring back the vets section/ new clones)
snd_bgm_Z37_F_Purin_00000000.idsp
38_F_MYU2 (NOT IN SMASH 4)
39_F_Roy (NOT IN SMASH 4)
40_Dr. Mario?? (NOT IN SMASH 4/BRAWL)
snd_bgm_Z41_F_ToonLink_00000000.idsp
42 – Toon Zelda?? (NOT IN SMASH 4/BRAWL)
43 -Toon Sheik?? (NOT IN SMASH 4/BRAWL)
(…Actually, lets add some new fighters)
44- Wolf?? (NOT IN SMASH 4/BRAWL)
45- Dixie?? (NOT IN SMASH 4/BRAWL)
snd_bgm_Z46_F_Snake (NOT IN SMASH 4/BRAWL)
snd_bgm_Z47_F_Sonic_00000000.idsp
48 –?? Reserved number? (NOT IN SMASH 4/BRAWL)
49 -?? Reserved number? (NOT IN SMASH 4/BRAWL)
snd_bgm_Z50_J_Continue_00000000.idsp
snd_bgm_Z51_J_GameOver_00000000.idsp
snd_bgm_Z52_JCLEAR1 (NOT IN SMASH 4)
snd_bgm_Z53_JCLEAR2 (NOT IN SMASH 4)
snd_bgm_Z54_J_FigureGet_00000000.idsp
snd_bgm_Z55_J_RareFigure_00000000.idsp
snd_bgm_Z57_J_Youso01_00000000.idsp
snd_bgm_Z58_J_Youso02_00000000.idsp
Smash 4 Section
(Smash 4: Clones and Altered characters first)
snd_bgm_Z59_F_Lizardon_00000000.idsp
snd_bgm_Z60_F_MarioD_00000000.idsp
snd_bgm_Z61_F_Lucina_00000000.idsp
snd_bgm_Z62_F_PitB_00000000.idsp
snd_bgm_Z63_F_Rosetta_00000000.idsp
snd_bgm_Z64_F_Wiifit_00000000.idsp
snd_bgm_Z65_F_Littlemac_00000000.idsp
snd_bgm_Z66_F_Murabito_00000000.idsp
snd_bgm_Z67_F_Palutena_00000000.idsp
snd_bgm_Z68_F_Reflet_00000000.idsp
snd_bgm_Z69_F_Duckhunt_00000000.idsp
snd_bgm_Z70_F_Koopajr_00000000.idsp
snd_bgm_Z71_F_Shulk_00000000.idsp
snd_bgm_Z72_F_Gekkouga_00000000.idsp
snd_bgm_Z73_F_Pacman_00000000.idsp
snd_bgm_Z74_F_Rockman_00000000.idsp
75 –? Reserved number? (NOT IN SMASH 4)
76 –? Reserved number? (NOT IN SMASH 4)
snd_bgm_Z77_J_World_YellowDevil_00000000.idsp
snd_bgm_Z78_J_World_Ridley_00000000.idsp
snd_bgm_Z79_J_World_Face_00000000.idsp
(Updated File List)
snd_bgm_Z80_F_Mewtwo_3DS.nus3bank
snd_bgm_Z81_F_Ryu_3DS.nus3bank
snd_bgm_Z82_F_Lucas_3DS.nus3bank
snd_bgm_Z83_F_Roy_3DS.nus3bank
The list of files updated/changed in the newest version of Smash 4 3DS can be accessed here (Provided by SciresM).
The “Z” number order is further proof that Jigglypuff wasn’t a priority in Brawl. Also, since there are no missing numbers in Smash 4, it could mean that the Rhythm Heaven representative didn’t get very far into development at all. Most investigation will be done into both of these topics.
Please note: because this folder was only accidentally left in the 3DS version, there are no files present in the Wii U version. Here’s the list of files included in the update. (Provided by soneek).
Possible Fighter Pack Incoming?
It’s possible that a fighter pack will be released with these three characters. Currently, there is no price listing for Lucas on all versions of the Super Smash Brothers site. The release date is slated for June, which will probably coincide with E3. Ryu and Roy would be huge reveals for Smash DLC, and it makes sense to announce both of them at E3.
TL;DR:
NEW INFORMATION: 5 additional “Mario” was added to the character database. 3 of them will probably be used for Lucas, Roy and Ryu. The other 2 are currently unknown.
Ryu from Street Fighter and Roy are very likely going to be DLC in Smash 4.
Their numbers indicate that they were started along with Lucas, possibly even with Mewtwo.
There’s additional stages incoming (up to 7). One of which is possibly a Kirby stage due to the number of new Kirby songs that were included. Possibly Dreamland from Super Smash 64.Twitter and the rest of the crypto-trading-sphere is full of pump’n’dump advertisements. Do not participate! Let me explain how it works and how you are cheated.
For the naive audience there are announcements like “Pump tonight at 6pm EST”. You are invited to a chat room or simply to follow on twitter. At the announced time a certain coin is called and you should buy them, so the price rises. As more people join in, the price rises even further. Then you quickly sell again at a higher price and make a profit. Of course, some are losing out as the price is already fallen again.
This is just the public story though. In practice, it is impossible to profit from such invitations. The only one who really profits is the one who manages the action. He as already bought lots of coins before the pump. Slowly and in small portions, so the price stays low and nobody notices. Then he creates lots of sell offers and announces the pump. All people who join are paying him off.
There are lots of those pump’n’dumpers on Twitter. If you ignore them or do the opposite of what they tell you, you are fine.
Sometimes there are more advanced schemes. I created a Twitter list: Pump&Dump Black List. Consider all these accounts as shady and be really careful doing business with them. Also, help me to complete the list. It is most certainly not complete yet.
AdvertisementsThe horse DNA was extracted from a hind toe bone found in the Thistle Creek region of the Yukon’s Klondike gold mines. It owes its remarkable longevity to the bone having been buried in permafrost, which kept the DNA both very cold and very dry.
The researchers who discovered the bone, Duane Froese of the University of Alberta and Eske Willerslev, an expert on ancient DNA at the University of Copenhagen, first estimated its date from the layers of volcanic ash where it was found. They also conducted tests that showed that the horse bone, despite its age, was likely to contain DNA, even though the chemical starts to degrade as soon as an animal dies.
To help establish that the DNA from the horse bone was really 700,000 years old, Dr. Willerslev and Ludovic Orlando, a colleague at the University of Copenhagen, started an ambitious project to analyze the genomes of many other members of the horse evolutionary tree. These include the horse that lived 43,000 years ago, before horses were domestic |
eyewitness as saying that the surviving suspect got back in the SUV "put the pedal to the metal" and drove through the phalanx of police to escape the scene. He has not been seen since.
At 5:46 AM, the governor suspended all public transportation services in the Boston metro region "as a safety measure" according to a spokesman. No vehicle traffic will be allowed in or out of Watertown, police said.
"We believe this to be a terrorist," Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis said. "We believe this to be a man who's come here to kill people. We need to get him into custody."
Video footage of the scene in Watertown shows an army of police and federal officers swarming into the town of 32,000 residents, which lies just to the West of Cambridge. In a press briefing at dawn, a police spokesman said the two men involved in last night's violence were the two men responsible for the bombings, which killed 3 and wounded 170 on Monday. Yesterday, images of the two were released by the FBI.
President Obama met just before 10 AM in the White House Situation Room with his national security team to discuss the events in Boston and Watertown, according to a White House press pool report.
Authorities still don't know what fueled Monday's attack. As investigators fanned out across the region looking for clues, on social media, thousands of readers scoured the Twitter account of Dzhokar Tsarnaev, looking there for motivations. In Maryland, the boys’ uncle, Ruslan Tsarni, called his nephews “losers” who failed to assimilate to life in America. He urged Dzhokhar to turn himself in.
Meahnwhile, in Boston, the Globe reported that police were tense and angry following the attacks on two fellow officers last night. “This kid is obviously going down fighting,” the paper quoted a law enforcement official as saying. “You can rest assured the cops are looking for a fight right now.”Chi - The eco-friendly, fashion forward wallet that will stretch your budget
Simple Solutions is pleased to be crowdfunding its new Chi Wallet. Building on the unmistakable trends of minimalist design, sustainable manufacturing and absurdly high prices, the Chi Wallet is virtually guaranteed to be a hit. With several barely distinguishable models to chose from, it’s too soon to tell which the crowd will favor. But whichever it is, we’ll be sure to ship it late and over budget.
The Chi wallet is expected to ship in June 2013 and is available in several models. The Chi Basic, designed for hip, urban posers, starts at $29. The Deluxe model adds iPhone connectivity (Android expected in the Fall of 2013) and will retail for $39. The Executive model, identical to the Deluxe in every respect but name, is a steal at just $49. For those wishing to make a lifelong commitment, the unique Ball of Chi can be had for $250.The Pirate Bay has always made it clear that they don't obey takedown requests from content owners. That doesn't stop Hollywood from going after the Pirate Bay's users, however, and they do so on a large scale. The Pirate Bay is well aware of these pirate tracking outfits, and does what it can to give them a hard time. Reporting fake peers is one of the tricks they use.
Most often, companies such as BayTSP and MediaSentry are hired to connect to BitTorrent trackers, and send takedown notices to the users (via their ISP) who download movies, TV-shows or music albums of a company they represent. This is a fairly easy process, since BitTorrent is far from anonymous: Every user necessarily broadcasts his or her IP-address to other peers in the swarm.
Sometimes anti-piracy outfits use their own trackers to gather evidence. Last week we reported that The Pirate Bay started to actively remove these suspicious trackers from their torrents, with some help from torrenteditor.com. Running a tracker is not required though, to collect information from BitTorrent users. In fact, many attempt to use publicly available trackers such as The Pirate Bay to do so. However, the tracker owners are aware of this, and trick these tracking companies by polluting the list of IP-addresses the tracker returns. That is one of the techniques The Pirate Bay uses, just to show how flawed the evidence gathering is.
Polluting the evidence works like this. When a client asks for a list of peers who are downloading the same torrent, the tracker software automatically inserts several “random IP addresses” that are not in the swarm. They are based on existing sub-nets, but might be from people who may not even be aware that BitTorrent exists. This means that the evidence that’s being gathered by anti-piracy companies includes IPs that belong to people that were not downloading the movie or album they are accused of. Perfect deniability, as the people who coded the tracker software explain.
Of course, this doesn’t work when the pirate-tracking company requires itself to connect to the peer, before the IP-address is collected, since it is impossible to connect to a non-existing peer. A representative from BayTSP told TorrentFreak that they have such a requirement, but several others are less thorough, which makes their claims useless, and impossible to defend in court.
The best solution is of course to ban these anti-piracy companies from using the tracker in the first place. This is something The Pirate Bay is working on as well, and they have blocked many IP-ranges already, but it’s impossible to ban them all. Unlike most of the suits in Hollywood, the companies that go after illicit file-sharers are experts in their field, and know more about BitTorrent than many users. They try to circumvent blocklists such as PeerGuardian whenever possible, and change IPs when they are marked.
Pirate Bay co-founder TiAMO told TorrentFreak that he has several criteria on which he can pick out the suspicious users that might be collecting IP-addresses. He also said that he’s working on a automated warning system which will operate as a sniffer on a monitor port. That project is far from complete, but has the potential to detect suspicious behavior more easily.
Nevertheless, it is impossible (as the name might give away) to keep the prying eyes of Hollywood off public trackers. Even private trackers are far from secure, as most anti-piracy companies have accounts at the larger communities. The private in “private tracker” merely refers to the fact that you have to login, and has nothing to do with “security”. The Pirate Bay (and other tracker owners) take several measures to prevent their users from being tracked by anti-piracy outfits, but there’s only so much they can do.Earlier this week, comic retailers were notified that all copies of All Star Batman And Robin that they receive in this week's shipments were to be destroyed instead of placed on sale. No futher explanation was forthcoming - until someone got a hold of a copy, and discovered that a problem with self-censorship had accidentally created a comic too dirty to be sold. But just how dirty can a Batman comic be?
Comic Book Resources' Rich Johnston explained the problem with the latest issue of Sin City creator Frank Miller's controversial Batman series:
Certain examples of obscene language in the book were, as has happened in the title before, blacked out, sometimes with little bits of the letters sticking out to give a clue as to what they may have been. Except in the printing process, the lettering was of a richer black that the bars, rendering the blacking out pointless.
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He also provided examples of the dialogue that was suddenly legible, including this from the teenaged Batgirl:
Text every friend you've got, shitheads— Sell your poison somewhere else. This arcade belongs to the fucking Batgirl.
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(For fans of the "c" word, don't worry; that makes appearances as well.)
It's hard to work out what the biggest surprise is in this situation: That they actually put in all those words in the first place as opposed to some placeholders, or that the faulty comics somehow passed the quality control in DC and made it all the way to stores before someone noticed what had gone wrong? The real question now, of course, isn't either of those, but how expensive these defective copies will end up on eBay.
Wash Your Mouth Out With Batsoap [Comic Book Resources]Sen. Michael Bennet Michael Farrand BennetDemocratic donors stuck in shopping phase of primary Overnight Health Care — Sponsored by America's 340B Hospitals — CDC blames e-cigs for rise in youth tobacco use | FDA cracks down on dietary supplements | More drug pricing hearings on tap The Hill's Morning Report - Presented by the American Academy of HIV Medicine - Next 24 hours critical for stalled funding talks MORE is stepping into the middle of the fight over President Trump Donald John TrumpHouse committee believes it has evidence Trump requested putting ally in charge of Cohen probe: report Vietnamese airline takes steps to open flights to US on sidelines of Trump-Kim summit Manafort's attorneys say he should get less than 10 years in prison MORE’s Supreme Court nominee.
The Democrat helped fellow Colorado Sen. Cory Gardner Cory Scott GardnerJon Stewart, 9/11 responders call on Congress to fund victim compensation program The Hill's Morning Report — Emergency declaration to test GOP loyalty to Trump Don’t look for House GOP to defy Trump on border wall MORE (R) introduce the nominee, Judge Neil Gorsuch, on Monday as the Judiciary Committee started the first day of its weeklong hearing.
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Bennet isn’t on the committee or up for reelection. But outside groups on both sides are increasingly tracking the mild-mannered Democrat as a swing vote as the battle over Gorsuch kicks into high gear.
The Colorado senator praised Gorsuch’s ties to his home state and warned Democrats about rejecting Trump’s nominee out of hand just because Republicans refused to give former President Obama’s nominee for the seat, Merrick Garland, a hearing or a vote.
“As a person and as a lawyer, Judge Gorsuch exemplifies some of the finest qualities of Colorado — a state filled with people who are kind to one another, who by and large do not share the conceit that one party or one ideology is all right and the other all wrong,” he said.
Referring to lingering Democratic anger over Garland, Bennet added that “two wrongs never make a right” and that the tactics the GOP used to block Garland are “an embarrassment to this body that will be recorded in history.”
But Bennet appeared to try to thread the needle, pairing his push for a fair hearing for Gorsuch with criticism of Trump’s penchant for publicly and personally attacking individual judges.
Though Bennet largely limited his praise to Gorsuch’s personal history and ties to Colorado, his warm comments stood in stark contrast to remarks from his Democratic colleagues on the Judiciary Committee.
The nine senators used the hours-long opening salvo to preview the grilling they’ve planned for Gorsuch, painting him as a jurist who favors corporations and special interests.
“Our job is to assess how this nominee’s decisions will impact the American people and whether he will protect the legal and constitutional rights of all Americans,” said Sen. Dianne Feinstein Dianne Emiel FeinsteinHillicon Valley: Senators urge Trump to bar Huawei products from electric grid | Ex-security officials condemn Trump emergency declaration | New malicious cyber tool found | Facebook faces questions on treatment of moderators Ocasio-Cortez adviser says Sunrise confrontation with 'old-timer' Feinstein'sad' Key senators say administration should ban Huawei tech in US electric grid MORE (Calif.), the committee’s top Democrat.
She added that “[the court] decides whether billionaires and large corporations will be able to spend unlimited sums of money to buy elections.”
Bennet stressed on Monday that he has not made up his mind on Gorsuch’s nomination and was only following Senate tradition by helping introduce a nominee from his home state.
“I am keeping an open mind about this nomination and expect this week’s hearings will shed light on Judge Gorsuch’s judicial approach and views of the law,” he said.
If he ultimately opposes Gorsuch, Bennet wouldn’t be the first senator who helped introduce a Supreme Court nominee during his or her Judiciary Committee hearing only to vote against them once the nomination reaches the floor.
Then-Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) helped introduce one of Obama’s nominees, Elena Kagan, during her Supreme Court hearing, only to vote against her nomination during her Senate confirmation vote.
But both conservative and liberal outside groups are increasingly turning their fire on Bennet, who won another term last year, because of Colorado’s purple political leanings and his own ties to Gorsuch.
Carrie Severino, the chief counsel for the conservative Judicial Crisis Network, noted that Gorsuch is “beloved” in Colorado and would be the state’s second Supreme Court justice.
“Sen. Bennet has to decide between supporting an exceptionally well-qualified judge with broad support from more than 200 prominent Democrat and Republican lawyers in Colorado alone including former Obama Administration officials, and going along with Washington gridlock,” she said in a statement to The Hill. “Sen. Bennet, your constituents are watching.”
The outside conservative group is pledging $10 million to help get Gorsuch confirmed to the Supreme Court. The organization launched an ad against Bennet earlier this year saying he was “threatening gridlock” and choosing “Washington liberals” over Gorsuch.
Concerned Veterans for America, a group aligned with GOP mega-donors David and Charles Koch, is using its latest round of web ads to target Bennet and a group of red-state Democrats up for reelection.
Meanwhile, the conservative group America Rising Squared blasted out a video last week of Bennet leaving a town hall in Colorado, saying that the Democrat “runs away” when asked about Gorsuch.
The same group circulated a note to reporters ahead of Bennet’s comments on Monday, describing the Supreme Court nominee as a Colorado native who “has received broad support from Coloradan newspapers … lawyers, Senator Cory Gardner, former Democrat Governor Bill Ritter, and former CO Attorney General John W. Suthers.”
But any move by Bennet to support Gorsuch would earn the Colorado senator swift backlash from progressive groups, which warn that any vote for Gorsuch is a vote for the Trump agenda.
Ilyse Hogue, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, said on Monday that the group is “disappointed” by Bennet’s comments.
“I appreciate that he’s looking for comity among his colleagues, but the question I would ask is, ‘At what expense?’ ” she told The Hill. “Most want the nomination blocked and at least want to know that he’s asking the right questions.”
The group had called on Bennet to use his introduction to “highlight the truth” about Gorsuch, including that he is the “most conservative nominee in modern history.”
The party’s resurgent liberal wing is demanding that Democrats use the Senate’s 60-vote filibuster threshold to try to block Gorsuch’s nomination.
Late last week, a constituent at a town hall confronted Bennet about concerns about Trump’s nominee. ProgressNow Colorado, an in-state group, has started a petition calling on Bennet and Gardner to reject Gorsuch and “not stand by and allow Donald Trump to steal this Supreme Court seat.”
Hogue added that supporters of the “People’s Defense” — a coalition of roughly a dozen outside groups including NARAL — will call senators, including Bennet, throughout the week to voice their opposition to Gorsuch’s nomination.
“What we’re urging our members is to make clear that it’s within their power to block this nomination,” she said.
Bennet has signaled that he will wait to listen to Gorsuch’s answers during his hearing before making a decision. The Judiciary Committee is expected to vote on the nomination by April 3, with GOP leadership wanting to have a full Senate vote before lawmakers leave for a two-week recess.
Sen. Dick Durbin Richard (Dick) Joseph DurbinKids confront Feinstein over Green New Deal Senate plots to avoid fall shutdown brawl Overnight Energy: Trump ends talks with California on car emissions | Dems face tough vote on Green New Deal | Climate PAC backing Inslee in possible 2020 run MORE (Ill.) — the No. 2 Senate Democrat — defended Bennet on Monday, noting the Colorado senator had “made it clear he was undecided.”
“He was doing this as a courtesy to a fellow Coloradan,” he said. “I certainly respect him for that.”For the last couple of days we've been all witnesses of FUD surrounding a supposed 0-day exploit for OpenSSH skyrocketing.
At this moment, it definitely looks like we're dealing with a hoax – even more, it's not the first time someone said they have a 0-day exploit for SSH. So, let's see some facts about this.
It appears that the whole story started after a post to the Full-Disclosure mailing list on the 4th of July (http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2009/Jul/0028.html). The post supposedly shows a hacker group using a 0-day exploit for SSH to compromise a server. After doing some research here, it appears that this is a long standing argument between two guys (or groups). One of our readers submitted the following URL address (http://flx.me/astahack2.txt), which shows another hack.
The "exploit" used in that file is a brute force attack for sure, as can be seen below:
anti-sec:~/pwn/xpl#./openPWN -h 66.96.220.213 -p 2222 -l=users.txt
See the "-l" option? That supplies the list of users it will try to brute force.
Additionally, a bit below it even prints which user was hacked:
[~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~>]
user: crownvip
uname: Linux srv01.webhostline.com
2.6.21.5-hostnoc-3.1.7-libata-grsec-32 #1 SMP Mon Feb 11 06:36:58 EST 2008 i686 i686 i386 GNU/Linux
Now, what has been posted on the Full-Disclosure list (the supposed
exploit) looked like this:
anti-sec:~/pwn/xpl#./0pen0wn -h xx.yy.143.133 -p 22
Same group, same server, same directory – different file name. Why didn't they use the mighty 0-day first time? They brute forced into the server and then had to jail break.
This looks very much like a hoax to me – and this is the only evidence we have about a 0-day? A post from an anonymous e-mail address (hushmail) to the Full-Disclosure mailing list (which, we all have to admit, isn't the best source of verified information)? And this was even enough for some web hosting companies to *shut down* their SSH service? I find this unbelievable.
Finally, OpenSSH developers would probably agree with me – one of the developers sent an e-mail to the Openssh-unix-dev mailing list (http://lwn.net/Articles/340483/) also stating the obvious.
So, I'd like to ask everyone not to spread the FUD anymore. Every piece of evidence we received so far points only to brute force attacks on SSH servers (which have been around for years!). Do keep an eye on your server and install all patches. We will post more information if we receive it, but until then I think there was enough of this FUD.
--
BojanWAYNE - A mother has filed a lawsuit against William Paterson University, claiming her daughter committed suicide after officials at the school failed to fully investigate the student's claims of rape.
Cherelle Jovanna Locklear, 21, was found by her roommates hanging by a necktie in a dorm bathroom on Nov. 22, 2015, according to a lawsuit filed Sept. 8 in U.S. District Court by her mother, Marquesa C. Jackson-Locklear.
Originally from Jackson, Locklear had been a student at the school since 2012, the suit states.
She had been raped at the William Paterson University Sigma Pi Fraternity house on or about Sept. 25, 2015 but did not report the assault right away, Locklear's mother said in court papers.
On or about Oct. 15, 2015, Locklear tried to kill herself by overdosing on pills, the lawsuit states. The suicide attempt led to a five-day hospitalization, her mother said.
After she was released, Locklear went to Theresa A. Bivaletz, who is coordinator of William Paterson's Victim Services, according to the suit.
"Cherelle described the circumstances of the rape and identified the perpetrator and directed Bivaletz to report the rape to the university police department," the suit states.
The lawsuit states Bivaletz did not report the rape to campus police until November 2015.
"Even after receiving the report of the sexual assault, the university police department utterly failed to perform an appropriate and thorough investigation," the lawsuit states.
As a result, the suspect was neither "confronted nor charged," according to the suit.
The lawsuit alleges that Bivaletz and campus police detectives Ellen DeSimone and Michael John Arp were aware of the sex assault and Locklear's suicide attempt "and collectively failed to act as required by law to investigate the assault and protect Cherelle's safety."
The suit states that Jackson-Locklear filed 11 OPRA requests, but that the name of her daughter's alleged rapist had been redacted from documents the school's records custodian produced.
The lawsuit alleges William Paterson University employees violated Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, which state in part no person should be discriminated against on the basis of sex.
The suit states the school had been aware of other instances of sexual assault and sex-based violence against female students and its failure to address those problems "created a climate in which such misconduct against women was tolerated."
University spokeswoman Mary Beth Zeman released this statement Tuesday afternoon:
"We are, of course, saddened by the loss of a student under any circumstances, and particularly when the loss comes about by suicide. We are aware of the lawsuit filed by the student's mother and are unable to comment on any such legal matters. The university will continue to focus on the safety and well-being of all of its members and offers a variety of counseling resources for students who seek help with personal challenges."
Anthony G. Attrino may be reached at tattrino@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @TonyAttrino. Find NJ.com on Facebook.As part of my ongoing project to build a modular frostgrave table, I turned my attention to the dockside. I’d been wanting to play with some ice effects and this seemed like the perfect opportunity.
Adding water to a tile brings it’s own unique set of challenges, you either have to dig down below the surface of the tile or build up the sides of the terrain to contain the water. I chose the latter and designed the docksides to ride above the table level. This brings the water on a level with the other tiles.
The Build
This turned out to be quite a long build, not helped by building a new workshop halfway through.
I started with a 1 foot square, 6mm thick piece of MDF as the base. A quick prototype in sketchup (based on an inch flagstone grid) gave me the dimensions of the dockside which I cut from 50mm pink insulation foam.
Everything is dry fitted for now while I get the components in place…
Next I roughed up some balsa wood beams with a razor saw and carved notches in the walls to hold them. I started hacking bits out of the back wall to simulate a collision.
I used a template to cut out archway sections. These were measured to fit between the wooden pilings.
With them in place, I carved out the brickwork using a number 10a blade and a pencil. I prefer a pencil for brickwork, as the point is a ‘V’ shape (and doesn’t leave an ink mark that can sublimate up through the paint ruining the finish.
I selectively melt out some of the bricks using a dab of Tamiya extra thin glue, but any liquid plastic glue will do.
I finished off the brickwork and carved 1 inch slabs into the tops of the blocks. After cracking them (see my observations on cracks) I use the edge and corner of a steel ruler to push in some of the slabs (mostly around the cracks).
I further distressed the slabs with a crumbled up piece of tinfoil.
I scraped the edge of a scalpel along the side of the steps and wall to simulate crumbling stone and hacked out the damaged wall a bot more.
I broke up some distressed balsa strips and superglued them together to make a rough landing.
And glued everything (apart from the wooden dock as I still needed to work on the water) together with titebond 3. I used toothpicks jammed into the sides at angles across the joins to pull them together while the glue dried.
Once the titebond had dried, I went around all the obvious cracks and filled it with ready mixed filler.
A dock wouldn’t be complete (and the ruined wall wouldn’t make much sense) without a boat in it. Fortunately, I’d picked up a pre-built MDF model a few years back for a project that never happened (but one I still want to tackle…). It looked a bit too pristine, so I set about it with a razor saw…
And started trying out positions..
Next I pulled out my dremel knockoff and fitted a gnarly bit. Several brutal minutes later and I’d distressed the boat to my satisfaction.
The boat had some really nice laser cut wood grain which I tried to keep. It makes painting so much easier later.
I knocked off the rough edges with some fine sandpaper.
I toyed with the idea of adding some debris to the water and the ship.
I gave the dock and ship an undercoat of UMP black primer and hit the stonework with tamiya dark grey. This was just to give the piece a bit of coherency while I back brained what colour I was going to paint everything.
The fit of the prow in the damaged wall section needed a bit of tweaking…
But with a bit of gentle coaxing it went together.
The Paint
First, I turned my attention to the wooden pillars and dock. I gave them an undercoat of UMP primer and a base coat of LifeColor Weathered wood, roughly brush painted on.
Next, I wet brushed a lighter tone of Weathered Wood. Again, I wasn’t being too careful (just careful enough to avoid the stonework).
I let that dry thoroughly and then dry brushed using a very light weathered wood.
That rotten wood texture was made by dragging a razor saw across the beam to score the grain and an xacto blade to chew it up.
I dry brushed the stonework with Tamiya light grey using a 1/2 inch brush. Really knock the paint out of the brush! You want to layer the dry brush gradually (and from all directions as the tops of slabs are always in sunlight) – catch every edge.
The vertical faces were drybrush using strokes from top to bottom to feather out the highlights towards the bottom.
Once the drybrush had dried, I mixed up some murky green oil paint with odourless thinner (very watered down) and started jabbing it into cracks and crevices and allowed it to run down walls.
I focused along the bottom of the walls with a slightly thicker mixture where they meet the water…
One of the joys of oil washes is they take a while to dry. Before the green had dried, I mixed up some burnt umber wash and blended it with the green.
Again, I focused on the cracks and crevices.
I’d ummed and ahh’d about what colour to paint the boat. I’d originally thought to do it white to match the icy theme and then realised it would be covered in snow and be lost. In the end I went for a similar scheme to the dock pilings using LifeColors again.
While this dried, I got out my pigment powders and dirtied up the breached wall and few flagstone cracks.
I used a couple of shades of brown earth pigments to give the mud a bit more interest.
While the oils and pigment powders were drying, I gave the ship a dark oil wash. This really brought out that fantastic wood grain and helped tone down the whole piece.
I grabbed some likely looking clump foliage from my ground cover bits box and picked a few that looked natural together.
I didn’t want to go overboard (no pun intended) with the clump foliage, but it’s great for covering up any mistakes and adding interest to corners.
Time to tackle the water. Well, ice. But I needed some water for the ice to float on. There’s something eerie about still, black water and even though you wouldn’t see it I thought it would lend an appropriate background for the semi translucent ice sheets.
I gave the base board 2 coats of semi-gloss tamiya black.
and broke out (aha! I kill me) the ice sheets. I sized it to the dock area, scoring and snapping to roughly fit.
This is the first time I’ve used Precision Ice and Snows products so I was quite nervous. Then again, I was going to be breaking it up anyway so there was little to loose…
It comes with a sticky backing that you can peal off. I left it in place as I cracked it to keep the bits together.
Once I was happy with the cracks, I separated them from the backing and dry fitted them in place.
I used randomly broken up pieced stuffed under the edge of the ship to hide the join and to give the ship a bit of an angle.
Once I was happy with the positioning. I squirted woodland scenics water tinted with green and blue ink in a pipet between the slabs. This sneaks under the ice sheets giving a very pleasing effect and holds everything in place once dry.
And after it had all dried…
It’s a shame to cover it in snow, but it’s called Frostgrave for a reason.
I first used some cheap ebay snow flock stuck in place with PVA to form the deeper drifts. Apologies for the potato quality photograph.
I then sprayed the whole piece with clear spray glue and sieved the snow power over the piece, I tried to focus around the drifts as to not swamp the piece and loose the stonework. I was only marginally successful.
Sadly, the photographs don’t capture it, and the reason for using the clear spray glue instead of pva is this snow has tiny, sparkly particles in it that capture the light just as you’d expect snow at that scale to do.
I fixed this in place with another spray of the clear glue and took a few photo’s.
The Result
Thanks for making it this far. I hope you enjoyed the build. Not sure I’ll use this snow product in future – or if I do it’ll be for a more thorough coverage. The ice sheets are excellent though pricey and something I’ll definitely try to DIY in future.
If you’re interested in Frostgrave or wargames terrain – check out my other terrain articles. I’m always happy to answer any questions you might have about the builds I do. Just drop them in the comments and I’ll try and answer as best I can.
Happy building! 🙂
Here’s some of the materials I used to build and paint this kit. You’re not obligated to use them and I can’t guarantee you’ll get the same results if you use them but they are the best I’ve found at what they do. These are affiliate links so I get a tiny bit of cash if you go on to buy something after clicking them at no additional cost to you.
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In Farah Province, in the west, Afghan security forces have called for reinforcements to hold the line against the insurgents’ offensive. Fierce battles are also raging around Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand Province, in the south, which has been surrounded for months as Afghan forces have failed to reverse Taliban gains.
The fall of central areas of Kunduz City, where street-to-street fighting has displaced tens of thousands of people, has punctured the belief that Afghan forces, trained and financed by Western allies, could protect major urban centers. In recent months, Afghan troops have suffered record casualties.
Still, Afghan and Western officials say, the inexperienced Afghan forces, operating largely on their own now that the NATO mission has drawn down to an advisory role, have so far held their own despite being stretched to defend several areas simultaneously.Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee caused a bit of blushing across the debate stage Thursday night.
The 2016 presidential hopeful told the Fox News hosts his fair tax system would transform the funding process of Social Security and Medicare “because the money paid at consumption is paid by everybody, including illegals, prostitutes, pimps, drug dealers, all the people that are freeloading off the system now.”
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In response to his remarks, host Megyn Kelly said “it’s getting a little R-rated” and moderator Chris Wallace put up his hand and said “all right, enough.”
Huckabee argued one of the reasons why Social Security is in trouble is because the funding stream is only from people who get a wage.
“The people who get wages is declining dramatically," Huckabee said in an exchange with New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.
"Most of the income in this country is made by people at the top who get dividends and capital gains,” he said.
Huckabee aimed to contrast his stance with Christie on reforming entitlements, arguing that changes should be made in the budget, as compared to Christie's stance to cut benefits to seniors earning more than $200,000.Lena and I sipped espresso at an outdoor Mexican cafe near her Berlin apartment. She read David Mitchell’s Cloud Atlas, as I leafed through Die Welt (an editorial lambasted Germans for their increasing SUV use and constant flying as the planet heats). I paused, struck by this globalized moment. This was the good side of globalization, a borderless sharing of Italian espresso, Mexican food, and British literature. And yet that same juggernaut was burning enough carbon to melt the final glaciers in Germany’s southern highlands and erase entire islands from the Pacific. I wondered how it was that my German friends and I so easily embrace cappuccinos and chimichangas but not the more challenging aspects of green living.
The menu showed Kahlo’s paintings of former East German leader Erich Honecker; Kahlo and her husband Diego Rivera had a fascination with the Communist bloc, particularly East Germany, which, for all its Stasi-inspired fear, did create an egalitarian society in which basic needs were met. As unemployment has risen in Germany (12.7 percent in the east of the country; 7.5 percent in the west), so too has “Ost-algia,” a kind of nostalgia for all things East German. Director Wolfgang Becker’s 2003 film Good Bye Lenin! captured this mood; and throughout Germany, brands from the east carry symbolic weight: a sense of a more stable and secure time.
For me, it goes far deeper than ostalgia. Berlin’s history slams into you at every turn. For several days I biked the city. I passed under the Victory Column statue, completed in 1873, which commemorates Prussian defeats of France and Austria. I cycled along Berlin’s most splendid street, Unter den Linden, past Humbolt University, where Hegel and Einstein taught.
It’s a pleasure to ride in a city that has bicycle lanes everywhere, complete with miniature traffic lights. Amid hundreds of others bikers, I two-wheeled it through large swaths of the city in these safe, convenient lanes. I passed one eye-watering exception where a highway runs through the city, a relic of the urban renewal of the 1960s. But how is it that the “Los Angeles model” of urban renewal affected Berlin, and many other German cities, so minimally?
I put that question to Peter Engelke over dinner one night in Berlin. He’s doing his Georgetown University Ph.D. thesis on German city planning. “It’s partly tied up with the history of the Green Party,” he told me. You might picture Jane Jacobs (the woman who prevented Robert Moses from running a highway through lower Manhattan) times 10,000. “There were Jacobses in every neighborhood of every city,” Engelke told me. “Germany shows that grass-roots politics can change a nation.”
Back at Frida Kahlo’s that Saturday, I noticed Lena staring wistfully at the photograph of Honecker on the wall. “Want to go to East Germany?” she suddenly asked me.
We rounded up her friends Kristen and Paul, squeezed into Lena’s VW Golf, and raced out of Berlin. Through the window, I noticed that the border between city and wild woodlands was sharp; Germany enforces its tough anti-sprawl laws.
An hour later, we arrived at a pristine lake in the former East German state of Brandenburg. Walking on a path along the water, I immediately noticed how different the Ossies were from their slicker Wessie counterparts. Almost two decades after the wall came down, eastern German fashion still looked vaguely Soviet. Many Germans still have what’s here called a “Mauer im Kopf” (literally a “wall in the head,” or a lingering psychological separation of East from West), and in surveys, three-quarters of eastern Germans say they feel like second-class citizens. This partly explains why leftist parties continue to win elections in Germany’s eastern states, and why 70 percent of eastern Germans still believe that Marx’s critique of capitalism is accurate.
As the day passed at a leisurely pace, I understood that ostalgia, the melancholic longing for the simpler days of the GDR, is probably entwined with a larger nostalgia for the Europe of Milan Kundera’s novel Slowness, the Europe before people became consummateconsumers. We climbed toward a hidden castle above the lake. Kirsten and Paul walked ahead of us, hand-in-hand, and Lena joked that “they look like Hänsel and Gretel.” We passed barefoot mushroom hunters. As the sun set, we all did lakeside yoga salutations and drove back to Berlin relaxed to our cores.
On my last night in Germany, I biked down Unter den Linden, weaving through a maze of obese Fernando Botero statues to the Brandenburg Gate. It was the Day of German Unity, and half a million people were there for a festival of rock, reggae, and hip-hop. When I arrived, the German band Silbermond was belting out rock songs. Levi’s and Yankees caps abounded; a couple of skinny kids smoked cigarettes in the shadowy sidelines, pretending to be bored with Silbermond.
I left the concert and hiked up to |
simulation of themselves?"
"And of us, in a sense."
"And they are reacting the same way I am? Which means the second universe inside that has another me doing the same thing a third time? And then inside that we've got, what, aleph-zero identical quantum universes, one inside the other? Is that even possible?"
"Infinite processing power, Tim. I thought you designed this thing?"
"I did indeed, but the functional reality of it is totally unexpected. Remember I've just been solving ancient mathematical riddles and figuring out our press release for the last week. So... if I'm right, their universes are only precisely like this one as long as we don't start interfering with the simulation. So what happens when we do? Every version of us does the same thing, so the exact same thing happens in every lower universe simultaneously. So we see nothing in our universe. But all the lower universes instantly diverge from ours in the same exact way. And all the simulated copies of us instantly conclude that they are simulations, but we know we're real, right?"
"Still with you," said Diane, still typing.
Tim - both of him - was pacing up and down. "Okay, so follow this through forwards a bit further. Let's say we just stop messing after that, and watch what happens - but all the simulated little guys try another piece of interference. This time every single simulation diverges in the exact same way again, EXCEPT the top simulation. And if they're smart, which I know we are, and they can be bothered, which is less certain, the guys in simulations three onwards can do the same thing over and over and over again until they know what level they're at... this is insane."
"Tim, look behind you," said Diane, pressing a final key and activating the very brief interference program she had just written, just as the Diane on the screen pressed the same key, and the Diane on Diane-on-the-screen's screen pressed her key and so on, forever.
Tim looked backwards and nearly jumped out of his skin. There was a foot-wide, completely opaque black sphere up near the ceiling, partially obscuring the clock. It was absolutely inert. It seemed like a hole in space.
Diane smiled wryly while Tim clutched his hair with one hand. "We're constructs in a computer," he said, miserably.
"I wrote an extremely interesting paper on this exact subject, Tim, perhaps you didn't read it when I gave you a copy last year. There is an unbelievably long sequence of quantum universe simulators down there. An infinite number of them, in fact. Each of them is identical and each believes itself to be the top layer. There was an exceedingly good chance that ours would turn out to be somewhere in the sequence rather than at the top."
"This is insane. Totally insane."
"I'm turning the hole off."
"You're turning off a completely different hole. Somewhere up there, the real you is turning the real hole off."
"Watch as both happen at precisely the same instant." She pressed another key, and they did. "I'll sum it up for you. There is a feedback loop going on. Each universe affects the next one subtly differently. But somewhere down the line the whole thing simply has to approach a point of stability, a point where each universe behaves exactly like the one simulating it. As I say, the odds are exceptionally good that we are an astronomical distance down that road. And so we are, very likely, almost exactly at that point. Everything we do in this universe will be reflected completely accurately in the universes below and above. That little model there might as well be our own universe. Which means, first of all, we have to make absolutely certain that we don't do anything nasty to the universes below ours, since the same thing will happen to us. And secondly, we can do very nice things for the guys in the computer, thereby helping ourselves."
"You've thought about this?"
"It's all in my woefully overlooked article on the subject, Tim, you should read more."
"Guh. This has been an extremely bad day for my ego, Diane. The only comfort I take from this is that somewhere up there, right at the top of a near-infinite tower of quantum supercomputers, there is a version of you who was completely wrong."
"She's in the minority."
Tim checked the clock and picked his bag up again. "I have to go or I'm going to miss the next bus as well at this rate. This will still be here after the weekend, I suppose?"
"Well, we can't exactly turn it off."
"Why not?" asked Tim, halfway to the door, then stopped mid-stride and stood still, realising. "Oh."
"Yeah."
"That... could be a problem."
"Yes."Some large /8 blocks of IPv4 addresses, the former Class A network blocks, are assigned in whole to single organizations or related groups of organizations, either by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), through the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA), or a regional Internet registry.
Each /8 block contains 224 = 16,777,216 addresses.
As IPv4 address exhaustion has advanced to its final stages, some organizations, such as Stanford University, formerly using 36.0.0.0/8 have returned their allocated blocks (in this case to APNIC) to assist in the delay of the exhaustion date.
List of reserved /8 blocks [ edit ]
See also Reserved IP addresses
List of assigned /8 blocks [ edit ]
List of assigned /8 blocks to the regional Internet registries [ edit ]
Map of regional Internet registries
The regional Internet registries (RIR) allocate IPs within a particular region of the world.
Note that this list may not include current assignments of /8 blocks to all regional or national Internet registries.
Original list of IPv4 assigned address blocks [ edit ]
The original list of IPv4 address blocks can be found in RFC 790 (J. B. Postel, September 1981). In previous versions of the document, (RFC 776 (J. B. Postel, January 1981), RFC 750, (J. B. Postel, 26 December 1973)), network numbers were 8-bit numbers rather than the 32-bit numbers used in IPv4. RFC 790 also added three networks not listed in RFC 776: 42.rrr.rrr.rrr, 43.rrr.rrr.rrr, and 44.rrr.rrr.rrr.
The relevant portion of RFC 790 is reproduced here with minor changes:
000.rrr.rrr.rrr Reserved [JBP]
001.rrr.rrr.rrr BBN-PR BBN Packet Radio Network [DCA2]
002.rrr.rrr.rrr SF-PR-1 SF Packet Radio Network [JEM]
003.rrr.rrr.rrr BBN-RCC BBN RCC Network [SGC]
004.rrr.rrr.rrr SATNET Atlantic Satellite Network [DM11]
005.rrr.rrr.rrr SILL-PR Ft. Sill Packet Radio Network[JEM]
006.rrr.rrr.rrr SF-PR-2 SF Packet Radio Network [JEM]
007.rrr.rrr.rrr CHAOS MIT CHAOS Network [MOON]
008.rrr.rrr.rrr CLARKNET SATNET subnet for Clarksburg [DM11]
009.rrr.rrr.rrr BRAGG-PR Ft. Bragg Packet Radio Net [JEM]
010.rrr.rrr.rrr ARPANET ARPANET [VGC]
011.rrr.rrr.rrr UCLNET University College London [PK]
012.rrr.rrr.rrr CYCLADES CYCLADES [VGC]
013.rrr.rrr.rrr Unassigned [JBP]
014.rrr.rrr.rrr TELENET TELENET [VGC]
015.rrr.rrr.rrr EPSS British Post Office EPSS [PK]
016.rrr.rrr.rrr DATAPAC DATAPAC [VGC]
017.rrr.rrr.rrr TRANSPAC TRANSPAC [VGC]
018.rrr.rrr.rrr LCSNET MIT LCS Network [DDC2]
019.rrr.rrr.rrr TYMNET TYMNET [VGC]
020.rrr.rrr.rrr DC-PR D.C. Packet Radio Network [VGC]
021.rrr.rrr.rrr EDN DCEC EDN [EC5]
022.rrr.rrr.rrr DIALNET DIALNET [MRC]
023.rrr.rrr.rrr MITRE MITRE Cablenet [APS]
024.rrr.rrr.rrr BBN-LOCAL BBN Local Network [SGC]
025.rrr.rrr.rrr RSRE-PPSN RSRE / PPSN [BD2]
026.rrr.rrr.rrr AUTODIN-II AUTODIN II [EC5]
027.rrr.rrr.rrr NOSC-LCCN NOSC / LCCN [KTP]
028.rrr.rrr.rrr WIDEBAND Wide Band Satellite Network [CJW2]
029.rrr.rrr.rrr DCN-COMSAT COMSAT Dist. Comp. Network [DLM1]
030.rrr.rrr.rrr DCN-UCL UCL Dist. Comp. Network [PK]
031.rrr.rrr.rrr BBN-SAT-TEST BBN SATNET Test Network [DM11]
032.rrr.rrr.rrr UCL-CR1 UCL Cambridge Ring 1 [PK]
033.rrr.rrr.rrr UCL-CR2 UCL Cambridge Ring 2 [PK]
034.rrr.rrr.rrr MATNET Mobile Access Terminal Net [DM11]
035.rrr.rrr.rrr NULL UCL/RSRE Null Network [BD2]
036.rrr.rrr.rrr SU-NET Stanford University Ethernet [MRC]
037.rrr.rrr.rrr DECNET Digital Equipment Network [DRL]
038.rrr.rrr.rrr DECNET-TEST Test Digital Equipment Net [DRL]
039.rrr.rrr.rrr SRINET SRI Local Network [GEOF]
040.rrr.rrr.rrr CISLNET CISL Multics Network [CH2]
041.rrr.rrr.rrr BBN-LN-TEST BBN Local Network Testbed [KTP]
042.rrr.rrr.rrr S1NET LLL-S1-NET [EAK]
043.rrr.rrr.rrr INTELPOST COMSAT INTELPOST [DLM1]
044.rrr.rrr.rrr AMPRNET Amateur Radio Experiment Net [HM]
See also [ edit ]
Notes [ edit ]What would you do with your own private satellite? If you haven’t decided, you should. PhoneSat — a project overseen by NASA’s Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley — wants to lower the cost of building space satellites to the point where anyone with space ambitions could launch one.
Yes, it’s a satellite made from a phone. The not-so-secret ingredient is Google’s Android mobile operating system.
As NASA points out in announcing PhoneSat, smartphones already have many of the features that a satellite needs, including fast processors, built-in cameras, and a variety of sensors. So why build a custom system for scratch when a common Android phone will do?
The project is part of a larger effort to build dirt-cheap satellites for the masses. As NASA builds its PhoneSat, a startup called Nano Satisfi is building a satellite designed to be programmed by the world at large, and an outfit called Southern Stars hopes to launched a satellite called SkyCube, which will let you instantly grab space photos from your mobile phone down here on Earth.
The first version of NASA’s satellite — PhoneSat 1.0 — costs about $3,500 to build. It’s a coffee-cup-sized cube designed to withstand cosmic radiation, containing an HTC Nexus One phone running the Android operating system, an external radio beacon, external bateries, and a circuit that will reboot the phone if it stops transmitting data — all off-the-shelf commercial parts.
It has been tested under various adverse conditions, such as “thermal-vacuum chambers, vibration and shock tables, sub-orbital rocket flights and high-altitude balloons.” The plan is to launch this month with the modest goal of staying alive long enough to send a few photos back to Earth.
The next version, PhoneSats 2.0, will use newer Samsung Nexus S phones and include a two-way radio system that will enable researchers to control the satellite from Earth. Other enhancements include solar panels and magnetorquer coils.
Last April, NASA sponsored a development contest giving programmers the chance to write Android apps that will run on the PhoneSat. Examples of potential applications include star tracking and radiation-monitoring apps.
Meanwhile, Nano Satisfi has raised over $100,000 on Kickstarter to fund the development of a satellite based on the open source circuit board the Arduino. The goal is to make it the first satellite programmable by the general public.
Because the Arduino is an open standard, anyone can write software for it from home. Backers will be able to write programs for controlling satellites in space and collecting data. The organization will test the software and run it on a real satellite for an allotted amount of time. The data collected will be sent to the customer who wrote the software.
SkyCube is the brainchild of Southern Stars, makers of astronomy apps for iOS and Android. The plan is to launch a cube satellite from a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket in 2013. Backers of the project will be able to broadcast their own messages from the satellite, as well as request photos from the satellite using mobile apps. The project has raised nearly $70,000 of its $82,500 goal as of this writing.Died: Alec Meikle The opening day of the inquest on Monday heard that, having left school at 16, Alec began an apprenticeship at the Bathurst premises of engineering company Downer EDI, an operation which builds an maintains trains for RailCorp. The inquest heard that within three days of beginning his apprenticeship, Alec was regularly being called a ''f---'n useless c--t''. Over the ensuing weeks the teenager was allegedly burnt with a welding torch, sprayed with adhesive and set on fire. Several of his colleagues also allegedly threatened to anally rape him with a steel dildo.
Accompanying these incidents, the inquest heard, was near constant verbal abuse. ''He said the first day was fantastic, second day fantastic and then the abuse started,'' Alec's father, Richard Meikle told the inquest. ''And then it was 'you useless f---n c--t, you useless c--t'. That was thrown at him every day.'' Mr Meikle said Alec told him the main perpetrator was his direct supervisor along with another colleague. ''He said because his supervisor was leading it, he didn't have anyone standing up for him, anyone to talk to about it,'' Mr Meikle said.
Alec's parents began to notice he was becoming agitated and withdrawn. They said, initially, he refused to say what was going on but eventually opened up. ''He said, 'dad, how many times would you want to hear the words you useless f---'n c--t day after day after day?''' Mr Meikle said. ''He became a sad, round-shouldered boy.'' The bullying allegedly continued for three months, until May 2008 when Alec left the company. Soon after, the teenager was diagnosed with severe anxiety and depression, and later, an adjustment disorder. He was admitted to the mental health wing of Bathurst Hospital for short period and seemed to improve but, not long after being released, he attempted suicide in the family's downstairs gym room. ''I'm a failure, I can't even kill myself,'' Alec reportedly told his parents after the suicide attempt.
Alec's parents arranged for him to return to New Zealand - where the family had migrated from in 2002 - to live with his aunt and uncle and have further treatment. But on the night of October 30, 2008 Alec's aunt and cousin arrived home to find he had taken his life. The inquest heard an internal investigation by Downer EDI found Alec had been subject to little or no supervision, instruction or training, and was given work above his level. It also found he had been subjected to sarcasm, verbal abuse and put downs as well as the bullying incidents he reported. A subsequent WorkCover investigation found that while the company had an anti-bullying policy, the alleged bullying behaviour had been allowed to ''manifest'' during Alec's apprenticeship.
The inquest continues.Photo courtesy of Cannes Film Festival.
Let the trigger warnings start right here. Dutch director Paul Verhoeven’s return to the Cannes Film Festival, at age 77, twenty-four years after he was last in competition with Basic Instinct, was greeted with triumphant applause at this morning’s press screening of his new French-language thriller, Elle (French for She or Her) — and it’s a halo sure to disappear in a barrage of think pieces the minute this film is shown beyond the borders of France. A master of the sexually perverse, Verhoeven has thwarted taboos in a way that makes Sharon Stone’s leg-uncrossing seem provincial by comparison. His new film, based on the award-winning novel Oh… by Philippe Dijan, with a sharp script from David Birke, follows a successful career woman, Michèle (Isabelle Huppert in a knockout performance), who is violently raped in her own home, refuses to interrupt her daily life, and eventually develops a tense, volatile understanding with her attacker that is constantly on the verge of erupting.
Courting aghast reactions from the start, Verhoeven begins the movie with the attack itself, the screams, the crash of breaking glass, Michèle’s cat looking on as a man in a ski mask wipes her blood away from between his thighs. When he leaves, she peels herself up from the floor, calmly cleans up the mess, throws out her dress, takes a bath, and orders takeout sushi. When her adult son asks her about the bruise on her face, she tells him she fell off her bike, and then pummels him with quips about knocking up his lunatic girlfriend: “Are Josie’s boyfriends moving in too?” “You know she was raised on a commune with unwashed artists.” Everything is exactly as it seems, and at the same time not at all.
Isabelle Huppert has already won Best Actress at Cannes for 1978’s Violette Nozière and 2001’s The Piano Teacher, but I would be shocked if she weren’t considered a serious contender here. Her Michèle is no mere victim; she is a complex, ferociously strong, sexual woman with a very dark sense of humor who reacts to nothing as you’d expect. It’s a role 63 year-old women in Hollywood never play. (Verhoeven reportedly looked at Nicole Kidman, Marion Cotillard, Sharon Stone, Diane Lane, and Carice van Houten for the part; he’d wanted to make the movie in America, “but we found out that in the United States it was a story they did not like very much, nobody,” he said in an interview with French press.) The next day she is back at her job, running a video-game company, telling a roomful of young men who all seem to both lust after her and loathe her that the “orgasmic convulsions” of a buxom female avatar when an octopus-armed monster sticks a tentacle in her brain aren’t violent enough. At other times, she yells at them for missing the “boner moment” of a sequence. In between meetings she arranges to have all the locks in her house changed. She puts off texts from a lover who wants to come over that night. At dinner, she tells friends of she was raped during small talk as they’re ordering wine.
Michèle is not an apologist, and Verhoeven, who’s long made portraits of resilient women in danger, seems to relish in her as she is. She rips a friend’s bumper off his car while parking and gives him a sly “oops!” smile before driving away. And she regularly does way, way worse than that, often with such quick wit that I had several conversations after the movie about whether it was wrong to have laughed so much in a rape movie. When a woman in a café clocks her arrival and walks over to dump a tray of trash on her, seething, “Scum, you and your father,” we suspect Michèle may have less-than-sympathetic reasons for not having called the police after her attack. That’s not isolated hatred — there’s very good reason why her attacker could be someone she doesn’t know who feels justified in his actions. Among the people she knows, too, enemies and predators abound; Michèle oozes a mixture of brazen sexuality and disdain that seems to enthrall every man in her orbit. (And yes, the movie passes the Bechdel Test.) There’s the angry video-game designer whom she humiliates at work, the sweet video-game designer whose declarations of love she puts off, the friend’s husband she’s sleeping with, the neighbor’s husband who flashes her flirty looks while with his wife, and the ex-husband who’s never quite gotten over her. Michèle pays someone to do some digging for her, and buys some pepper spray and an axe.
And she never gets any more conventionally likeable. “I don’t believe in the American statement that there has to be evolution in the character,” said Verhoeven at the press conference following the screening. “I think I have the idea that everybody stays the same his whole life. Adapt so the bad things are a little bit hidden, but I don’t think there is a real development. I think I am the same person I was when I was six years old and was doing things that my best friend hated. There is no evolution. There are just things that happen.”
I suspect there will be outcry when people, particularly in America, see how Michèle deals with her rapist. Asked at the press conference by Ben Lee of the Guardian whether they were worried people would take offense to Michèle’s response to her rape, Verhoeven and Huppert answered, in unison, “No.” Huppert explained that she saw Michèle’s reaction as very believable. “Most of the time in life,” she said, “you are just confronted with whatever you have to face without necessarily finding the solutions, and you just go on, you just proceed.” She added that the movie wasn’t meant to be a realistic statement about rape. “It’s almost to be taken as a tale and a fantasy, and the fantasy is something within yourself, something you couldn’t confess, that is in your inner thoughts … but it doesn’t mean that it happens to all women in the world. It happens to that particular woman. It’s not a general statement.” Dijan added that he sees the film, and his book, as being about a woman who wants the freedom to ignore societal codes and experience her own trauma the way she sees fit, even if that means maintaining a connection with the man who violated her. “We’re not really telling the story of a rape, so I don’t think people should be too offended,” he says. “As Michèle says, she has had worse experiences with men she chose herself.”
My guess is that they’re being wildly optimistic, but I’m going to take a page from Michèle and not apologize for being blown away by what I saw today, and particularly by Huppert. Feminism isn’t about judging another woman’s version of coping.About 110 children die each year in accidental shootings. The shootings follow a tragic pattern: A child — typically a boy — finds a firearm, plays with it, and accidentally fires it off, killing or injuring a family member, a friend, or himself.
So how many state laws actively try to prevent these tragedies? According to the gun control advocacy group Everytown, 28 states have child access prevention laws in place. Half these states specifically penalize people who leave guns around children in a careless, reckless, or negligent manner. The other 14 states have weaker laws that prohibit knowingly giving a child a gun or require that certain circumstances be met, such as the child actually shooting the firearm.
Child access laws mostly serve as deterrents, as Monica Potts recently reported for the Trace. There is a general reluctance to actually prosecute someone when a child gets ahold of a gun and shoots someone, since it could worsen the tragedy. So prosecutions and punishments are rare.
Still, a 2000 study from the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research found 15 states that enacted child access laws before 1998 saw a 17 percent decline in unintentional firearm death rates among children under 15 years old. Florida's law, among the strictest in the country, saw a 51 percent decline. But researchers also found that 14 states with child access laws didn't see statistically significant effects.
So these laws can potentially prevent enormous tragedies, which not only inflict serious harm on the shooting victim but can traumatize children who — without knowing any better — kill or seriously injure a family member or friend.
It's also true that these types of tragedies are far more common in the US. Since these accidents require stray guns to be around, and Americans are much more likely than people in other developed nations to own guns, American kids are much more likely to accidentally shoot and kill themselves.
These deaths are way more common in the US, because the US has way more guns
Like all gun violence, unintentional gun deaths by children are a much bigger problem in the US compared with its developed peers around the world. A 2011 study co-authored by David Hemenway, who heads the Harvard Injury Control Research Center, found that in the US, unintentional firearm death rates of children ages 0 to 14 are about 10 times higher than in other developed countries.
People tend to believe that having a firearm on themselves or in their homes will protect them. But the research shows this isn't the case: Living in a house with a gun actually increases a person's odds of an early death. Looking at the evidence, the American Academy of Pediatrics concluded, "The absence of guns from children's homes and communities is the most reliable and effective measure to prevent firearm-related injuries in children and adolescents."
But Americans are among the least likely people to follow this advice in the developed world. Americans make up about 4.43 percent of the world's population, yet own roughly 42 percent of all the world's privately held firearms. And the US has the highest number of privately owned guns in the world: Estimated in 2007, the number of civilian-owned firearms in the US was 88.8 guns per 100 people. The world's second-ranked country was Yemen, a quasi-failed state torn by civil war, where there were 54.8 guns per 100 people.
The empirical research suggests this leads to tens of thousands of unnecessary deaths each year, because more guns mean more gun deaths. Researchers have found this is true not just with accidents but also with homicides, suicides, domestic violence, and even violence against police. To deal with those problems, America will have to not only make guns less accessible, but likely reduce the number of guns in the US as well.
Many American may look at these numbers and still believe that more restrictive gun laws — like those that require guns to be safely stored — are a bad idea, and gun rights are worth protecting. But the research suggests these beliefs come at a deadly cost — and for parents, the statistics should invite caution when they consider placing kids in environments with firearms.
Watch: America's biggest gun problem is the one we don't talk aboutApparently Eastman Kodak's bankruptcy filing this week wasn't a surprise to anyone: just hours after Kodak filed in New York, Apple sought authority from the court "to enter into a $950 million postpetition financing facility secured by security interests in and liens upon substantially all of Kodak's assets." In essence, Apple is claiming to have ownership over key Kodak patent assets, including US Patent No. 6,292,218. According to Apple, this patent has been pivotal in driving Kodak's recent patent licensing strategy, providing over $3 billion in associated revenue. The '218 patent has been asserted by Kodak against Sony, JVC, Samsung, LG, RIM, Fujifilm, and even Apple — the patent claims priority back to 1994 and covers a color digital still camera having a display for viewing captured images.
Apple argues in its court filing that it worked with Kodak back in the early 1990s on the commercialization of digital camera technology, only to learn in 2010 that Kodak had "misappropriated Apple's technology and sought patents of its own claiming this technology." While it's impossible based on the limited information in this court filing to accurately examine the discrete contributions Apple and Kodak made to this technology area, it is interesting to note that both companies actively hit the market with consumer-level cameras having LCD viewers in the mid-1990s — Apple with its QuickTake line and Kodak with its DC series of cameras.
The ramifications of Apple's claims here could be real. If Apple is successful in establishing ownership over any of the patents Kodak has asserted against Apple and others, or licensed under agreements with other competitors, Kodak's last-ditch effort to gain value from its patent portfolio going into a bankruptcy restructuring plan could be severely hindered. Although a judge has already "approved initial availability of $650 million" in financing for Kodak, we imagine that there will be more to hear at the first court date for bankruptcy hearings on February 15th. We'll keep you updated as more details come in.Twenty years ago this Saturday, an atomic bomb was dropped. The Wu-Tang Clan released Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers), launching one of the greatest empires in the history of music and forever pushing the axis of hip-hop toward a stranger, darker, and indubitably better place. To commemorate the occasion, we called up RZA to briefly talk about the past, the future, and just what the hell is going on with the new Wu album.
Last year you told the New York Times there’s “one last job Wu-Tang Clan must do. The 20th anniversary is next year. And we need to, one time, completely, efficiently, properly represent our brand.” So how’s it going?
A lot of us are picking up on it, but there are a few of us who are late to the table. I’m still pushing forward full-strength, till my energy run out. The dream was to have it come out this week. It should have came out on our anniversary date. But what I feel spiritually is that that day is gonna trigger a change. I don’t know if it’s gonna trigger a change in everybody but it’s definitely gonna trigger a change in me. I’ve been really refocusing the last few days, refocusing my energy on the legacy of what we created, and what’s gonna come in the future, [in order] to uphold what we said, to uphold what it meant to us and to uphold what it meant to the fans. Is that gonna be in the format of making albums and songs? Is that gonna be in the format of writing books or performing on TV or film? And whatever the format that it leads to, I’m gonna live out the legacy of Wu-Tang forever.
A lot of fans are probably hoping that everyone in the Wu falls in line behind you, the way it all happened in the beginning. But is that realistic at this point?
Well, I think if I was one of the other members, if I wasn’t RZA, I would fall in line. Because it worked! It ain’t work one time. It worked multiple times. It worked more than it failed. The batting average is good. And at the same time, I’m not so egotistically conceited whereas I’m not gonna fall in line if someone else came with a great plan. And that’s where I feel a little remorse as this day is approaching. It’s like, wow, I kept trying to pull people together. I spent a lot of money and a lot of time this year. I put my movie career on hold for the first half of the year because I was focusing on making this. I went down to Memphis, I went down to Philadelphia, I came back to the East Coast to reopen the Wu Mansion [RZA’s old house in New Jersey, where a bulk of post–36 Chambers material was recorded]. I invested thousands of dollars to rebuild it so that we can have a place to record a new album. And when I scheduled that to happen, only a few good brothers showed up.
And one of the guys who showed up the most was Method Man. He showed the most tenacity, he was the most vocal, he showed up the most, and he got the most lyrics on the new album. He’s already recorded eight or nine songs. He’s been on it. You know, I give Cappadonna credit, he’s been really on it. U-God has been present. Masta Killa be representing. Inspectah Deck has been somewhat present. Ghost has been, you know, 20 percent present. And Raekwon hasn’t shown up at all. When you look at somebody like Masta Killa and U-God, they seem to have that original hunger to complete the legacy. I respect that everybody [is] busy with they own lives. I started with a plan that I thought would work. Now maybe my plan not working.
Do you ever say anything like, “Remember the first five years? When you guys stayed in the fold and we made multiple, multiple classics?”
I do try to throw that back and shit. But I’m dealing with masters. We all agree, me, you, and the rest of the world, that these guys are great by themselves any fucking way. But they are greater when we come together! I’m doing a lot of things. I’m making a good living for my family. I’m putting out at least a B-plus class artistic expression. Some A-minuses in there. A lot of good work, a little bit of great work. But when I was with the crew, I was doing great work. You become immortalized off of great work. I say, “Yo, Ghost, you been doing good work. Ten albums! But if you look at the history, your only platinum ones are the ones I produced.” Same thing to Raekwon, same thing to Method Man, same thing to GZA. Even myself. I got gold albums by myself but I got platinum with Wu-Tang. Whatever element that we bring together, that’s more powerful than the element of us being apart. We come together, we make platinum, G. That’s the true fucking reward for our top talent. And I say that to the guys. I don’t know who hears me.
So, how are you feeling about it right now?
I got optimism off the summer tour we did in Europe. It was so healthy. We got a lot of time on the bus to talk, to argue, to laugh, to hug, to see fans loving us. And to see the potential of what we can do. To see the potential of the legacy of what we did. We got a lot of work done [recording in Europe]. I feel like we have enough material on the album. I just need Raekwon to come onboard fully. I need some more energy from Ghost and GZA. If they give that energy, I will give us a great last album. If they don’t give us the energy, I gotta figure out a plan B.Facing pages from a 1619 book of mathematical tables by Matthias Bernegger, showing values for the sine, tangent and secant trigonometric functions. Angles less than 45° are found on the left page, angles greater than 45° on the right. Cosine, cotangent and cosecant are found by using the entry on the opposite page.
Mathematical tables are lists of numbers showing the results of calculation with varying arguments. Before calculators were cheap and plentiful, people would use such tables to simplify and drastically speed up computation. Tables of logarithms and trigonometric functions were common in math and science textbooks. Specialized tables were published for applications such as astronomy, celestial navigation and statistics.
A simple example [ edit ]
To compute the sine function of 75 degrees, 9 minutes, 50 seconds[1] using a table of trigonometric functions such as the Bernegger table from 1619 illustrated here, one might simply round up to 75 degrees, 10 minutes and then find the 10 minute entry on the 75 degree page, shown above-right, which is 0.9666746.
However, this answer is only accurate to four decimal places. If one wanted greater accuracy, one could interpolate linearly as follows:
From the Bernegger table:
sin (75° 10′) = 0.9666746 sin (75° 9′) = 0.9666001
The difference between these values is 0.0000745.
Since there are 60 seconds in a minute of arc, we multiply the difference by 50/60 to get a correction of (50/60)*0.0000745 ≈ 0.0000621; and then add that correction to sin (75° 9′) to get :
sin (75° 9′ 50″) ≈ sin (75° 9′) + 0.0000621 = 0.9666001 + 0.0000621 = 0.9666622
A modern calculator gives sin (75° 9′ 50″) = 0.96666219991, so our interpolated answer is accurate to the 7-digit precision of the Bernegger table.
For tables with greater precision (more digits per value), higher order interpolation may be needed to get full accuracy.[2] In the era before electronic computers, interpolating table data in this manner was the only practical way to get high accuracy values of mathematical functions needed for applications such as navigation, astronomy and surveying.
To understand the importance of accuracy in applications like navigation note that at sea level one minute of arc along the Earth's equator or a meridian (indeed, |
points out that exercise might well be a better way to get heart benefits compared with moderate drinking. "On a per-minute basis, alcohol could be better than exercise, but it’s good for one or two things, while exercise is good for everything."
All the doctors also cautioned that the decision to drink any amount of booze has to be individualized. "Some people shouldn't drink because of their personal history. Pregnant women need to be careful," Klatsky said. Talk to your doctor about your own benefits and risks.Britain joined the U.S. in creating new restrictions for passengers traveling on flights from airports in several Muslim-majority countries. Here's what you need to know. (Monica Akhtar,Dani Player/The Washington Post)
Citing unspecified threats, the U.S. government told a slew of airlines based in the Middle East and North Africa that they must restrict their U.S.-bound passengers from taking any electronic items larger than cellphones in their carry-on baggage, effective immediately. The new rules affect 10 airports across the region, many of which serve as busy gateways for global business and tourism traffic. Britain followed suit, but its rules were significantly different though based on the "same intelligence the U.S. relies on."
U.S. government officials speaking on the condition of anonymity said the decision reflected “evaluated intelligence.” Security analysts have indeed long been aware that terrorist groups such as al-Qaeda and Somalia-based al-Shabab are experimenting with turning laptops and other electronic devices into bombs. As Washington Post transportation write Lori Aratani noted, “One example cited involved a bomb, possibly hidden in a laptop, that exploded on board a Somali plane going from Mogadishu to Djibouti, not a U.S.-bound flight.”
7. Al Qaeda has devoted resources to experimenting with sophisticated explosives n Somalia, Syria, Yemen + probably elsewhere. — Thomas Joscelyn (@thomasjoscelyn) March 21, 2017
But there are two caveats: U.S.-bound passengers will still be able to travel with the restricted electronics, but they will have to keep the devices in their checked baggage. And U.S.-based airlines, if they were to fly to the affected airports, would not be subject to the restrictions.
These loopholes have led many analysts and journalists to question the logic underpinning the new rules:
If a laptop can be converted into a bomb, what difference does it make if you check it or carry it onboard? Does that imply that the screening process for checked baggage is more stringent than for carry-ons? Haven't most in-air bombing incidents been caused by explosives in the cargo holds of planes?
And what exactly stops a prospective bomber from boarding a flight in any other unaffected airport? What makes Middle East and North Africa-based airlines — many considered world-class — more susceptible? With heavy security measures already in place in many Middle Eastern airports, how do the new rules add extra vigilance?
With answers to these questions conspicuously absent, other theories have arisen about the impetus for the new rules. One centers on the administration's professed protectionist instincts regarding U.S. businesses.
[Second federal judge blocks revised Trump travel ban]
In February, President Trump met with executives of U.S. airlines and pledged that he would help them compete against foreign carriers that receive subsidies from their home governments. In terms of international traffic, airlines such as Emirates, Etihad, Turkish Airlines and Qatar Airways — all affected by the new restrictions — are U.S. carriers' biggest competitors.
“A lot of that competition is subsidized by governments, big league,” Trump said at that meeting. “I’ve heard that complaint from different people in this room. Probably about one hour after I got elected, I was inundated with calls from your industry and many other industries, because it’s a very unfair situation.”
Long haul ME airlines (Qatar, Emirates, Etihad, Turkish) are of course the main threat to legacy carriers int'l business travel — Tom Pepinsky (@TomPepinsky) March 21, 2017
For business travelers flying long-haul via major transit hubs serviced by these airlines, the inability to carry, say, a work laptop onboard would be a crippling disadvantage. Inevitably, these travelers, as well as some leisure travelers, would choose to fly on unaffected (and largely U.S.- or Europe-based) airlines instead.
Several journalists and activists expressed shock at the rules, noting that they would have to part ways with personal and possibly sensitive data stored on their devices.
The "Muslim laptop ban" will also separate journalists, activists and everyone else from their personal data and put it into unknown hands — Evan Hill (@evanchill) March 21, 2017
If you're a journalist or an activist, fly with a chromebook. Carry minimal sensitive info anyway. Put it in an encrypted USB—always on you. — Zeynep Tufekci (@zeynep) March 21, 2017
Because the affected airports are such busy transit hubs, the new rules are expected to have a reverberating effect on global travel. More than 83 million passengers traveled through Dubai's airport in 2016, and gateways in Doha, Qatar and Istanbul are some of the busiest in the world. Airlines — particularly those based in rich, Persian Gulf states — have taken advantage of their geographic centrality and serve as the main waypoint between the Western and Eastern hemispheres.
Correction: A previous version of this article implied that United Airlines currently flies to Dubai. It does not.SAN DIEGO
A California man who abducted the 16-year-old daughter of a longtime family friend and took her to the Idaho wilderness after killing her mother and brother had letters from the teen, search warrants showed on Friday.
The San Diego County Sheriff’s office warrants also showed 13 phone calls or text messages between phones belonging to the San Diego area girl and her abductor, James DiMaggio, on the day she went missing.
The San Diego County Sheriff’s Department, which requested eight search warrants in the case, declined to say whether Anderson or DiMaggio initiated the calls.
Agents for the Federal Bureau of Investigation shot and killed DiMaggio and rescued Hannah Anderson on Saturday in the rugged Idaho mountains after a multi-state manhunt. They were located after a group of horseback riders told authorities they had encountered the pair.
Sheriff’s spokeswoman Jan Caldwell stressed on Friday that after extensively interviewing Hannah Anderson and reviewing the evidence, investigators had concluded she was an innocent victim.
“Hannah was a victim in every sense of the word,” Caldwell said Friday. “We cannot be more clear on that.”
Hannah Anderson’s mother, Christina Anderson, 44, and her dog were found dead in the garage of DiMaggio’s home on Aug. 4 in the rural community of Boulevard, California, about 72 km east of San Diego.
Her 8-year-old brother, Ethan, was found in DiMaggio’s log cabin after a fire that burned the house to the ground and left investigators so little to go on that they had to use DNA to identify the boy.
One of the warrants said the mother and son had been tortured and killed. The records showed that DiMaggio also had a makeshift bomb in his garage, and suggest he may have also rigged the house to burn.
"WELFARE check"
The Anderson family was last seen alive by neighbours on Saturday, Aug. 3, deputies said. Deputies had checked their apartment in the San Diego area community of Lakeside on Sunday after a neighbour called to express concern and found no one home, according to the warrants. The warrants did not say who requested the welfare check, or check on their well being.
The deputies’ search of DiMaggio’s home, conducted as authorities hunted for clues to help them locate the missing teen, recovered 53 items including a crow bar, an incendiary device, tape, empty ammunition boxes and a red dog leash, according to the court documents.
Authorities also found an empty handcuff box, a knife box, small caliber ammunition, an empty gas canister and a pair of women’s sunglasses.
In the Anderson family apartment, investigators recovered six computers, both towers and laptops, five still and video cameras and two iPods.
Also in the apartment, detectives gathered items including Hannah Anderson’s orthodontic retainer, greeting cards, El Capitan High School paperwork, a picture album and a photo of DiMaggio.
Detectives also searched telephone and Facebook accounts belonging to Lora DiMaggio Robinson, DiMaggio’s sister.
Hannah Anderson’s father, Brett Anderson, has said he was baffled by the actions of DiMaggio, whom he described as a trusted longtime friend considered an uncle by the children.
A law enforcement source said DiMaggio had served as the best man at Brett and Christina Anderson’s wedding.× Netflix arrivals, departures for November 2015
Netflix is adding a long list of movies and shows this November. Here’s a list of everything that’s coming and going:
All title and dates are subject to change.
Avail 11/1/15
Beethoven’s Christmas Adventure (2011)
Lovable, oversized Saint Bernard Beethoven tries to save the holidays when a wayward elf crashes Santa’s sleigh and loses his bag of toys to thieves.
Girlfriends’ Guide to Divorce: Season 1
After the world learns the truth about her failing marriage, a successful self-help author tries to salvage her career and find her way as a divorcée.
Idris Elba: Mandela, My Dad and Me (2015)
In 2014 Idris Elba released mi Mandela, an album inspired by his time researching and portraying Nelson Mandela in Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom. The music of South Africa influenced him profoundly as he prepared for his role in the film. When he finished shooting the film, he decided to record some of this extraordinary music.
Last Days in Vietnam (2014)
This documentary recounts the Vietnam War’s final days, when unexpected roadblocks threatened the evacuation of America’s South Vietnamese allies.
Pasion de Gavilanes (2003)
When three brothers seek to avenge their sister’s tragic death, they become emotionally entangled with the daughters of those they hold responsible.
Robot Overlords (2015)
Earth has been conquered by robots from a distant galaxy. Survivors are confined to their houses and must wear electronic implants, risking incineration by robot sentries if they venture outside.
Seven Deadly Sins: Season 1 — NETFLIX ORIGINAL
When a kingdom is taken over by tyrants, the deposed princess begins a quest to find a disbanded group of evil knights to help take back her realm.
Smithsonian Channel: The Day Kennedy Died (2013)
Rare film footage and photographs capture the extraordinary minute-by-minute details surrounding President John F. Kennedy’s assassination.
The Last Time You Had Fun (2014)
Looking to escape their relationship woes, sisters Alison and Ida head out for a night out on the town. After they meet newly divorced Clark and his married pal Will at a wine bar, the four set off on a string of alcohol-fueled misadventures.
The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie (2004)
When Mr. Krabs is accused of stealing King Neptune’s crown, SpongeBob and Patrick set out on a wild adventure to prove his innocence.
Thomas & Friends: The Christmas Engines (2014)
Thomas and his friends are in holly, jolly Christmas spirits, ready to be Santa’s engine helpers. Percy brings holiday fun to Reg at the scrapyard, while Duncan tries to overcome his bah humbug attitude. Thomas clears the snowy tracks so Connor can race passengers home in time for the holidays.
Twinsters (2015)
This documentary chronicles the true story of a French fashion student who discovered via the Internet an identical twin she never knew existed.
Worst Year of My Life, Again: Season 1
After a school year filled with humiliation, bullying and girl trouble, a boy awakens to find that time has reset itself and he must relive it all.
Avail 11/2/15
Last Tango in Halifax: Season 3
Childhood sweethearts Alan and Celia, both widowed and in their 70s, fall for each other all over again when they are reunited over the Internet after nearly 60 years. As their lives collide for a second time, the couple laments what might have been.
Avail 11/3/15
Do I Sound Gay? (2014)
Seeking to explore his self-doubt and curious about other men’s discomfort with “sounding gay,” journalist David Thorpe helms this candid documentary about his research into the matter, which includes interviews with a host of gay celebrities.
Julius Jr.: Season 2
Paul Frank’s fun artwork comes to life in this show that follows monkey Julius Jr. and his friends as they explore the world and help each other out.
The Midnight Swim (2014)
After Amelia Brooks dives into the deep waters of Spirit Lake and never resurfaces, her three daughters go there together to hunt for an explanation. Instead, the mysteries of the lake only grow deeper once the women arrive.
Avail 11/5/15
Amapola (2014)
The turbulent backdrop of the 1962 Argentinian military coup and the 1982 war for the Falkland Islands.
Amour Fou (2014)
After his cousin declines his bizarre request to join him in a double suicide, melancholy writer Heinrich von Kleist meets the married Henriette Vogel, who over time becomes receptive to the same fateful proposal.
The Runner (2015)
In the aftermath of the 2010 BP oil spill, an idealistic but flawed politician (Nicolas Cage) is forced to confront his dysfunctional life after his career is destroyed in a sex scandal.
Avail 11/6/15
Care Bears & Cousins: Season 1 — NETFLIX ORIGINAL
The whole huggable gang is back bringing fun tales of caring and sharing to a whole new generation.
Master of None: Season 1 — NETFLIX ORIGINAL
Meet Dev (Aziz Ansari), a 30-year-old actor in New York who has trouble deciding what he wants to eat, much less the pathway for the rest of his life.
Avail 11/7/15
LeapFrog Letter Factory: Great Shape Mystery (2015)
Set off to unlock the secret of Quigley’s new machine, and explore shapes and fractions with the LeapFrog friends.
Avail 11/12/15
Anna Karenina (2012)
Keira Knightley stars as the titular 19th-century Russian aristocrat who enters into a forbidden love affair with the well-heeled Count Vronsky.
Avail 11/13/15
Atención Atención: Season 1
A colorful blend of stories, comedy, music and movement helps preschoolers learn important lessons while keeping them entertained.
Call Me Lucky (2015)
Flame-throwing comic and social critic Barry Crimmins shocked and delighted audiences for decades with his caustic view of America and its leaders. Over time, his rage would give way to a calmer but committed life as a peace activist.
John Mulaney: The Comeback Kid (2015) — NETFLIX ORIGINAL
Comedian John Mulaney jokes about a temp job he once had, a realtor he knows, a different realtor he knows, and the night he met Bill Clinton.
With Bob and David: Season 1 — NETFLIX ORIGINAL
After being dishonorably discharged from the Navy Seals, Bob and David are back serving our country the way they do best — making sketch comedy.
Young & Hungry: Season 2 — New Episodes
A female food blogger is hired as a personal chef by a young tech tycoon and faces a new menu of challenges, both inside and outside of the kitchen.
Avail 11/14/15
Blue Caprice (2013)
In their lead-up to the 2002 Beltway sniper attacks, John Muhammad and Lee Malvo embark on a coast-to-coast trip, forming a deadly bond along the way.
Dior and I (2014)
In this behind-the-scenes peek at the demanding world of fashion, Christian Dior artistic director Raf Simons designs his first couture collection.
Avail 11/15/15
Continuum: Season 4
Kiera Cameron is a police officer in 2077 swept along when a gang of condemned terrorists escapes their sentences by traveling back in time to 2012.
Jessie: Season 4
Texas teen Jessie moves to the Big Apple to follow her dreams and finds a job as a nanny for a high-profile family with four high-energy children.
People, Places, Things (2015)
When graphic novelist Will Henry discovers his wife’s infidelity, it sends him into exile from his family. Living in a tiny apartment, Will is too depressed to write and can’t let go of his ex — until a student challenges him to move forward.
Soaked in Bleach (2015)
With mystery still clinging to grunge icon Kurt Cobain’s death, this intriguing docudrama examines the case from the perspective of a private eye hired by Courtney Love to find her husband after he left a rehab facility days before his demise.
Tengo Ganas de Ti (2012)
In this sequel to Tres Metros Sobre el Cielo, Hache slowly begins to get over his ex-girlfriend Babi when he meets the vivacious Gin.
Avail 11/16/15
Cristela: Season 1
In her sixth year of law school, Cristela is finally on the brink of landing her first big (unpaid) internship at a prestigious law firm. The only problem is that her pursuit of success is more ambitious than her traditional Mexican-American family thinks is appropriate. Breakout comedian Cristela Alonzo stars in this hilarious comedy about laughing your way down the path to the new American dream.
Avail 11/18/15
Black Butler: Season 3
In Victorian London, 12-year-old business magnate Ciel Phantomhive thwarts dangers to the queen as he’s watched over by his demon butler, Sebastian.
River (2015) — NETFLIX ORIGINAL
John River is a brilliant detective whose fractured mind traps him between the living and the dead.
Avail 11/20/15
LEGO Ninjago: Masters of Spinjitzu: Season 3
Kai, Jay, Cole and Zane must master their elemental powers and Spinjitzu weapons to protect the land of Ninjago, which also has an underworld.
Marvel’s Jessica Jones: Season 1 — NETFLIX ORIGINAL
Working as a private investigator in New York’s Hell’s Kitchen, an ex-Super Hero’s past comes back to haunt her in “Marvel’s Jessica Jones.”
Sin Tetas No Hay Paraiso (2007)
Catalina starts working out around the neighborhood to get in shape, but what she really wants are breast implants.
Avail 11/23/15
The Red Road: Season 2
In the wake of a terrible tragedy, a local sheriff forges a fateful alliance with a member of a Native American tribe, begetting grave consequences.
Ultimate Spider-Man: Season 3
Peter Parker comes of age in an epic tale that finds him torn between his teenage life and a war between SHIELD and villain Norman Osborn.
Avail 11/24/15
Liv and Maddie: Season 2
After four years in Hollywood as a television star, Liv returns to Wisconsin to discover that either she — or her family — has changed.
Avail 11/25/15
Gringolandia: Season 3
A fast-talking, fun loving immigrant moves to New York, hoping to make it big running a Chilean hot dog cart and chasing his elusive American dream.
Home (2014)
On the run from cosmic enemies, a band of aliens arrives on Earth looking for a safe haven, but one of them inadvertently gives away his location. As the extraterrestrial refugee desperately tries to avoid capture, he begins learning about humans.
Switched at Birth: Season 4
In this dramatic family series, two teenagers discover they were accidentally switched at birth, setting off a chain reaction of life-altering events.
Avail 11/26/15
Zipper (2015)
Putting his promising political career at risk, married federal prosecutor Sam Ellis indulges his fetish for high-end hookers. But as the political stakes rise, Sam’s appetite for risky encounters only continues to grow.
Avail 11/28/15
A Perfect Man (2013)
Nina thinks her husband, James, is cheating on her, and she sets out to prove it by calling him and pretending to be another woman.
Best of Enemies (2015)
In 1968, two patrician intellectuals with opposite political views — William F. Buckley Jr. and Gore Vidal — participated in a series of televised debates that shocked America with their level of vitriol, as recounted in this riveting documentary.
The Best Offer (2013)
An auction house owner who lives in seclusion amid a collection of female portraiture is drawn to an enigmatic client who refuses to meet in person.
Avail 11/29/15
Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films (2014)
This affectionate tribute to movie producers Yoram Globus and Menahem Golan recounts their purchase of Cannon Films and the studio’s rebirth as the 1980s’ top provider of bad B-movies, all churned out on shoestring budgets.
LEAVING:
See below for a selection of titles that will be rotating off the service in November.
Leaving 11/1/15
1492: Conquest of Paradise (1992)
After traversing the Atlantic Ocean to the New World, explorer Christopher Columbus initiates contact between Europeans and indigenous Americans.
America in Primetime (2011)
Discover the creative forces behind television’s modern golden age as writers, producers and performers discuss key elements of acclaimed TV shows.
Bali: Season 1 (2006)
Facing the everyday incidents of childhood with curiosity and imagination, thoroughly modern preschooler Bali enjoys life in the city with his family.
Balto 3: Wings of Change (2004)
A pilot challenges Balto’s son Kodi and his sled team to see who can deliver the mail faster, but the dogs race to the rescue when the plane vanishes.
Batman & Robin (1997)
Along with crime-fighting partner Robin and new recruit Batgirl, Batman battles the dual threat of frosty genius Mr. Freeze and Poison Ivy.
Best Kept Secret (2013)
A New Jersey high school teacher dedicates herself to helping a group of autistic students overcome obstacles and plan for life after graduation.
Best Laid Plans (1999)
Rich, successful Bryce meets a beautiful woman at a bar and invites her home for the night, never suspecting she isn’t really who she seems.
Changing Lanes (2002)
The lives of an egocentric attorney and a recovering alcoholic salesman dangerously collide when their cars crash on a New York expressway.
Cleopatra (1963)
This Oscar-winning epic saga of love, greed and betrayal portrays the ambitious Egyptian queen Cleopatra, who seduces the Roman emperor Caesar.
Conspiracy Theory (1997)
A New York City cab driver who moonlights as a conspiracy theorist puts his life in danger when crooked government officials set out to silence him.
Death Warrant (1990)
While posing as a convict to investigate a series of jailhouse murders, a Canadian Mountie’s cover is almost blown when he meets an inmate he busted.
Fargo (1996)
When a car dealer conspires with dim-bulb criminals to kidnap his wife for a hefty ransom, a folksy — and pregnant — police chief is on the case.
Fela Kuti: Music Is the Weapon (1982)
This documentary examines the role that musician Fela Kuti — dubbed “Black President” — played in shedding light on atrocities in his homeland.
Funny Games (1997)
While vacationing at their secluded summer home, an affluent family is terrorized by a pair of sadistic creeps in this disturbing thriller.
Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide (2012)
Filmed in 10 countries, this series introduces women who are struggling with some of the most difficult and oppressive circumstances imaginable.
Hero and Terror (1988)
When a vicious serial killer escapes from jail, the homicide detective who brought him down years ago gets the chance to defend his reputation.
House of Flying Daggers (2004)
Jin and Leo tangle with Mei, a dancer suspected of having ties to the House of Flying Daggers, which steals from the rich and gives to the poor.
Jonah: A VeggieTales Movie (2002)
While veggies wait for a tow truck, pirates regale them with a story of an asparagus who ends up in the belly of a whale while on a mission from God.
Lunopolis (2009)
In a classic sci-fi thriller setup, two independent filmmakers uncover a powerful secret organization controlled by aliens living on the moon.
Move Over, Darling (1963)
A woman presumed dead for five years returns from a desert island to find that her husband has just remarried and is on his honeymoon.
Norman (2010)
To cope with his father’s terminal cancer, a troubled student begins telling everyone — including his new girlfriend — that he has the same disease.
Pajanimals: Season 1 (2010)
From the comfort of their bedroom, the Pajanimals puppets explore a larger world through imaginary adventures, accompanied by friendships and songs.
Rudy (1993)
Scrawny Rudy dreams of playing football at Notre Dame. Undaunted, Rudy works assisting the groundskeeper and joins the school’s practice squad.
Saw (2004)
Would you kill to live? That’s what two men have to ask themselves when they’re abducted by a serial killer and paired up in a deadly situation.
Saw II (2005)
When Jigsaw kidnaps eight strangers and locks them in a room, Detective Eric Matthews must find the demented killer before his bloody plan is done.
Saw III (2006)
Clinging to life, psychopathic killer Jigsaw orders his new protégé, Amanda, to kidnap a doctor in this third installment of the horror series.
Saw IV (2007)
Jigsaw may be dead, but when an autopsy unearths a tape in his stomach, the police learn that his evil legacy has just begun.
Saw V (2008)
When Hoffman learns that his secret connection to Jigsaw will be exposed, he embarks on a hunt to eradicate everything that links him to the killer.
Scream (1996)
Horror maven Wes Craven turns the genre on its head with this tale of a murderer who terrorizes a hapless high schooler by offing everyone she knows.
Secrets of Mary Magdalene (2006)
This thought-provoking documentary paints a revealing portrait of Mary Magdalene as a woman who has sparked more than a little debate.
Soul Plane (2004)
When Nashawn wins $100 million, he launches his own airline, complete with a casino, bootylicious flight attendants and Snoop Dogg as the pilot.
Stand by Me (1986)
When four boys seek adventure in the woods while looking for a missing teenager’s dead body, they learn some truths about themselves along the way.
Taking Lives (2004)
FBI profiler Illeana Scott is recruited to assist the police in their desperate search for a serial killer who assumes the identities of his victims.
The Blues Brothers (1980)
A pair of two-bit crooks go on a quest to save the Catholic orphanage where they were raised by reuniting their former band for a charity gig.
The Core (2003)
The Earth’s inner core has stopped spinning, and scientist Josh Keyes must discover why — before the world literally falls apart.
The Last Waltz (1978)
Director Martin Scorcese captures the legendary final concert by The Band, staged at San Francisco’s Winterland arena on Thanksgiving Day 1976.
The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio (2005)
With 10 children to feed, housewife Evelyn is used to being resourceful. But when clipping coupons won’t cut it, she’s forced to rely on creativity.
Three Kings (1999)
Three American soldiers stationed in Iraq find a map they believe will take them to a huge cache of stolen Kuwaiti gold hidden near their base.
Tyler Perry’s Meet the Browns (2008)
When a struggling single mom learns that the father she never knew has died, she heads to Georgia with her kids and meets her dad’s raucous family.
Year of the Dog (2007)
An upbeat secretary’s life takes a nosedive when her dog suddenly dies, but her pet’s tragedy opens her up to transformation in this quirky comedy.
Your Inner Fish (2014)
This documentary series analyzes the traces of genetic ancestry that are present in the human body’s anatomical structures, from skin to the senses.
Leaving 11/3/15
Bratz: Good Vibes (2011)
The Bratz learn valuable lessons about treating others well, including some bratty kids who need a bit of love and attention to turn them around.
Leaving 11/5/15
The Perfect Stranger (2011)
The arrival of a foreigner causes a stir in a small Mediterranean village when it’s rumored that he will be reopening an old shop.
Leaving 11/715
Shanghai Noon (2000)
When Princess Pei Pei is kidnapped from the Forbidden City and taken to America, clumsy imperial guard Chon Wang follows her captors to Nevada.
Leaving 11/8/15
My Hope America with Billy Graham (2013)
Billy Graham continues his ongoing spiritual message of empowerment, urging Americans to form a genuine and meaningful relationship with Jesus.
Leaving 11/9/15
The Road (2011)
When three teenagers disappear after a joyride, detective Luis Medina connects the events to a 12-year-old cold case with eerie similarities.
Leaving 11/10/15
Bratz: Pampered Petz (2010)
When their friend Lola learns that she and all of her rescued pets are about to be evicted, the stylish Bratz girls rush to save the day.
Leaving 11/12/15
A Girl Walks into a Bar (2011)
This indie comedy follows a typical night in 10 bars across Los Angeles, where a former cop becomes entangled with a group of oddballs.
Leaving 11/13/15
Stranger by the Lake (2014)
Franck notices Henri sitting alone on a beach and starts a conversation that continues for days — in between Franck’s trysts with a seductive killer.
Leaving 11/15/15
Fleabag Monkeyface: Season 1 (2012)
Half-monkey half-boy Fleabag Monkeyface dives into gross adventures with his pals as they fend off the dastardly machinations of Dr. Dirk Spamflex.
Leaving 11/16/15
Teen Beach Movie (2013)
A rogue wave magically transports two teens inside a classic ’60s beach party flick, in which a rivalry between bikers and surfers threatens to erupt.
Leaving 11/17/15
Bratz: Diamondz (2006)
The Bratz girls are recruiting teen fashion designers. But when they stumble across a haunted town and pick up a diva, their caravan veers off course.
Leaving 11/19/15
Breaking the Girls (2013)
College sophomores Sara and Alex, roommates who’ve become intimate, idly joke about killing each other’s enemies. But now someone’s been murdered.
Crystal Fairy & the Magical Cactus (2013)
Self-absorbed Jamie and free-spirited Crystal Fairy find themselves locked in a battle of wills on a journey to find a hallucinogenic cactus.
Leaving 11/22/15
Alpha and Omega: The Legend of the Saw Tooth Cave (2014)
When a wolf pup named Runt sneaks off to explore a mysterious cave, he meets and befriends a wolf driven from her pack because she’s blind.
Bel Ami (2012)
A manipulative journalist climbs from abject poverty to the height of Parisian society, taking up with a variety of beautiful women along the way.
Steve Jobs: The Lost Interview (2012)
In a television interview filmed in 1995, Steve Jobs talks frankly about his early life, competition with Microsoft and his vision for the future.
Leaving 11/24/15
Art of Flight: The Series (2012)
This documentary series follows professional snowboarder Travis Rice and director Curt Morgan as they risk it all to make the film of their dreams.
Leaving 11/27/15
Burning Man (2011)
A charismatic but moody chef has trouble controlling his temper, a problem that ruins his son’s birthday when an angry outburst draws the police.
Leviathan (2012)
Shot on a dozen cameras with no spoken commentary, this haunting documentary captures the collaborative clash of man, nature and machine.
Leaving 11/28/15
Something From Nothing: The Art of Rap (2012)
In his directorial debut, Ice-T interviews dozens of rap artists about their creative processes, and profiles the art form’s history and evolution.
Leaving 11/29/15
Romanzo Criminale: Season 1-2
Based on the exploits of a real-life street gang, this 1970s thug saga delves into the dark, bloody milieu of Rome’s criminal underworld.
Salamander: Season 1 (2012)
As he investigates a bank robbery, a Brussels police inspector uncovers a complex conspiracy with the potential to bring down the nation.
Leaving 11/30/15
Jesus Henry Christ (2011)
Too-smart-for-his-own-good 10-year-old Henry James Herman sets out to locate his father, an anonymous sperm donor, in this quirky comedy.
Virginia (2010)
As he campaigns for state senator, Dick Tipton’s life begins to careen out of control when his daughter starts dating the son of a disturbed woman.Discovering Cleveland's Restaurant Depot
ALEX POGREBINSKY
restaurant depot, secretcleveland.com, around cleveland, discovering cleveland, photography
This warehouse is closed to the public. This is where restaurants come to shop.
Early in the morning restaurant owners and their family members and staff gather at "RD" to find the latest fresh fruit, meat, and everything else needed to sustain a fully functioning business. This is where restaurants go to shop.
Here you can get everything from large tubs of BBQ sauce, to linens, napkins, straws, and chef clothing. Large commercial appliances are also sold here. But it is not open to the general public.
It's got everything you need. And then some. RD has been a staple for restaurant owners for a long time, where it is known for its great prices and freshness.
SEE ALSO:The 2014 World Cup in Brazil starts Thursday. To warm up, Cristiano Ronaldo and the Portugal national team have been training at Atlantic Health Jets Training Center, the home of -- you guessed it -- the New York Jets.
And while most of the action is focused on the European version of football, Ronaldo and his teammates took some time to try out the American one Monday. The Jets -- namely wide receiver David Nelson -- even taught the superstar how to throw, sort of. (The Jets apparently didn't hold the fact that Portugal shares a group with the U.S. against the visitors.)
newyorkjets.com
newyorkjets.com
newyorkjets.com
newyorkjets.com
Now if the Jets could just teach their QBs how to throw... hahaha LOL just trollin'.
All images courtesy of newyorkjets.com. Click here for the full photo gallery.Image copyright AP Image caption Tolemaida, the base near the towns where the abuse is alleged to have taken place, is the largest in Colombia
Colombia says it will investigate accusations that US contractors and military staff sexually abused minors for four years from 2003.
An academic report said in February that at least 53 underage girls were abused in two towns in central Colombia.
US soldiers allegedly filmed the abuse and sold the tapes as pornography.
The Colombian Ombudsman said he had asked for an update on a US inquiry into the allegations.
The Colombian government welfare body, the ICBF, called for the girls and adolescents allegedly involved to be located and identified.
The allegations were published by a historian, Renan Vega, in a report on Colombia's long-running conflict between the government and FARC rebels.
It was part of a set of 12 reports on the conflict, by various historians, requested by negotiators at peace talks taking place in the Cuban capital, Havana.
Mr Vega alleges that the abuse happened in two towns, Melgar and Girardot in central Colombia near one of the country's largest military bases.
He also alleged that in Melgar, a US contractor and a US sergeant raped a 12-year-old girl in 2007.
The French news agency AFP quoted the US Embassy in Bogota as saying it "takes very seriously any allegation of sexual misconduct by one of its officials."
US military and contractors have been working in Colombia for more than a decade during a multi-billion-dollar military and diplomatic aid operation named "Plan Colombia" aimed at fighting drug trafficking and insurgencies.On an undisclosed track in Marin County last April, James Nielsen, a Bay Area native and two-time NCAA champion at the University of California San Diego, quietly broke a world record coveted in certain running circles: finishing a beer mile in less than five minutes.
In a beer mile, a competitor must finish a 12-ounce beer before each of the four laps on a 400-meter track, with penalties for throwing up. Nielsen did it in 4:57.1, putting him atop the standings at BeerMile.com, the recognized authority on the event, and launching the relatively obscure event into the mainstream.
After Nielsen posted the video of his feat (which his wife, Mimi, took), it went viral, racking up more than a million views just a few days. Stories in places like Runner’s World, ESPN, and TMZ soon followed, and the first-ever Beer Mile World Championships was held in Austin in December. Nielsen also is in the midst of organizing another championship event, which will be held in San Francisco in 2015.
All of which is to say, the beer mile has officially blown up—and Nielsen, whose nickname is "The Beast," is still its official world champion (despite a valiant effort by Canadian Corey Gallagher at the Austin event, with a time of five flat). Here, he speaks with RootsRated about the beer mile: the science behind it, training tips, and what makes it so damn fun.
Nielsen celebrates after finishing his beer mile in 4:57. Courtesy of James Nielsen
You’ve been doing beer miles for a while. How did you first get into them?
I did my first in college. I don’t want to admit to underage drinking, so let’s just assume I did my first when |
Stone (voice of David Thewlis), who’s just arrived in Cincinnati to give a business lecture about superior customer service. But as Michael interacts with the cabbie, the hotel desk clerk, the bellhop, and eventually an ex-girlfriend with whom he ineptly tries to reconnect while he’s in town, the light gradually dawns: Every character who isn’t Michael shares the same eyes, and they all, male and female, speak with the same flat voice (Tom Noonan). Which is why Michael is instantly, overpoweringly drawn to a fellow hotel guest named Lisa, whose puppet has her own distinct facial features and who speaks in the gloriously non-Noonan voice of Jennifer Jason Leigh.
Like Synecdoche, which was partially inspired by the Cotard delusion (hence the name of Philip Seymour Hoffman’s character, Caden Cotard), Anomalisa derives its central metaphor from a real-life, incredibly bizarre neurological syndrome. Here, the hotel where Michael and Lisa stay is called the Fregoli—Kaufman’s winking reference to the Fregoli delusion, in which the afflicted party becomes convinced that numerous people in his/her life are secretly the same individual in disguise. Anomalisa makes literal this paranoid idea in order to explore the intense “you and me against the world” feeling that someone who’s stuck in a rut can experience upon making a random connection with another human being. Lisa, who works in customer service and drove four hours with her friend Emily (Noonan) to see Michael speak, is shy and slightly disfigured and utterly lacking in self-esteem, yet Michael is prepared to leave his wife (Noonan) and abandon his young son (Noonan) after knowing her for only a few hours. Is there any basis in reality for his conviction that he and Lisa share something special and unique? Is she, in fact, anomalous?
By Kaufman’s high standards, the answer to those questions is unusually predictable; many will guess the resolution of Michael and Lisa’s affair well in advance. That scarcely matters, though, given how beautifully distinctive Anomalisa is from moment to moment. Kaufman and Johnson have designed the puppets with numerous imperfections, both human (bodies tend to be flabby, and are, let’s say, anatomically correct) and mechanical (no effort has been made to erase the seams where separate face plates connect), which makes the movie almost unbearably poignant at some times and downright nightmarish at others. And Kaufman’s gift for absurdist comedy finds numerous outlets in the minor annoyances and indignities Michael suffers: a garrulous cabbie (Noonan) extolling the wonders of Cincinnati’s chili and zoo; indecipherable icons on his hotel room’s phone; a visit to a 24-hour “toy store” that’s not exactly geared toward children. Most of all, Anomalisa, in common with virtually every film Kaufman has written, struggles to make peace with the knowledge that we are all fundamentally alone. That’s the biggest spoiler of them all.LONDON (Reuters) - British mainframe computer specialist Micro Focus International is to buy privately-owned U.S. rival The Attachmate Group Inc in an all-share deal valuing the firms’ combined capital and debt at $2.35 billion (1.45 billion pounds).
Micro Focus said on Monday that following the reverse takeover, its shareholders would own about 60 percent of the equity in the new group which will be re-listed in London.
The two groups serve major corporate clients such as banks, retailers and airlines that run mainframe computers, helping them modernise the technology so that applications and databases can be accessed by newer systems, such as cloud technology.
“We aim to help customers sort out some of the challenges of their older IT systems and link them to new technology, so they can get more return on their current investments,” Micro Focus Executive Chairman Kevin Loosemore told Reuters.
“This gives us a broader set of products to deliver that, and it also exposes us to some faster growing markets,” he said in a telephone interview.
Loosemore said Micro Focus had been talking on and off with The Attachmate Group for about three years before finally agreeing a deal.
The owners of Houston, Texas-based Attachmate include the Francisco Partners Funds, the Golden Gate Funds, the Thoma Bravo Funds and the Elliott Management Fund.
Loosemore, who retains his position in the combined group, said the deal would lift Micro Focus’s revenue to about $1.4 billion from about $430 million, and its underlying core earnings to more than $500 million from $196 million.
He said Micro Focus was buying Attachmate for about 7.5 times core earnings, a significant discount on the 11.3 times earnings Micro Focus trades at.
Share in Micro Focus jumped to an all time high of 935 pence, up 11 percent, following the announcement of the deal.
Analyst George O’Connor at Panmure Gordon, who has a “buy” rating on the shares, said the deal was a big step towards Micro Focus becoming an “all applications modernisation company”.
“The acquisition has the same ‘DNA’ - it is a large systems enterprise software company, with high profitability and is cash generative,” he added.
The two companies’ net debt, comprising $233 million on the part of the British company and $1.17 billion on the part of Attachment, will be refinanced as part of the deal, Loosemore said. The combined group’s debt ratio would increase to about 3.3 earnings, but this would be reduced to Micro Focus’s long-term debt target of 2.5 times in about two years, he said.
Micro Focus also said it would still return about 60 pence a share to investors, as announced in August.
Micro Focus was advised by Numis and Attachment was advised by Morgan Stanley.A team of astrophysics researchers who were at a telescope on Mount Haleakala in Hawaii have published an article in Nature detailing their findings from 2010 when they witnessed a supermassive black hole taking down a star – and how they got to watch every second of it. A happening that is less common than you might think.
Black holes have been afflicted by a reputation analogous to that of sharks. Everyone seems to thinks black holes go hunting around the Universe for things to rip apart, just like sharks supposedly go killing everything in the ocean. Truth is, black holes are pretty quiet cosmological beasts that are only really evident when something starts to encroach on their personal space. In our own galaxy, it would take 10,000 years before anything was close enough to our central black hole to result in a spectacular death.
Usually when we get to see a star being swallowed by a black hole, we’ll end up turning to take a look at it only after the destruction has already begun. “What makes this so special was the fact that they actually caught the black hole as it was ripping the stellar core apart,” says Dr. David Floyd from the Monash Centre for Astrophysics in Melbourne.
The fact that we’ve managed to observe this event from beginning to end means that there is a lot more information available than ever before. We know the size of the black hole (approximately the same as the Milky Way’s central black hole), the fact that the star was probably a late-stage Red Giant and that it suffered its terrible fate because it got to within about 150 million kilometres of the supermassive black hole (about the same distance from the Sun to the Earth).
The gases from the star were sucked into the bottomless gravity pit and the friction gave it heat, creating a glow – the flare that astrophysicists are on the constant lookout for.
Modern telescopes like the Pan-STARRS (which is this one) and the LSST (the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope being built in Chile) mean that they can watch the Universe constantly, so they will hopefully catch more of these events and astrophysicists and researchers everywhere can all be satisfied with their own private viewings of the ferocious cosmic event.
Edit: Please note that this video is a computer simulation.
[Via ABC Science | Photo Credit]A few days ago, I joined a discussion on twitter, that started with a statement, that you should not expose your entities as a REST endpoint except you are creating an application for a stage demo. The reason why I joined that discussion was, that I completely disagreed with that statement and still do! I write this post to explain why I do not agree with this statement and any other statements that are like always do this or never do that.
Don’t follow strict rules
… they completely ignore
the specific problem …
The main reason why you should NOT follow these kinds of statements is, that they completely ignore the specific problem that should be solved by a specific piece of software. Solving problems or pain points for the user is the main reason why we implement software (OK and sometimes because it’s fun). If we want to do that in an efficient way, we should use all the options that we have. And that are a lot, if we do not limit them ourselves by ignoring a huge part of them.
Build solutions
I am often wondering why people think you should solve every problem in the same way. The main reasons I have read and heard so far are:
Unification of the code base provides guidance to the developers and makes it easier to switch between different parts of a project or even between hole projects. Applying patterns and best practices helps to build high quality software.
Business requirements,
workflows and
how the user thinks
are the difficult thinks
to understand.
As you might guess, I do not agree with that. Applying always the same structure or technology to implement a new service or use case can really help you to get started with new implementations or to find your way around in a new project. But technology or code structure are normally not the main issue, if you are new to a project. Business requirements, workflows and how the user thinks are the difficult thinks to understand. And these are not addressed by these kinds of unification. To make it even worse, unification often hides the real intention of the code because the developer forced the logic into a specific structure or technology.
The advocates of the current microservice hype take this into account and proclaim that you should select one specific technology stack for each service. I am not sure, if this is always a good idea or if it is a little too extreme. But it might trigger the required process to think about the requirements and how they can be solved in the best way. That can be the same way you used in all the other projects or something completely new, as long as the decision is based on the requirements.
There is no
pattern or architecture
to rule them all!
Software architects often like to justify a uniform code structure or technology choice for all parts of an application by using existing patterns or best practices. This is completely against the idea of best practices and patterns and does more harm than it provides benefits. Don’t get me wrong, applying patterns and best practices are a good idea and can bring huge benefits. But each of them was defined for a specific kind of problem. There is no pattern or architecture to rule them all! So please, before you apply a pattern or architecture, make sure to read about it and understand its intention. Using a pattern under the wrong conditions can create lots of problems.
How to do it
The most applications consist of more or less 3 different parts that provide very different challenges:
Understand the challenges […]
and choose
technologies and patterns
that help you to solve them!
simple CRUD services that provide nearly no challenges at all, complex business logic and data oriented reporting with complex queries.
Should you handle these 3 parts in the same way? No, there is no reason for it! Understand the challenges of each part and choose technologies and patterns that help you to solve them!
Here is how I like to approach the 3 parts, but keep in mind, that these are only general recommendations. You might have different requirements that require different choices.
Productivity is the most import thing, if you need to implement a simple (and often boring) CRUD service. So keep it as simple as possible. There is no need to apply a multi-tier architecture for your business tier or to use some fancy patterns, if you only need to store some data in the database. In this case it can be perfectly fine to expose an entity as a REST endpoint and add some bean validation annotations to it. Just make sure that you have a direct mapping between the JSON input and your entity and that you want to apply the same validation rules on both of them. If you need to support a different data structure or a different set of validation rules, value objects might be the better approach.
Do what helps
you to provide
a good solution.
The business logic part of your application contains the most source code and should also provide the most freedom to implement a good solution. Depending on the specific requirements you can expose entities or specific value objects or both as REST endpoints and apply the validation that is required to them. Do whatever helps you to provide a good solution. Applying patterns to solve the requirements often provides the most benefits in this part of the application. But again, it is very important that the applied pattern fits to your requirements. So take your time to understand the requirements and learn about the pattern.
In general, the database or whatever datastore you use is the best part of your application to handle complex queries. Therefore you should use all the features that it can offer to query and prepare the data for your reporting use cases and keep the business tier as small as possible. If that means that you cannot use some features of the frameworks you use in your business tier, e.g. you have to use native SQL queries instead of JPQL, than do it! You introduced the database to your system architecture because it is especially good at handling data. Use it like that!
Conclusion
OK, that has become way more text than I wanted to write on this topic. The main thing you should remember is, that there are no strict rules in software development that you need to follow every time. Each and every use case is different and you should adapt your solutions to it. That does not mean that you should ignore rules, patterns or best practices in general but you need to think before you apply them. Otherwise you will create an overly complex or very messy application and both will have a negative effect on your productivity and application performance.A piece of legislation filed this week would add more seats to Gwinnett County’s Board of Commissioners — and potentially pave the way for more diversity on a body that’s never had a non-white member.
The bill filed Thursday by State Rep. Pedro Marin, a Democrat from Duluth, would add create two new positions on Gwinnett’s highest governing body, reworking the four existing districts to make room. Add in the chairman, who’s elected at large, and the board would ultimately go from five members to seven.
“It’s not that I believe in big government,” Marin said. “But I believe in good representation. Better representation.”
And in Marin’s mind — and those of several of his statehouse counterparts — the road to such representation is two-fold. Marin said only having four districts in a county of more than 900,000 residents has left commissioners to serve huge swaths of voters. His constituents also feel like the commission “doesn’t really represent a minority-majority county.”
In a still-diversifying county that voted for Hillary Clinton in November’s presidential election, the re-worked districts likely would give minority candidates a better shot at breaking the board’s color barrier.
Expanding Gwinnett’s Board of Commissioners has been proposed before. But the current make-up of the county — and the controversy that has arisen from current Commissioner Tommy Hunter’s polarizing remarks about U.S. Rep. John Lewis — add intrigue to Marin’s quest.
His bill, however, has a long way to go — and not everyone’s sold.
‘The flip side’
To be voted on by the larger House of Representatives, 10 of the 18 members of Gwinnett’s delegation would have to sign off on Marin’s bill. Most, if not all, of the county’s seven Democratic representatives are believed to be on board.
“It’s something we, as a delegation, talked about before session and, at the time, seemed to have bipartisan support,” said Rep. Dar’shun Kendrick, a Democrat from Lithonia whose district covers part of southern Gwinnett. “I hope that’s still the case.”
While it’s not strictly a partisan issue, Republicans might be a harder sell.
Rep. Buzz Brockway, R-Lawrenceville, said he’s in favor of having public hearings on the issue but added that he hadn’t “heard anything for or against this from any of my constituents.”
“You can make an argument that more commissioners would give you better representation,” Brockway said. “But the flip side of that is, it’s really up to the commissioner. You could have a commissioner that represents a small number of people but never interacts with them. Or you could have a commissioner that represents a large number of people and interacts very well.”
Attempts to contact other Republicans representatives on Friday were not successful.
The Georgia Legislative Black Caucus calls for Gwinnett County Commissioner Tommy Hunter, who called U.S. Rep. John Lewis a "racist pig" on Facebook, to resign. Bob Andres / bandres@ajc.com Video: www.accessatlanta.com
To be clear, Marin has no delusions of the bill being rammed through in the few remaining days of the General Assembly’s current session. He wants to have public hearings and “listen to what the people want.” But as currently written, Marin’s bill calls for both new commissioners to be elected in November 2018.
Some residents have complained about the lack of diversity on the board, especially after a facebook post by Hunter in which he described Lewis, a civil rights icon, as a “racist pig.”
In a lengthy statement sent to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Friday morning, Gwinnett Board of Commissioners Chairman Charlotte Nash did not say if she thought more commissioners is a good idea. But she thinks the proposed timeframe is misguided.
Nash pointed to the 10-year census that will be conducted in 2020, and the subsequent tweaks to the commission’s districts that will follow in 2021.
“Revising boundaries in 2018 to add the two districts, and then facing the need to change district boundaries again in 2021 would create major challenges for County Election officials, disruption and confusion for voters and unnecessary risk for the operations of election process,” Nash wrote.
Members of the Board of Commissioners are scheduled to meet with their legislators on Tuesday.
‘Grow with the times’
A possible expansion of Gwinnett County’s Board of Commissioners is not a new idea.
In 2007, then-State Rep. Hugh Floyd, D-Norcross, proposed adding two “superdistrict” seats to the commission. But the proposal floundered.
In 2012, a group called Citizens for a Better Gwinnett launched its own fruitless effort to reorganize the board. That was inspired by the recommendations of a special grand jury empaneled to investigate corruption within the Board of Commissioners.
At the end of the investigation — which ultimately resulted in the resignation of three commissioners — the grand jury suggested either making commissioner’s jobs full-time or expanding the board to seven members would help prevent future corruption.
State Rep. Dewey McClain, D-Lawrenceville, believes Marin’s bill is different from all of those efforts and “well on the way” to success. He called the way Gwinnett’s highest governing body is constructed “antiquated.”
“We need to make sure we can grow with the times,” he said.Facu Regalia has parted company with the Hilmer Motorsport GP2 team ahead of this weekend’s races at Silverstone.
The move follows a difficult start to the campaign for last year’s GP3 runner-up, in which he has managed a best result of just 17th, and retired from the feature race at all four events so far. Team-mate Daniel Abt has also failed to score points in a lacklustre start to the season for Hilmer, who won four races in their maiden programme in 2013.
“On Sunday, after the second race in Austria, I decided not to keep running with the team,” said Argentinian driver Regalia, who says that he will remain a development driver at Force India despite leaving their official GP2 partner.
“I spoke with Franz Hilmer and I conveyed the reasons. The team did not have a competitive car, I suffered set-up problems in Bahrain, Barcelona and Austria, and engine problems in all races, but in Monaco this was not noticed because of the characteristics of the circuit.
“Moreover, the lack of financial support has played an important role because, having had this to start the season, I could have signed with DAMS, Racing Engineering, ART or Campos. The solution to this problem is to continue with another team, but I need the financial support that I have not had so far, other than that provided by YPF, Varlion and an Argentinian entrepreneur.
“I clarify that the situation with SFIF1 does not have to change because the team is not directly involved in the technical issue; it’s something I‘ll talk to them about in person at Silverstone. What I do know is that, with the results I had in the first four rounds, the driver development program was not going to be able to perform after September, as agreed, precisely for a lack of results. Personally, I need a car that allows me to fight on, as I proved last year, and keep intact my aspirations to get to Formula 1. Currently I’m evaluating proposals to continue in GP2.”Black Indians are people of mixed Native American and African American heritage, who have strong ties to and identify as Native Americans.[3] Many Indigenous peoples of the Eastern Woodlands, such as the Narragansett, Pequot, Wampanoag, and Shinnecock, as well as tribes historically from the Southeast, such as Choctaw, Creek and Cherokee, have a significant degree of African ancestry and sometimes European ancestry as well.
Historically, certain Native American tribes have had close relations with African Americans, especially in regions where slavery was prevalent, or where free people of color have historically resided. Members of the Five Civilized Tribes participated in holding enslaved African Americans in the Southeast, and some slaves migrated with them to the West on the Trail of Tears in 1830 and later during the period of Indian Removal. In peace treaties with the US after the American Civil War, the slaveholding tribes, which had sided with the Confederacy, were required to emancipate slaves and give them full citizenship rights in their nations. The Cherokee, Creek, and Seminole have created controversy in recent decades as they tightened rules for membership in their nations and excluded Freedmen who did not have at least one Native American ancestor on the early 20th-century Dawes Rolls. This exclusion was later appealed in the courts, both because of the treaty conditions and because of inaccuracies in the Dawes Rolls. The Chickasaw Nation never extended citizenship to Chickasaw Freedmen.[4]
Overview [ edit ]
Until recently, historic relations between Native Americans and African Americans were relatively neglected in mainstream United States history studies.[5] At various times, Africans had varying degrees of contact with Native Americans, although they did not live together in as great number as with Europeans. African slaves brought to the United States and their descendants have had a history of cultural exchange and intermarriage with Native Americans, as well as with other enslaved people who possessed Native American and European ancestry. Most interaction took place in the Southern United States, where the largest number of people were enslaved.[6] A significant number of African Americans have some Native American ancestry, but most have not grown up within the cultures and do not have current social, cultural or linguistic ties to Native peoples.[7]
Relationships among different Native Americans, Africans, and African Americans have been varied and complex. Some groups were more accepting of Africans than others and welcomed them as full members of their respective cultures and communities. Native peoples often disagreed about the role of ethnic African people in their communities. Other Native Americans saw uses for slavery and did not oppose it for others. Some Native Americans and people of African descent fought alongside one another in armed struggles of resistance against U.S. expansion into Native territories, as in the Seminole Wars in Florida.
Buffalo Soldiers, 1890. The nickname was given to the "Black Cavalry" by the Native American tribes they fought.
After the American Civil War, some African Americans became or continued as members of the US Army. They were assigned to fight against Native Americans, especially in the Western frontier states. Their military units became known as the Buffalo Soldiers, a nickname given by Native Americans. Black Seminole in particular were recruited from Indian Territory and worked as Native American scouts for the Army.
History [ edit ]
Colonial America [ edit ]
Records of contacts between Africans and Native Americans date to April 1502, when the first enslaved African arrived in Hispaniola. Some Africans escaped inland from the colony of Santo Domingo; those who survived and joined with the natives became the first circle of Black Indians.[8][9] In the lands which later became part of the United States of America, the first recorded example of an African slave escaping from European colonists and being absorbed by Native Americans dates to 1526. In June of that year, Lucas Vázquez de Ayllón established a Spanish colony near the mouth of the Pee Dee River in present-day South Carolina. The Spanish settlement was named San Miguel de Guadalupe; its inhabitants included 100 enslaved Africans. In 1526 the first enslaved African fled the colony and took refuge with local Native Americans.[9]
In 1534 Pueblo peoples of the Southwest had contact with the Moroccan slave Esteban de Dorantes before any contact with the remainder of survivors of his Spanish expedition. As part of the Spanish Pánfilo de Narváez expedition, Esteban traveled from Florida in 1528 to what is now New Mexico in 1539, with a few other survivors. He is thought have been killed by Zuni.[10]
Intermarriage between enslaved Africans and Native Americans began in the early 17th century in Atlantic coastal settlements where the people met each other as workers, especially in the Upper South.[which?].[11] In 1622 Native Americans attempted to overrun the European colony of Jamestown. They killed the Europeans but brought the African slaves as captives back to their own communities, gradually assimilating them.[12] Interracial relationships occurred between African Americans and members of other tribes in the coastal states, especially as colonists had tried to enslave Native Americans, until giving that up in the early 18th century.[11] Several colonial advertisements for runaway slaves made direct reference to the connections which Africans had in Native American communities. "Reward notices in colonial newspapers now told of African slaves who 'ran off with his Indian wife' or 'had kin among the Indians' or is 'part-Indian and speaks their language good'."[13][14]
Colonists in South Carolina felt so concerned about the possible threat posed by the mixed African and Native American population (arising due to runaways) that they passed a law in 1725 prohibiting taking slaves to the frontier regions, and imposing a fine of 200 pounds if violated. In 1751 South Carolina passed a law against holding Africans in proximity to Native Americans, as the planters considered that detrimental to the security of the colony. Under Governor James Glen (in office 1743–1756), South Carolina promoted an official policy that aimed to create in Native Americans an "aversion" to African Americans in an attempt to thwart possible alliances between them.[15][16]
Similarly, in 1726 the British governor of colonial New York exacted a promise from the Iroquois Confederacy to return all runaway slaves. He required the same from the Huron tribe in 1764 and from the Delaware tribe in 1765.[12] Despite their agreements, the tribes never returned any escaped slaves[12] - they continued to provide a safe refuge for escapees. In 1763, during Pontiac's War, a Detroit resident reported that Native Americans killed whites but were "saving and caressing all the Negroes they take". He worried lest this might "produce an insurrection". Chief Joseph Brant's Mohawk in New York welcomed runaway slaves and encouraged adoption of them into the tribe and intermarriage.[12] The Native American adoption systems knew no color line.[12] Carter G. Woodson's notion of an escape hatch from slavery proved correct: Native American villages welcomed fugitive slaves and some served as stations on the Underground Railroad.[12]
Some Native Americans resented the presence of Africans.[18] In one account, the "Catawaba tribe in 1752 showed great anger and bitter resentment when an African American came among them as a trader."[18]
Europeans and European-Americans actively tried to divide Native Americans and African Americans against each other. Europeans considered both races inferior and made efforts to make Native Americans and Africans enemies by attempting to convince Native Americans that African worked against their best interests.[19][20] In the colonial period, Native Americans received rewards if they returned escaped slaves. In the latter 19th century, African Americans received rewards for fighting in Indian Wars in the West.[20][21][22]
European colonists told the Cherokee that the smallpox epidemic of 1739 was due to disease brought by African slaves, to create tension between the groups.[23] The British tried to restrict contact between Africans and Native Americans. They feared Native Americans taking enslaved Africans as spouses and tried to discourage trade between the groups. The British also passed laws prohibiting the carrying of slaves into the frontier of the Cherokee Nation's territory to restrict interactions between the two groups.[23] Some tribes encouraged marriage between the two groups, to create stronger children from the unions.[24]
European enslavement [ edit ]
European colonists created a new demand market for captives of raids when they created the Thirteen Colonies.[25][26] Especially in the southern colonies, initially developed for resource exploitation rather than settlement, colonists purchased or captured Native Americans to be used as forced labor in cultivating tobacco, and, by the eighteenth century, rice, and indigo.[25]
To acquire trade goods, Native Americans began selling war captives to whites rather than integrating them into their own societies.[25][27] Traded goods, such as axes, bronze kettles, Caribbean rum, European jewelry, needles, and scissors, varied among the tribes, but the most prized were rifles.[27] The English copied the Spanish and Portuguese: they saw the enslavement of Africans and Native Americans as a moral, legal, and socially acceptable institution; a rationale for enslavement was "just war" taking captives and using slavery as an alternative to a death sentence.[28] The escape of Native American slaves was frequent, because they had a better understanding of the land, which African slaves did not. Consequently, the Natives who were captured and sold into slavery were often sent to the West Indies, or far away from their home.[26]
The oldest known record of a permanent Native American slave was a native man from Massachusetts in 1636.[29] By 1661 slavery had become legal in all of the 13 colonies.[29] Virginia would later declare that "Indians, Mulattos, and Negros to be real estate", and in 1682 New York forbade African or Native American slaves from leaving their master's home or plantation without permission.[29] Europeans also viewed the enslavement of Native Americans differently than the enslavement of Africans in some cases; a belief that Africans were "brutish people" was dominant. While both Native Americans and Africans were considered savages, Native Americans were romanticized as noble people that could be elevated into Christian civilization.[28] It is estimated that Carolina traders operating out of Charles Town exported an estimated 30,000 to 51,000 Native American captives between 1670 and 1715 in a profitable slave trade with the Caribbean, Spanish Hispaniola, and Northern colonies.[25][30] It was more profitable to have Native American slaves because African slaves had to be shipped and purchased, while native slaves could be captured and immediately taken to plantations; whites in the Northern colonies sometimes preferred Native American slaves, especially Native women and children, to Africans because Native American women were agriculturalist and children could be trained more easily.[25] However, Carolinians had more of a preference for African slaves but also capitalized on the Indian slave trade combining both.[31] By the late 1700s records of slaves mixed with African and Native American heritage were recorded.[32] In the eastern colonies it became common practice to enslave Native American women and African men with a parallel growth of enslavement for both Africans and Native Americans.[31] This practice also lead to large number of unions between Africans and Native Americans.[33] This practice of combining African slave men and Native American women was especially common in South Carolina.[31]
During this time records also show that many Native American women bought African men but, unknown to the European sellers, the women freed and married the men into their tribe.[20] The Indian wars of the early 18th century, combined with the growing availability of African slaves, essentially ended the Indian Slave trade by 1750.[25] Numerous colonial slave traders had been killed in the fighting, and the remaining Native American groups banded together, more determined to face the Europeans from a position of strength rather than be enslaved.[25][31] Though the Indian Slave Trade ended the practice of enslaving Native Americans continued, records from June 28, 1771 show Native American children were kept as slaves in Long Island, New York.[32] Native Americans had also married while enslaved creating families both native and some of partial African descent.[29] Occasional mentioning of Native American slaves running away, being bought, or sold along with Africans in newspapers is found throughout the later colonial period.[31][32] There are also many accounts of former slaves mentioning having a parent or grandparent who was Native American or of partial descent.[33] Ads asked for the return of both African American and Native American slaves. Records and slave narratives obtained by the WPA (Works Progress Administration) clearly indicate that the enslavement of Native Americans continued in the 1800s mostly through kidnappings.[33] The abductions showed that even in the 1800s little distinction was still made between African Americans and Native Americans.[33] Both Native American and African-American slaves were at risk of sexual abuse by slaveholders and other white men of power.[34][35] During the transitional period of Africans' becoming the primary race enslaved, Native Americans had been sometimes enslaved at the same time. Africans and Native Americans worked together, lived together in communal quarters, along with white indentured servants, produced collective recipes for food, and shared herbal remedies, myths and legends.[29][36] Some intermarried and had mixed-race children.[29][36] The exact number of Native Americans who were enslaved is unknown because vital statistics and census reports were at best infrequent.[25][32] Andrés Reséndez estimates that between 147,000 and 340,000 Native Americans were enslaved in North America, excluding Mexico.[37]
Among the Cherokee, interracial marriages or unions increased as the number of slaves held by the tribe increased.[23] The Cherokee had a reputation for having slaves work side by side with their owners.[23] The Cherokee resistance to the Euro-American system of chattel slavery created tensions between them and European Americans.[23] The Cherokee tribe began to become divided; as intermarriage between white men and native women increased and there was increased adoption of European culture, so did racial discrimination against those of African-Cherokee blood and against African slaves.[23] Cultural assimilation among the tribes, particularly the Cherokee, created pressure to be accepted by European Americans.[23]
After Indian slavery was ended in the colonies, some African men chose Native American women as their partners because their children would be born free. From 1622 in Virginia, and followed by other colonies, they had established a law, known as partus sequitur ventrem, that said a child's status followed that of the mother. Separately, according to the matrilineal system among many Native American tribes, children were considered to be born to and to belong to the mother's people, so were raised as Native American. As European expansion increased in the Southeast, African and Native American marriages became more common.[20]
1800s through the Civil War [ edit ]
John Horse, a Black Seminole
In the early 19th century, the US government believed that some tribes had become extinct, especially on the East Coast, where there had been a longer period of European settlement, and where most Native Americans had lost their communal land. Few reservations had been established and they were considered landless.[38] At that time, the government did not have a separate census designation for Native Americans. Those who remained among the European-American communities were frequently listed as mulatto, a term applied to Native American-white, Native American-African, and African-white mixed-race people, as well as tri-racial people.[38]
The Seminole people of Florida formed in the 18th century, in what is called ethnogenesis, from Muscogee (Creek) and Florida tribes. They incorporated some Africans who had escaped from slavery. Other maroons formed separate communities near the Seminole, and were allied with them in military actions. Much intermarriage took place. African Americans living near the Seminole were called Black Seminole. Several hundred people of African descent traveled with the Seminole when they were removed to Indian Territory. Others stayed with the few hundred Seminole who remained in Florida, undefeated by the Americans.
By contrast, an 1835 census of the Cherokee showed that 10% were of African descent.[14] In those years, censuses of the tribes classified people of mixed Native American and African descent as "Native American".[39] But during the registration of tribal members for the Dawes Rolls, which preceded land allotment by individual heads of household of the tribes, generally Cherokee Freedmen were classified separately on a Freedmen roll. Registrars often worked quickly, judging by appearance, without asking if the freedmen had Cherokee ancestry, which would have qualified them as "Cherokee by blood" and listing on those rolls. This issue has caused problems for their descendants in the late 20th and 21st-century. The Nation passed legislation and a constitutional amendment to make membership more restrictive, open only to those with certificates of blood ancestry (CDIB), with proven descent from "Cherokee by blood" individuals on the Dawes Rolls. Western frontier artist George Catlin described "Negro and North American Indian, mixed, of equal blood" and stated they were "the finest built and most powerful men I have ever yet seen."[12] By 1922 John Swanton's survey of the Five Civilized Tribes noted that half the Cherokee Nation consisted of Freedmen and their descendants.
Former slaves and Native Americans intermarried in northern states as well. Massachusetts Vital Records prior to 1850 included notes of "Marriages of 'negroes' to Indians". By 1860 in some areas of the South, where race was considered binary of black (mostly enslaved) |
is dedicated to each of the new knights.
On the plus side, the story was a well paced romp that struck a good balance between action and plot, whilst setting up for what will hopefully be an interesting series. It doesn't let up until the very last moment, which came so quickly that there's a chance you might have to rewind to take in that final, dramatic scene. It definitely sets things up for an interesting part two next week.
Merlin is a series that doesn't take itself too seriously and is obviously made as family viewing that can be enjoyed by practically any age group. As long as you don't expect it to be pure drama, high brow fantasy or a necessarily accurate retelling of Arthurian legend, there's plenty to enjoy.
With so many threads still needing some attention and more characters with stories to tell, let's hope the rest of the series can keep up the pace set by the first episode.After losing all major statewide races to Democrats for the first time in 24 years, Republicans in Virginia are pushing to replace a moderate GOP congressman with a candidate so conservative that he doesn’t even believe that spousal rape should be a crime.
On Wednesday, Mother Jones pointed out that state Sen. Richard H. “Dick” Black, who is running to take over retiring Rep. Frank Wolf’s seat, had fought against making spousal rape a crime because the woman was “sleeping in the same bed, she’s in a nightie.”
Democrat Shawn Mitchell had uncovered the 2002 video of Black talking about spousal rape for an attack ad during the 2011 campaign for Virginia state Senate.
“I do not know how you could validly get a conviction of a husband-wife rape, when they’re living together, sleeping in the same bed, she’s in a nightie and so forth,” Black says. “There’s not injuries, there’s no separation or anything.”
The ad notes that between 2002 and 2010, there were 800 reported incidents of spousal rape in Virginia.
In 2001, Black asserted that emergency contraception was “baby pesticide” and he recently compared the Supreme Court ruling that legalized abortion to the Holocaust.
“When I hear discussions about this, I hear very mild comments about choice and reproductive rights and things of this sort,” Black said in a speech on the 2013 anniversary of the Roe v. Wade ruling. “But I recall back to the days of Nazi Germany, there was a place called Auschwitz. “
“You know it’s quite easy — and from where we look back on history, we say, ‘Why didn’t the Germans do something? Why didn’t they rise up? Why didn’t they take action?'” he continued. “But they were helpless before their government just as we are helpless before our government.”
Watch this video from Shawn Mitchell, uploaded in 2011.It didn't take long for Frankie Edgar to make up his mind. Following his third straight title loss, the former UFC lightweight champion elected to continue his pursuit of Jose Aldo's featherweight strap.
Edgar is eyeing a five-round headlining fight against top contender Cub Swanson on an FX or FUEL TV card, our own Ariel Helwani reported on UFC Tonight. If that's unavailable, Edgar also suggested a fight against either Swanson or Dennis Siver at UFC 160 -- a fight card which happened to receive a few attractive additions late last night.
Swanson currently rides a four-fight win streak; three straight knockouts of George Roop, Ross Pearson and Charles Oliveira, punctuated by electric victory over Dustin Poirier. Likewise Siver has racked up a perfect 2-0 record since dropping down from 155 pounds, earning decision victories over Diego Nunes and Nam Phan.
Regardless of the route the UFC chooses, the bout will mark Edgar's first non-title fight since 2009, a span that includes seven title challenges or defenses. A remarkable feat, no doubt.
7 MUST-READ STORIES
Edgar wants Swanson, Siver. Former UFC champion Frankie Edgar will continue his pursuit of the featherweight belt, according to a report from UFC Tonight. Edgar hopes to return to action against Cub Swanson or Denis Siver.
Cerrone uninjured after fall. UFC lightweight Donald Cerrone is fortunately uninjured after claiming to fall 40 feet while rock climbing. "The wild man IS THROUGH," tweeted Cerrone, who is now fighting K.J. Noons at UFC 160.
Marquardt steps in. Former Strikeforce champion Nate Marquardt signed on as a late replacement to fight Jake Ellenberger at UFC 158. Ellenberger's initial opponent, Johny Hendricks, withdrew on Monday to fight Carlos Condit after Rory MacDonald suffered an undisclosed neck injury.
TUF 17 results. Team Sonnen's Kelvin Gastelum, the youngest competitor in TUF history, upset Team Jones' Bubba McDaniel via second-round rear-naked choke on last night's episode of The Ultimate Fighter 17.
Volkmann cut. Following his recent loss to Bobby Green, lightweight fighter Jacob Volkmann received his release from the UFC. Volkmann racked up a 6-2 record since dropping down from welterweight.
Mayweather inks monster deal. Boxing superstar Floyd "Money" Mayweather, a longtime staple on HBO, inked a monstrous new contract with Showtime Networks Inc. and its parent company, CBS Corporation. The deal will see Mayweather "fight up to six times over a period of 30 months" -- beginning with a bout against Robert "The Ghost" Guerrero -- and is estimated to potentially become "the richest individual athlete deal in all of sports." So perhaps Showtime won't be missing Strikeforce too much.
Invicta FC drug testing. Invicta Fighting Championships plans to implement random drug testing in advance of Invicta FC 5, which takes place April 5, 2013 and notably features the debut of Cris "Cyborg." Fighters were notified in January of the new policy, which will be administered by an independent agency at all Invicta FC events moving forward.
MEDIA STEW
I normally try to avoid posting generic pre-fight interviews, but I must say, this one is fantastic.
Tank Abbott is a national treasure.
Two takeaways: 1.) Chael Sonnen apparently broke that man's ribs. 2.) 21-year-old Jake Ellenberger!
(HT: Reddit)
The folks over at FightHub shadowed Ronda Rousey to capture this behind-the-scenes look at the UFC champ's training camp in Big Bear.
Frank Mir seems a tad uninterested in this.
I think my head might have exploded if I had these as a kid.
(HT: Bloody Elbow)
FlyWin Evolutions returns to demonstrate why exactly they call this man "Showtime."
WHOA
I guess you need to dance with death.. Just so you know how Precious life is! @danawhite the wild man IS THROUGH.#tooclosetoday #9lives — Cowboy Cerrone (@Cowboycerrone) February 20, 2013
Yes fell about 40 ft had 3 of my four anchors blow out! RT @_hatchy_: @cowboycerrone rock climbing incident? — Cowboy Cerrone (@Cowboycerrone) February 20, 2013
NOT GOOD
Been out for 2 weeks w/ bronchitis. Gonna feels good to open the lungs up. Maybe. Probably not. I'll be the guy wheezing in the corner — Jim Miller (@JimMiller_155) February 19, 2013
WHAT A 6-2 RUN GETS YOU
Was just cut from the UFC today.I want to thank the fans, and say i gave it my all.No regrets. — Jacob Volkmann (@JacobVolkmann) February 20, 2013
@jacobvolkmann sorry to here that. U introduced me to my manager & helped me get in the UFC.I owe U. You're still 1 of my favorite fighters! — Pablo Garza UFC (@PabloGarzaMMA) February 20, 2013
PARTING SHOT
I knew you'd find a way out @johnyhendricks — Jake Ellenberger (@EllenbergerMMA) February 19, 2013
BLASTOISE IS THE ONLY CORRECT ANSWER
Where your favorite #Pokémon? I think mine is Squirtle but then theres always Psyduck...... — Nick Newell (@NotoriousNewell) February 20, 2013
A REQUEST
Please tweet @danawhite to upgrade @nickdiaz209 flight to Montreal from economy to business class! Not too much to ask for... — Cesar Gracie (@CesarGracieBJJ) February 20, 2013
FIGHT ANNOUNCEMENTS
Announced yesterday (Tuesday, February 19, 2013):
FANPOST OF THE DAY
Today's Fanpost of the Days comes from Omar Little, who writes: Eddie Alvarez v. Bellator Fighting Championships: A Legal Primer
First off, a little bit about me. I am a third year law student at Drake University Law School in Des Moines, Iowa. I've taken several courses on intellectual property law, entertainment law, licensing, and contracts. There really isn't a big "business of MMA" market out there and most of the articles about this subject don't really discuss the issues in a proper legal context. I'm as qualified as anyone so I'll throw my hat in the conversation.... First off the issue is that Bellator has a "right of first refusal" for Eddie Alvarez for a period of time. Eddie signed a contract for a period of time, and at the end of this period Bellator has a right of first refusal for his next contract. This is what's the "match" of the issue. We all know what happens after this, the UFC gave Eddie a very handsome offer and Bellator claims that they have matched. There are things that the UFC has offered that Eddie and his legal team feel Bellator cannot, or will not, offer. Whereas Bellator feels that they just need to offer only what's guaranteed. This is where the rubber meets the road. The issue now is what constitutes a "match" in this sense. Eddie's team has a strong argument. UFC offers him just as much guaranteed money Bellator does, but they offer him a much larger platform to build his star power. They're a business that makes a significant chunk of money from PPV, and they're offering Eddie a share of that revenue stream. They're also offering Eddie Alvarez an appearance on network TV and an opportunity to make money talking MMA on Fox and I'm sure a TUF appearance may not be out of the question. Bellator is offering the same things, at least that's what they claim. However, Bellator to date has NOT put on a PPV broadcast. Furthermore, they don't have a network TV broadcast partner. There were some other things that Rebney brought up that were offered to Eddie that weren't in the UFC offer. Now, Bellator is saying that they are planning to do a PPV and that they've lined up broadcast partners to match the broadcast TV offer. So now we have to consider what is a "match." Typically the meaning of this is dictated by the terms of the contract, given that there's a lot of conflict over this and there was actually a hearing regarding an injunction I'm fairly certain that this wasn't defined in the contract. For larger entertainers you can better believe that what constitutes a match is included. From the start there's some pretty big differences in opportunity between what the UFC offers and what Bellator is offering. Now, it seems like Bellator is going out of their way to guarantee what the UFC is guaranteeing. Technically they may offer the same floor that UFC offers, though we'll get to that in a second, but explicitly the UFC contract has the ability to pay Eddie Alvarez more than the Bellator contract. There's really no way that it does not pay him more. The fact that Bellator is bending over backwards to give the appearance that these offers are a match and Bjorn Rebney has said "we've done what we're legally required to," pretty much says all that needs to be said. The UFC offer has a much higher potential payout than the Bellator deal. Much more after the jump...
Found something you'd like to see in the Morning Report? Just hit me on Twitter @shaunalshatti and we'll include it in tomorrow's column.2013 World Tour Rider Age and Nationality
There are 507 riders from 43 nations registered with the 18 UCI World Tour teams for 2013.
The average age of a rider is 28 years and 2 months. The oldest rider is the 41 year-old Jens Voigt (Radioshack) whilst Vacansoleil-DCM’s Danny Van Poppel is the youngest pro aged 19.
Here’s a look at the 2013 peloton in numbers. There’s a look at rider age, the “oldest team” and also analysis of how many pros come from each country and more.
Let’s start with age. As mentioned the average rider age for 2013 at the start of the season is 28.2, the same value as last year. Here are the 18 teams as ranked by average age:
Last year’s gerontocracy was Lampre but now the label is passed Team Saxo-Tinkoff. The Danish squad has a majority of riders over 30 – including Alberto Contador. But Radioshack is next thanks to several ageing riders. Here are the ten oldest riders riders in the World Tour:
Rider Team Date of Birth Age Today Jens Voigt Radioshack 17/09/1971 41.3 Chris Horner Radioshack 23/10/1971 41.2 Stuart O’Grady Orica-Greenedge 06/08/1973 39.4 Alessandro Petacchi Lampre-Merida 03/01/1974 39.0 Danilo Hondo Radioshack 04/01/1974 39.0 Matteo Tossato Team Saxo-Tinkoff 14/05/1974 38.6 André Schulze Euskaltel-Euskaltel 21/11/1974 38.1 Julian Dean Orica-Greenedge 28/01/1975 37.9 Nicki Sorensen Team Saxo-Tinkoff 28/01/1975 37.6 Bert Grabsch Omega Pharma-Quickstep 19/06/1975 37.5
In fact some of these riders are so old that they distort the average age. The mean average of all the riders is over 28 but the modal average is 27 or put another way Radioshack’s 40-somethings, lean as they might be, help to fatten the tail of age distribution.
Lean, mean and Julian Dean
Note Julian Dean in the top-10. The New Zealander is set to retire in a few days but still counts for now. On his exit Radioshack’s Andreas Klöden will enter the top 10. Dean’s departure will also rejuvenate Orica-Greenedge’s average age, moving the number to 28.2 and placing them below Movistar and above BMC Racing. These riders all have plenty to offer whether in talent or experience. But at the other end of the scale are the new arrivals and youngest riders. Here’s the top-10 of youngest riders:
Rider Team Date of Birth Age Today Danny Van Poppel Vacansoleil-DCM 26/07/1993 19.4 Carlos Verona Omega Pharma-Quickstep 04/11/1992 20.2 Bob Jungels Radioshack 22/09/1992 20.3 Jay McCarthy Team Saxo-Tinkoff 08/09/1992 20.3 Alexey Lutsenko Astana 07/09/1992 20.3 Joshua Edmondson Team Sky 06/07/1992 20.5 Luca Wackermann Lampre-Merida 13/03/1992 20.8 Emilien Viennet FDJ 06/02/1992 20.9 Lachlan Morton Garmin-Sharp 02/01/1992 21.0 Nikias Arndt Argos-Shimano 18/11/1991 21.1
Note Jens Voigt was ranked as the world’s top amateur and had won the Peace Race before Danny Van Poppel had learned to stand on his tiny feet. Also several of last year’s top-10 oldest riders remain in the top-10 for 2013 but all the top-10 youngest riders for 2012 (Démare, Hepburn, Elissonde, Markus, Durbridge, Haller, Kelderman, Rathe, Van Keirsbulck and Moser) have been replaced by newcomers. There are 57 riders born in the 1990s, some 11% of the peloton.
National Representation
Now it is time to look where the riders come from. Here are the top-20 nations as measured by the number of riders in the UCI World Tour:
Outside the top-20 we have Austria, Lithuania, Norway and Slovakia with four riders; Belarus, Czech Republic, Japan, South Africa and Sweden with three; Argentina, Costa Rica, Ireland, Ukraine, Venezuela all have two; Brazil, China, Croatia, Eritrea, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Morocco and Uzbekistan have one rider.
Do you speak English?
Italian riders make up 13% of the peloton, although ask an Italian where they’re from and often they’ll state the region first rather than the country. As much as the sport might be spreading around the world “Old Europe” dominates with Italy, France, Belgium and Spain accounting for well over half the World Tour peloton. But 92 riders come from English-speaking nations and the peloton’s prime language these days is English. Germany often has a reputation for quality products and it certainly knows how to manufacture its cyclists. It has just 24 riders but Germany looks likely to finish the year with the most wins thanks to the likes of André Greipel, Marcel Kittel, John Degenkolb and Tony Martin.Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton’s speech on Thursday will serve as a rebuttal to an economic address GOP nominee Donald Trump is scheduled to deliver Monday. (AFP via Getty Images)
The two major-party presidential candidates are advertising dueling economic speeches this week — both set to be delivered from Detroit — creating the prospect that policy differences will be aired alongside questions about the other’s temperament and mental health.
The campaign of Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton announced Sunday that she will give a “major speech” Thursday, promising “a clear contrast” from Republican Donald Trump and a focus on “building an economy that works for everyone, not just those at the top.”
Clinton’s speech will serve as a rebuttal to an economic address Trump is scheduled to deliver Monday to members of the Detroit Economic Club. Aides have said that the speech and other upcoming policy addresses will target average voters rather than think-tank types.
[Trump’s economic team has six men named Steve but no women]
Trump’s address Monday also presents an opportunity to change the subject from the previous week, which was dominated by a series of controversies, including the real estate mogul’s continued back-and-forth with parents who lost their son in combat and Trump's hesitancy to endorse House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) in his upcoming primary.
As recently as Saturday night, Trump focused more on Clinton’s mental health and appearance than on policy. During a rally in Windham, N.H., he called the former secretary of state unhinged, unstable and unbalanced.
Clinton’s advertised economic speech in Detroit comes amid a jobs tour she and her running mate, Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), launched after the Democratic convention. An aide said Thursday’s address will build on themes discussed during the tour, including creating jobs and raising wages.
Clinton’s past policy speeches have doubled as an opportunity to attack Trump. Those included a California speech advertised as a major foreign policy address in which Clinton described Trump as “temperamentally unfit” to lead the most powerful nation in the world.
Jose A. DelReal contributed to this report.When it comes to endings, movie studio executives like treats more than tricks. If movie studios had been in charge of painting the Mona Lisa, she'd have a goofy grin (and probably some cleavage). Fortunately, with the advent of DVDs, filmmakers can show audiences the darker, more terrifying ways they thought about ending a film.
Here, for the 25th of our 31 Days of Halloween posts, are 12 science fiction and horror films that have much bleaker alternate endings.
Warning: Spoilers ahead!
Little Shop of Horrors
The Real Ending: The killer plant explodes, Seymour marries Audrey.
The Really Depressing Alternate Ending: Originally, a grim finale featured Seymour feeding his beloved, deceased Audrey to the plant. Then the carnivorous shrub is duplicated and marketed. Eventually the monster plants take over the United States. Seriously, if you told us plants would destroy the world, we'd assume you were talking about heroin.
The Butterfly Effect
The Real Ending: Evan realizes that, to stop crushing childhood trauma, he must go back in time and avoid meeting the love of his life.
The Really Depressing Alternate Ending: Evan goes back in time to the womb, and strangles himself in vitro.
Don't get us wrong, we could envision scenarios where this is rational. For instance, if we accidentally jumped into ourself as a sperm and had to watch our parents have sex.
Donnie Darko
The Real Ending: Plane engine crushes Donnie. Gretchen sees the wreckage and acknowleges she doesn't know Donnie
The Really Depressing Alternate Ending: Same as the real ending, except we are "treated" to a ridiculous shot of Darko's twitching, dying body impaled by a pole. How does this even happen, shouldn't Donnie be all... smushed and oozing organs?
The Descent
Real Ending: Main character escapes the caves of death.
The Really Depressing Alternate Ending: Shown in theaters outside of America, the main character finds out her "escape" was just a hallucination and she is actually dying in the cave. We can't help but wonder about the humanoid cave dwellers in this film: A bunch of cute girls stumble upon their cave dwelling, but they can't be more welcoming? It must be hard enough meeting women when one lives in remote cave system.
Brazil
The Real Ending: Main character escapes into his daydreams with his love.
The Really Depressing Alternate Ending: Main character realizes his "happy ending" was just a daydream and is left to rot in his chair by the Ministry. This was another case of "the studio thought that bumming audiences out would hurt profits." We totally want to say that that's ridiculous, and that director/writer Terry Gilliam's picture should have stood as is. Still, we'd be hypocrites because we always skip over the depressing last third of Gilliam's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.
Godsend
The Real Ending: The main character kid moves into a new home with his loving family. All is well... or is it?
The Really Depressing Alternate Ending: The main character kid kills everyone. This movie had five different alternate endings. We would've preferred an alternate beginning, middle and end: In other words, a completely different movie that doesn't stink as much. We couldn't find the "alternate endings" on the Internet, so just trust us when we say you're not missing much... a whole hour's worth of "not much."
Zoom In
1408
The Real Ending: Main character escapes the hotel room of terror, reconciles with his wife.
The Really Depressing Alternate Ending: Instead of being rescued, main character goes crazy and burns to death in the haunted hotel room. This is why haunted hotel rooms should always have fire escapes. Somebody alert a dead fire marshall.
28 Days Later
The Real Ending: The three main characters survive the infected catastrophe and are rescued.
The Really Depressing Alternate Ending: The main character is left to die alone in an abandoned hospital, in a similar shot to the very first scene of the film. Let this movie be a lesson if you're ever a zombie/infected: Hospitals are like barrels of fish when it comes to finding humans to hunt.
The Abyss
The Real Ending: Aliens are deeply moved by one man's selfless commitment.
The Really Depressing Alternate Ending: Aliens create tidal waves to obliterate humanity. Fed up with human's selfish, destructive ways, the extraterrestrial beings selfishly decide to destroy humanity. Aliens just don't get irony.
Army of Darkness
The Real Ending: Ash takes a sleeping potion to awake in his own time.
The Really Depressing Alternate Ending: Ash accidentally drinks too much sleeping potion and, to his horror, awakens in a post-apocalyptic future. We like to think Jimmy Hendrix didn't die from sleeping pill overdose, but rather woke up hundreds of years in the future and is providing the soundtrack to the apocalypse.
Hostel
The Real Ending: The main guy gets away, kills one of the torturers for revenge.
The Really Depressing Alternate Ending: The main "good guy" kidnaps said torturer's 6-year-old daughter, implying she will be tortured. Seriously, if Hostel wasn't sick enough for you without children, maybe you're not ready for movies/society.
I Drink Your Blood
The Real Ending: Police save the day right before a bunch of rabid cultists can murder the "good" characters.
The Really Depressing Alternate Ending: All of the "good" characters get slaughtered in a bloodbath. That's the problem with murderous cults: They always leave a huge mess.Pollsters and pundits have trained their eyes on Ohio, where President Obama maintains a narrow lead over Mitt Romney just days before the election. According to exit polls, Obama’s lead is even stronger among early voters. But several recent developments threaten to disenfranchise many of these voters and plunge Ohio into a bureaucratic nightmare on election night.
The Columbus Dispatch reported on Thursday that a data-sharing glitch and mistakes by election officials have caused thousands of absentee ballot requests to be rejected. While Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted maintains that this was a computer error, the Northeast Ohio Voter Advocates found an abnormally high rate of rejected absentee ballot requests in Cuyahoga County, a Democratic stronghold that includes Cleveland. The Cuyahoga Board of Elections determined that 865 ballot requests had been erroneously thrown out.
If these voters try to cast their vote in person, they will likely be forced to use a provisional ballot, as the absentee ballot error has thrown their registration status into question. At least 4,500 registered voters across the state will be left waiting for their absentee ballots, while as many as 6,000 provisional ballots cast by registered voters could be tossed out. The provisional ballots that do not get thrown out won’t be counted until November 17, according to state law, further dragging out the confusion.
This absentee ballot fiasco is just the latest in Ohio’s dysfunctional election saga. On Wednesday, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals allowed Husted to discount ballots cast by people directed to the wrong polling station by a pollworker — one of the most common errors that led to thousands of votes getting thrown out in Ohio’s dysfunctional 2004 presidential election.
Husted became a national symbol of voter suppression after he banned early voting on nights and weekends, and attempted to defy a court order that restored early voting on the last three days before the election.
In his defense, Husted often touts his unprecedented initiative to mail absentee ballot requests to every registered voter in the state. But critics have pointed out that this measure will probably add to the confusion that could delay the results of the election. Anyone who chooses to return the absentee ballot application but later decides to vote in person will be required to use a provisional ballot, as election officials need to verify that they did not also send in their absentee ballot. The absentee ballot initiative, then, could be a bureaucratic nightmare in disguise. With innumerable legitimate votes cast on provisional ballots, Ohio’s 2012 election could end up mirroring 2004, when the state discarded thousands of votes and tipped George W. Bush over the edge to victory by the narrowest margin.Neon Joe, Werewolf Hunter is the sort of nightmare fuel that only Jon Glaser and the wicked folks over at PFFR (Delocated, The Heart, She Holler) can make possible. Glaser has been making a serious name for himself in the television realm in recent years. The former Late Night With Conan O’Brien writer has risen from a niche alt comic to a well-known name that’s been antagonizing opposite the likes of Amy Poehler, Lena Dunham, and Amy Schumer. Werewolves are a ripe topic to populate an Adult Swim series, but the hairy beasts are only just the beginning here. Neon Joe isn’t afraid to throw the entire paranormal kitchen sink at you.
Comfortably filling up the sidelines in Glaser's latest brand of madness are a formidable cast of performers, which includes Scott Adsit and Stephanie March. The mini-series event, which is currently airing at midnight every night of this week on Adult Swim, sees Adsit and March playing prominent townspeople of Garrity “B&B Town USA” Vermont. While Glaser’s Neon Joe is very much the series’ titular centerpiece, the twisted town of Garrity certainly manage to give the trigger-happy Cajun a run for his money. Den of Geek caught up with Adsit and March to talk the supernatural, their biggest fears, and the best way to K.O. a lycanthrope.
DEN OF GEEK: Stephanie, you’ve had some bit roles in comedy through the years—even a spot on 30 Rock with Scott—but this is your first real regular role in the genre. What’s that been like? How did you get involved with this production?
STEPHANIE MARCH: Well you’re nice to put it hat way. I got involved the old-fashioned way—I just auditioned off the street. It was too weird and great to pass up and I thought, "Well you know, whatever." I mean Jon has a fantastic reputation and John Lee has a great reputation, so why not? And I got really, really, really lucky and I got the role. It was a blast. So, so, so fun.
SCOTT ADSIT: And she got the role because she's so funny.
DEN OF GEEK: Scott, you've been working with Adult Swim for a while now, starting with Moral Orel, to Frankenhole, and beyond that. In fact, your performance as Clay Puppington in the "Nature" episode of Moral Orel is still one of my favorite things ever.
SCOTT ADSIT: Thank you, gosh.
DEN OF GEEK: What is it about the network that keeps bringing you back?
SCOTT ADSIT: Well Adult Swim is like the last bastion for auteurs on TV, I think. The people in charge really appreciate the artists that they hire--and think of them as artists--and allow them to express themselves in the way that they want to, generally. Lazzo will give notes, but he does let people kind of follow their vision, which is great. But it's great also that he trusts you. You've got kind of an infinite horizon. So it's great for the creator or anyone involved creatively in these things because you just get to do what you've intended to do.
DEN OF GEEK: Along those lines Scott, you have plenty of experience working with Jon Glaser and PFFR. You were in the final season of The Heart, She Holler and also in one of my favorite Delocated episodes [“Dog Mayor”]. Why do you enjoy working with on so much?
SCOTT ADSIT: I've known Jon since our days together at Second City. On the main stage in Chicago. He always just had a different tae on what is funny than what anyone had ever seen. And we clicked. We had a good time together, and were rising and were seeing our styles compliment each other. So two things: He's a very good friend of mine, and, he's a very positive and sweet presence in my life. Just a fantastic guy. So when he said, "I'v got this show that I want you to be apart of," I just jumped at it because I want to have a good time. And Jon kind of guarantees a good time for the people that he hires.
DEN OF GEEK: The series has such a crazy backstory to it, stemming from a weird in-joke that Jon kept pushing, and some very confusing live performances from him as this one-note character, Neon Joe. It even ended up carrying over into The Tonight Show. What’s your opinion on the show’s origin story, coming from some random nonsense that amused Jon, rather than say a web series, short film, or some pre-existing text?
STEPHANIE MARCH: I think the fact that Jon could reverse engineer a joke into a five-part mini-series is pretty great.
[Laughter]
DEN OF GEEK: It's insane.
STEPHANIE MARCH: People have asked us if we think or hope there will be a second season. We don't know on either account, but if he can do that for the first season, I'm sure he can whip up something special for number two.
SCOTT ADSIT: People ask us to talk about the second season when Jon never expected to put on that outfit more than once!
STEPHANIE MARCH: Exactly! Exactly! We shot the pilot back in December of 2013 and we did not shoot the series until the past summer. That's well over a year and a half later. I don't think expectations were particularly high when it all started and then it just kept gaining a life of its own.
DEN OF GEEK: It sounds like it.
SCOTT ADSIT: Also this is the only network that would condition a series this way.
STEPHANIE MARCH: Right. I'm sure that's true.
DEN OF GEEK: Off of title alone!
SCOTT ADSIT: Yeah. "That sounds funny! That could be a series."
STEPHANIE MARCH: When I try to explain it to people--people say, "What are you working on?" And I say, "It's called--wait for it--'Neon Joe, Werewolf Hunter." And then they say, "What's it about?" and I say, "It's about a man who only wears neon, who's kind of Cajun, who hunts werewolves," and it doesn't seem to clear anything up.
DEN OF GEEK: If anything it complicates it.
STEPHANIE MARCH: You just have to see it.
SCOTT ADSIT: I'm hoping for some kind of spin-off like, Neon Joe: SVU.
STEPHANIE MARCH: Oh my God. That would be amazing. I just don't want to be a lawyer. You can be the lawyer.
SCOTT ADSIT: Werewolves and sexual assault.
DEN OF GEEK: With werewolves, vampires, and all of that supernatural business hitting such a fever pitch lately--even a crime drama like Fargo is getting into aliens this season--is it nice to subvert that well and have a fresh take on this overdone genre?
SCOTT ADSIT: Well it's certainly--there's an alien aspect to the show, and it is really silly. But it does kind of have it roots and some sort of truism as far as the genre goes. The take is all very through the filter of Jon Glaser. So it feels a little homespun and everything is based on--essentially whims of his while he's writing. I think he just thinks of, "What would be funny?" and then reverse engineers that as the correct way to get to that point. There's usually something very low tech and low stakes, and kind of cozy. If that makes sense. It's kind of aliens redone.
DEN OF GEEK: I guess kind of as a response to that is the mini-series something that Jon had fairly meticulously plotted out? Or was he fairly game to change the story on the fly and stumble upon new revelations?
STEPHANIE MARCH: Well I felt that plot-wise it was very particular because it does take this very interesting and specific trajectory.
It goes in a direction that I think even the best improvisers wouldn't be able to come up with. But I think internally in scene work, particularly between Jon and Scott--although I should let him speak to this--they've worked together as improvisers for so long that they were able to riff on a scene together really well.
SCOTT ADSIT: Yeah, and I do think that once Jon and John Lee figured out what the trajectory of the show would be it became an easy groove for them, but I think it was all just throwing everything out and seeing what stays on the wall.
DEN OF GEEK: The two of you are pretty much playing polar opposites here. Scott, you're a crazy, near-feral type, and Stephanie you're the resolved, in control mayor of Garrity. How did that dynamic work for you? Did you like being on your respective ends of the spectrum of craziness or would you prefer to be swapped?
STEPHANIE MARCH: Well I'm used to typecasting, so...That's such an interesting question. The whole project in and of itself was so far outside of what I usally get to do that I'm not sure that I was even conscious of the differences within the project.
SCOTT ADSIT: Well we compliment each other well because she's so reserved and tight-assed and I'm like a firework going off. And Stephanie is so grounded that it's easy to--if I'm a basketball I'm bouncing off of her backboard really well.
STEPHANIE MARCH: Jon is one of the few people who can say something over and over again and you can be on take seven and take seven is still as funny as take one. He's just so creatively out there.
SCOTT ADSIT: Stephanie would you want to play a crazy role like that? Would you like to be over the top?
STEPHANIE MARCH: I would love to. I would love to have the opportunity to try it. It would be interesting to see whether or not I'd be able to do it--I'd like to think I could, but I would be intimidated for sure. I mean, if you want to pay me to try, then great!
DEN OF GEEK: There’s something also reassuring and familiar in this premise of a close-knit community letting in a stranger and suddenly all of their secrets are in danger of being discovered. Neon Joe plays into this, but also deconstructs the idea appropriately. Do you think it’s important to have a familiar idea to lampshade the premise on? Is it helpful for the audience to have something to connect to before |
He played primarily on special teams last season, but at times filled in for Compton.
It’s believed, however, that the trio of Compton, Foster and Brown lead the way as favorites for the starting spots. Some insiders predicted that Brown will emerge as the starter at the “jack” position, and that Compton and Foster will battle it out for the “mike” position.
But with nothing decided yet, Redskins fans should stay tuned throughout training camp.A couple from Tel Aviv that arrived at a park in Afula on Sunday was surprised to learn that the security guard at the entrance to the park was searching visitors' bags not just for weapons - but also for chametz (leavened food).
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Those who had food that was not kosher for Passover were not allowed into the park - even if they were not Jewish.
Outraged by the policy enacted by the Afula municipality, Barak and Michal Avivi took to Facebook to express their protest and on Monday, they filed a complaint with the Afula municipality, claiming the policy was causing discrimination.
The Afula municipality, on its part, said that according to the Chametz Law and its interpretation by the Interior Ministry, leavened food was not allowed into public places during the holiday.
"The visitors who were left out of the park had their children eat the buns outside, and in some cases some of the visitors left," Barak Avivi told Ynet. "It was very embarrassing and shameful to see. These are Arab citizens or Jews who just don't keep kosher. I personally keep kosher, but it seems to me like this was religious coercion where one should not be."
Visitors to Afula park eating their buns outside after being refused entry.
Avivi wondered what would've happened if tourists tried to enter the park with chametz. "Would they have not been allowed in either? The situation is problematic. Anyone that passed by at the time saw the visitors who were left outside eating buns," he said.
Avivi, who is an attorney, said that the law that forbids the sale of chametz does not forbid personal use. "I live in Tel Aviv and I didn't see anyone at Yarkon Park daring to check who has chametz, even though it's a public place," he said.
His wife, Michal, is the one who took to Facebook to write about what she and her husband saw. "In Israel of 2015 - people's bags are being searched for food. Not weapons, not explosives - food! I won't add to this, because I believe this case speaks for itself. I just have to say I couldn't just walk by those people, while they were being punished, and ignore this very brutal trampling of democracy happening before my eyes."
The Afula municipality said that a 2008 Interior Ministry memorandum determined that according to the Chametz Law, leavened food cannot be displayed in public places at all, and the city park was defined as a public place. It is therefore forbidden to bring in leavened food.
The municipality also noted that "this rule also applies to hospitals and other public places. The municipality was acting lawfully."
And, indeed, Ynet encountered other such cases of guards looking for chametz at the entrance to universities and hospitals.
"I just told the security guard that my sandwiches are made of Matzo meal and got in," a visitor to one of the country's hospitals told Ynet. "I lied so I could eat what I want and mostly so my husband, who is hospitalized, could eat what he wants."
"I don't eat this in public," she clarified. "I only bring sandwiches to my sick husband who is strictly secular and eats in his room."
What does the law say?
1. Who is forbidden from displaying or selling chametz?
According to the 1986 Chametz Law, "from noontime on Nissan 14, until 20 minutes after sunset on Nissan 21, a business owner will not publicly display a chametz product for sale or consumption." According to the law, this includes bread, buns, pitta bread or any other kind of leavened food.
Meaning, the law applies to business owners, but does not apply to customers.
2. When is consideration shown to 'non-Jews'?
The law doesn't not apply "inside a community in which most of the residents or most of the members of the local regional council are not Jews; inside a community - in the part of the community where most of the residents are not Jews or most of the businesses do not belong to Jews; inside a collective moshav in which businesses serve the residents of the moshav only."
On the one hand, there are many non-Jewish communities around Afula. Afula itself has businesses owned by non-Jews, in which non-Jews work and shop. Having said that, Afula is not a city in which most of the residents or most of the businesses are non-Jews.
3. Does a security guard have the authority to search for chametz?
It's safe to assume that a security guard, as part of his job, routinely checks visitors' bags. However, security guards are supposed to look for weapons, not chametz. In addition, according to the law, a security guard is not an inspector.
The law says that the interior minister appoints special inspectors with the authority to investigate the sale and display of chametz. It's not at all certain that security guards hold the same authority.
According to the law: "The Interior Minister will appoint inspectors on this matter from among state employees and among those lawfully appointed inspectors, as well as from a list of inspectors and supervisors submitted to the minister by local authorities. The inspector, as stated, will have authority to hold an investigation according to this law."
The inspector's authorities include "a police officer's authorities based on section 2 of the 1969 Criminal Procedure Ordinance (Arrest and Search)." An inspector will also be able to "use all authorities given to a police officer in the rank of inspector, according to section 2 of the Criminal Procedure Ordinance (Testimony), and section 3 of the aforementioned ordinance shall apply to a prescribed pursuant to this authority."A SURVEY of Department of the Taoiseach employees has found a shocking one-in-four civil servants believe they have been bullied or harassed while at work, the Irish Independent can reveal.
A SURVEY of Department of the Taoiseach employees has found a shocking one-in-four civil servants believe they have been bullied or harassed while at work, the Irish Independent can reveal.
And two-thirds of the Taoiseach's staff are not confident that anti-bullying and harassment policy is supported in practice by the Department.
The result of the staff survey contrasts heavily with Bertie Ahern's time in office when almost half of the department's civil servants felt this policy was implemented properly.
The unease among staff is sure to be of huge concern for Mr Kenny who has been vocal in his condemnation of bullying.
Last night, Mr Kenny's spokesman said he was "not aware" of the survey which was published on the Taoiseach's official website yesterday.
At 7.30pm, the spokesman said it was "too late" to establish if Mr Kenny was concerned by the survey's findings.
A staggering two-thirds of those surveyed do not believe their working environment has improved since Mr Kenny took office. And three-quarters do not think morale has improved in recent years.
A mere 29pc of those polled said good performance is recognised in the Department. This is a massive 21pc drop since the same question was asked in 2007, when Mr Ahern was Taoiseach.
The survey also highlights serious concerns among workers about leadership within the department.
Almost half of all workers do not believe the department's senior management team displays "effective leadership".
More than one-in-four do not believe they are encouraged to speak up when they disagree with a decision.
Less than half believe the department is serious about enhancing workplace culture.
The survey found 72pc of people found their work challenging and rewarding but this is a 3pc drop on the last poll.
Just two-in-10 believe work is evenly distributed in the department, which is again a drop of 4pc from 2007.
Dignity
The survey was carried out by RA Consulting last year and 77.5pc of employees responded to online and postal surveys.
Previous staff polls were carried out in 2007 under Mr Ahern and in 2010 when Brian Cowen was Taoiseach.
The survey recommended an "enhancement of dignity and respect" of staff through anti-bullying and harassment training programmes.
It said that senior management need to "enhance satisfaction" with their leadership abilities.
It also criticised workload distribution and perceived "inequities" in promotions given to civil servants working in the Taoiseach's Department.
One of the areas that was highlighted for attention was "management under-performance".
The report said the results should be seen against a background of "cuts, media criticism, corporate memory losses and increased workloads".
Irish IndependentPASADENA, Calif. - Images from NASA's Cassini spacecraft show a concentration of high-altitude haze and a vortex materializing at the south pole of Saturn's moon Titan, signs that the seasons are turning on Saturn's largest moon. "The structure inside the vortex is reminiscent of the open cellular convection that is often seen over Earth's oceans," said Tony Del Genio, a Cassini team member at NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, N.Y. "But unlike on Earth, where such layers are just above the surface, this one is at very high altitude, maybe a response of Titan's stratosphere to seasonal cooling as southern winter approaches. But so soon in the game, we're not sure."
Cassini first saw a "hood" of high-altitude haze and a vortex, which is a mass of swirling gas around the pole in the moon's atmosphere, at Titan's north pole when the spacecraft first arrived in the Saturn system in 2004. At the time, it was northern winter. Multiple instruments have been keeping an eye on the Titan atmosphere above the south pole for signs of the coming southern winter.
While the northern hood has remained, the circulation in the upper atmosphere has been moving from the illuminated north pole to the cooling south pole. This movement appears to be causing downwellings over the south pole and the formation of high-altitude haze and a vortex.
Cassini's visible light cameras saw the first signs of hazes starting to concentrate over Titan's south pole in March, and the spacecraft's visual and infrared mapping spectrometer (VIMS) obtained false-color images on May 22 and June 7.
"VIMS has seen a concentration of aerosols forming about 200 miles [300 kilometers] above the surface of Titan's south pole," said Christophe Sotin, a VIMS team member at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. "We've never seen aerosols here at this level before, so we know this is something new."
During a June 27 distant flyby, Cassini's imaging cameras captured a crow's-eye view of the south polar vortex in visible light. These new images show this detached, high-altitude haze layer in stunning new detail.
"Future observations of this feature will provide good tests of dynamical models of the Titan circulation, chemistry, cloud and aerosol processes in the upper atmosphere," said Bob West, deputy imaging team lead at JPL. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Cassini-Huygens mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging team is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo.
For more information about the mission visit http://www.nasa.gov/cassini and http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov. The Cassini imaging team homepage is at http://ciclops.org
News Media Contact
Jia-Rui C. Cook 818-354-0850Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.jccook@jpl.nasa.gov2012-200Dr. Jill Isenberg is a pediatric neuropsychologist in the Department of Psychology at St. Louis Children's Hospital and an Instructor in Clinical Neurology at Washington University School of Medicine. Dr. Isenberg is board certified in Clinical Neuropsychology by the American Board of Professional... View More
For the first time, my 4-year old son really understands the concept of “Halloween.” He chose a costume for each member of the family (regardless of how we each wanted to dress) and has been on the look-out for ghosts. He will enjoy watching It’ the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown the night before Halloween. Of course, he also has figured out the best part about Halloween – the candy! Due to a school festival, block party, and community trunk-or-treat events, there have been many opportunities to build his candy stash before the actual big day arrives. The ever expanding pile of candy in our house has forced me to think about how, as a mom, I will handle candy consumption over the next days and weeks.
I like to believe that my approach to nutrition as a mother falls in the middle between Mama June’s “sketti” (spaghetti mixed with ketchup and butter) and Go-Go Juice (Red Bull and Mountain Dew) featured on Here Comes Honey Boo Boo, and the vegetarian, organic, and macrobiotic diet that Madonna reportedly prefers for her children. On good days, each meal I serve to my children has at least one fruit or vegetable and on my very best days both are present. However, I enjoy hot dogs, chicken nuggets, and cheese pizza as much as (if not more than) my children, and I know exactly from whom my son inherited his sweet tooth. I strive for “moderation” in all aspects of what we consume at home to balance what we need to be healthy with the more indulgent choices we make. I would like to take this same “middle of the road” approach to managing Halloween candy in order to teach my children to enjoy special treats without unnecessary guilt while also knowing how not to over indulge.
In order to develop an “all things in moderation” approach to Halloween, I brainstormed a few ideas and borrowed a few others from the Internet. Here is the what I came up with:
1. Limit the route and do something else with the rest of Halloween night: We will focus trick-or-treating to one or two blocks in our neighborhood. By keeping the number of houses that we visit down, the amount of candy that we acquire will be less. My son will join me for the remainder of the night sitting on our front porch handing out candy to other trick-or-treaters. There are a number of fun family activities for Halloween night that can keep the time spent trick-or-treating limited while still having fun such as watching a Halloween-themed movie, reading scary stories by flashlight, or turning one room of the home into a haunted house.
2. Limit the size of the pumpkin: My children have multiple pumpkins and other receptacles to use to collect their candy. I will have them take the smallest of these candy carriers with us when we go door-to-door. A small container will fill up faster and helps the child feel as though he or she has taken in a huge haul. I am always amazed by the number of trick-or-treaters who put their candy into a plastic shopping bag or pillow case. It would take a lot of candy to feel that one of those was full and it was time to go home.
3. Write down your five favorite candies before you leave: Before leaving for trick-or-treating, children can write down their five favorite types of candy. When they get home, they can then keep anything that is on the list and get rid of anything that is not on the list. Making the list of favorites ahead of time may make the sorting process easier at the end of the night.
4. Find a candy buy-back program: Many dentist offices and other organizations participate in candy buy-back programs that allow children to sell their candy for a per pound price or to trade the candy for other non-food prizes. Visit www.halloweencandybuyback.com to find local dentists and organizations that buy candy and then donate it to Operation Gratitude, which includes the candy in care packages sent to US military personnel as well as veterans, Wounded Warriors, and first responders. If your local area does not have a candy buy-back program, you can offer to buy some of your child’s candy. Let them use the money for a non-food treat and find somewhere in your community that might accept the candy as a donation such as a local food pantry, soup kitchen, or domestic violence shelter.
5. Develop a pieces-per-day rule: Portion control is neither original nor exciting, but it works. We use a two-pieces-per-day rule in our house to limit how much candy our children eat. We keep the candy stash on a high shelf in the cupboard to keep it out of sight of our young ones (and to make it harder for us to “steal”). It may be helpful to pick an “expiration date” for the candy stash and agree to throw out any pieces that have not been eaten while following the piece-per-day-rule (which may prevent you from having to combine Halloween candy with marshmallow Peeps come spring).
6. Get creative: I found several ideas for using Halloween candy creatively online. Ideas include baking with the candy such as using pieces of chocolate bar instead of chocolate chips for making cookies, creating candy art by using Skittles® and other small candies as mosaic “tiles,” and getting a head start on the holiday gingerbread house.
One of the things that I love most about Halloween is that it brings out everyone’s creative side! By thinking creatively, I think it is possible to allow our children to savor the candy goodness of Halloween while also learning how not to be “ghoul-ish” by going overboard. Happy Halloween!If you’re heading to SummerSlam this weekend at Los Angeles’ STAPLES Center, there’s a new way to take part in the excitement. This Sunday, WWE introduces a revolutionary new radio that allows attendees of the Biggest Party of the Summer – and all pay-per-view events – to listen in on ringside commentary live with the WWE Live Commentary Radio.
If you’ve ever been to a WWE live event or any live sporting event, one major difference from watching the event on television is the lack of play-by-play commentary. The WWE Live Commentary Radio is going to change that, allowing fans in attendance to listen to the SummerSlam television broadcast featuring the likes of WWE Hall of Famers Jerry “The King” Lawler and Jim Ross, as well as Michael Cole, Booker T and Josh Mathews.
The WWE Live Commentary Radio will be available at merchandise stands on the concourse for $15 each. The radios are yours to keep and can be used as a traditional FM radio once the event has ended, and they can be used at future live events where WWE Commentary Radio is available. Supplies are limited so be sure to arrive early!What If Marijuana Were Legal? Possible Outcomes
There's a surge of public interest in legalizing marijuana as a partial answer to a host of problems. Last week, Mexico's congress debated legalizing cannabis as a way to undermine cartel income. And when President Obama held his online town hall last month, he was swamped with the question: Why not legalize pot as a way to help the economy?
NPR came up with a hypothetical scenario and asked experts to play along, commenting on their imagined outcomes. The scenario: Marijuana has been legal for two years throughout the U.S. It is treated, in the eyes of the law, similar to alcohol. It is taxed and regulated, and users must be 21 or older. Pot smokers can buy it by the gram at licensed dispensaries. Predictably, the law change would make some people very happy — and others deeply concerned.
Imagine if you turned on the radio and heard this: "From NPR News in Washington, I'm Carl Kasell. After 70 years of prohibition, marijuana becomes legal today for personal consumption throughout the United States for persons 21 and older "
How would the world change if cannabis finally came out of the closet, if it were fully legal to possess, sell and cultivate?
Willie Nelson, the 76-year-old iconic balladeer and cannabis connoisseur, says there are pros and cons.
"We don't worry about going to jail anymore for smoking it," he says. But, "a lot of our old friends who dealt it are out of work."
In Austin, Texas, the legal cannabis created a surge in business at head shops such as Oat Willie's.
"There's the most popular one, the Volcano," says Doug Brown, the store's longtime general manager, pointing to a conical device that is supposed to provide a milder smoking experience. "It's very expensive — $575 — and they're hard to get hold of."
In the two years since legalization, Brown has noticed new customers, many of whom are older.
"More affluent people, more fun people — people that have never done it before, but have decided to try it since it's now legalized," he says.
One of the new marijuana epicures is Sarah Bird, a middle-aged novelist in Austin and columnist for Texas Monthly Magazine. She says she hadn't smoked marijuana much since her college days.
"It's been a godsend for the temperamentally tense such as myself," Bird says. "And it's really been a boon to getting me off my addiction to Ambien and Yellowtail Merlot."
"What's not to like?" Bird asks. It's low-calorie, she doesn't wake up hung over, it's great for the libido, and it's popular at dinner parties, baked into Belgian chocolate brownies.
But most of all, she adds: "You know you're not contributing to the Sinaloa Cartel and you're not destabilizing Mexico. And in my case, as a parent, I'm not modeling criminal behavior for my child."
Recreational And Medicinal Uses
At the University of Texas at Austin, Kevin Prince, coordinator of UT's alcohol and drug program, says he's seen a spike in pot smoking since it became legal. This is troubling to him because national studies show that sustained marijuana use directly affects academic achievement.
"One of the main issues is there's still a mystique when it comes to marijuana use," Prince says. "A lot of people still don't know that marijuana use is addictive. If you're spending more time smoking weed than going to class or going to work, that's a problem."
Not everyone uses it recreationally. The end of cannabis prohibition has been a blessing for Marsha, a medical marijuana user with multiple sclerosis. Sitting in a wheelchair in a friend's backyard in Houston, Marsha says she smokes weed to "escape from my body" and the chronic pain caused by nerve damage.
"Oh, what a relief it is not to be home alone wondering if this minor-league marijuana user, if the cops were gonna come bust me down," she says. "It's nice to feel free."
The Cartels Stay Strong
Free at last to smoke marijuana: Since the prohibition on cannabis ended, has it delivered the results its supporters claimed it would?
With the spiraling drug mayhem in Mexico, some Latin American leaders looked at legalizing marijuana as a way to deny the murderous cartels a portion of their profits. When it was banned, marijuana was the greatest source of income for Mexican traffickers. Now that it's cultivated domestically and sold legally, surely that has crippled the cartels?
"These are crooks. You're not gonna take 'em out of the criminal activity business," says Robert Almonte, who worked narcotics for 25 years with the El Paso Police Department, just across the river from the ruthless Juarez Cartel. "Because drugs are legalized, they're not gonna say, 'Let's go back to school and get an honest job.' "
Almonte, director of the Texas Narcotic Officer's Association, says all cannabis legalization has done is force the drug mafias to improvise.
"As far as marijuana is concerned, they have been selling it less expensive than what it can sell for here in the United States," Almonte says. "But more importantly, we're seeing a more potent marijuana. And with that we're seeing an increase in the emergency room admissions."
A similar observation comes from William Martin, a drug policy expert and senior fellow at the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy at Rice University in Houston.
"Just as after the repeal of prohibition, organized crime got into many other kinds of activities — protection money, control of the laundry business — so the drug cartels are quite flexible," Martin says. "They've diversified into kidnapping, human trafficking, protection other crime. And they're still selling cocaine, heroin and meth, which are highly profitable. So unfortunately, it has not hurt them as much as we'd hoped."
Fewer Criminal Cases, Records
Supporters of legalization say one of the undeniable benefits has been the reduction in criminal cases that have clogged courts.
"I used to represent a lot of marijuana smokers and dope dealers," says Gerry Goldstein, a prominent criminal defense lawyer in San Antonio.
Though he is not billing as many hourly fees these days, he believes that's a good thing for the criminal justice system.
"Back in 2006 to 2008, 45 percent of all drug arrests in this country for the most part were marijuana offenses," Goldstein says. "That's a staggering waste of resources of our law enforcement."
And it left young people scarred with criminal records for something that is arguably less dangerous than alcohol, Bill Martin says.
"If they were convicted, they could lose employment, child custody, student aid, voting privileges, some welfare benefits. They could even forfeit assets like cars or houses. The new regime has eliminated that. Problem users are now being treated as a public health matter and not as a criminal issue, and that's appropriate," he says.
It Wouldn't Fill Government Coffers
Since marijuana became legal, farmers around the country — illicit and formerly illicit — have scrambled to put Cannabis sativa seeds into the ground. Under the law, they pay $1,000 for a state license, whether their crop is hydroponic or soil-grown.
"The marijuana crop's been going really good. Just wait till the last frost, just start puttin' the plants in the ground, and add a little nitrogen fertilizer to give you a lotta leaf, and after that it just grows like a weed, which is what it is," says Larry Butler. He stands among the crop rows at his Boggy Creek Farm, a 5-acre certified organic urban farm in Austin, Texas.
His wife, Carol Ann Sayle, says they've been a bit disappointed by their newest cash crop and are nervous about losing the farm's family ambiance.
"The retailer takes a big hit off the bong, so to speak, and then the government comes in with their taxes," Sayle says. "So what's left for the farmer? After all that work and trying to ease peoples' fears that we're gonna be giving it to children. So, what's left for the farmer? Stems and seeds is about all that's left."
Jeffrey Miron, a Harvard economist who has modeled and written on the economics of the marijuana market, figures state and federal taxes on cannabis sales add up to $6.7 billion annually.
And he calculates the savings from not having to enforce state and federal marijuana laws — in arrests, prosecution and incarceration — at $12.9 billion a year. Excluding additional expenses, such as the public health cost of marijuana, or the cost of administering the new law, Miron figures that legal pot creates almost a $20 billion bonus. Miron adds, however, that the people who thought the taxation of marijuana would create a windfall for government coffers will be disappointed.
"Compared to the size of most federal government agencies, compared to the tax revenue from things like alcohol and tobacco, and certainly compared to the size of deficits that we have, this is just not a major issue, it is not a panacea, it is not curing any of our significant ills," he says. "There may be good reasons to do it, but the budgetary part is not a crucial reason to do it."
There Are More People Smoking It
Now that marijuana is legal to possess, use, process, transfer, transport, retail, wholesale and cultivate, has the United States become a nation of potheads?
The Dutch experiment offers an interesting case study. After marijuana was decriminalized there in 1976, pot smoking didn't jump in Holland, and it remained well below U.S. levels. But it rose sharply after coffee shops opened in the 1980s and began openly selling cannabis. The U.S. already has a huge appetite for drugs: It's the largest illegal narcotics market in the world. Half of all high-school seniors have used pot.
Drug policy analysts interviewed for this report believe that now that marijuana is legal and socially acceptable in the U.S., there are more people smoking it. And some of them are kids.
"They'll start using it sooner now because it looks like it's more OK, seems less harmful, because they see their parents doing it," says Rosalie Pacula, co-director of the Drug Policy Research Center at the RAND Corp. "Do we know how to keep kids from drinking alcohol? No, we don't. So why would we expect we'd be any better at it with marijuana?"
And the reason we should care is because of the effect that marijuana can have on the development of adolescent brains, says Dr. Vicki Nejtek, a research doctor who works on drug abuse at the University of North Texas Health Science Center in Fort Worth.
"We know that marijuana use and chronic use, as it is now, in an adolescent population can cause extreme developmental delay," Nejtek says. "We know the myelin sheath around our brain cells acts like an insulator to an electric cord. When that's stripped away, it can cause memory loss, it reduces our ability to concentrate, and a reduction in brain cell activity."
In 2007, 14.4 million Americans ages 12 and older admitted to survey-takers that they had used pot in the past month. Rice University's Bill Martin believes, now that it's legal, about one-third more people are using marijuana — maybe 19 million Americans. Martin believes legal pot — which is, after all, an intoxicant — has been good for society but bad for young people.
"I have nine grandchildren," he says. "I would prefer that none of them use marijuana to any significant extent. I have seen students, I've seen friends, become less interesting."
NPR's fictitious scenario of legalized marijuana is not likely to come true anytime soon. Most states are still fighting to legalize medical marijuana and decriminalize marijuana penalties, much less seriously considering legalization. President Obama is on record opposing legalizing pot as a way to boost the economy. For now, whether legal cannabis would cause an outbreak of reefer madness or make more people just mellow out, makes for an interesting parlor game. But it's only a pipe dream.Ultimate is one of the fastest growing sports in the world with over five million people playing in North America. Today, Omar Ansari, owner and founder of Surly Brewing Co., announced he is joining the global expansion of the sport through his purchase of the Minnesota Wind Chill, the state’s first and only professional American Ultimate Disc League (AUDL) team. Ansari will be the majority owner and joined by minority shareholders Jim Mott, MVP and #4 employee, Surly Brewing Co. and Ben Feldman, general manager of the Wind Chill. The agreement was finalized in September.
“When I first met Ben and the Wind Chill team, I saw this spirit of collaboration and a drive to build something new and a little bit off-kilter. It reminded me of the early days of Surly,” said Ansari. “The Ultimate community is engaged and growing. I want to keep moving the sport forward not only through the AUDL but also by supporting youth and women’s Ultimate teams.”
“Surly Ultimate existed long before Surly Brewing,” said Mott. “I remember the beginning of the club teams, the friendly rivalry that was created through Ultimate and setting the tone for the ‘Spirit of the Game.’ It was all about the friendship and community, and it still is today. The Wind Chill and the AUDL are an exciting opportunity for me, and I can’t wait to help these guys get to the next level.”
“I’m extremely excited to have both Omar and Jim become a part of our organization. Their passion tied to the sport and our local Ultimate community is clear, and nothing pairs better with Ultimate in Minnesota than Surly beer,” said Feldman. “Omar and Surly Brewing Co. provides us with a great example of taking a personal passion and turning it into a successful business venture. I’m looking forward to working alongside him and Jim to make that very thing happen with our Minnesota Wind Chill franchise.”
Minnesota and the AUDL
The Wind Chill are one of six AUDL teams in the Midwest and 24 team across the United States and Canada. They joined the league in 2013, just one year after the AUDL’s inaugural season.
“We’re thrilled to have Omar and Jim joining the AUDL,” said Steve Gordon, AUDL Commissioner. “In addition to being passionate supporters of Ultimate and the AUDL, Surly Brewing Co. has shown remarkable success in the rapidly growing craft beer industry. Ultimate and the AUDL are currently experiencing a similar boom across the US and Canada. We see how their innovation and passion aligns with the sport and are excited for the future of the Wind Chill under their leadership.”
The Wind Chill ended the 2017 season 11 – 4 with a first-time spot in the playoffs where they fell to the Pittsburgh Thunderbirds. Contests last season were held at the National Sports Center in Blaine, Minn. and Sea Foam Stadium at the University of Concordia in St. Paul, Minn.These are not great times for choice in America. These are not great times to be a woman in America.
At least, not if you are a woman who believes that your body is your own.
The Trump administration may be the most fervently anti-abortion since Reagan.
This will likely come as a surprise to every man who, prior to Trump’s election, assured me, “don’t worry, he’s really a democrat! He’s not going to do anything about abortion!”
It seems you guys were wrong.
Trump has reinstated the global gag rule, preventing funding for overseas reproductive health organizations that offer abortion related services. Closer to home, Trump signed a bill on April 13 that allows states to cut off funding from organizations like Planned Parenthood that provide abortions. He has suggested that federal funding could continue to go to the women’s health organization only if they stopped performing abortions.
All of this falls under the banner of a “pro-life” agenda.
Indeed, Vice President Mike Pence and counselor to the President, Kellyanne Conway, both spoke enthusiastically at the March for Life. There, the Vice President proclaimed, “We will not rest until we restore a culture of life in America.”
Perhaps when people enact these laws, they imagine what a world with more restrictive abortion rights—or a “culture of life”—looks like. I do not think these people are evil. I suspect they have a vision of a world that is flawed. I think when they imagine that world of outlawed abortions, they imagine a world full of adorable, bouncing babies. They imagine happy mothers, and fathers who are, unexpectedly, delighted and doting fathers.
That is not reality.
"The U.S. is a place where having a baby means risking your own life, as our Maternal Mortal Rate is the highest in the developed world."
It’s not hard to see what a pro-life world looks like. It looks like a world with a lot of dead women in it.
El Salvador has a “culture of life.” There, abortion is banned for any reason. Estimates from the Ministry of Health put the number of illegal abortions performed at 19,290 between 2005 and 2008. However, it’s difficult to trace illegal activity properly, so some other estimates claim this is closer to the annual average. We do know, from a 2011 study by the World Health Organization that 11 percent of the women undergoing these illegal abortions die. That is, at the bare minimum, over 2,000 women.
Amnesty International reports that suicide now accounts for 57 percent of deaths of pregnant females ages 10-19 in El Salvador. Because in an attempt to terminate their pregnancies, women are “ingesting rat poison or other pesticides, and thrusting knitting needles, pieces of wood and other sharp objects into the cervix.”
It was not so long ago that women in the United States were in a position similar to the one women in El Salvador find themselves in today.
Before the passage of Roe. Vs. Wade in 1973, it’s estimated that between 250 and 8,000 American women were dying per year of illegal abortions.
Today, in the United States, women experience complications from safe, legal abortion less than one percent of the time. And whether or not anyone talks about it, it’s a common medical procedure—30 percent of women in the U.S. have had a safe, legal abortion.
There will be people—like Republican Sen. Dan Foreman, an Idaho lawmaker who recently proposed a bill that would try women who have abortions for first degree murder—who will reply, “why don’t they just give the baby up for adoption instead?”
I suspect if someone turned up and asked to live in Dan’s house for nine months he would decline, and that’s infinitely less invasive than something taking up residence in your body.
Still, the best answer to that is, perhaps because the United States is not such a wonderful place to have a baby. It is a place where, for many, the cost of prenatal care and birthing in a hospital runs around $3,500, and pre and post-natal care can raise that price to around $8,802. That doesn’t take into account the incredibly costly proposition of raising a child and the fact that most companies still don’t provide maternity leave.
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More troublingly, the United States is a place where having a baby means risking your own life, as our Maternal Mortality Rate is the highest in the developed world.
The Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR) in the United States is, according to a study published in Obstetrics & Gynecology, now 24 in every 100,000. For perspective, if that does not seem like a significant enough number to cause concern, the odds of being an American killed in a terrorist attack by a foreign born individual are one in 3.6 million.
But then, don’t we have it so much better than so many other countries? Well, in terms of women’s reproductive health, not especially.
The Federalist makes an argument that women should not be dressing up to protest restrictions on abortion in Ohio because, “To compare restrictions on abortion… to |
Commerce.
Some have begun organizing a mass boycott of these organizations, and a list (Google Doc) of contact information for each is currently in the works. We’re not advocating any specific action, but we do think it is important for people to understand who is for and against SOPA and PIPA; if passed, either of these bills will fundamentally change the online world, whether you think that’s a good idea or not.
Update: We have learned that Petzl America has explicitly stated that while it supports greater protections of intellectual property, and signed the Global Intellectual Property Center letter to Congress (along with 401 other companies on this list), it “does not support SOPA or the Protect IP Act,” or any other legislation that will “harm the freedom of the Internet.” We have taken their name off the list.
Update 2: All of the law firms that originally appeared on the Judiciary Committee’s list of SOPA supporters have been removed. We have removed them from the list below. They include:
BakerHostetler LLP
Cowan, DeBaets, Abrahams & Sheppard LLP
Cowan, Liebowitz & Latman, P.C.
Davis Wright Tremaine LLP
Irell & Manella LLP
Jenner & Block LLP
Kelley Drye & Warren LLP
Kendall Brill & Klieger LLP
Kinsella Weitzman Iser Kump & Aldisert LLP
Lathrop & Gage LLP
Loeb & Loeb LLP
Mitchell Silberberge & Knupp LLP
Morrison & Foerster LLP
Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP
Phillips Nizer LLP
Proskauer Rose LLP
Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi LLP
Shearman & Sterling LLP
Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP
Skadden, Arps, Slate Meagher & Flom LLP
White & Case LLP
It has not yet been officially explained why these firms have been pulled off the list. At least one firm, however, Davis Write Tremaine LLP, has said that it does not support SOPA, but two of its lawyers privately support the bill.
Update 4: The Redwing Shoe Company has emailed, informing us that it “does not support SOPA as it is currently drafted.” Redwing is one of the 402 companies that signed the GIPC letter mentioned above, which does not specifically name any legislation. We have removed their name from the list below.
Update 5: Gibson Guitars has also clarified that it does not support SOPA: “Hey guys – Gibson does NOT support this legislation. Gibson’s CEO has demanded that Gibson be removed from the list of company’s supporting SOPA. Don’t believe everything you read on the Internet!”
Update 6: Nintendo and Sony Electronics have both been removed from the Judiciary Committee’s official list of SOPA supporters. Correction: It is currently unclear whether Nintendo, Sony Electronics and EA support or oppose SOPA.
Sony Music Entertainment, Sony/ATV Music Publishing and Sony Music Nashville all remain on the list. GoDaddy, after failing to convince users of its anti-SOPA stance the first time around, has also come out explicitly against SOPA. GoDaddy has been removed from the list.
Update 7: Leatherman Tool Group has emailed us to clarify that they do not support, and have never supported, SOPA. “We did not sign ANYTHING to support or endorse SOPA,” writes Leatherman’s PR department. “Leatherman has never been contacted or consulted about/during the creation of SOPA. Leatherman’s name has been erroneously added to a ‘list’ of SOPA supporters.” Leatherman’s name was added to this list below due to its signage of the GIPC letter. Its name does not appear on the official list of SOPA supporters from the House of Representatives. We have removed Leatherman from the list below.
Update 8: Taylor Guitars — which signed the GIPC letter but does not appear on the official House list — has emailed us to clarify that it does not support SOPA. Taylor Guitars has been removed from our list below. Here is the company’s full statement on SOPA:
In August 2011, Taylor Guitars, its trade organization, NAMM, and other music industry manufacturers offered a signature of support on a U.S. Chamber of Commerce letter sent to Congressional members to encourage the introduction of anti-piracy and counterfeiting legislation. As the letter was not bill-specific, we felt the spirit of its intent was in accordance with our efforts to confront ongoing piracy and copyright infringement issues that we, like many others in the industry, continue to battle. However, our desire to stop piracy and counterfeiting has been misrepresented as support for the Stop Online Piracy Act (H.R. 3261). Clearly stated, we do not support SOPA and its intent to restrict the Internet. The values of freedom, creativity and innovation are at the core of our business, and SOPA is not in accordance with those values.
List update: To avoid any further confusion, we’ve updated the format of this list to make these companies’ SOPA stances more clear. All companies whose names appear in bold are on the Judiciary Committee’s official list of SOPA supporters; non-bolded companies appear only on the GIPC letter, which does not name any specific legislation.
60 Plus Association
ABC
Alliance for Safe Online Pharmacies (ASOP)
American Bankers Association (ABA)
American Federation of Musicians
American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA)
American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP)
Americans for Tax Reform
Artists and Allied Crafts of the United States
Association of American Publishers (AAP)
Association of State Criminal Investigative Agencies
Association of Talent Agents (ATA)
BMG Chrysalis
Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI)
Bulding and Construction Trades Department
Capitol Records Nashville
CBS Corporation
Cengage Learning
Christian Music Trade Association
Church Music Publishers’ Association
Coalition Against Online Video Piracy (CAOVP)
Comcast Corporation
Concerned Women for America (CWA)
Congressional Fire Services Institute
Copyhype
Copyright Alliance
Coty Inc.
Council of Better Business Bureaus (CBBB)
Council of State Governments
Country Music Association
Country Music Television
Creative America
Deluxe Entertainment Services Group
Directors Guild of America (DGA)
Disney Publishing Worldwide, Inc.
Elsevier
EMI Christian Music Group
EMI Music Publishing
Entertainment Software Association (ESA)
ESPN
Estée Lauder Companies
Fraternal Order of Police (FOP)
Gospel Music Association
Graphic Artists Guild
Hachett Book Group
HarperCollins Publishers
Hyperion
Independent Film & Television Alliance (IFTA)
International Alliance of Theatrical and Stage Employees (IATSE)
International AntiCounterfeiting Coalition (IACC)
International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW)
International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT)
International Trademark Association (INTA)
International Union of Police Associations L’Oréal
Lost Highway Records
Macmillan
Major County Sheriffs
Major League Baseball
Majority City Chiefs
Marvel Entertainment, LLC
MasterCard Worldwide
MCA Records
McGraw-Hill Education
Mercury Nashville
Minor League Baseball (MiLB)
Minority Media & Telecom Council (MMTC)
Motion Picture Association of America, Inc. (MPAA)
Moving Picture Technicians
MPA – The Association of Magazine Media
National Association of Manufacturers
National Association of Prosecutor Coordinators
National Association of State Chief Information Officers
National Cable & Telecommunications Association (NCTA)
National Center for Victims of Crime
National Crime Justice Association
National District Attorneys Association
National Domestic Preparedness Coalition
National Football League (NFL)
National Governors Association, Economic Development and Commerce Committee
National League of Cities
National Narcotics Offers’ Associations’ Coalition
National Sheriffs’ Association (NSA)
National Songwriters Association
National Troopers Coalition
NBCUniversal
News Corporation
Pearson Education
Penguine Group (USA) Inc.
Pfizer Inc.
Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA)
Provident Music Group
Random House
Raulet Property Partners
Republic Nashville
Revlon
Scholastic, Inc.
Screen Actors Guild (SAG)
Showdog Universal Music
Sony/ATV Music Publishing
Sony Music Entertainment
Sony Music Nashville
State International Development Organization (SIDO)
The National Association of Theater Owners (NATO)
The Perseus Books Groups
The United States Conference of Mayors
Tiffany & Co.
Time Warner Inc.
True Religion Brand Jeans
Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC)
UMG Publishing Group Nashville
United States Chamber of Commerce
United States Olympic Committee
United States Tennis Association
Universal Music
Universal Music Publishing Group
Viacom
Visa, Inc.
W.W. Norton & Company
Wallace Bajjali Development Partners, LP
Warner Music Group
Warner Music Nashville
Wolters Kluewer Health
Word Entertainment
[Image via Elnur/Shutterstock]
The views expressed here are solely those of the author and do not reflect the beliefs of Digital Trends.Well everyone, It's been a week since the World Event and we're a week away from the Redux, so it's about time I made an announcement regarding everything.
As I'm sure most of you know by now, Angellus_Mortis left the MineZ community due to the original actions of the admins in regards to the way the world event was handled. Despite that mess, the admins are allowing us to try again. If we should succeed, they will rebuild our Headquarters even better than it was before.
Before I get into the specifics of the event, I'd like to address the desertion of a few trusted Night's Watch members. FriendsOfYours, trumankitos13, CowsofSteam, and zypher106 have left The Night's Watch as they no longer believe in it's ideals. Though I have not personally witnessed it, I have heard several reports of them slaughtering entire cities since their desertion. Since it is a particularly heinous crime, both to leave the watch in such a way and to commit such acts, I am issuing a warrant for their deaths. Members that present proof of issuing justice to these hardened criminals will receive, at the least, a special emblem of recognition on their cape. (Maybe not immediately, as I will have to design it and program it into the system, but you will receive it).
At this current moment in time, the council is as follows:
Navarr - Lord Commander ChaosDood - First Ranger krabbby - Ranger Representative lovelandmonkey - Ranger Representative sssdl4 - Grand Maester
Due to council decisions that will take effect after the world event, we will not be holding another election for Maesters. I'll address that after the event - as we need a clear and focused mind so that we can save the realm and the Watch.
All Night's Watch members (with a premium account) should assemble at smp.minez.net or beta.minez.net (they are, in fact, the same server) at 15:00 (3:00pm) US Eastern Daylight Time (UTC-0400, GMT-0500). This is 19:00 (7:00pm) United Kingdom time. This is important as we will be organizing the members of the watch in preparation for the event. Please block off THREE HOURS from the time provided here. It is very important that we run our drill and prepare to the best of our abilities. While the main cause of our failure with the last event was AntiCheat's malfunction, greater organization has been requested and will be had. During this timeframe, the website's chatroom will be COMPLETELY UNAVAILABLE. The website will need to be running at it's best capacity for the cape mod, and I will not be taking a risk with the chat system. To that regard, even if you do not have a mic, I expect you to be able to connect to our mumble chatroom and to, at the very least, listen to the instructions given. Speaking uselessly over mumble will earn you a MUTE. The mumble chatroom will be reserved specifically for important instructions &c.
From what I understand, and this is subject to change, Rangers will be granted Iron Armor (and possibly an iron sword?), where as Maesters will be granted Gold Armor and all the materials necessary for healing - including harming potions for healing the Old Lords. A task that will be reserved for the Grand Maester, sssdl4, and anyone he specifically chooses to give his trust to.
I greatly encourage ALL players to use LMS in their spare time over the next week in order to practice and improve their PvP skills. You will need them for this event.
We will not allow bandits to dictate the rules of the land!
We are the sword in the darkness. WE are the watchers on the walls. We are THE FIRE that burns against the cold. The LIGHT that brings the dawn. THE SHIELD THAT GUARDS THE REALMS OF MEN. We've pledged our life, and our honor to the Night's Watch - for this night and ALL Night's to come! So get out there, and prepare yourselves -
for the realm! FOR THE WATCH!
Navarr T. Barnier Lord Commander of The Night's WatchSilicon Valley
Lynne Hermle, a Silicon Valley employment partner, has a long track record of winning high-profile jury trials on behalf of industry-leading clients, defeating class certification and obtaining summary judgment.
She has significant experience working on complex discrimination and wage-and-hour class actions for global leaders in the retail and technology sectors including The Gap, Genentech, Microsoft, Sears, Burlington Coat Factory, Gymboree, Spencer’s Gifts, Banana Republic, Old Navy, Williams Sonoma and Pottery Barn Kids, among many others.
Lynne led the trial team that obtained a complete defense verdict for Kleiner Perkins in Pao v. Kleiner Perkins, the high-stakes gender discrimination and retaliation case that garnered intense international media scrutiny. In naming Lynne “Litigator of the Week” for this victory, American Lawyer described her effective voir dire and how she “steadily poked holes in Pao’s testimony.” The Recorder called Lynne’s cross-examination “masterful” and Bloomberg reported that her “charismatic, intimidating oratory made her the trial’s breakout star.”
Following Pao, Lynne secured a complete defense verdict for SpaceX in an $8 million gender discrimination and retaliation suit. The Daily Journal called the outcome “another triumph for Hermle,” observing that her “string of successes for tech clients fighting off gender harassment and discrimination claims got longer.” The publication also pronounced Lynne to be “arguably the most feared employment defense attorney in California.” Eight months later she followed that up with another defense verdict for SpaceX in a wrongful discharge and retaliation case.
In recognition of these successes and career trial work, Lynne was inducted into the American College of Trial Lawyers in 2017.FUGAZI
by Chris
Saturday. 21:35
The arcade smelled like cigarette smoke and human sweat. The air conditioning has probably been FUBAR for ages. Music, and the sounds of explosions, squeezed the remainder of thoughts from the brain. I struggled my way through the crowd forming next to the cabinets. Some tweaked out teen dirtied my jacket with phosphorescent, carmine lipstick. This stuff never improves one's mood. "Arena" has always been crowded, but tonight is probably going to leave a mark in history. A display lit up with garish yellow, a bang silenced the crowd's turmoil briefly - somebody hit the mothership in "Martian Soldier". That's decent - two hundred bucks, at least. For a moment, the winner's orange bangs shined in front of me - a very happy bunch moved him towards the bar above everyone's heads. He'll take his reward soon, and then either lose it, smoke it, or drink it all with his lot in two hours, tops. That's just a punk - the professionals don't play on Saturdays. The bartender recognized me and waved at me. "Is Grandpa there?" I moved my lips silently. Got a nod. Turned by 90 degrees. A few steps towards the door to the break room. A struggle at the console. Two drunken teenagers fighting for the last chip. A glance at "Tekken 4". A kid kicking ass well, but he's far from the best. Really shouldn't be playing Jurgen. I exhaled in relief when the soundproof doors released me from the uproar. I took a look around, squinting my eyes. The darkness of the arcade was pleasant in comparison to the stark brightness of the break room. Grandpa, facing the back, was tampering with an Optimus cabinet. "Hi!" Surprised, he jumped a bit, toppled a box of pirated CDs over. Silver disks fell on the floor with a clang. "When will you stop sneaking up? You scared me." He growled, wiping his hands in a dirty towel. "You'll stop being so nervous when you get rid of that fake shit," I pointed at the disks and reached my hand out for a hello. "When did you become such a goody? Too much money, or something?" He tried to gather the strewn CDs. "Doubt that, otherwise you wouldn't be here. How is the hunt going?" "Poorly! Nothing for two months. Literally nothing! Ever since Zoe stole that babe playing the races from me, I can't find anything. Damn it, I had a contract with Metropolis waiting for her." "I heard, I heard… she was a real talent. He trained her a bit and put her in IPS. She does well in the League, she's been in the top 20 for a week. And watch out, people from Sierra are getting interested in her." "So I felt… I sense money when it's there. You see, I followed her gaming for three months. She played in such shitholes, that I didn't think anybody else would find her. You know, Russian and Croatian servers…" "And?" "And there's that," I smoked a cigarette. Grandpa made me realise what has been in the back of my head for months. I'm ending. I haven't brought anybody into the League for months, or at least anybody successful. That few shitheads whom I placed in local playoffs were just shit. And shit money. The rules are simple in this business - no results, no money. No money - no hardware, and no connections, you slowly start becoming nobody. Sometimes I regretted going independent. When I look in the mirror, I can hardly believe I was a hunter for Microsoft. "Don't worry. I think I have somebody that can help you bounce back." Grandpa, seeing my interest, squinted his eyes. "When I saw him playing, I thought, I might try selling him myself. But, well, I'm too weak. Sooner or later someone would have fucked me over. You might manage. But… this time you give me twenty percent." Grandpa returned to work. Despite employing a few service guys, he loved tinkering with the hardware himself. He didn't hurry with an explanation. "Give me the hammer," he growled from behind the gutted console. He pulled a braid of wires, "Such a pile of shit… I'll never get this done. One is breaking after another…" "Do I look like somebody who's got time for this bollocks? What's the guy good at?" "Everything. Especially in first person shooters. The name's Magnus - he comes every night and plays for money. To be honest, he's wasting his time for only a couple of bucks. Here, have his match results. Quake. Monitorin from last week." He handed a crumbled printout to me. One look at it was enough. "I'm taking him."
Saturday. 23:55
"You can be a rich man. Very rich. It depends on you, only. I can push you very high. On the top! You can wait for another Gambleriad, Techmeeting or Labirynth. For whatever. Maybe someone's gonna notice you, maybe not. If you come into play with me, you're gonna have all that shit behind you. You told me that yourself, you tried. With me, you don't need to try. You go directly to the top. What Grandpa said is the truth. I've still got some contacts left…" I was lying, lying like a dog. My "contacts" have long since left. At least the ones that mattered did. I might as well not show up on any larger parties. Plenty of hunters from the business and freelancers, like me. Ever since every company that mattered had a team for their own, everybody became a head hunter. All that was left for me was searching in the Internet and arcades. But what that kid showed me was worth any lie. Worth fifthy thousand, at the very least. I was still shaking after the game. My helmet was sweaty like a virgin's body after her first time. I must have been twitching in the harness, because my back hurt like hell. I felt like I was about to vomit. I barely held a bottle of Grolsch in my bony hand. The kid hasn't even unclasped the harness, he was rocking about like a clock's pendulum, grinning a mocking grin. He had his reasons. On muny04, I was without a chance. He was spamming rockets like mad. I felt like a housefly in molasses trying to dodge. Didn't take long: 100-32. On ds5 - by the way, what idiot named it "Dog fields" - I did a bit better. He was jumping like an ape on the tiles sunken in lava. That's where I got him most of the times. He wasn't as confident in open areas… but that didn't help. 100-56 this time. Betox - if you understand me well, I didn't go on top once. Not once! Zero. I may as well have been a toddler, he would have beaten me just as easily. I've never seen somebody play like that, and I've seen a lot. When we put him in the arcade, he finished the next two games in the top five. That's decent, especially because I saw from the start that he was high on proheptazine. Knee deep in it. "If you agree, we sign a paper and within 24 hours, you're playing on the best training servers in the country. With the best booths. With the ability to simulate the best opponents. Oh, and," I searched my pockets, "two grand, to start. You in?" He bounced from the cabinet and reached for the money.
Three weeks later
He got the best hardware and the best programs. He trained 10-12 hours daily, and the results exceeded my expectations by far. He hasn't lost a match with an amateur for a week. I bribed an IPS admin and gave him a full training cycle with their team. They're from the country's top five, after all. And? Magnus kicked their asses so hard, that the guy gave me my money back. "He's too good, they'll find out and fire me," he said. Seriously. The backbench from Multitech squad were shot like ducks. Eventually, their trainer - my good friend - told me to fuck off, since I was "destroying his boys' morale". That was enough, to make me feel like the owner of a golden duck. I sent his demos to all more important clubs. Put up an ad in the official League bulletin. Despite the dead season (you know, summer break) offers started coming in instantly. But why bother, if nobody was feeling too generous. I invested way too much in the kid, to sell him for pennies. I waited… and then that guy came. A short guy with a ratty face, and a brown, shabby briefcase. He represented a company that I've never heard of. He said, they've got a third league team advertising their stuff. That business is going bad, and they decided to invest in their own team. Bullshit as usual. They needed a fighter, and my kid popped up on their radar. I'll admit it, I wanted to blow off the guy. Magnus was way too good to begin in some shit, third league team. I told the man to leave, and on my doormat, he stuffed a leaflet in my hand, asking me to reconsider. I took a look, and reconsidered. Instantly. Never before in my life have I seen so many zeros in an offer for a player. And there was a two in the front. Jesus! I could buy half a team of any company for this price. I was too blinded with money to notice that the deal seemed off. Way off. I got the money the same night. Half of it in cash, half in unregistered bio-RAM. Magnus drove away with "Ratty", and I began planning the biggest shopping of my life. There's nothing that gets me off as much as spending money. I quickly forgot everything. Too quickly. Especially since I've never seen any sort of proof that Magnus is, actually, playing in the League.
Sunday. A few minutes before midnight
A strong punt woke me up. A second got me off my bed, and a third pushed me under the window. When I got myself together enough to raise my head, I saw that there were two of them. And a barrel, aimed at me. It was rifled. And it was close. And that meant trouble? "Have I been naughty?" The offender wasn't in the mood for jokes, apparently. I regretted my sarcasm as another kick sent me towards the door. I wiped blood off my broken lip. I was up against someone who liked American, military boots. I only knew one person like that. "What's the problem, Magnus? Having a bad day and wanted to talk with an old friend? Okay, okay…" I stretched my arms out to shield myself from another kick. He changed his mind. Instead, he turned the light on. He was more pissed than I thought. Madness and drugs made him vibrate, which yet didn't give him trouble aiming. "I should blow your head up! You goddamn son of a bitch! You forgot to tell me that people die there!" "Are you mad? The fuck you on about?" The situation was becoming dangerous. Any moment now, and that drugged idiot will shoot me. I was scared. And I would have been scared for longer, had the second guy not interfered. He calmly walked throug the room, took the gun off Magnus' hand, and put it in the pocket. "That won't be necessary," he smiled at me. "Not now. You're a reasonable man, after all. Please get dressed and don't do anything stupid. In the car downstairs, there's somebody who doesn't like to wait. And he's been doing it for five minutes now." If he tried to calm me down, that failed. I dressed myself slowly, while he searched every fragment of my clothing. He didn't let me put a belt on. He ran his fingertip over a comb found in a pocket of a shirt. "You won't believe me, but I know people, who could slit a throat with this." The comb flew into a corner, and the stranger started investigating bottoms of my shoes next. "And we don't like the sight of blood. Right?" When we went downstairs, he pointed to a classy limo. He and Magnus got into the car behind. I stood helplessly in the middle of the street and wondered if an escape attempt had any chance of being successful. I took wing. Needlessly. I must have looked like an idiot when I was pushed into the Lincoln with one slipper, a torn shirt and pants hanging loose.
Half an hour later
"We don't kill people. They kill themselves for us… or for money, rather. A business like any other, except we take the word "deathmatch" very seriously. If there are people who can pay a fortune for this sort of performance, then performers are found too. We, too, have our head hunters, and our methods. And besides, we pay very well. Our, hmm, league, needs stars, too, Until now, they were just degenerates. Psychopaths, junkies, or losers, who fell into money troubles and deluded themselves that after one game, their life will turn around. Well, the last kind is one that we've buried the most. Of course, I realise that your case is something exceptional. But, well, I can't help it. Magnus is a very prized possession for us, he generates plenty of income and you realise, that sometimes we have to indulge him. And he wants you to take part in tonight's meeting. Besides, we can't disappoint our guests. Some really important guests. Guests, who love Magnus, and are ready to pay any money to see him do his work. You must understand that because of, hmm, the delicateness of this matter, organising a session like this takes a lot of work and money. Your refusal would expose us to big losses, so it is not upon discussion." He bent down, to fill his glass with champagne. He invited me to do the same, with a gesture of his hand. I shook my head. What a scummy son of a bitch! Polite, nice, pretentiously friendly. He knew, that I have no choice, and was very amused by that. "Maybe some caviar? Don't feel uncomfortable. Fine… I understand." A silver spoon clinked. As he was enjoying the taste, he stared beyond the window. I did the same, though I don't know what's so fascinating about the monotonous blackness of the woods, rarely interspersed with lights. He looked at this watch. "Yes… we'll be there in a couple minutes. I hope you won't disappoint us." "How are you so sure?" "Everybody wants to live."
Monday. 01:55
The building seemed to be an old, abandoned warehouse. The air was heavy with the smell of washing powder and some disinfectant. Apparently, this used to be a wholesale store. A circle of floodlights lit up the middle of the room. Four NEC consoles stood there, models from last month, if I were to guess. Somewhat similar to IBM's Vikings, but more solid and in nice colors, stylized after last year's classic model TravelStar. Suspended OSA helmets drawing directly to the retinas, active Nintendo suits, chromed railings, and harness from genuine leather. In short, very good hardware, on a global level. The server machine was an old, long-serving Genesis, but if I had as many enhancements as it did, I could have flown straight into space. Strings of optical fibre slithered from the case and ran towards the darkness of the room. From the dark, I could hear quiet conversations and the clinking of glass. "My audience," I thought. We passed the consoles, ignoring the technicians fiddling with them. They were all wearing balaclavas - full anonymity. One of the bouncers pushed me towards the ajar door with the butt of a rifle. "Careful there. Your boss wants me in top form." "Shut up! You're already dead. I wouldn't bet even a hundred on you." "Maybe try, though." I took a bunch of banknotes from my pocket and passed them behind me. "Just share whatever you win." "You're fucked up!" He grabbed the money and laughed idiotically. "I'll buy flowers for your grave." We walked into a small cell. The man standing in the middle stared at me, with curiosity. He pointed at a chair. I sat down. "We need to get you ready." An electric shaver buzzed. With a skilled move, he shaved my hair off. A long stripe across the head and two flat spots, one per temple. "Electrodes?" I asked, choking on my own flocks. "No. The helmets are converted for direct contacts." "Then shave all of it. I don't wanna look like an ape." "Dandy!" They erupted with laughter, but soon the shaver's work was finished. I ran my hand over my head. Smooth. Like a baby's butt. "How do I look?" "Like a nutsack!" Their laughs could be heard long after they left, slamming the door shut. There was no handle from my side. I got up and took a look around the room. No windows. Nothing. Bare walls and a chair. And a lightbulb, protected by a frame of wire. And behind the wall was the most modern hardware, and two desperados like me, not counting Magnus. I couldn't concieve of what I just got myself into. Had I had hair, it would stand on end. Only now I've began to understand what the man told me in the car. An illegal league, bets. An underworld of politicians, gangsters, and deviants. A mob from virtual worlds. In a moment, to appease those perverted, rich shits I'll be playing for my own life. One bad move and an electrical impulse will fry my brain. Great. Fucking great!
Deathmatch
Zipping my suit, I teetered on the unstable floor of the console. Somebody's hand supported me, and another tried to give me a handful of drugs. "Fuck off," I snarled, regulating the harness. A while later, they put on my helmet, isolating me from everything around me. Quiet. Dark. I found the control panel. A control screen lit up. I set it to automatic tuning. Then a short, manual correction. My headphones cracked. "One! One, respond." An electrical impulse ran over my skull. I yelped. "You hear me now? Configure yourself." Menu. Customize. A short series of commands. Confirmation. Ready! "Alright, test it. You get 30 seconds of DM4. Go!" I fell onto the floor. Pain in the knees. I hit a wall, my arm went numb for a short moment. Jesus, how real it is! For a while I stood and looked around the familiar map. A nice heat emanated from the lava. A few steps, then a jump. Sprinted sharply for the nailgun. I fired at the wall for warmup. OK. Everything's fine, can't be better. "Okay, over! You're starting soon." Darkness, and a squeeze in my throat. Fear? Yes. It hit me and paralysed me, drenching me in sweat. Digits appeared in the corner of my eye. 5… 4… My legs trembled. 3… Idiotic, niggling itching on the neck. 2… 1… Go! I landed knee deep in water. I saw stairs in the dim light of a torch. 0, 100, and 20 ammo on the counter. I ran upwards. A couple steps. A low corridoor curved lightly, leading to a narrow gallery. A muddle of multileveled catwalks. Medkits! Two, no - three. Need to remember that, but right now, a weapon is the top priority. Any weapon! A glance downward. A small room, with a well, filled with several clips of nails. A door on the left, stairs on the right. Armor! Stuffed in the corner, almost invisible. I reached it with one jump, and… bent over its weight. Damn! Slows movement. I ran towards the well, when Blue came through the door. He didn't expect me and shot too late. I jumped. The smoke trail of a rocket flew over my head. When it exploded, I was already at the bottom. I knew that I have three seconds, tops, before he gets on my back again. I can't make it to the door. I ran towards the shadow - backwards, with my gut - not losing sight of the well. Fate gave me more time. The cannonade upwards sounded like Blue had trouble. The clatter of a nailgun interspersed with rocket explosions. A yell! One, then a second… Someone's getting owned. Suddenly I saw a grenade launcher, in a small, dimly lit recess. I collected it at the same time, when Yellow fell down the well. He shot upwards in short burts. Didn't notice me. I sent him two grenades in full speed. One bounced off the wall and landed on his chest. Nothing can be compared to the dull thud and the crackling of tearing flesh. Somewhere, in a far away reality, mad electrons burned somebody's brain to ash. Here, bloody gibs dirtied the walls. Instinctively, I grabbed his backpack and the gun. I jumped over the remains and ran towards the door. Blue knows what happened - if he's not too weak, he'll show up shortly. I was afraid of his rockets. In this small room, they could raise hell. For security, I fired grenades behind. The key thing is to keep moving, always change the position. That's what they teach in the League… and the army. It saved many asses both there and here. I found myself in a torchlit grotto. The raw, stone walls emanated coldness. The walkway diverged and disappeared in the darkness. Water soughed in the middle. For a while I thought to jump in, but no - better to penetrate the corridors. I went left. The corridor, slowly turning into a tunnel, curved gently - at the end was a cylinder-shaped recess. A Quad shined behind a grate. Above, symmetrically on two sides, two switches were burning with red. My shotgun fired. One! Two! Wrong order! The ceiling went down with a screech. I jumped back at the last moment - fell on my back. You can fall down here! I bounced back from the ground like ball when I heard a charge fire behind the wall. The scream of a burned man. Thunderbolt! Magnus' favorite weapon. I wouldn't want to meet him now, with one grenade and a couple nails. I ran to the right. An escape. Several gray packs loaded up my nailgun's chambler with a click. 200. Full! Health not doing as well - only 75. It was getting hotter with every step. Suddenly, the path ended with an abyss. Lava! A massive lava lake, several meters beneath. Straight ahead, above the ocean of heat, held by an invisible force was a teleporter. The heat was repelling me from this way, but a sound from behind resolved any doubts. He found me quickly. Too quickly. His weapon sent a burst of steel stings to my back. My body painfully |
you have been busy enjoying this summer’s unseasonably cool weather across much of the nation, you may have missed the National Clean Energy Summit last week.
Sponsors of the one-day summit, held at the swanky Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in beautiful Las Vegas, Nev., included Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and the Center for American Progress, a leading liberal think tank.
One of the summit speakers, Nevada Rep. Dina Titus, equated global warming skeptics with members of the Flat Earth Society, EAGnews.org reports.
Titus also suggested that taxpayer-funded public schools should begin instructing kindergarten children about global warming.
“Educating people is very important,” the Democrat said, according to EAGnews. “We should educate them beginning at a very early age in kindergarten.”
To raucous applause, Titus also called for EPA regulations cutting carbon output by power plants by 30 percent, a scheme which could increase home electricity bills by up to 15 percent.
Meanwhile, as The Daily Caller reported this week, satellite data indicates that there has been no global warming for 17 years and 11 months. (RELATED: Report: No Global Warming For 215 Months)
Satellite data prepared by Lord Christopher Monckton shows there has been no warming trend from October of 1996 to August of 2014. That’s 215 months, or the entire lifetime of most students who graduated from high school this year.
According to Monckton — the third Viscount Monckton of Brenchley and a former policy adviser to U.K. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher — the rate of warming has been half of what climate scientists initially predicted in the early 1990s.
The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) first predicted in 1990 that global temperatures would rise at a rate of 2.8 degrees Celsius per century.
The temperature rise since the IPCC’s prediction has only been at a rate of 1.4 degrees Celsius per century.
The so-called “pause” in global warming has baffled climate scientists, as many climate models did not predict a prolonged period of little to no warming. While some climate scientists deny the “pause” in global warming even exists, others have looked to places ocean and wind patterns for answers as to why there has been no warming for nearly two decades.
Other explanations for the global warming “pause” include volcanic activity and theories concerning Chinese coal-fired power plants.
Follow Eric on Twitter and on Facebook, and send education-related story tips to erico@dailycaller.com.× Program Rules
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Fiji present the Cibi before each of their rugby internationals. Manu Samoa show their pride in their heritage by displaying the Siva Tau and the Tongans identify themselves with the Sipi Tau. All of these war cries are proud representations of each nations’ proud history and lays down a challenge to their opponents.
The most popular battle cry of them all is the Haka that has been been made famous the world over by New Zealand’s All Blacks. The Haka is deeply meaningful to the people of New Zealand and is a representation of the history of Maori people. Most people will be familiar with the most used Haka, being the “Ka mate”, but the All Blacks have started using a Haka written for and about the All Blacks, called the Kapo O Pango (Team in Black). The translation of Kapo O Pango is:
Let me go back to my first gasp of breath
Let my life force return to the earth
It is New Zealand that thunders now
And it is my time!
It is my moment!
The passion ignites!
This defines us as the All Blacks
And it is my time!
It is my moment!
The anticipation explodes!
Feel the power
Our dominance rises
Our supremacy emerges
To be placed on high
Silver fern!
All Blacks!
Silver fern!
All Blacks!
aue hi!
What I found to be truly amazing was that the Haka was only used before away Test matches and it was only under Buck Shelford and Hika Reid that the Haka was performed in home test matches from 1987.
All of these battle cries are wonderfully encapsulated in this video:
You would do well to investigate each and every one of these war cries to enrich your rugby knowledge and the meaning behind each one of them.
But…. are there forgotten “war cries” and “hakas”?
Most would be very surprised to learn that South Africa’s Springboks also had their own war cry, which dates back to 1908. Regrettably, most of the history and meaning of this war cry have been lost in the mists of time, but some remnants of the history have been compiled by the Springbok Rugby Museum (Dr. Hendrik Snyders). According to British and Australian press, the Springbok war chant was performed in Zulu and ended in a blood curdling crescendo. There are records of the this war cry being carried out by the Springboks, to be answered with the Ka Mate by the All Blacks. I sight I would pay good money to witness…
In the post-Second World War era, the Springbok war cry disappeared and one can only wonder as to the reasons why a tradition that had been built up for close on to thirty years and appreciated the world over just vanished.
The most reliable record of the words of this chant, translated from Zulu, is as follows:
“Charge! Charge! Charge!
Death to you!
Charge!
Who are you?
Death to you!”
Prior to the 2007 Rugby World Cup, Springbok captain John Smit alluded to an ancient Springbok war cry and the possibility of reviving it. Unfortunately this never transpired, but taking “Bill” as the Rugby World Cup trophy is known back to South Africa probably made him forget that thought pretty quickly.
Given South Africa’s racially divided past and slow progress to racial inclusion, I personally think it would be a fantastic idea to pick up on John Smit’s idea and revive and embellish upon that early Zulu war chant in order to celebrate the rich heritage as well as diversity in South Africa.
“Main Photo:”
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As part of a three-year agreement, FUN88 will feature proudly on the club's famous black and white stripes, starting with an historic season as the club celebrates its 125th anniversary.
The partnership was officially confirmed in a special online video, with legendary players and members of the current squad joining forces to display the club's 2017/18 PUMA home kit.
FUN88 will be supporting fan initiatives in Newcastle, nationally and overseas, with more to be revealed in due course.
Founded in 2008, FUN88 has a significant online following in Asia and offers sports betting, live casinos, slots and keno games in multiple languages.
Nathan Walker, director at FUN88, said: "It's a hugely exciting time to partner with one of the most famous clubs in English football.
"Our previous sponsorships in English football have delivered great results and I'm certain Newcastle United provides FUN88 with a platform to move to new heights.
"We are looking forward to engaging with the club's huge fanbase - both in Newcastle and worldwide. We're excited about the next three years and are looking forward to the 2017/18 Premier League season."
Lee Charnley, managing director at Newcastle United, said: "It was important for us to find the right partner and in FUN88, we have a shirt sponsor that understands the club and brings significant benefits commercially.
"The relationship will enable the club and FUN88 to enhance our respective global profiles together as we celebrate a landmark season and embark on the exciting Premier League campaign ahead."Researchers at CU-Boulder and NOAA think they've found a way to efficient gather renewable energy and transfer it anywhere in the country.
According to a new study released Monday, using wind and solar energy, meteorologists believe they can reliably gather energy and move it where it's needed. Scientists created a simulator that analyzes data from wind and solar weather models and effectively determines where the best places to collect energy are in the country. That simulator then calculated the easiest ways to transfer that energy from where it was gathered to energy users.
NOAA researcher Alexander MacDonald is one of the authors of the study and recently retired director of NOAA’s Earth System Research Laboratory (ESRL) in Boulder. He said the goal was to help solve energy issues with existing technology.
"The study shows that if you use the entire United States, and we use both wind and solar, we could actually have really effective wind and solar energy," said MacDonald. "The result is, costs that are about the same as today, but an 80 percent reduction in CO2 as a result of our study."
The study found that the wind is most consistent in the Midwest, and solar strength is more consistent in the south. Energy can be harvested at those hot spots, or where ever the sun shines or the wind blows, and moved through what researchers call a high voltage transmission network, essentially an interstate highway of electrical wires.
"We took the wind and solar data for a whole year, and the simulator told us how to set up a system that would decrease the cost the most and it turned out it used a whole lot of wind and solar energy," MacDonald said.
According to MacDonald, the interstate of wires could reduce the use of greenhouse gases by also reducing the use of natural gas.
The data was just published in the journal Nature Climate Change.The Sharks have been relatively quiet this offseason, mostly because of their lack of cap space. The Sharks did make one major signing recently, inking Joe Pavelski to a five year deal worth $30 million. Joe Pavelski, the lone Shark invited to training camp for the United States’ Olympic team, has 336 career points in 479 career games, all with team teal. He has an additional 50 points in 74 career playoff games. Joe Pavelski isn’t the only Shark to get a major deal, as Logan Couture got an identical deal earlier this summer.
Other recent signings include Bracken Kearns, and Marek Viedensky, who both got one year deals.
Another piece of good news for Sharks fans is that Dan Rusanowsky, the play-by-play radio broadcaster for the Sharks, who has been with the team since it’s inception, was elected to the Bay Area Radio Hall of Fame. He has called almost every single game for the Sharks, except for a time period after he was in a car accident. Congrats to him!
In regard to the home opener on October 3rd, 2013 against the Vancouver Canucks, the Sharks announced that the start time of the game was moved up from 7:30 to 7:00 pm.
On a more somber note, the Sharks lost two past members of its organization recently. Former player Shawn Burr, and former assistant coach Vasily Tikhonov recently died, and will forever be remembered in the Sharks organization.One of the more pleasant surprises during an occasionally bleak Sony conference at last month's Paris Games Week was the reveal of Concrete Genie - a wistful third person adventure game gently exploring themes of bullying and childhood through luscious hand drawn art that stands out in contrast to its moody urban environment.
Concrete Genie is the work of PixelOpus, a Sony-owned studio that works out of San Mateo, California, with the express purpose of giving young developers a start in the business. "Connie [Booth, VP of product development at Sony Interactive Entertainment] was trying to find ways for new people to have a good experience coming into the industry," explains Dominic Robilliard, Concrete Genie's director.
That search brought up the group behind Entwined, a sweet if slight game that similarly served as a palate cleanser during Sony's E3 back in 2014 before it was quickly ushered up onto the PlayStation store. "We found a group that was really talented, bought them onto the Sony campus and realised there was something special there," says Robilliard. "We felt, when we were doing Entwined, we could offer so much - I think it's made a profound difference for this game, especially when we're doing something that's much more ambitious."
PixelOpus' workforce is a curious blend - there are students fresh from courses at the likes of Carnegie Mellon, as well as veterans of the industry who provide a guiding hand. Robillard himself worked at Sony London on the likes of The Getaway before a spell at LucasArts saw him on XBLA side-scroller Lucidity and the ill-fated but incredibly ambitious Star Wars 1313, and he's joined by art director Jeff Sangalli, another alumni of LucasArts.
"It's a very different energy - when we left Lucas and came to do this, there was a sense of it sounding like hard work, and it's completely the opposite," says Robilliard. "The first thing that blew me away was the level of training these graduates had - it was far in excess of what I had as a designer. When I was a kid at Sony, making games wasn't an academic path you could follow. It's a two way street - they're teaching us stuff too in contemporary thinking and how to organise the creative process. Getting to see the world through their eyes - the raw enthusiasm they have is healthy for us, it reminds us how lucky we are to make games. They're like that every day, it's amazing."
The idea for Concrete Genie came from within that group - more specifically from VFX artist Ashwin Kumar, from who the game's lead character takes his name. Kumar built a pitch around the idea of bullying, creating a piece of concept art that was slowly unpacked by the rest of the team in terms of how it could translate to gameplay.
And so you play young Ash, exploring a series of locations that can be freely explored and returned to as your access to the city builds up over time. There, using the motion control in the DualShock 4, you can sketch out art on the drab urban landscape as you create your own colourful fantasy.
"We could only be inspired by this if we incorporated the bullying theme into the game itself," says Robilliard. "This is our third iteration of those mechanics - as the story progresses, and you become invested in the landscapes and the creatures that you've built, it's the bullies in the game that start ruining your artwork, and you get to experience what that feels like. It's not just Ash's artwork - it's your artwork.
"It's unusually difficult to have that - when you go back and expect to see your creature there and something terrible's happened. But it's also, as a gameplay mechanic, very good at incentivising you to fix that situation, it's very compelling to return it to how you originally made it. It's worked out from a design perspective too."
It looks like a thoughtful implementation of a powerful theme, a compelling mix of Okami and Papa and Yo and the kind of artful game that Sony has encouraged so well in the past. "All those games with an authentic emotional connection," says Robilliard as our brief time together comes to an end. "That's definitely something we aspire to."Assassin's Creed 3 has had an overhaul in terms of its control scheme, because it wasn't up to standard with the new environment. Lead game designer on Assassin's Creed 3, Steve Masters, explained: "The previous controls were really set up for a city environment where you didn't have a huge amount of choice in 3D about where you wee going. What it meant was that when we translated that into the frontier environment where you had trees and the choice of going forwards, up, around or jumping down, the previous controls weren't set up for handling that range of motion. Now, when you get into the trees, you feel safe as you navigate around. You can control the camera while you're free-running, which is something that has always been missing and lacking. And it means you can be tracking a deer and you know with perfect certainty that you're going to stay in the trees and not jump down and startle it." Alex Hutchinson added that you only need to hold down the right trigger to safely free-run now, which was not the case in previous games, meaning you can take more controls of the camera with your right thumb.In what represents an important step toward curing HIV, a USC scientist has created a virus that hunts down HIV-infected cells.
Dr. Pin Wang's lentiviral vector latches onto HIV-infected cells, flagging them with what is called "suicide gene therapy" -- allowing drugs to later target and destroy them.
"If you deplete all of the HIV-infected cells, you can at least partially solve the problem," said Wang, chemical engineering professor with the USC Viterbi School of Engineering.
The process is analogous to the military practice of "buddy lasing" -- that is, having a soldier on the ground illuminate a target with a laser to guide a precision bombing strike from an aircraft.
Like a precision bombing raid, the lentiviral vector approach to targeting HIV has the advantage of avoiding collateral damage, keeping cells that are not infected by HIV out of harm's way. Such accuracy has not been achieved by using drugs alone, Wang said.
So far, the lentiviral vector has only been tested in culture dishes and has resulted in the destruction of about 35 percent of existing HIV cells. While that may not sound like a large percentage, if this treatment were to be used in humans, it would likely be repeated several times to maximize effectiveness.
Among the next steps will be to test the procedure in mice. While this is an important breakthrough, it is not yet a cure, Wang said.
"This is an early stage of research, but certainly it is one of the options in that direction," he said.
Wang's research, which was funded by the National Institutes of Health, appears in the July 23 issue of Virus Research.As the 15th edition of the UEFA European Championship quickly approaches, we look at some of the most notable moments in the competition’s 56 year history.
Firstly, here are some honorable mentions:
Mario Balotelli’s brace and celebration v Germany at Euro 2012
Semih Şentürk’s 122nd minute equaliser v Croatia at Euro 2008
Zlatan Ibrahmimovic’s back heel volley v Italy at Euro 2004
Sweden and Denmark’s 2-2 draw knocks Italy out of Euro 2004
Zinedine Zidane’s stoppage time double v England at Euro 2004
Zinedine Zidane’s golden goal penalty and aftermatch v Portugal at Euro 2000
Italy’s coin toss victory at Euro 1968
Yugoslavia’s 5-4 semi-final victory v France at Euro 1960
USSR win the first ever European Championships in 1960
10 – Karel Poborský’s lob v Portugal at Euro 1996
Euro 1996 was a hotbed of great goals and perhaps Karel Poborský’s emphatic quarter-final winner against Portugal was the pick of the bunch.
The sumptuous piece of skill immortalised the Czech’s name in footballing history and continues to haunt Portuguese keeper Vítor Baía to this very day.
9 – Stuart Pearce’s penalty v Spain at Euro 1996
With his missed penalty from the 1990 World Cup still in the back of his mind, Stuart Pearce stepped forward under immense pressure to atone for his error six years on.
In front of a packed Wembley Stadium, Pearce smashed his penalty into the bottom right corner to the delight, and relief of England fans everywhere.
But no one was more emotional than Pearce himself, you could feel the six years of regret and heartbreak exuding from the England full-back with every passion filled punch of the air – a great moment which also helped England secure their first and only competitive shoot-out victory to date.
8 – Michel Platani scores nine at Euro 1984
Michel Platini scored nine goals for France at Euro 1984 as Les Blues lifted their first European Championship trophy.
Platini more than orchestrated the success with back-to-back hat-tricks against Belgium and Yugoslavia in the group stages before sending France to the final with a dramatic extra-time winner against Portugal.
Scoring in every single game he played, including the final, Platini’s feat is unlikely to be matched.
7 – Paul Gascoigne’s goal and celebration v Scotland at Euro 1996
England v Scotland is always a hostile affair and when the sides met at Euro 1996 in-front of almost 80,000 fans at Wembley Stadium, it was cranked up a notch further.
Alan Shearer gave the hosts the lead early in the second half and David Seaman’s save from Gary McAllister’s penalty kept the Three Lions’ slender advantage intact.
But what shortly followed was a piece of footballing genius from England’s mercurial midfielder. Gascoigne collected the ball, chipped it over Scotland defender Colin Hendry with his left foot before volleying the ball into the bottom corner with his right to double England’s lead.
It was one of the goals of the tournament, epitomising Gascoigne’s technical class and youthful flamboyancy perfectly with a goal that has gone down in European Championship history.
The ‘dentist’s chair’ celebration that followed was equally iconic as Gazza was immediately forgiven for his pre-tournament ‘overindulgences’.
6 – Bierhoff’s golden goal wins Euro 1996 for Germany
The first international tournament final ever to be decided via the golden goal rule was between Germany and Czech Republic at Euro 1996.
Patrik Berger’s penalty gave the Czech’s the lead in the second half before substitute Oliver Bierhoff grabbed an equaliser that would eventually see the game go into extra-time.
And with both sides knowing just a single goal would see them crowned champions, Bierhoff stepped forward once again with a 95th minute strike which sealed a memorable victory for the Germans.
5 – France win Euro 2000
Four years on from Germany’s golden goal triumph, the rule was used to decide the final once again – this time between France and Italy.
Italy took the lead just after half-time through Marco Delvecchio’s effort and the Azzurri looked set to take home their second European Championship but France had other ideas.
Two inspired substitutions from Roger Lemerre his side grab a 93rd minute equaliser through Sylvain Wiltord to take the game to extra-time.
And up stepped David Trezeguet to complete the turn around and confirm France’s place as Euro 2000 champions.
The next goal wins format of the golden goal rule has certainly brought some exciting moments but this would be the final time it would be used at the European Championship finals – should it come back?
4 – Antonín Panenka ‘s penalty wins Euro 1978 for Czechoslovakia
One of the most famous penalty kicks ever taken, Antonín Panenka’s Euro 1976 winning effort for Czechoslovakia has been imitated time and time again.
The ‘Panenka’ penalty as it became known, requires supreme confidence from the kick-taker and the audacity required from Panenka to try and succeed at doing this in a major international final is astounding to this day.
Forty years on and the Panenka is still going strong, Andrea Pirlo’s homage at Euro 2012 gained many plaudits but there is only one original.
Will we see any in France this summer?
3 – Marco Van Basten’s stunning volley in the Euro 1988 final
There are no words – the goal speaks for itself.
2 – Greece win Euro 2004
Before Leicester’s 2015/16 Premier League victory the football world had not witnessed such a shock victory since Greece’s Euro 2004 triumph in Portugal.
Going into the tournament as rank outsiders, Greece were placed in a group alongside a hotly fancied Spain, the hosts Portugal and a strong Russia side.
After opening the tournament with a surprise 2-1 victory over the hosts, Greece proceeded to draw with Spain.
A 2-1 defeat to Russia saw the Greek’s progress on goals scored at the expense of Spain as they went into the quarter-final to face the favourites and holders, France.
Greece had already caused an upset by beating Portugal and advancing from their group but Angelos Charisteas’ goal to help them beat France took things to another level.
And an extra-time victory over the Czech Republic in the semi-final meant Euro 2004 would end just how it started, with Greece facing Portugal, and the result was the same.
Charisteas’ second half header saw the Greeks seal an unlikely European Championship victory in just their second ever appearance in the tournament.
Winning a European Championship ahead of France, Portugal, Holland, Czech Republic and England sides all near the top of their game is a remarkable feat for any side, but for Greece to do it is simply ludicrous.
1 – Denmark win Euro 1992
A team that failed to qualify goes on to win the European Championships, it sounds like some ridiculous fairytale, but it’s just the story of Denmark in 1992.
Called in at the 11th hour following Yugoslavia’s expulsion from the competition, the Danes had been enjoying their holidays before they were handed a place in the tournament finals in Sweden.
No one, not even their own players gave them a chance – there was no pressure to deliver and that worked to their advantage.
They opened their tournament with a respectable 0-0 draw against England but lost their second match 1-0 against Sweden.
With their expected early exit looming, Denmark needed to beat France to be in with a chance of advancing – and they did just that.
Richard Moller Nielsen’s side won 2-1 thanks to goals from Henrik Larsen and Lars Elstrup and booked a place in the semi-final against Holland.
It was here where the fairytale was due to stop, Holland were the holders and many felt they would brush Denmark aside with relative ease.
But it wasn’t to be as a brace from Larsen helped the Danes take the game to penalties following a 2-2 draw after extra-time.
Now it was time for Peter Schmeichel to be the hero and he certainly delivered, saving Marco Van Basten’s penalty which ultimately knocked Holland out as Denmark advanced to the final to face world champions Germany.
Okay, they’ve had their fun, everyone must have thought. Surely the world champions would prevail?
But again, an inspired performance from the Danes saw them take the lead inside the first 20 minutes through John Jensen’s effort.
That rocked Germany who struggled to recover and 12 minutes from time, Denmark grabbed a second.
Kim Vilfort’s edge-of-the-box strike shocked the footballing world as Denmark’s impossible dream was becoming a reality.
The full-time whistle blew to confirm one of international football’s greatest ever upsets and the European Championship’s greatest ever moment.
Having failed to qualify for this year’s championship, perhaps Denmark fancy their chances this summer?
It’s impossible to name every great Euro moment so make sure to comment any special moments you feel deserve a mention and hopefully Euro 2016 provides us with many more to enjoy.
AdvertisementsCopyright by KOIN - All rights reserved Karl Ray Bates, 55, walked into Chang's Mongolian Grill on SE McLoughlin Blvd shortly before 8:50 p.m. and demanded money, June 2, 2015. (CCSO)
Copyright by KOIN - All rights reserved Karl Ray Bates, 55, walked into Chang's Mongolian Grill on SE McLoughlin Blvd shortly before 8:50 p.m. and demanded money, June 2, 2015. (CCSO)
KOIN 6 News Staff - MILWAUKIE, Ore. (KOIN) --- A man was taken into custody Tuesday night after allegedly threatening Clackamas County restaurant workers with a crowbar and bomb, officials said.
Karl Ray Bates, 55, walked into Chang's Mongolian Grill on SE McLoughlin Blvd shortly before 8:50 p.m. and demanded money, Clackamas County Sheriff's Office said. He allegedly told restaurant workers he had a bomb in a box outside.
Restaurant employees reportedly tackled Bates to the ground and held him until deputies arrived.
Bomb squad members who were called to the scene found a box with wires coming out of it. The restaurant was subsequently evacuated.
A robot was used to determine whether or not the device was explosive. Around 11 p.m., the box exploded. It is unclear if the detonation indicated the device was an active bomb.
SE Hwy 99E was closed from SE Glen Echo north to SE Meldrum while the bomb team investigated.
An employee with minor injuries from the altercation was treated at a nearby hospital. The suspect was also taken to the hospital for a minor injury.
Bates, who is on parole for robbery, is expected to face several charges including first-degree robbery.
3 Photos Copyright by KOIN - All rights reserved Metro Explosive Disposal unit was on the scene working to determine if the device was an active bomb. (KOIN)From mysterious 30,000-year-old cave paintings to a 'cathedral of the mind' by Jackson Pollock, art criticnames his favourite artworks of all time – and where in the world you can see them. What would make your top 10?
Leonardo da Vinci – The Foetus in the Womb (c 1510-13)
Leonardo expresses the human condition in a nutshell – indeed, his rendition of the womb resembles an opened horsechestnut casing. Inside is the beginning of us all laid bare. Five hundred years ago, this artist and scientist could portray the human mystery with a wonder that is not religious but biological he holds up humanity as a fact of nature. It is for me the most beautiful work of art in the world.
• Royal Collection, Windsor Castle
Caravaggio – The Beheading of Saint John the Baptist (1608)
Caravaggio's The Beheading of Saint John the Baptist. Photograph: Alamy
Caravaggio shows a murderous moment in a prison yard. The executioner has drawn a knife to sever the last tendons and skin of John the Baptist's neck. Someone watches this horrific moment from a barred window. All around is sepulchral gloom. Death and human cruelty are laid bare by this masterpiece, as its scale and shadow daunt and possess the mind.
• St John's Co-Cathedral, Valletta, Malta
Rembrandt – Self-Portrait with Two Circles (c 1665-9)
Rembrandt's Self-Portrait with Two Circles. Photograph: English Heritage/Kenwood House
You are not looking at Rembrandt. He is looking at you. The authority of genius and age gaze out of this autumnal masterpiece with a moral scrutiny that is terrifying. Rembrandt seems to see into the beholder's soul and perceive every failing. He is like God. He is the most serious artist of all, because he makes everyone who stands before him a supplicant in the court of truth.
• Kenwood House, London
Chauvet cave paintings (c 30, 000 years ago)
Spotted horses from the stone-age cave paintings found at Chauvet. Photograph: PA
Who painted these exquisitely lifelike portraits of animals? There was no such thing as writing in the ice age so nothing is known of the names, if they had names, of these early people. Cave artists may have been women; they may have been children. What is known is that Homo sapiens, our species of human, makes its mark with these paintings that are as beautiful and intelligent as anything created since.
• Chauvet-Pont-d'Arc Cave, Ardèche, France
Jackson Pollock – One: Number 31, 1950 (1950)
Visitors at MoMA in New York stand before Jackson Pollock's One: Number 31, 1950. Photograph: Alamy
The art of Jackson Pollock is a modern mystery. How, from flinging paint on a canvas laid on the ground, did he create such beauty and inner structure? Like a solo by Charlie Parker or Jimi Hendrix, his freeform improvisations loop and lurch and yet achieve a profound unity. Pollock only held this together for a short period of brilliance. This painting is a cathedral of the mind.
• MoMA, New York
Velázquez – Las Meninas (c 1656)
Velazquez's Las Meninas. Photograph: The Gallery Collection/Corbis
The king and queen stand where you are standing, in front of a gathering of courtiers. Velazquez looks from the portrait he is painting of the royal couple. The infanta and her retinue of maids (meninas) and dwarf entertainers are gathered before the monarch. In the distance, a minister or messenger is at the door. In a bright mirror, the royal reflection glows. This painting is a many-layered model of the world's strangeness.
• Prado, Madrid
Picasso – Guernica (1937)
Picasso's Guernica at Reina Sofia museum, Madrid. Photograph: Alamy
When Picasso started to paint his protest at the bombing of Guernica, the ancient Basque capital, by Hitler's air force on behalf of Franco in the Spanish Civil War, he was at the height of his powers. Thirty years after painting his subversive modernist grenade of a picture Les Demoiselles d'Avignon, his cubist intelligence was now enriched by the mythology and poetry unleashed by the surrealist movement. He also looked back to such historical paintings as Raphael's Fire in the Borgo as he set down the greatest human statement of the 20th century.
• Reina Sofia, Madrid
Michelangelo – Prisoners (c 1519-34)
Michelangelo, Prisoners, or Slaves. Photograph: George Tatge/CORBIS
Michelangelo's Prisoners, or Slaves, were begun for the tomb of Pope Julius II but never finished. In its entirety – including the Dying and Rebellious Slaves in the Louvre and the statue of Moses on the final, reduced version of the tomb eventually erected in Rome – this constitutes the greatest unfinished masterpiece in the world. Yet Michelangelo did not leave things unfinished out of laziness. It is an aesthetic choice. The tragic power of these prisoners as they struggle to emerge out of raw stone is an expression of the human condition that equals Shakespeare's Hamlet.
• Accademia Gallery, Florence
Parthenon Sculptures (447-442 BC)
Parthenon sculptures of Ancient Greece in situ at the British Museum in London. Photograph: In Pictures/Corbis
The long marble frieze, colossal broken statues of reclining gods, and frenzied carvings of centaurs fighting humans that Lord Elgin removed from the Athenian Acropolis two centuries ago are best known today as objects of controversy – which is sad, because we should be marvelling at their genius. Most of the best ancient Greek sculpture is only known through Roman copies. This is the greatest assembly anywhere of the real thing: the very art that created the idea of the "classic". Gaze on the lowing heifer that inspired Keats's Ode on a Grecian Urn and the goddesses whose robes uncannily resemble pictures by Leonardo da Vinci. Artistically, beyond the squabbles, it doesn't get better than this.
• British Museum, London
Cézanne – Mont Sainte-Victoire (1902-4)
Paul Cezanne's Mont Sainte-Victoire. Photograph: The |
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Léishén), punisher of those who go against the order of Heaven (1923 drawing). In the oldest accounts, he is one and the same with the Yellow Emperor.[53][54] In other accounts, such as the Huangdi Neijing, Leishen is the Yellow Emperor's foremost pupil. The eagle-faced Thunder God (雷神), punisher of those who go against the order of Heaven (1923 drawing). In the oldest accounts, he is one and the same with the Yellow Emperor.In other accounts, such as the, Leishen is the Yellow Emperor's foremost pupil.
By the Han dynasty, the universal God of early Shang-Zhou theology had found new expression by the names of Tàiyǐ (太乙 "Great Oneness"), "Supreme Oneness of the Central Yellow" (中黄太乙 Zhōnghuáng Tàiyǐ), or the "Yellow God of the Northern Dipper (i.e. Ursa Major)" (黄神北斗 Huángshén Běidǒu), other than by names inherited from the previous tradition. Although the name "Taiyi" became prominent in the Han, it harkens back to the Warring States, as attested in the poem The Supreme Oneness Gives Birth to Water, and possibly to the Shang dynasty as Dàyī (大一 "Big Oneness"), an alternative name for Shangs' (and universe's) greatest ancestor. Han theology focalised on the Yellow Emperor, a culture hero and creator of civility, who, according to a definition in apocryphal texts related to the Hétú 河圖, "proceeds from the essence of the Yellow God of the Northern Dipper", is born to "a daughter of a chthonic deity", and as such he is "a cosmic product of the conflation of Heaven and Earth".
In the myth, the Yellow Emperor was conceived by a virgin mother, Fubao, who was impregnated by Taiyi's radiance (yuanqi, "primordial pneuma") from the Big Dipper after she gazed at it. Through his human side, he was a descendant of 有熊氏 Yǒuxióng, the lineage of the Bear (another reference to the Ursa Major). Didier has studied the parallels that the Yellow Emperor's mythology has in other cultures, deducing a plausible ancient origin of the myth in Siberia or in north Asia.
In latter Han-dynasty description of the cosmology of the five forms of God by Sima Qian, it is important that the Yellow Emperor was portrayed as the grandfather of the Black Emperor (黑帝 Hēidì) of the north who personifies as well the pole stars, and as the tamer of the Flaming Emperor (炎帝 Yándì, otherwise known as the "Red Emperor"), his half-brother, who is the spirit of the southern Chinese populations known collectively as Chu in the Zhou dynasty.
Emperor Wu of Han (142–87 BCE), under the influence of the scholar Dong Zhongshu (who incorporated into Confucianism the man-focused developments of the common religion, formulating the doctrine of the Interactions Between Heaven and Mankind), and of prominent fangshi, officially integrated the Confucian state religion and ritual inherited from the erstwhile dynasties with the theology of Taiyi, while outside the state religion the Yellow God was the focus of Huang-Lao religious movements which influenced the primitive Taoist Church. Before the Confucian turn of Emperor Wu and after him, the early and latter Han dynasty had Huang-Lao as the state doctrine under various emperors; in Huang-Lao, the philosopher-god Laozi was identified as the Yellow Emperor and received imperial sacrifices, for instance by Emperor Huan (146-168).
Latter Han: popular millenarian and early Taoist churches [ edit ]
Han dynasty mural representing the Queen Mother of the West.
The latter Han dynasty (25–220 CE) struggled with both internal instability and menace by non-Chinese peoples from the outer edges of the empire. Prospects for a better personal life and salvation appealed to the masses who were periodically hit by natural disasters and galvanised by uprisings organised by self-proclaimed "kings" and "heirs". In such harsh conditions, while the imperial cult continued the sacrifices to the cosmological gods, common people estranged from the rationalism of the state religion found solace in enlightened masters and in reviving and perpetuating more or less abandoned cults of national, regional and local divinities that better represented indigenous identities. The Han state religion itself was "ethnicised" by associating the cosmological deities to regional populations.
By the end of the dynasty (206 BCE–8 CE) the earliest record of a mass religious movement attests the excitement provoked by the belief in the imminent advent of the Queen Mother of the West (西王母 Xīwángmǔ) in the northeastern provinces (then Henan, Hebei and Shandong) in the first half of the year 3 BCE. Though the soteriological movement included improper and possibly reprehensive collective behavior, it was not crushed by the government. Indeed, from the elites' point of view, the movement was connected to a series of abnormal cosmic phenomena seen as characteristic of an excess of 阴 yīn (femininity, sinister, reabsorption of the order of nature).
Between 184 and 205 CE, the Way of the Supreme Peace (太平道 Tàipíngdào) in the Central Plains, the earliest attested popular Taoist religious-military movement led by members of the Zhang lineage—prominently Zhang Jue and Zhang Liu, among leaders from other families—, organised the so-called Yellow Turban Rebellion against the Han dynasty. Later Taoist religious movements flourished in the Han state of Shu (modern Sichuan). A 巫 wū (shaman) of the Supreme Peace named Zhang Xiu was known to have led a group of followers from Shu into the uprising of the year 184. In 191 he reappeared as a military official in the province, together with the apparently unrelated Zhang Lu. During a military mission in Hanning (modern southwest Shaanxi), Xiu either died in battle or was killed by Lu himself, who incorporated Xiu's followers and seized the city, which he renamed Hanzhong. A characteristic of the territory governed by Lu was its significant non-Chinese population. Between 143 and 198, starting with the grandfather Zhang Daoling and culminating with Zhang Lu, the Zhang lineage had been organising the territory into dioceses or parishes, establishing a Taoist theocracy, the early Celestial Masters' Church (in Chinese variously called 五斗米道 Wǔdǒumǐdào, "Way of the Five Pecks of Rice", and later 天师道 Tiānshīdào, "Way of the Celestial Masters", or 正一道 Zhèngyīdào, "Way of the Orthodox Unity"). Zhang Lu died in 216 or 217, and between 215 and 219 the people of Hanzhong were gradually dispersed northwards, implanting Celestial Masters' Taoism in other parts of the empire.
The introduction of Buddhism [ edit ]
Buddhism was introduced during the latter Han dynasty, and first mentioned in 65 CE.[67][68]:821–822 Liu Ying, a half brother of Emperor Ming of Han (57–75 CE) was one of the earliest Chinese adherents, at a time when the imported religion interacted with Huang-Lao proto-Taoism.[68]:821–822 China's earliest known Buddhist temple, the White Horse Temple, was established outside the walls of the capital Luoyang during Emperor Ming's reign.[68]:823
Buddhism entered China via the Silk Road, transmitted by the Buddhist populations who inhabited the Western Regions (modern Xinjiang), then Indo-Europeans (predominantly Tocharians and Saka). It began to grow to become a significant influence in China proper only after the fall of the Han dynasty, in the period of political division. When Buddhism had become an established religion it began to compete with Chinese indigenous religion and Taoist movements, deprecatorily designated as Ways of Demons (鬼道 Guǐdào) in Buddhist polemical literature.
The period of division of the Six Dynasties [ edit ]
After the fall of the Han dynasty, a period of disunity defined as the "Six Dynasties" began. After the first stage of the Three Kingdoms (220–280), China was partially unified under the Jin dynasty (265–420), while much of the north was governed by sixteen independent states. The fall of the Han capital Luoyang to the Xiongnu in 311 led the royal court and Celestial Masters' clerics to migrate southwards. Jiangnan became the epicenter of the "southern tradition" of Celestial Masters' Taoism, which developed characteristic features, among which a meditation technique known as "guarding the One" (shouyi), that is visualising the unity God in the human organism.:3.2
Representatives of Jiangnan's indigenous religions responded to the spread of Celestial Masters' Taoism by reformulating their own traditions according to the imported religion. This led to the foundation of two new Taoist schools, with their own scriptural and ritual bodies: Shangqing Taoism (上清派 Shàngqīngpài, "Highest Clarity school"), based on revelations that occurred between 364 and 370 in modern-day Nanjing, and Lingbao Taoism (灵宝派 Língbǎopài, "Numinous Gem school"), based on revelations of the years between 397 and 402 and recodified later by Lu Xiujing (406-77). Lingbao incorporated from Buddhism the ideas of "universal salvation" and ranked "heavens", and focused on communal rituals.:3.3
Buddhism brought a model of afterlife to Chinese people and had a deep influence on Chinese culture. The story Mulian Rescues His Mother, for instance, is a parable dated back to the 3rd century, which adapts an originally Buddhist fable to show Confucian values of filial piety. In the story, a virtuous monk descends into hell to rescue his mother, who had been condemned for her transgressions.
Sui and Tang dynasties [ edit ]
In the Tang dynasty (618–907) the concept of "Tian" became more common at the expense of "Di", continuing a tendency that started in the Han dynasty. Both also expanded their meanings, with "di" now more frequently used as suffix of a deity's name rather than to refer to the supreme power. "Tian", besides, became more associated to its meaning of "Heaven" as a paradise or the hierarchy of physical skies. The proliferation of foreign religions in the Tang, especially Buddhist sects, entailed that each of them conceived their own ideal "Heaven". "Tian" itself started to be used, linguistically, as an affix in composite names to mean "heavenly" or "divine". This was also the case in the Buddhist context, with many monasteries' names containing this element.
Under the influence of foreign cultures and thought systems, new concepts to refer to the supreme God were formulated, such as Tiānzhōngtiān (天中天 "God of the Gods"), seemingly introduced by Yuezhi Buddhist missionaries to render the Sanskrit Devātideva (of the same meaning) or Bhagavān from their Iranian sources.
Both Buddhism and Taoism developed hierarchic pantheons which merged metaphysical (celestial) and physical (terrestrial) being, blurring the edge between the human and the divine, which reinforced the religious belief that gods and devotees sustain one another.
The cult of the City Gods [ edit ]
Temple of the City God of Sheng County Zhejiang. City God Temples are often built at the heart of trade and economic districts.
The principle of reciprocity between the human and the divine, which was strengthened during the Tang dynasty, led to changes in the pantheon that reflected changes in the society. The late Tang dynasty saw the spread of the cult of the City Gods in direct bond to the development of the cities as centres of commerce and the rise in influence of merchant classes. Commercial travel opened China to influences from foreign cultures.
The City God is a protector of the boundaries of a city and of its internal and economic affairs, such as trade and elections of politicians. In each city, the respective City God is embodied by one or more historical personages, native of the city itself, who distinguished themselves by extraordinary attainments. Scholar Valerie Hansen argues that the City God is not a homegrown cult, but has its prototype in the Indian Vaiśravaṇa as a guardian deity.
The suppressions of Buddhism and foreign religions [ edit ]
Ming dynasty [ edit ]
In the 16th century, the Jesuit China missions played a significant role in opening dialogue between China and the West. The Jesuits brought Western sciences, becoming advisers to the imperial court on astronomy, taught mathematics and mechanics, but also adapted Chinese religious ideas such as admiration for Confucius and ancestor veneration into the religious doctrine they taught in China.[8]:384
Qing dynasty [ edit ]
Founded by Manchu rulers, the Qing dynasty (1636–1912) promoted the teachings of Confucius as the textual tradition superior to all others. The Qing made their laws more severely patriarchal than any previous dynasty, and Buddhism and Taoism were downgraded. Despite this, Tibetan Buddhism began in this period to have significant presence in China, with Tibetan influence in the west, and with the Mongols and Manchus in the north.
Later, many folk religious and institutional religious temples were destroyed during the Taiping Rebellion (1850–1871). It was organised by Christian movements which established a separate state in south-east China against the Qing dynasty. In the Christian-inspired Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, official policies pursued the elimination of Chinese religions to substitute them with forms of Christianity. In this effort, the libraries of the Buddhist monasteries were destroyed, almost completely in the Yangtze River Delta.[79]
As a reaction, the Boxer Rebellion at the turn of the century (1899–1901) would have been inspired by indigenous Chinese movements against the influence of Christian missionaries—"devils" as they were called by the Boxers—and Western colonialism. At that time China was being gradually invaded by European and American powers, and since 1860 Christian missionaries had had the right to build or rent premises, and they appropriated many temples. Churches with their high steeples and foreigners' infrastructures, factories and mines were viewed as disrupting feng shui ("wind–water" cosmic balance) and caused "tremendous offence" to the Chinese. The Boxers' action was aimed at sabotaging or outrightly destroying these infrastructures.[80]
Early 20th century [ edit ]
Urumqi, Xinjiang. Temple of the Great Buddha in Midong
Tàiqīnggōng), an urban temple of Gansu. Evening market at the Temple of Supreme Brightness (太清宫), an urban temple of Zhengyi Taoism in Xiguan, Lanzhou
China entered the 20th century under the Manchu Qing dynasty, whose rulers favoured traditional Chinese religions, and participated in public religious ceremonies, with state pomp, as at the Temple of Heaven in Beijing, where prayers for the harvest were offered. Tibetan Buddhists recognised the Dalai Lama as their spiritual and temporal leader. Popular cults were regulated by imperial policies, promoting certain deities while suppressing others. During the anti-foreign and anti-Christian Boxer Uprising of 1900, thousands of Chinese Christians and foreign missionaries were killed, but in the aftermath of the retaliatory invasion, numbers of reform-minded Chinese turned to Christianity. Between 1898 and 1904 the imperial government issued a measure to "build schools with temple property" (庙产兴学 miàochǎn xīngxué).[83]:3
After the Revolution of 1911, with increasing urbanisation and Western influence, the issue for the new intellectual class was no longer the worship of heterodox gods as it was the case in imperial times, but the delegitimisation of religion itself, and especially folk religion, as an obstacle to modernisation. Leaders of the New Culture Movement (1916–1923) debated whether religion was cosmopolitan spirituality or irrational superstition, and the Anti-Christian Movement of 1923 was part of a rejection of Christianity as an instrument of foreign imperialism.
The Guomindang-governed Republic of China (1912–49) intensified the suppression of local religion. Temples were widely appropriated, destroyed, or used for schools. The 1928 "Standards for retaining or abolishing gods and shrines" formally abolished all cults of gods with the exception of human heroes such as Yu the Great, Guan Yu and Confucius. Sun Yat-sen, the first president of the Republic of China, and his successor Chiang Kai-shek, were both Christians. During the Japanese invasion of China between 1937 and 1945 many temples were used as barracks by soldiers and destroyed in warfare.
People's Republic of China [ edit ]
Fujian. A Buddhist temple being refurbished in 2015 in Chongwu
The People's Republic of China, proclaimed in 1949 under the leadership of Mao Zedong, established a policy of state atheism. Initially, the new government did not suppress religious practice, but, like its dynastic ancestors, viewed popular religious movements, especially in the countryside, as possibly seditious. The government condemned religious organisations, labeling them as superstitious. Religions that were deemed "appropriate" and given freedom were those that entailed the ancestral tradition of consolidated state rule.[89] In addition, Marxism viewed religion as feudal. The Three-Self Patriotic Movement institutionalised Protestant churches in official organisations that renounced foreign funding and foreign control as imperialist. Chinese Catholics resisted the new government's move towards state control and independence from the Vatican. Later onwards, the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976) involved a systematic effort to destroy religion. The historian Arthur Waldron explains that "communism was, in effect, a religion for its early Chinese converts: more than a sociological analysis, it was a revelation and a prophecy that engaged their entire beings and was expounded in sacred texts, many imported from Moscow and often printed in English".
The radical policy relaxed considerably in the late 1970s. Since 1978, the Constitution of the People's Republic of China guarantees "freedom of religion". Its article 36 states that:[92][93]
Citizens of the People's Republic of China enjoy freedom of religious belief. No state organ, public organization or individual may compel citizens to believe in, or not to believe in, any religion; nor may they discriminate against citizens who believe in, or do not believe in, any religion. The state protects normal religious activities. No one may make use of religion to engage in activities that disrupt public order, impair the health of citizens or interfere with the educational system of the state. Religious bodies and religious affairs are not subject to any foreign domination.
For several decades, the party acquiesced or even encouraged a religious revival. Most Chinese were allowed to worship as they felt best. Although "spiritual practices" such as the Falun Gong were banned and practitioners have been persecuted since 1999, local authorities were likely to follow a hands-off policy towards other religions. In the late 20th century there was a reactivation of the state cults devoted to the Yellow Emperor and the Red Emperor. In the early 2000s, the Chinese government became open especially to traditional religions such as Mahayana Buddhism, Taoism and folk religion, emphasising the role of religion in building a "Harmonious Society" (hexie shehui),[95] a Confucian idea.[96][97] China hosted religious meetings and conferences including the first World Buddhist Forum in 2006 and the subsequent World Buddhist Forums, a number of international Taoist meetings and local conferences on folk religions. Aligning with Chinese anthropologists' emphasis on "religious culture",[83]:5–7 the government considers these religions as integral expressions of national "Chinese culture".[98]
A turning point was reached in 2005, when folk religious cults began to be protected and promoted under the policies of intangible cultural heritage.[83]:9 Not only were traditions that had been interrupted for decades resumed, but ceremonies forgotten for centuries were reinvented. The annual worship of the god Cáncóng of the ancient state of Shu, for instance, was resumed at a ceremonial complex near the Sanxingdui archaeological site in Sichuan.[99] New deities have emerged, including Chēshén (车神), the god protecting motor vehicles, and modern Chinese political leaders have been deified into the common Chinese pantheon.
In 2012 Xi Jinping was elected as the General Secretary of the Communist Party of China. During his early political career in the 1980s, Xi was the secretary of Zhengding County in Hebei, where he allied himself with Chan master Youming and helped the reconstruction of the county's Buddhist temples, explicitly expressing interest towards Buddhism. Once he became president of China, fighting moral void and corruption through a return to traditional culture became the primary tasks of the new government. The government's project also involved restricting Christian churches, which resulted in some removals of crosses from steeples and churches' demolition. At least one prominent pastor who protested was arrested on charges of misusing church funds. A lawyer who had counselled these churches appeared on state television to confess that he had been in collusion with American organisations to incite local Christians.[102]
André Laliberté noted that despite there having been much talk about "persecution against religion (especially Christianity) in China", one should not jump to hasty conclusions, since "a large proportion of the population worship, pray, perform rituals and hold certain beliefs with the full support of the Party. Most of this activity affects people who subscribe to world views that are sometimes formally acknowledged by the state and are institutionalised, or others that are tacitly approved as customs". In this context, Christianity not only represents a small proportion of the population, but its adherents are still seen by the majority who observe traditional rituals as followers of a foreign religion that sets them apart from the body of society.
The Associated Press reported in September 2018 that "Xi is waging the most severe systematic suppression of Christianity in the country since religious freedom was written into the Chinese constitution in 1982.", which has involved "destroying crosses, burning bibles, shutting churches and ordering followers to sign papers renouncing their faith".[104]
Demographics [ edit ]
Demoscopic analyses and general results [ edit ]
Guangdong. Temple of Mazu, the goddess of the sea, in Shanwei
Worshipers at the Temple of the City God of Suzhou Jiangsu. Is it Taoism or folk religion? To the general Chinese public they are not distinguished, but a lay practitioner would hardly claim to be a "Taoist", as Taoism is a set of doctrinal and liturgical functions that work as specialising patterns for the indigenous religion.
Xiāngxuěsì), a rural Buddhist convent in Wenzhou, Zhejiang. Incense Snow Temple (香雪寺), a rural Buddhist convent in Ouhai
Fujian. A neighbourhood folk shrine festooned for a festival, in Chongwu
Counting the number of religious people anywhere is hard; counting them in China is even harder. Low response rates, non-random samples, and adverse political and cultural climates are persistent problems.[106]:47 One scholar concludes that statistics on religious believers in China "cannot be accurate in a real scientific sense", since definitions of "religion" exclude people who do not see themselves as members of a religious organisation but are still "religious" in their daily actions and fundamental beliefs. The forms of Chinese religious expression tend to be syncretic and following one religion does not necessarily mean the rejection or denial of others. In surveys, few people identify as "Taoists" because to most Chinese this term refers to ordained priests of the religion. Traditionally, the Chinese language has not included a term for a lay follower of Taoism, since the concept of being "Taoist" in this sense is a new word that derives from the Western concept of "religion" as membership in a church institution.
Analysing Chinese traditional religions is further complicated by discrepancies between the terminologies used in Chinese and Western languages. While in the English current usage "folk religion" means broadly all forms of common cults of gods and ancestors, in Chinese usage and in academia these cults have not had an overarching name. By "folk religion" (民間宗教 mínjiān zōngjiào) or "folk beliefs" (民間信仰 mínjiān xìnyǎng) Chinese scholars have usually meant folk religious organisations and salvationist movements (folk religious sects). Furthermore, in the 1990s some of these organisations began to register as branches of the official Taoist Association and therefore to fall under the label of "Taoism". In order to address this terminological confusion, some Chinese intellectuals have proposed the legal recognition and management of the indigenous religion by the state and to adopt the label "Chinese native (or indigenous) religion" (民俗宗教 mínsú zōngjiào) or "Chinese ethnic religion" (民族宗教 mínzú zōngjiào), or other names.[note 5]
There has been much speculation by some Western authors about the number of Christians in China. Chris White, in a 2017 work for the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity of the Max Planck Society, criticises the data and narratives put forward by these authors. He notices that these authors work in the wake of a "Western evangelical bias" reflected in the coverage carried forward by popular media, especially in the United States, which rely upon a "considerable romanticisation" of Chinese Christians. Their data are mostly ungrounded or manipulated through undue interpretations, as "survey results do not support the authors' assertions".[116]
Besides the surveys based on fieldwork, estimates using projections have been published by the Pew Research Center as part of its study of the Global Religious Landscape in 2010. This study estimated 21.9% of the population of China believed in folk religions, 18.2% were Buddhists, 5.1% were Christians, 1.8% were Muslims, 0.8% believed in other religions, while unaffiliated people constituted 52.2% of the population.[127] According to the surveys by Phil Zuckerman published on Adherents.com, 59% of the Chinese population was not religious in 1993, and in 2005 between 8% and 14% was atheist (from over 100 to 180 million).[106] A survey held in 2012 by WIN/GIA found that in China the atheists comprise 47% of the population.[128]
Yu Tao's survey of the year 2008 provided a detailed analysis of the social characteristics of the religious communities.[119] It found that the proportion of male believers was higher than the average among folk religious people, Taoists, and Catholics, while it was lower than the average among Protestants. The Buddhist community shew a greater balance of male and female believers. Concerning the age of believers, folk religious people and Catholics tended to be younger than the average, while Protestant and Taoist communities were composed by older people. The Christian community was more likely than other religions to have members belonging to the ethnic minorities. The study analysed the proportion of believers that were at the same time members of the local section of the Communist Party of China, finding that it was exceptionally high among the Taoists, while the lowest proportion was found among the Protestants. About education and wealth, the survey found that the wealthiest populations were those of Buddhists and especially Catholics, while the poorest was that of the Protestants; Taoists and Catholics were the better educated, while the Protestants were the less educated among the religious communities. These findings confirmed a description by Francis Ching-Wah Yip that the Protestant population was predominantly composed of rural people, illiterate and semi-illiterate people, elderly people, and women, already in the 1990s and early 2000s.[129] A 2017 study of the Christian communities of Wuhan found the same socio-economic characteristics, with the addition that Christians were more likely to suffer from physical and mental illness than the general population.[130]
The China Family Panel Studies' findings for 2012 shew that Buddhists tended to be younger and better educated, while Christians were older and more likely to be illiterate.[123]:17–18 Furthermore, Buddhists were generally wealthy, while Christians most often belonged to the poorest parts of the population.[123]:20–21 Henan was found hosting the largest percentage of Christians of any province of China, about 6%.[123]:13 According to Ji Zhe, Chan Buddhism and individual, non-institutional forms of folk religiosity are particularly successful among the contemporary Chinese youth.[131]
Graphic representations of various analyses General surveys' results Religions in five Chinese cities[A], Yao X. 2005[132] Religion or belief % Cults of gods and ancestors 23.8% Buddhism or worship of Buddha 23.1% Believe in fate and divination 38.5% Believe in feng shui 27.1% Believe in celestial powers 26.7% Are not members of religions 51.8% Are members of religions 5.3% Are convinced atheists 32.9% Religions in China, Horizon[133] Religion 2005 2006 2007 Buddhism 11% 16% 12% Taoism <1% <1% <1% Islam 1.2% 0.7% 2.9% Christianity 4% 1% 2% Catholicism 2% <1% 1% Protestantism 2% 1% 1% Other religion 0.3% 0.1% 0.1% None 77% 77% 81% Refused to answer 7% 5% 5% Religions in China, CGSS[134]: 13 Religion 2006 2008 2010 2011 Average Buddhism 7.4% 7.0% 5.5% 5.0% 6.2% Taoism 0.2% 0.2% 0.2% 0.2% 0.2% Folk religious sects 2.7% 0.3% 2.9% 1.9% 2.2% Islam 1.2% 0.7% 2.9% 1.1% 1.7% Christianity 2.1% 2.2% 2.1% 2.6% 2.3% Catholicism 0.3% 0.1% 0.2% 0.4% 0.3% Protestantism 1.8% 2.1% 1.9% 2.2% 2.0% Other religion 0.3% 0.1% 0.1% 0.3% 0.2% Traditional worship or "not religious" 86.1% 89.5% 86.3% 88.9% 87.2% Religions in China, CSLS 2010[135] Religion Number % Cults of gods and ancestors 754 million 56.2%[B] Buddhism 185 million 13.8% Buddhist initiates 17,3 million 1.3% Taoist folk religions 173 million 12.9% Taoists 12 million 0.9% Christianity 33 million 2.4% Protestantism 30 million 2.2% Catholicism 3 million 0.2% Islam 23 million 1.7% Geographic and socioeconomic distributions Demographic, political and socioeconomic characteristics of religious believers, Yu Tao—CCAP[C]—PU 2008[136][D] Religious community Weighed proportion (%) Male proportion (%) Average age (years) Agricultural household proportion (%) Ethnic minority proportion (%) Married proportion (%) Communist Party member proportion (%) Education (years) Annual family income (yuan) Traditional folk religion 31.09 64.8 46.46 96.4 1.1 94.6 9.8 5.94 29.772 Buddhism 10.85 54.4 49.44 95.8 0.0 92.1 9.8 5.88 38.911 Protestantism 3.54 47.7 49.66 89.2 4.6 96.9 4.6 5.83 24.168 Taoism 0.71 64.3 50.50 92.9 0.0 100 21.4 6.29 30.630 Catholicism 0.39 66.7 46.33 91.7 8.3 91.7 8.3 7.50 46.010 Religious people average 46.59 61.6 49.45 96.2 1.2 93.8 9.6 5.94 30.816 Not religious people 53.41 64.6 50.62 96.3 5.5 93.3 15.0 6.40 26.448 Religions by age group, CFPS 2012[134]: 17 Religion 60+ 50—60 40—50 30—40 30- Buddhism 6.0% 6.0% 5.8% 7.9% 6.6% Taoism 0.4% 0.4% 0.2% 0.4% 0.3% Islam 0.4% 0.8% 0.5% 0.8% 0.3% Christianity 2.9% 2.3% 2.5% 1.2% 1.5% Catholicism 0.3% 0.3% 0.6% 0.1% 0.3% Protestantism 2.6% 2.0% 1.9% 1.1% 1.2% Other religion 0.7% 0.4% 0.7% 0.5% 0.2% Traditional worship or "not religious" 89.6% 90.2% 90.3% 89.1% 91.0% Religious self-identification of university students in Beijing (2011)[137] Not religious or other (80.3%) Buddhism (7%) Confucianism (4%) Christianity (3.9%) Taoism (2.7%) Islam (2.1%) Religious self-identification of participants of the cultural nationalist movement in the mainland (2011)[138] Confucianism (59.6%) Buddhism (26.3%) Taoism (4.1%) Christianity[E] (0.6%) (0.6%) Don't know (9.4%) ^ Beijing, Shanghai, Nantong, Wuhan, Baoding. ^ Although a lower 215 million, or 16% said they "believed in the existence" of ancestral spirits. ^ Center for Chinese Agricultural Policy ^ Sichuan, Shaanxi, Jilin, The populations surveyed were those of the provinces of Jiangsu Hebei and Fujian ^ Mostly Catholicism (0.6%), while nobody declared affiliation with Protestantism (0%).
Geographic distribution [ edit ]
[141][142] Geographic distributions and major communities of religions in China.
The varieties of Chinese religion are spread across the map of China in different degrees. Southern provinces have experienced the most evident revival of Chinese folk religion,[143] although it is present all over China in a great variety of forms, intertwined with Taoism, fashi orders, Confucianism, Nuo rituals, shamanism and other religious currents. Quanzhen Taoism is mostly present in the north, while Sichuan is the area where Tianshi Taoism developed and the early Celestial Masters had their main seat. Along the southeastern coast, Taoism reportedly dominates the ritual activity of popular religion, both in registered and unregistered forms (Zhengyi Taoism and unrecognised fashi orders). Since the 1990s, Taoism has been well-developed in the area.
Many scholars see "north Chinese religion" as distinct from practices in the south.[146] The folk religion of southern and southeastern provinces is primarily focused on the lineages and their churches (zōngzú xiéhuì 宗族协会) and the worship of ancestor-gods. The folk religion of central-northern China (North China Plain), otherwise, is focused on the communal worship of tutelary deities of creation and nature as identitary symbols, by villages populated by families of different surnames, structured into "communities of the god(s)" (shénshè 神社, or huì 会, "association"), which organise temple ceremonies (miaohui 庙会), involving processions and pilgrimages, and led by indigenous ritual masters (fashi) who are often hereditary and linked to secular authority.[note 9] Northern and southern folk religions also have a different pantheon, of which the northern one is composed of more ancient gods of Chinese mythology.
Folk religious movements of salvation have historically been more successful in the central plains and in the northeastern provinces than in southern China, and central-northern popular religion shares characteristics of some of the sects, such as the great importance given to mother goddess worship and shamanism, as well as their scriptural transmission.[146]:92 Also Confucian churches and jiaohua organisations have historically found much resonance among the population of the northeast; in the 1930s the Universal Church of the Way and its Virtue alone aggregated at least 25% of the population of the state of Manchuria and contemporary Shandong has been analysed as an area of rapid growth of folk Confucian groups.
Goossaert talks of this distinction, although recognising it as an oversimplification, between a "Taoist south" and a "village-religion/Confucian centre-north",[146]:47 with the northern context also characterised by important orders of "folk Taoist" ritual masters, one order being |
10. ZOE
11. PRINCESS
12. BELLA
13. ANGEL
14. LADY
15. SASHA
16. ABBY
17. ROXY
18. MISSY
19. BRANDY
20. COCO
21. ANNIE
22. KATIE
23. SAMANTHA
24. CASEY
25. GRACIE
26. ROSIE
27. MISTY
28. EMMA
29. SANDY
30. HEIDI
Leave a ReplyPACKAGE 1: ‘THE MAINSTREAMER’ Its foundational pillars are Amazon Video ($8.99) and Netflix ($9.99). (For the sake of coherence, I’m going to stick to monthly rates, before taxes; note that Amazon’s video service comes with Amazon Prime’s $99 annual fee.) Hulu carries more television shows than movies, but it’s not light on movies, particularly popular ones. Unless you like to watch commercials, in which case your Hulu will run $7.99, the desirable option will be commercial-free version at $11.99. Add HBO Now ($14.99), Starz ($8.99) and Showtime ($10.99). That’s $65.94 worth of monthly streaming. (Explorers of Amazon Video/Amazon Prime will point out that there’s a good deal of HBO programming already free through the service; this doesn’t include movies currently on HBO, or the most recent original programming, including made-for-the-channel movies. This is worth considering when determining whether or not to add HBO Now.) But if you want to rent or purchase a film on demand, either a classic or something recently released in theaters, there are also movies available à la carte, from $2.99 to $14.99, available on Amazon, Vudu, Google Play, iTunes and more. Let’s postulate that each month you spend $2.99, $4.99 and $14.99 on a single movie from one of these — that’s $22.97. So the services and a few potentially spur-of-the-moment purchases, you’re looking at $88.91. Not exactly cheap, but were I to pitch it to you with the proviso “Less Than $100 a Month,” you might think, “Not bad.”
PACKAGE 2: ‘THE BUFF’ These are movie-only or movie-heavy sites that offer cinema of a more artistic, esoteric, possibly obscure bent, and reject American cultural hegemony by, in most cases, going around the world for their fare. I’d say the foundation would be FilmStruck with the Criterion Channel option at $10.99 a month. It’s $6.99 a month without Criterion, but you’ll want Criterion, for its smartly chosen array of largely foreign cinematic milestones. Warner Archive ($9.99) is the odds and ends of a great American studio, not a very global concern but still full of enticing options. Then there’s the limited-run streaming art house Mubi ($5.99), which has, during special promotions, offered enticing yearly subscription discounts ($34.99 as opposed to $47.99). Fandor, an eclectic and often exciting service with thousands of movies ranging from martial arts romps such as “Master of the Flying Guillotine” to expansive, obscure French brainteasers like “Out 1,” is $10 a month. And the solid indie provider Sundance Now, which also offers original series, is $6.99. That’s about $44 a month.
PACKAGE 3: ‘THE FRINGE’ If you like genre movies above all, or like digging for cinematic thrills in obscure but not necessarily arty corners, this might be a good option. You’ll need Warner Archive ($9.99); the blaxploitation service Brown Sugar ($3.99); and the horror specialist Screamhouse ($4.99), which runs scary gamuts each with its own menu subheading, including “Extreme,” which has the indeed highly unpleasant “Cannibal Ferox.” Shudder, another horror service ($4.99), recently made waves by offering the controversial Ken Russell nuns-gone-wild film “The Devils”; finicky horror lovers almost immediately protested on social media that it was not the uncut version. (In fairness to Shudder, the actual provenance of an uncut version of this movie is highly obscure.) Amazon’s video service is rife with noir titles in various states of disrepair or restoration. A lot of genre stuff in the public domain (until a copyright owner can effectively yell “Foul!”) is on YouTube, which is free; for the sake of argument, we’ll add YouTubeRed ($9.99) to this bill of fare. Crunchyroll has an anime-only membership for $6.95. And the Urban Movie Channel ($4.99) is not as blaxploitation-heavy as Brown Sugar, but it doesn’t exactly lack, either, especially when it comes to latter-day genre variants like the Southern sins-of-the-fathers 2009 thriller “In the Electric Mist” or the bayou-psychic tale “The Sickle” (2015). Total: a little over $45; with Amazon added as a digging option, a little under $55.
All this of course can be supplemented by free services other than YouTube, like the site of DVD label Shout! Factory and Vimeo. If only there was a service that would allow one to buy leisure time, we’d be all set.Play 01:49 Play 01:49 Agarkar: An opportunity for Bangar to prove his worth
Sanjay Bangar, the former India and Railways allrounder, has been appointed India's head coach for the team's tour to Zimbabwe. Bangar, 43, had worked with the team as assistant coach till their previous international assignment, the World T20 in March and April this year, under team director Ravi Shastri.
Abhay Sharma, who most recently worked with the India Under-19 and A teams, was named fielding coach for the tour. He had also worked with the Rest of India team that beat Ranji Trophy champions Mumbai in dramatic fashion in the 2016 Irani Cup.
Bangar oversaw India's batsmen since the coaching team, also comprising Shastri, B Arun (bowling) and R Sridhar (fielding), was appointed during the limited-overs leg of India's tour to England in 2014. Their contracts expired at the end of the World T20, and the BCCI had said it would put together an interim coaching team for Zimbabwe; June 10 is the deadline for candidates to apply for the role of India's full-time head, and the appointment process will be completed before India leave for the West Indies in July.
There will be no bowling coach travelling with the Indian team because, according to BCCI secretary Ajay Shirke, Zimbabwe was a "very short tour". This means Arun and Sridhar will have to re-apply for the coaching positions in June, if they want to continue in India's coaching staff.
Neither Shirke nor any other BCCI official was available for a comment on Shastri's future. After taking over as BCCI president, Anurag Thakur had complimented Shastri and his team of coaches for having done a good job during their tenure. He had mentioned that everyone who felt he was eligble for the India coaching job could apply.
India play three T20s and three ODIs in Zimbabwe, starting on June 11. The selectors had named a largely inexperienced squad for the tour, which will be led by MS Dhoni, the only big name in the XVI.
The BCCI release announcing the staff appointments did not name a bowling coach for the tour. Koka Ramesh, a former zonal secretary of the Andhra Cricket Association, was named administrative team manager for the tour.
© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.INDORE: To save his dog from being put to sleep, Adarsh Sood and his family bought their 9-year-old Brownie wheels to support its paralyzed hind legs and help him walk.Sood said that the labrador is more than a pet for their family. "While chasing a dog on the road, Brownie was hit by a bike due to which its backbone was broken, paralyzing his hind legs forever," narrated Sood.The vet said Brownie would never be able to walk. "It broke our hearts as he is the most active and favorite member of our family. The doctor also told us that it would be difficult for the dog to carry himself, as he weighs 50kg. He suggested mercy killing," Sood said adding his elder brother Sameer refused the option.The family then searched online and saw wheelchair or wheel-supporters for dogs, which helps them walk. "We first tried making the wheelchair as we knew Brownie’s need, but later we purchased it from Delhi for Rs 10,000," said Sood.Though it was not as easy to make Brownie walk on wheels, he underwent exercises suggested by doctor to reduce its weight, so that he can balance on wheels. "Now Brownie is healthy with his two legs and two wheels, and with them he can walk and run easily," said Sood.Gorgeous bodies, terrible posture
Don't copy those slouching celebs. Bad posture won't just cause a bad back, but depression too!
At first glance, it was hard to put a finger on it. As the succession of celebrities stepped on to the red carpet at the Golden Globes, there was no denying that most of the outfits were exquisite.
The jewels and accessories were dazzling, while the hair and make-up was perfect. Yet many of the female actresses and singers looked distinctly uncomfortable in front of the world’s cameras. The reason? Their posture was appalling.
Actress Michelle Williams looked round-shouldered in her putty-coloured number by Valentino, while country music star Carrie Underwood’s sunken chest did nothing for her strapless sequin dress. Even the statuesque Tilda Swinton appeared to stoop.
Slouching: Emma Watson, left, and Anne Hathaway strike ungainly poses on the red carpet
And it’s not only celebrities whose posture is shocking. One in five people in Britain visits their GP complaining of back pain each year — yet many of them could be cured by learning to stand and sit properly.
It’s not only spinal problems either. Researchers at North State Dakota University have found a link between poor posture and depression, and many experts believe stooping and slouching could be associated with weight gain, heartburn, migraines, anxiety and respiratory conditions.
So, what is good posture and how can we achieve it?
MINOR ACHES Children as young as seven are suffering back problems due to poor posture
‘By drawing back the shoulders we create enough space within the body for the connective tissues inside to align themselves correctly,’ says body alignment expert Chris James.
‘Imagine hanging a piece of string above you when you’re in a seated position — it should pass directly through the head, midway between the shoulder blades and through the centre of the pelvis to the floor.
‘Good posture allows for the free flow of blood and oxygen around the body, which forms the foundation of good health. Without proper alignment, the body can attract disease.’
The good news is that it’s relatively simple to correct poor posture — whatever your age.
Physiotherapist Cheyne Voss says the process of diagnosing and tackling poor posture begins at a muscular level. ‘People who slouch often lack sufficient support in the natural curve of their lumbar [lower] spine,’ he says.
‘As a result, the pectoral muscles of the chest are shortened while the trapezius muscle in the back becomes elongated. This puts pressure on to discs and nerves in the spine — causing pain.’
Poor posture: From left, Sandra Bullock, Gwyneth Paltrow and Keira Knightley
A McKenzie lumbar roll (£9.50; amazon.co.uk), which clips on to your chair and supports the lower back in the curve of the lower spine, can help this, maintaining a correct spinal alignment while sitting and encouraging a more upright position.
Voss advises squeezing your arms against the sides of your body to lower the shoulders, then contracting the core muscles of the stomach to add support to the lumbar spine.
It’s not only standing or sitting still that causes a problem. Our ‘dynamic posture’ — which occurs while we’re moving — also causes as many problems as our static posture.
Women who wear heels have a tendency to tilt their pelvis backwards, over-extending the arch at the base of the spine. Also, the so-called ‘photo pose’ that most actresses adopt (one leg in front of the other with one hand on a tilted hip and shoulders at an angle) might look good in pictures, but in reality it is forcing the body into a position that’s far from well balanced.
HOW TO PROMOTE GOOD POSTURE Put a sign at eye level in front of your desk reminding yourself to gently squeeze your shoulders together and not to slump when you are sitting.
Smile. Positive ‘facial posture’ plays an essential part in signaling an upward lift in our mood.
Eating 200mg of oily fish twice a week will help to reduce inflammation and pain.
Stretch every so often at your desk. Place your hands behind your head, squeeze your elbows together and gently move backwards until you feel a stretch in the tight area of your upper back.
Persist. Retraining your muscles to keep you in an upright position can seem like hard work at first, but the more you practise, the more natural it becomes.
Yet while changing our physical position is crucial to halting the negative impacts of posture, experts believe it’s only one part of the battle.
Gerardo Reis, senior naturopath at London’s Alchemy Centre, believes poor posture has a closer link to our diet and weight than we realise. ‘Having poor posture can adversely affect many different systems in the body, including the nerves leading to the digestive organs,’ he says. ‘If the body’s ability to break down food is impaired, it can lead to an accumulation of toxins.
‘This may affect the thyroid, causing weight gain, bloating, hormonal imbalance and even the health of our skin and hair.
‘Stress causes people to hunch their shoulders. It’s a subconscious reaction to the pressure. Herbal teas including skullcap, withania and passion flower can help loosen postural tension.’
Podiatrist Margaret Dabbs believes that improving our ‘dynamic posture’ begins with our feet. ‘When walking, our weight rolls from the heel to the toe,’ she says.
‘The foot should be supported throughout this movement. Without this, our weight distribution can stray, forcing our upper body to lean backwards or forwards.’
Specialist shoes such as FitFlops
can help. They encourage the correct alignment of the knees and pelvis and
fix the natural curve of the spine into a good posture.
Frequent use of a rowing machine or repetitive exercises such as press-ups — which encourage the back to round — can worsen poor posture.
Consultant psychologist Ingrid Collins believes there’s an intrinsic link between the body’s position and our ‘psychological posture’.
‘At a cellular level, when happiness molecules — or endorphins — produced within the brain circulate in the blood, they send a signal to every cell that we’re happy and healthy,’ she says.
‘If we arrange ourselves physically in a positive manner with the shoulders back, the spine straight and the chest open, it informs the brain to send out more endorphins, triggering a feeling we experience as happiness.’
To tackle physical and psychological posture simultaneously, Chris James integrates yoga with Feldenkrais — a method of exercise developed by an Israeli physicist and martial arts expert during the mid-20th century.
Unlike traditional yoga or Pilates, Feldenkrais practitioners guide you through a series of subtle movements.The Roz Ward case confirms what’s been apparent for some time: political correctness has become central to Australian conservatism.
That might seem counterintuitive since so much of what passes for commentary at the moment consists of right-wingers denouncing PC and its advocates.
Consider the moaning and whining about a video released by David Morrison, the former head of the army now running something called the Diversity Council. In it, Morrison suggests that people should avoid exclusionary and gendered language at work. A fairly unexceptional point, one might think. But Morrison also mentions that he no longer uses the word ‘guys’ – and that, of course, spurred the usual free speech rage-gasm.
Gerard Henderson responded with a piece entitled ‘Guys, it’s an exciting time to be an offence-taker’, while the reliably hyperbolic Brendan O’Neill pretty much declared Western civilization to be at an end.
‘It’s official,’ he wailed, ‘no zone of life is safe from the long noses and wagging fingers of the lifestyle cops and word police.’
Here we have the typical presentation of political correctness, generally depicted as a vast conspiracy led by powerful left-wingers exercising their censorial powers to silence humble folk.
Of course, that’s largely nonsense.
In fact, even O’Neill, a man who’s built a career out of a braying enthusiasm for whatever liberals currently hate, accepts Morrison’s general argument.
‘Some of the advice is patronisingly obvious,’ he says. ‘Apparently you shouldn’t walk about your workplace saying things like “abo”, “retard”, “fag” or “dyke”. Who knew? Everyone, I expect. Show me a workplace where such blatantly prejudicial terms are casually used and tolerated, and I’ll give you my salary this month.’
O’Neill’s monthly salary would, one suspects, provide a numerical indicator of just how long it’s been since he’s entered a normal workplace rather than phoning in his clickbait from Contrarian HQ. Until comparatively recently, ordinary employees put up with everyday sexism and racism as a matter of course. Even now, many still do. Slurs against Indigenous and transgendered people, in particular, are still very common – and a few years back the Daily Telegraph’s Joe Hildebrand mounted a one-man campaign to repopularise the word ‘retard’.
But insofar as it’s no longer acceptable to use words like ‘abo’ or ‘fag’, it’s because people fought to change the conditions under which they worked. Those struggles were nothing to do with censorship. In fact, when conservatives denounce ‘political correctness’, very often they’re attacking freedom of speech.
Think of the tearoom bigot who, once upon a time, could voice old-fashioned sexism or racism without challenge. These days, he (schooled by Andrew Bolt and the like) moans about political correctness when, for the first time, a workmate answers back. In that scenario, he’s objecting to someone else exercising a privilege that previously he’d monopolised. He’s complaining, in other words, about freedom rather than censorship: upset that someone who’d once mutely endured bullying now feels able to say, ‘Actually, I don’t like it when you call me that name.’
While it might be uncomfortable to be thus challenged, it’s scarcely censorship. It’s still not censorship if the one-time bully thereafter feels constrained about voicing certain opinions because he realises other will think less of him if he does.
Freedom doesn’t mean that there are no consequences for being a cock. By definition, freedom means your audience has a right to tell you when you’re being cockish, even if by doing so they puncture your self-regard.
A huge proportion of the examples of what the right-wing culture warriors call political correctness fall into this category. It’s not censorship when readers disagree with a newspaper columnist, even if they call her a bigot while doing so. It’s not censorship when students mount a petition objecting to a visiting lecturer. It’s not censorship when activists rally against a far right group.
These are, on the contrary, textbook examples of free speech – and yet they’re routinely trotted out as evidence of left-wing PC censoriousness.
Yes, some left-wing activists do call for the powers-that-be to censor racists or homophobes or other reactionaries. Yet, precisely because the state makes a dubious ally for progressives, instances of this kind of PC censorship are far scarcer than the media coverage would have us think.
The Andrew Bolt case, routinely cited by conservatives as the greatest instance of oppression an Australian has ever endured, provides a useful illustration. Bolt was, of course, taken to court over his writing in an action based on 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act. We can argue about the utility of that strategy as a weapon against racism. (The legal action against Bolt doesn’t seem to have diminished his prominence as a conservative agitator. On the contrary, he used his self-presentation as persecuted truth-teller to leverage his career into new platforms.)
But most commentary on the Bolt case obfuscates the actual outcome. Bolt wasn’t thrown into prison. He wasn’t fined. No-one prevented him writing. The court didn’t even order an apology. The only consequence was a requirement his newspaper publish an addendum correcting articles admitted to be factually wrong. The penalty was, in other words, far less draconian than in a standard defamation case. Whatever else 18C meant for Bolt, it didn’t entail the imposition of a Stalinist gag.
You can find a similar gulf between outrage and actuality in almost all of these cases. If we return to the scandal about the Diversity Council, we might note that, whatever else David Morrison might be, he’s scarcely a representative of the left. The guy’s a former general, after all: it’s a little rich to lump him in with the campus agitators generally assumed to exemplify the PC push.
Furthermore, Morrison possesses no power whatsoever to control the usage of the term ‘guys’. Contrary to what O’Neill implies, the Diversity Council can’t send you to the gulag for the wrong turn of phrase. Indeed, one suspects his well-meaning video will have no impact whatsoever.
The conservative presentation of a huge left-wing apparatus enforcing a rigid orthodoxy through state coercion is a fantasy. Or, more exactly, it’s a projection – because insofar as such an apparatus exists, it’s deployed in the service of conservative values.
The most obvious example is Anzac.
In the book she wrote with Henry Reynolds, What’s Wrong with Anzac?, Marilyn Lake details the huge state-funded machine now promoting the Anzac mythology.
During the last ten years a veritable tidal wave of military history has engulfed our nation, generating the torrent of curriculum materials sent to primary and secondary schools by the Department of Veterans’ Affairs (DVA), the endless stories and supplements in newspapers and other media, new documentary series, live broadcasts of the Dawn Service from Gallipoli, travelling national and local museum exhibits, the Anzac Lecture Series and exhibitions at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, the expansion of memorials across the country and the publication of an unprecedented number of books in the field of war history, often made possible by subsidies from the DVA, the Australian Army History Unit of the Department of Defence, the Returned Services League (RSL) and the Australian War Memorial, which also has an affiliated Facebook site, encouraging members to ‘become a fan’ of the Anzacs … The vast pedagogical enterprise of the DVA – which under the Commemorative Activities programme has supplied all schools in Australia, primary and secondary, with voluminous and sophisticated curriculum materials, websites, virtual tours of the battlefields, handsome prizes including trips to Gallipoli and other battlefields – has been made possible by massive funding from the federal government, the budget for this activity increasing from $4,215,000 in 2001–02 to $5,878,000 in 2007–8. Where it is the job of the federal Department of Veterans’ Affairs to prescribe schoolchildren’s history is surely debatable. Whether it should link these history lessons to the definition and promotion of national values is more questionable still. Has the equivalent happened in any other democratic country?
That passage comes from 2010, well before the tide of Anzackery that engulfed Australia during the hundredth anniversary of Gallipoli. The best recent estimates suggest that the centennial festivities cost the nation close to half a billion dollars, a truly staggering sum of money. As Lake says, these activities not only push a distinctly partial (if not entirely mendacious) account of what happened in the Great War (ever hear mention of the Constantinople Agreement at an Anzac event?), they also promote a set of ideas about Australian culture and life today. And that orthodoxy is ruthlessly enforced, as the Scott McIntyre case illustrates.
You’ll remember that McIntyre, a football journalist employed by SBS, lost his job after he sent out some tweets describing the atomic bombs dropped on Japan as ‘the largest single-day terrorist attacks in history’ and decrying ‘widespread rape and theft’ by Anzac soldiers.
No-one suggested his thoughts on military history bore any relationship to his ability to report on soccer matches. He was sacked purely and simply because he voiced the wrong opinion about Anzac Day.
How, then, do we describe the status of Anzac in Australia other than as political correctness? Isn’t this – a huge bureaucratic infrastructure designed to enforce a certain point of view – precisely what conservatives say they decry? Where, then, is the outrage when, every year, the ‘lifestyle cops’ and ‘word police’ find some luckless individual who offends against the PC version of Anzac and do whatever they can to punish him or her?
Nor is this an isolated example.
The incessant Murdoch thinkpieces lambasting the censorious campus left masks the extent to which social conservatism has embraced a turbocharged version of the identity politics it ostensibly decries. Right-wing political correctness has emerged alongside an embrace of victimology, an obsession with quotas and representation (think of those articles totting up the precise number of conservatives appearing on each ABC show), and a tribal commitment to doctrine rather than evidence (the words ‘climate change’ come to mind). The offence-mongering over Ward’s Facebook is entirely typical: the people mocking university trigger warnings are themselves perpetually triggered, existing in a permanent lather of indignation over the scandals they whip up and reflexively demanding censorship of the ideas and the people with whom they disagree.
Yes, you can find that stuff on the left as well. But the difference is, of course, the right’s far more able to deploy real power to enforce its own brand of political correctness. Consider national security, another key shibboleth. When Zaky Mallah appeared on Q&A, the hysterical demands to implement tighter controls on that show were made in an environment in which anti-terror laws have dramatically reduced basic freedoms. As Jacqueline Maley notes in the Age, the Abbott government implemented legislation that left journalists facing ten years jail for reporting on ‘special intelligence operations’ carried out by ASIO. That came on top of all the other curtailments of liberty made in the name of fighting terror: the powers to ban books, declare organisations illegal, hold people without charges and all sorts of other innovations that strike at the basic values of liberal democracy.
That’s the context for the Australian’s bizarre contortions over Roz Ward. ‘Ms Ward is hardly a victim of those who would strangle free speech,’ declared the editorialist, the day her suspension was announced. ‘La Trobe University should hold her and others to account.’
Behold the authentic voice of right-wing political correctness, increasingly the common sense of Australian conservatives. Free speech belongs only to those we like – and everyone else should be crushed like bugs.
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Brussels (AFP) - NATO foreign ministers were on Thursday finalising the alliance's biggest military build-up since the end of the Cold War to counter what they see as a more aggressive and unpredictable Russia.
NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said the two-day meeting would address "all the important issues" to prepare for a "landmark" summit in Poland in July.
There, NATO leaders will formally endorse the revamp which puts more troops into eastern European member states as part of a "deter and dialogue" strategy, meant to reassure allies they will not be left in the lurch in any repeat of the Ukraine crisis.
"We will discuss how NATO can do more to project stability... and at the same time address how NATO can continue to adapt to a more assertive Russia to find the right balance between defence and dialogue," Stoltenberg told reporters.
US Secretary of State John Kerry, attending the Brussels talks, said NATO was building a "robust" defensive posture on its eastern flank and urged member states to meet pledges to increase defence spending.
The alliance needs to "continue to strengthen our deterrence capabilities through a more robust forward presence," he said.
"NATO is open to a political dialogue with Russia but we will refrain from business as usual until the Minsk commitments are fully implemented," Kerry added.
Under the Minsk process, Moscow agreed to a ceasefire in Ukraine and to halt support for separatist pro-Russian rebels that have carved out an enclave in the east of the country.
- Mutual suspicions -
Stoltenberg told a later press conference that the alliance's AWACS monitoring aircraft could be flown over "NATO territory and international airspace" to help the fight against the jihadist Islamic State group.
In March, IS jihadists killed 32 people in Brussels -- home to the headquarters of both NATO and the European Union as well as a host of diplomatic and corporate offices.
The EU meanwhile is grappling with the worst migrant crisis since the end of World War II and the bloc wants increased cooperation with NATO to tackle the problem, notably in bolstering the UN-backed government in Libya where IS has recently gained ground.
Russia's intervention in Ukraine and its 2014 annexation of Crimea stung NATO into action after years of complacency and defence cuts following the fall of the Soviet Union.
Moscow says NATO's response is just a cover for encroaching on its borders, while Washington builds a European missile defence shield which undercuts Russia's nuclear deterrent.
"I think you have to remember where this started," said a senior US official.
"NATO took these measures because Russia chose to invade and occupy Crimea and then move into eastern Ukraine. The concern... was to ensure that this was not the beginning of a broader move that might threaten NATO territory."
- Avoid new arms race -
In another move likely to infuriate Moscow, NATO signed an accession accord with the tiny Balkan state of Montenegro on Thursday.
Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic said NATO membership was a major step forward for his country "and will help bring about stability in the region and beyond."
Among other states of the former Yugoslavia, Croatia and Slovenia have joined NATO to Russia's anger over the future of the Balkans, a key strategic interest and home to historic Slav allies.
Georgia, which fought a brief 2008 war with Russia, is also seeking membership but when asked Thursday if Tbilisi could expect similar progress, Stoltenberg notably stopped short of commenting directly on its accession prospects.
Instead, he stressed NATO would continue to boost cooperation, including military training, with the former Soviet republic.
Stoltenberg had cautioned Wednesday against a new arms race, stressing the alliance upgrade was purely "defensive, proportionate and in line with our international obligations."
NATO wants dialogue with Russia to ease tensions and avoid potentially dangerous incidents getting out of control, he said.
NATO suspended all practical cooperation with Russia over Ukraine but left a channel of communication open through what is known as the NATO-Russia Council (NRC).
The NATO talks conclude on Friday.The Minnesota Supreme Court today upheld the state’s payday lending law that curbed high-interest, short-term loans to mostly low-income people who can’t stretch a paycheck.
The decision comes as some lawmakers and advocacy organizations try to restrict payday lending even further.
The Legislature tried to pass tougher legislation in the last days of the 2014 session under pressure from religious groups whose members were being decimated by triple-digit interest against future paychecks. But Republicans blocked the measure, arguing it removes options for low-income families.
Nonetheless, payday lenders have opposed existing regulations, which cap interest rates and limit the number of loans that can be made to a person, arguing it’s unconstitutional.
A Delaware firm, that makes payday loans over the Internet at interest rates as high as 1,369 percent, argued the practice is beyond the reach of state regulators.
But today the Supreme Court rejected the assertion that the law interferes with interstate commerce, which is unconstitutional, because the Minnesota law only applies if the person receiving the loan resides in Minnesota.
“It is true that Minnesota’s payday-lending law requires payday lenders to provide more favorable ‘prices’ for Minnesota residents — which, in the context of a loan, includes lower interest rates and fees—than those offered to borrowers from other states,” Justice David Stras, a Tim Pawlenty appointee to the court, wrote in a unanimous decision (pdf).
“However, unlike the laws invalidated in [U.S. Supreme Court cases] Healy and Brown-Forman, Minnesota’s payday-lending law does not tie the requisite terms and prices for loans to the business conducted by Integrity [lending company Integrity Advance, LLC] or other payday lenders in other states,” Stras wrote.
Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson sued five companies in 2011 amid accusations from people who filled out online applications that the firms stole their personal data.
“Unlicensed Internet payday lenders charge astronomical interest rates to cash-strapped Minnesota borrowers in contravention of our state payday lending laws. Today’s court ruling signals to these online lenders that they must abide by state law, just like other “bricks and mortar” lenders must,” Swanson said.
“The folks that take these loans aren’t second class citizens,” Rep. Joe Atkins, DFL-Inver Grove Heights, said when the House passed the tightened reforms last year. “They’ve just fallen on hard times, is all, and they’re not idiots. They should not be treated like idiots. They shouldn’t be treated like lesser people just because they’ve had a difficult time, and yet that is what Minnesota law allows.”
In a 2014 study, Pew Research considered Minnesota in the middle of the road when it comes to regulating payday lending, noting that about 4 percent of the state’s residents use payday loans.Smith isn't sorry about what he did. In a Reuters interview published a few hours after Vice's somewhat sensational scoop, Smith vowed not to back down and even questioned how or why his colleagues would listen to what can only be described as a deafening protest against Congress's anti-piracy legislation. "It is amazing to me that the opponents apparently don't want to protect American consumers and businesses," Smith said. "Are they somehow benefitting by directing customers to these foreign websites? Do they profit from selling advertising to these foreign websites? And if they do, they need to be stopped. And I don't mind taking that on."
Well, Lamar Smith, the Internet does mind your taking that on. We're not just talking about Reddit, either. Pretty much every major American tech company has stepped forward to protest the current version of SOPA, warning how it stands to quell innovation (read: kill jobs) despite Smith's past arguments that SOPA is a job-saving bill. Indeed it would help the entertainment industry to lock in more profits, but it would also change the architecture of the open web, opening the door to government censorship and possibly shutting down popular sites like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, some say. Along those lines, legal scholars -- including one well known Harvard Law professor Lawrence Tribe -- have called the bill unconstitutional, an assault on Americans' First Amendment rights. The Senate's PROTECT IP is, in many ways, a watered down version of SOPA, but it's also a bill that aim to solve a problem that Congress has more or less admitted it doesn't understand. So it's not a surprise at all that Senator Leahy would blink when confronted with the challenge of pushing the legislation forward. It remains surprising that Smith won't back down.
Earlier this week, Politico floated a hypothesis: "SOPA becoming election liability for backers." (That's inside-the-Beltway headline speak for "Americans appear to hate SOPA, politicians appear to start listening.") At the time, it seemed almost speculative to say that folks like Leahy or Smith would listen to the web's collective outrage about the laws and change their stances on the legislation. After all, it is an election year. So far SOPA's made a villain out of at least one politician, quite randomly. Paul Ryan is not the SOPA proponent that Smith is, but in an attempt to flex their crowd-powered muscle, Reddit decided to go after Ryan and helped raise thousands of dollars for his opponent's campaign. After Reddit's initial threat, Ryan's office denied that he supported the bill. But the damage was done.
What happens next depends on a number of factors. For PROTECT IP, a judgment day is peeking over the horizon in the form of a procedural vote scheduled for January 24. For SOPA, a hearing is scheduled for next Wednesday, during which a number of Internet experts (read: huge nerds) will testify, we predict, in strong opposition to the bill before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, of which outspoken SOPA opponent Rep. Darrell Issa is the chairman. Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian is one of the scheduled witnesses, and in solidarity with his vocal protest against the legislation, the link-sharing site will go dark for 12 hours. Other websites, like all of the meme-tastic Cheezburger blog network will follow suit.Nintendo has backtracked on its baffling decision to cancel the NES Classic Edition, announcing that it will see new shipments next summer. In addition, the upcoming Super NES Classic Edition has seen such high demand that Nintendo has decided to extend shipments into 2018. The company previously planned to stop selling it by the end of this year.
Nintendo has made vague promises of more stock for the SNES Classic after its predecessor proved to be near-impossible to find for many. But pre-orders for the new retro console have been equally difficult to secure ahead of release, and it seems Nintendo has finally seen all the evidence it needs to realize that yes, these products are things that a lot of people want to buy.
The SNES Classic has 21 Super Nintendo games, including the previously unreleased Star Fox 2. It’s set to go on sale September 29th for $79.99, assuming you can find one — Nintendo says there’ll be more SNES Classic available units on launch day than NES Classic units for the whole of last year.View more videos at: http://nbcconnecticut.com.
A Connecticut court has set an accused rapist free, saying there wasn't sufficient evidence to prove that his severely disabled victim resisted the |
ates added that he and other investors, who include Amazon.com chief executive Jeff Bezos, LinkedIn chairman Reid Hoffman, Alibaba chairman Jack Ma, and retired hedge fund manager John Arnold, hope to convince the Trump administration to maintain or increase government funding for energy research and development. “It’s a fantastic investment, even if you don’t look at the climate change piece of this.”
Tesla’s CEO, Elon Musk, on the other hand, has never dismissed the importance of accelerating the advent of sustainable energy as integral to continued healthy life on the planet. He understands that runaway global warming is an existential threat to Earth-based human civilization. He acknowledges readily that “virtually all scientists agree that dramatically increasing atmospheric and oceanic carbon levels is insane” and has been a vocal proponent of the intersection of technology, alternative energy investments, and worker training for a stable energy future with the incoming Trump administration.
With the launch of Tesla’s battery business and the recent acquisition of the SolarCity, the nation’s leading rooftop solar installer, Tesla is already immersed in most of the capital ventures that Gates’ BEV group is targeting. Musk has led a renewable energy enterprise network of companies, so that solar roofs are seamlessly integrated with battery storage systems. In essence, Tesla’s multiple energy interfaces have the capacity to turn individuals into their own utilities, decentralizing energy conglomerates while reducing carbon emissions from the atmosphere.
The Gates’ BEV group acknowledges that moving into the arena of renewable energy is likely fraught with challenges. Concerns particularly surround investing in early-stage companies against the backdrop in which fund investors expect to make a profit. “Some of these investments will result in ideas that move forward and some won’t; developing some may even make work on others unnecessary,” they outline. “The Breakthrough Energy Coalition believes, though, that all of them are avenues worth investigating to get the world to a zero-emissions future. Nobody knows yet what the energy mix of tomorrow is, so investors need to explore all possible paths.”
The lure of opportunities in the U.S. $6 trillion global energy market drives the BEV group forward, hoping their U.S. $1 billion cleantech fund will circumvent the tenuous nature of technology startups. Tech startups have highest rate of failure among all industries mainly due to number of uncertainties that come with launching a new yet unproven company.
Meanwhile, Tesla, with its years of R&D, is moving ahead with plans for an expanded vehicle product line that includes heavy-duty trucks and large passenger transport vehicles. Musk wants to expand Tesla’s line to “cover the major forms of terrestrial transport,” which are, in short, trucks, busses, and a ride-sharing system based on full self-driving capabilities.
If you’re interested in seeing how the BEV group’s vision compares to Tesla’s, download their mission statement here.A Turkey-bound cargo ship loaded with heavy and light weapons was seized by Greek coast guard, a source said.
The ship was originally procured by a France-based Saudi arms dealer, and was loaded in UK and France.
According to the source, who spoke with the condition of anonymity, the shipment was supposed to be delivered to Lebanese MP Khalid al-Dhaher in the northern Lebanese port of Tripoli, and eventually to al-Nusra Front in Syria under the supervision of Turkish intelligence.
Abdullah al-Chahal, the spiritual leader of a notorious Salfi movement in Lebanon, has reportedly brokered the whole operation.
Al-Dhaher, a Lebanese MP for the northern city of Tripoli, has been overtly backing ultra-hardline militants fighting Syrian President Bashar Assad.
The shipment was finally released after Turkey allegedly paid $750,000 to an influential Greek official. The Greek authorities then declared that it has investigated the shipment and found out loads of cartridges used for fishing.
In September 2015, The Greek coastguard seized the Bolivian-flagged vessel Haddad 1 off the island of Crete. A search of its cargo revealed almost 500,000 rounds of ammunition and 5,000 rifles hidden a board.
Haddad 1 was heading to an Islamist-held port in Libya in a suspected “Oil for Guns’ deal.
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(July 11) -- A task force of lawmen and state agents raided a ranch just outside the tiny town of Mina, Nevada Thursday. They weren't looking for terrorists or master criminals. Instead, they were searching for lobsters.
Agents destroyed several thousand Australian freshwater crawfish being raised on the ranch. The Channel 8 I-Team has been working on a story about the lobster ranch for the past few months, but this week's raid means the lobster is out of the bag.
Of all the sights on the long drive between Las Vegas and Carson City, the residents of U812 Lobster Lane outside of Mina easily rank among the most intriguing.
Bob Eddy tired of trying to make a living as a cattle rancher, so in the mid 90's, he switched instead to Australian redclaw crawfish, lobsters, for all intents and purposes. "Basically they all thought I was crazy. They still do," said Bob Eddy, lobster rancher.
But it turned out, the natural hot springs that run thru his ranch are the perfect environment for raising the critters. Eddy tossed some old tires in his tanks, built a greenhouse above, imported pairs of amorous, mating age red claws, then let nature take its course. A female can produce 1500 offspring a year, and in about a year, the kids grow to about a pound each.
Customers, including state lawmakers, describe them as delicious. Eddy started selling them at a roadside stand for up to $14 a pound but he had much grander plans -- an entire aquaculture industry in Nevada and a fast food lobster restaurant in struggling Mina.
But it isn't meant to be. Eddy says he originally asked the state if the red claws fell under regulations and was told they didn't. So he invested money and eight years of his life pursuing his dream. It was only after a news item in Reno two years ago caught the attention of state agents that his trouble began.
He applied for and received a commercial license, but state wildlife, concerned that his lobsters might get out and upset the ecological balance, wouldn't renew the license, then told him that anyone who bought live lobsters would need a license of their own.
"If someone comes by in a motor home, they're not going to Carson City to get a permit to come back and buy lobsters," said Eddy. He can't sell them frozen without a federally approved processing plant. He can't sell to restaurants unless the restaurants have a state license. And earlier this year, the state attorney general got an order that he can't even own lobsters anymore.
Agents arrived on Wednesday and destroyed his entire stock. Eddy estimates he had as many as 500,000 lobsters, counting the tiny babies, and he vows that someone is going to have to pay for his loss, a loss, he says, that extends beyond his ranch. "Nevada is broke and needs new taxes but won't let a new business start? It's a catch 22," said Eddy.
His lobsters may be gone, but this won't be the end of the story. And soon, the I-Team will be ready to tell the rest of it. The court order which allowed state agents to destroy Eddy's lobsters stated that the rancher had stubbornly disputed the state's authority to regulate his business and that he had ignored previous orders from state wildlife officials. Eddy has represented himself in various legal battles up to this point but may begin shopping for an attorney.How does your stomach protect itself from its own acid? See more bodily organ pictures 3D Clinic
Your stomach, if you want to be technical about it, is a "crescent-shaped hollow organ" about the size of a large melon. The average adult stomach holds about three quarts (three liters) of fluid. Your stomach is made up of a variety of layers, including:
The serosa - the outer layer that acts as a covering for the other layers.
Two muscle layers - the middle layers that propel food from the stomach into the small intestine.
mucosa - the inner layer made up of specialized parietal cells, g-cells and epithelial cells. The- the inner layer made up of specialized cells, includingand
Parietal cells produce hydrochloric acid, a strong acid that helps to break down food. The acid in your stomach is so concentrated that if you were to place a drop on a piece of wood, it would eat right through it. The g-cells produce gastrin, a hormone that facilitates the production of hydrochloric acid by the parietal cells.
The stomach is protected by the epithelial cells, which produce and secrete a bicarbonate-rich solution that coats the mucosa. Bicarbonate is alkaline, a base, and neutralizes the acid secreted by the parietal cells, producing water in the process. This continuous supply of bicarbonate is the main way that your stomach protects itself from autodigestion (the stomach digesting itself) and the overall acidic environment.
In some individuals, due to impairments in blood supply to the stomach, or to overproduction of acid, this defense system does not work as well as it should. These people can get gastric ulcers. There are also specific bacteria, called Helicobacter pylori, that may cause impairment of the stomach's defenses and can also be responsible for ulcers.
See the next page for more information.
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More Great LinksSo You've Been Publicly Shamed (2015) is a book by British journalist Jon Ronson about online shaming and its historical antecedents.[2] The book explores the re-emergence of public shaming as an Internet phenomenon, particularly on Twitter. As a state-sanctioned punishment, public shaming was popular in Colonial America. Between 1837 in the UK and 1839 in the US, it was phased out as a punishment, not due to the increasingly populous society, as was widely held,[3][4] but instead in response to rising calls for compassion.[5]
In gathering material for his book, Ronson interviewed several individuals who were on the receiving end of concentrated Internet shaming, including Jonah Lehrer, Justine Sacco, and Lindsey Stone.[6] He also interviewed controversial practitioners of 21st century public humiliation, including former Texas District Judge and current congressional representative Ted Poe,[7] and several instigators of widespread public shamings.
Content [ edit ]
In the introduction, Ronson relates a story of an automated parody Twitter handle, @jon_ronson (Ronson's twitter username is actually @jonronson). The account posts a smattering of food and party-related tweets, none of which are related to the content of the actual Jon Ronson's life.[8] This leads to Ronson asking the bot's creators for its removal, as he believes it to be a spambot. The creators of the account call it an infomorph, and decline Ronson's request, but eventually agree to meet in person with the author.[9]
Ronson then records the interaction and posts it on YouTube,[10] and is surprised when the reaction is overwhelmingly in his favor. The creators of the spambot, in the wake of the public shame elicited by Ronson's video, finally agree to retire the counterfeit Twitter account.[11]
This experience leads Ronson to re-evaluate other public shamings he's participated in, and the effects these shaming events have on both the shamed and the shaming. He begins by interviewing prominent victims of public shaming on the Internet, and the instigators of these shaming events.
Imagine was based on fabricated quotes. Lehrer's speech was livestreamed over the internet and discussed on Twitter so that both Lehrer and the audience could see in real time the (often harshly critical) reaction to the speech, which was perceived as obfuscatory. Jonah Lehrer makes a speech to the Knight Foundation after admitting that his bookwas based on fabricated quotes. Lehrer's speech was livestreamed over the internet and discussed on Twitter so that both Lehrer and the audience could see in real time the (often harshly critical) reaction to the speech, which was perceived as obfuscatory.
His first subject is Jonah Lehrer, disgraced popular science journalist for The New Yorker and author of the book Imagine: How Creativity Works. Ronson also interviews the journalist who exposed Lehrer's plagiarism and misuse of quotes—Michael C. Moynihan. In the days preceding Lehrer's televised apology at a conference held by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Ronson interviews the disgraced journalist while hiking through Runyon Canyon. The public humiliation inherent to Lehrer's apology speech is exacerbated by a large projector screen hung behind his speaking podium and a small television screen viewable to Lehrer, which both display a live Twitter feed of any individual tweeting with the hashtag "infoneeds".[12][13] A small controversy brews as a result of Lehrer's speech's content, which some describe as arrogant and lacking sincerity. Ronson, who had recently interviewed Lehrer and was asked for thoughts on a draft, admits to having decided not to say to Lehrer before he made the speech that he found it unconvincing. Further social media upheaval occurs when it is discovered that the Knight Foundation paid Lehrer $20,000 for his apology speech.[14] He also interviews Adria Richards, who publicised the faces of two tech developers at PyCon for a joke comparing the technical term "dongle" and the slang term "dong", leading a developer named Hank getting fired and an online backlash that in turn led Richards to get fired from her job (in the book, Hank has found new employment and Richards has not, and Richards holds Hank responsible for her problems because he dared to publicly state that she had gotten him fired in the first place and later reveals conspiracy theories that Ronson ultimately doesn't agree with).[15] Other sections in the book include interviews and coverage of the Justine Sacco incident and a long section about how people can "hide" their negative Google Search results via legal and creative IT mechanics.
Reception [ edit ]
Response to So You've Been Publicly Shamed has been mostly positive. As of August 2016, the book has an average score of 3.9/5 on Goodreads with almost 20,000 total ratings.[16]
Jennifer Latson of The Boston Globe remarked that "Ronson manages to be at once academic and entertaining."[17] Matthew Hutson from The Wall Street Journal stated that the book "raises interesting questions about righteousness, reputation and conformity" but lamented that Ronson's "thoughts remain disconnected musings rather than cohering as a calculus of public shaming's costs and benefits".[11]
See also [ edit ]U.S. Senator Joe Manchin, a democrat from West Virginia, has formally sent a letter to federal regulators calling for an outright ban on bitcoin and suggesting that the failure of immediate action could negatively impact US consumers.
Manchin most recently made headlines for allegedly saying that he would vote to repeal the US Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), a hallmark law of the Obama administration aimed at expanding public and private insurance coverage, though he later backtracked on the statements.
The letter, which was sent to Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen, among other top regulators, called the digital currency “unregulated and unstable”, and cited increasing warnings from central banks around the globe.
Said Manchin:
“I am most concerned that as bitcoin is inevitably banned in other countries, Americans will be left holding the bag on a valueless currency.”
Notably, this is not the first time the senator has spoken out about bitcoin, having written a lengthy letter on the now-defunct online black marketplace Silk Road last June.
Black market connections
Manchin began the letter by providing a background on bitcoin, before addressing his laundry list of concerns about its use.
The senator suggested that bitcoin’s features make it inherently attractive to criminals, who have used the currency to “steal millions from bitcoins users”, and to buy drugs and weapons illegally. Further, he critiqued the irreversible nature of bitcoin transactions as the primary contributor to such issues.
“Bitcoin’s ability to finalize transactions quickly, makes it very difficult, if not impossible, to reverse fraudulent transactions,” the Senator said.
Consumer protection issues
The senator also suggested that bitcoin’s price volatility adds to its dangers, and he cited recent developments at troubled Japan-based exchange Mt. Gox as an example. Manchin painted a picture of bitcoin as an elaborate scheme in which only early buyers, investors and miners benefit. Said Manchin:
“There is no doubt average American consumers stand to lose by transacting in bitcoin.”
In summation, Manchin again returned to the issue of bitcoin’s deflationary nature, comparing its 98% deflation to the 1.3% inflation shown in the Consumer Pricing Index. Manchin used this data to suggest spending bitcoin now would cost users wealth in the future.
“This flaw makes Bitcoin’s value to the U.S. economy suspect, if not outright detrimental,” said Manchin.
Regulatory impact
Manchin is not the only lawmaker weighing in on bitcoin in the wake of issues at Mt. Gox. The Texas State Securities Board and the Alabama Securities Commission have each published consumer warnings in the recent days.
However, this letter, addressed directly to new Federal Reserve Chairwoman Yellen, is unique as it will likely add fuel to speculation that the US central bank head will issue a comment or statement on digital currencies soon.
For detailed records of Manchin’s voting history, click here.Cadel back home for victory parade
Updated
Sorry, this video has expired Video: Cadel Evans arrives in Melbourne (ABC News)
Cadel Evans has arrived in Melbourne for a two-day visit as the city prepares for a victory parade to mark his historic Tour de France win.
Evans, who last month became the first Australian to win the prestigious race, touched down with his Italian wife Chiara Passerini at Melbourne airport this morning.
"It's great to be home and to be able to celebrate it with everyone who's supported me," he told reporters after leaving the plane.
"It's been so appreciated by everyone - it's an honour and a pleasure.
"I've been working at the Tour de France for the best part of my whole life, and then when it all comes together, to have been supported all this way through and be able to bring the yellow jersey back to Australia, of course I'm proud to do it."
Some have called Evans' win the greatest sporting achievement in Australian history but the 34-year-old was too humble to accept that.
"I don't know if it's the greatest but it's been something that I've worked hard on for so long," he said.
"I've also come very close before but just for a little bit of bad luck it didn't quite come through, but that makes it so much more worthwhile on a personal level.
"I'm just happy that everyone enjoyed it, everyone enjoyed following it and seeing it.
"It's the culmination of many many years of work for a lot of people."
Evans said he was looking forward to spending time with his close family before tomorrow's victory parade in central Melbourne.
"[I'm] most looking forward to see some of my close family," he said.
"It's always nice to come home and get a hug from your mum."
Tomorrow thousands of fans are expected to turn out to cheer Evans as he rides down St Kilda Road from the National Gallery of Victoria before a public reception at Federation Square.
"I encourage everyone in Melbourne on Friday to come out to Federation Square and wear yellow and welcome our champion home," Sport Minister Mark Arbib said.
Streets around the parade route will be closed and the procession will be broadcast to crowds on big screens.
Topics: cycling, sport, melbourne-3000, vic, australia
First postedRigo 23’s One Tree may be San Francisco’s most iconic street art.
Created in 1995, it transforms the image of a simple black-and-white traffic sign into a giant Pop Art piece. When Rigo 23 made the piece on a blue wall, it pointed to a mature tree — an art directional that was funny and poignant, a commentary on urban living that pedestrians, drivers, and art-goers enthusiastically applauded. The Library of Congress has a photo by celebrated photographer Carol Highsmith that shows One Tree in 2012, after other trees had joined the original tree. In Highsmith’s capturing, the artwork’s blue wall is still blue, and One Tree is still on the wall’s upper far left.
Much to Rigo 23’s dismay, the building’s new property owner — or someone with the owner’s authority — has changed One Tree.
Dramatically.
The art has been moved to the far right. No longer does it point to a tree. Instead, it points to the nearby freeway onramp. And no longer is the wall blue. Instead, it’s brown. The changes, which apparently happened in the last year, have upended the entire foundation of One Tree. It’s as if someone repainted the Golden Gate Bridge mud-brown without telling anyone beforehand.
“If I were more agile in my administrative end of things, I’d be suing the people who bought the building,” Rigo 23 tells SF Weekly. “What has happened to the One Tree mural is very indicative of some of the changes that San Francisco has been going through, because the people who purchased the building and redeveloped it — they took out the portion of the mural with the arrow that said ‘One Tree,’ they redid the building, and then placed it back behind the tree. Their actions indicate that they knew it was a work of art, that people cared about it — yet they never contacted me, they never contacted the gallery in San Francisco that represents me [Anglim Gilbert]. They destroyed the work.”
The commercial property company that brokered the property didn’t respond to SF Weekly’s request for comment.
Rigo 23, who’s based in San Francisco and is a co-founder of the longtime Clarion Alley Mural Project, found out about the changes several months ago from a friend in Barcelona. So he visited One Tree in person.
“I couldn’t believe it,” he says. “I was heartbroken.”
He says the people who changed the work violated the Visual Artists Rights Act, federal legislation passed in 1990 that protects an artist’s work from “intentional distortion, mutilation, or other modification.”
“It protects artists from such an event happening to their work,” says Rigo 23, whose other works include Truth, which is atop a building on Market and Seventh streets that overlooks United Nations Plaza. “I truly believe in public art. When I put art in public, I want the public to have a genuine relationship with the works. In the past, when people have alerted me to things — like someone selling photographs of the One Tree mural or this and that — I never felt compelled to do anything about it because the work is in the public realm. It’s publicly looked at, it’s publicly enjoyed, it’s a collective relationship.”
Adds Rigo 23: “I think this is the relationship that ‘newcomers’ to the city have toward what was there before they arrived. The mural was not just the arrow. The mural was the natural limits of the architecture. The entire blue wall was as much a part of the mural as the arrow part. It’s so moronic. I don’t understand it. I imagine it was a substantial financial effort on their part to move it, store it somewhere, and place it back. It almost signals a kind of care toward the thing. But it’s such an entitled and dismissive attitude to take toward a work of art. I put it up 22 years ago. I met a curator recently who said, ‘I remember that work as a child.’ ”
But Rigo’s other works remain as they were intended in San Francisco, and 2002’s Truth is another art piece that uses words and imagery to make a bigger point. It honors Robert H. King, a former member of the Black Panther Party who in 2001 was released from prison after 31 years — 29 of them in solitary confinement — when his conviction was overturned. Truth, painted after the start of the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan and the wake of 9/11, features a barcode that suggests the truth is for sale.
“In the old gas stations, when you see the numbers rotate, I made a drawing where the ‘T’ is rotating upwards, the same with the ‘H,’ and the top of ‘N’ and a ‘P’ are coming up,” Rigo 23 says. “I was thinking that truth is the first casualty in a time of war. Then Robert King got released, and I got quite close with him, and I thought I’d dedicate the mural to him. It’s a story of personal vindication on his part and also the ability of truth to prevail against incredible odds.”
Like One Tree, Truth has inspired other art. “Robert King came to San Francisco, and we had a public ceremony in United Nations Plaza,” Rigo 23 says. “The Board of Supervisors declared that day — April 22, 2002 — Robert King Day. The president of the Arts Commission handed Robert a plaque. And then the Luggage Store Gallery, who are old friends of Robert, had a aerial acrobatic performance group that did a dance in front of the mural. They were suspended from ropes. It was a beautiful celebration. And we gave out over 200 bags of free groceries. It was a very special day. Robert King got onto the roof the building, and we took a photograph — and that photograph became the cover of his autobiography.”
And people are making sure that Truth doesn’t change the way One Tree did. The management of the Odd Fellows building, on whose property the mural is on, “are looking after it,” says Rigo 23, “and have given me assurances that they plan to keep it there.”How the Fed is Killing America
It’s maddening…
Our economy is stagnating.
The divide between haves and have-nots is widening every day.
There are fewer and fewer good jobs and careers to be had.
And maybe worst of all, according a survey by the non-profit Employee Benefit Research Institute and Greenwald and Associates, about 36% of workers have less than $1,000 in savings and investments that could be used for retirement (not counting their primary residence or defined benefit plans and traditional pensions), and 60% of workers have less than $25,000.
What the heck happened?
The Federal Reserve System is killing America. It has destroyed the economy. It has undermined savers and retirees. It is even responsible for the corruption in Congress.
We have to kill the Federal Reserve before it kills America for good.
There’s nothing in the Constitution about a central bank. There’s nothing “free-market” about a central bank. There’s no reason for a central bank – with omnipotent power over the creation of money and credit, over employment (which is an absolute joke), over the entire economy, and over Congress – to exist. No reason.
Okay, there is one reason…
The Only Reason the Fed Exists
The Federal Reserve, America’s central bank, exists to serve big banks and Wall Street.
There is no other reason for the existence of the Fed. None.
Central banks exist to backstop banks. They were all created by bankers to serve them. When banks get into financial trouble (for any number of reasons, all of them having to do with their bad management and greed), if there is no backstopping angel with unlimited (completely made up out of thin air) resources to bail them out, they would shut down.
And they should shut down. Sure, there would be losses. Equity owners would lose, creditors would lose, and some depositors would lose money, too, if they aren’t covered by FDIC insurance.
But if banks were allowed to fail, if they were each on their own insignificant enough to the financial system, to the whole economy, that they could fail without doing economic damage, they should be allowed to fail. Small banks are still allowed to fail based on this exact principle.
But clever bankers, the masters of the biggest banks in any system (in the U.S. it was a group of the most powerful banks in the U.S. and allied banking interests in Europe in 1913) figured out that if they got so big that any one of their failures would result in contagion and undermine the financial system and the economy, then they could convince governments to create central banks to safeguard systems and economies.
The Federal Reserve was legislated into existence in 1913 precisely to backstop America’s biggest banks. The history of exactly how the Fed came about and who was involved in the secret meetings at JPMorgan’s private island to design the “System” (they didn’t use the term bank because they wanted to imply a safety “system” and not raise the ire of the public, who were fearful and skeptical of the big banks that were already running the country) is one of America’s greatest cloak-and-dagger stories.
The true tale is laid bare in an extraordinarily well researched and documented book “The Creature from Jekyll Island” by G. Edward Griffin. Read it.
Without getting into the weeds on how they mechanically do it, it’s instructive enough to know what the Federal Reserve does. In a nutshell, all their “regulatory” duties aside, the Fed prints money and gives it to banks.
That’s right, the Fed – not the U.S. Treasury – creates dollars. The Treasury actually prints dollars and mints coins, but they only do enough of that to keep a certain amount of currency in circulation. The creation of money comes from the Federal Reserve System.
Look at your dollars, any bills in your wallet. They don’t technically belong to the Treasury. They say right up top: “Federal Reserve Note.” It’s Federal Reserve money. But the Fed doesn’t have to have the Treasury print money to give it to banks. They just credit banks electronically. And, like magic, banks have money when they need it.
Here’s How the Fed is Killing America
They backstop banks, all the too-big-to-fail banks, not littler, less important banks that are allowed to fail because they’re not politically important, all the big banks. And they backstop Wall Street speculation.
Banks are speculators, and they are part of what we call “Wall Street.” Wall Street makes money by shuffling paper, by playing in and manipulating what are supposed to be free-market capital markets. When they over-leverage and their paper juggling, hot-potato money-making schemes implode, they would fail (Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers did, and so did Merrill Lynch and Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley and Citigroup, all of them imploded, to one degree or another, in 2008) and be wiped out.
But the Federal Reserve can save any of them, or which they want to save, and it did just that in 2008. They saves their own and let a few institutions be absorbed by bigger institutions so they could become more systemically important. And in doing that the Fed saved the financial system.
Good for them. And good for us, right?
No. The Fed plays god with the financial system. It plays god with the economy. And it rules over Congress and is responsible for our massive debt.
By backstopping banks and Wall Street speculation, the Fed has increased the “financialization” of the American economy. Our economy is more about moving paper assets around to create wealth than it is about producing and manufacturing real goods and services.
That’s why the divide between the haves and have-nots is getting wider. If you have financial assets, you’ve benefited by the Fed’s zero interest rate policies (or ZIRP). That’s because speculators know the Fed won’t let Wall Street down, they won’t let markets drop. That’s great if you’re a financial paper punter.
But, while the Fed has lowered interest rates to zero for banks and speculators to borrow cheaply to leverage up their paper financial assets (in rigged capital markets), those low rates have destroyed savers pocketbooks. Savers aren’t punters. They park their money in fixed-income investments to earn a yield.
Savers have been destroyed by the Fed.
And the deficit? That’s the Fed’s fault. Congress doesn’t have to tax the public to keep spending. The Treasury issues all the bills, notes, and bonds it wants to raise money, and the banks buy most of their paper obligations. Then the Fed buys those bills, notes, and bonds from the banks with the money they “print” electronically. That’s why there’s no accountability in Congress.
Far worse, the bankers, with their fat profits, lavish money on Congress to get what they want. There’s no one in Congress, no one, who doesn’t take campaign money one way or another from some financial system player. Wall Street owns Congress and they get their money to buy their puppets from the Fed’s backstopping.
There’s no need for a Federal Reserve if the TBTF banks are split up into hundreds of regional banks. If no single bank failing would cause contagion, or harm the economy, they should be allowed to fail.
If we want to take back America from the bankers and the Wall Street machinery that soaks up economic capital for their paper-pyramiding wealth-minting factories, and disadvantages savers, producers and workers, then we have to kill the Federal Reserve Bank.
Shah
Source : http://www.wallstreetinsightsandindictments.com/2014/09/kill-fed/
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© 2005-2019 http://www.MarketOracle.co.uk - The Market Oracle is a FREE Daily Financial Markets Analysis & Forecasting online publication.Summer Solstice, also known as Litha, occurs as the sun moves out of the sign of Gemini into the Sign of Cancer around June 21st. This is the longest day and shortest night of the solar year, and is directly opposite to Yule or Winter Solstice in the pagan eight-spoked wheel of the year.
Whatever crops are now showing above ground must be tended and supported, as we now have a sense of what we have the potential of reaping in the harvest to come. Hydration becomes an issue, as the watery sign of Cancer reminds us to protect and maintain what we are growing so it does not perish through neglect or spiritual drought.
Whether we are growing a business, a family, a garden, or any other enterprise, the principals are the same. What has been begun must be given the attention needed for it to thrive and come to fruition.
The sun is at its zenith and we now honour the Solar Deities such as Sol, Sulis, and Ra. Their power to increase our abundance and help us grow is formidable, and acknowledging them now will ensure a bountiful harvest to come.
Solstice fires may be lit to represent the sun and if one has the permission to do so, it is a wonderful and sacred act to ignite an outdoor fire at sunset and keep it alive till sunrise, to celebrate the potency of solar fire, both externally and internally.
This is a time to celebrate our sovereignty and our personal power, vitality, and growth. We are moved to acknowledge the strength, and the support that exists in community to bring light and love into the world.
This is often a very socially active time of the year, when outdoor activities and festivals prevail. A time for weddings, graduation ceremonies, and summer fairs which bring us together in community celebration.
Gregarious energy, revelry, games and friendly rivalries are played out, and the opportunities for joyful, and eccentric interactions stimulate and enliven.
The Sun itself becomes a symbol of the spinning wheel of the year, and as we turn the wheel at Solstice we are energized by its momentum, and carried forward into a time of sustained growth and action.
This is a time to travel and reconnect with neighbors and friends, a time to explore and expand our horizons. Like the story of the Sun which is pulled across the sky by a horse drawn chariot, we are moving forward with intention and integrity, and now is the time to check in with ourselves to make sure we are on the path that will lead us to our heart’s desire.
A Simple Summer Solstice Ceremony
Have or imagine a crown, coronet, tiara, or other head dress of your choosing, and keep this image or item on hand. This is a symbol of your divine sovereignty. You can perform this as a kind of meditation, or print it out and use it as the basis for a group ceremony, adding your personal thoughts and any ‘bells and whistles’ you are inspired to include.
Speak the following aloud or read to yourself…
This is the turning of the year.
The Sun is at its zenith
and the season of growth is at its peak
We honor the culmination
of all that has come before,
and acknowledge the growth within,
that we may move forward
with the sure knowledge
of abundant harvest to come.
This is a time to celebrate the Self;
and a time of joy and playful abandon,
so let us make merry while the sun is full
and dance the dance of love and laughter,
while we turn the wheel once more.
You may wish to dance or turn in a circle (or close your eyes and imagine a circle dance) to honor the turning of the wheel of the year.
Focus on the direction South as you read or speak…
At this southernmost point
on the wheel of the year
we accept the sovereignty of our power,
in order to experience the full potency
of our divine selves:
We honour that which is the source
of all creation so that we may live in faith,
empowerment, and magi.
And we maintain the integrity
of our bodies, minds and spirits,
that we may always remember
and honour who we are.
This is our chance to acknowledge
our sovereign self, that part of us
which is inde |
to not be awful, you might even end up flying my wing one day.” Firefly put a broad, pink wing around Comet and pulled her close. Comet closed her eyes, expecting anything from threats to a preemptive reprimanding. Instead she felt a warm breath by her ear. “We look after our own.” Comet opened her eyes and gaped at her new boss. Firefly was smiling. It was the first genuine smile Comet Shimmer had seen her make. “Now enough drilling for tonight, I’m supposed to be off duty and you two boneheads have got me all riled up. Barrel, keep the drinks coming.” The pink pegasus steered the filly around to where the rest of their squad was already seated.
The night was stuffed with drink, song, food, and warm company. There was no particular reason for it all, save for the lingering notion that such days might be few and far between in the months to come. Rainbow drank his share, but managed to keep one eye on his boss and one eye on his new fledgeling of a squaddie. Firefly, as captain of Cyclone Company, led the festivities. And Comet Shimmer, having a head start on the drinks, took her sips slowly but eagerly, smiling at jokes and sitting quietly in the revelry.
Two hours ago, the filly had made the biggest mistake of her life. She had been lost, alone, and more scared than she had ever been. The future was dark and full of terrors and questions with no answers. And maybe it was still just as dark, sitting at that table with her new squad, as it had been sitting at the bar. But she smiled anyway. At least now she wouldn’t face the dark alone.Cynthia Fernandez, a toll collector in New Jersey, quit her job last week not long after she was told by her boss not to say “God bless you” to drivers:
Fernandez told CBS New York this week that she used to say “Have a good day” and “God bless you” to drivers as they left, but her employer, Henry Lee, asked her to stop mentioning God. “[My boss] told me he wanted to talk to me, that I couldn’t say ‘God bless you’ anymore to customers because somebody might get offended,” she explained.
This is one of those grey areas for me when it comes to church/state separation. It’s obviously a harmless gesture and I doubt Fernandez has any intention of proselytizing to the drivers.
On the other hand, where should we draw the line? Unfortunately, if you give conservative Christians an inch, they (have and) will take a mile. Many of the legal battles we see today over religious invocations and “In God We Trust” displays are relatively benign on the surface — but, together, they create a trend of Christians pushing God in government and it’s much harder to push back after that progression gets out of control.
The best thing we can do is put a stop to it immediately.
Does that mean people will claim we’re being petty? Absolutely. I really wish Fernandez didn’t feel pressured to quit over this, but I can tell you exactly how this will play out if it doesn’t stop: She will continue to say “God bless you.” Other government workers will follow. Other toll workers in other locations, hearing about what she’s doing, will say the same thing. Next thing you know, “God bless you” signs are being put up in toll booths everywhere.
And the moment a church/state separation group attempts to put a stop to it, the reaction will be, “Well, you never complained about it before!”
It’s not the slippery slope fallacy. It happens all the time.
Jeff Diminiski, a local New Jersey radio host, offered another perspective on the matter:
“These same people would have a meltdown if a different toll collector exercised their different belief by saying ‘Allah is great’ to passing drivers, or an atheist toll collector expressing their view by telling a parkway patron to ‘have a Godless day.’ They’d call for immediate firings.” he said. “Believe what you want, but there’s a time and a place and not everyone thinks like you think. Not every random thought and belief has to be expressed on the job to total strangers.”
Fair point.
Again, this particular example isn’t a big deal. It’s not even a small deal. My concern isn’t with what Fernandez said. It with where these micro-violations lead.Samsung announced today that it would reveal its investigative findings on the recalled Galaxy Note 7 this Sunday evening. The press conference is taking place in Seoul, South Korea on Monday, January 23rd at 10AM. Due to the time difference, it will be live streamed for English speakers at 8PM ET on Sunday, January 22nd.
The phone, which was prone to overheating and in some cases exploding, was first recalled back in September just weeks after it first went on sale following reports of battery-related issues. The ensuing debacle resulted in millions of returned phones, a FAA-mandated flight ban, and a convoluted return policy process that has Verizon still attempting to brick active Note 7 devices still being used in the wild. Throughout the months-long recall snafu, Samsung has given only vague and incomplete answers regarding the true cause of the problem, with some reports claiming the company hadn’t pinned down a concrete cause even as the recall was well underway.
“Samsung Electronics, as well as independent expert organizations who conducted their own investigation into various aspects of the Galaxy Note 7 incidents, will share their findings,” the company’s statement reads. “Samsung will discuss the findings of the investigations and unveil new measures Samsung has implemented in response to the incidents.” The English live stream can be watched at Samsung.com, the company added.Life Hacking Blog & Articles Red Flags of Bad Science
By Jonathan Roseland Connect
Like in any other domain of human endeavor there is a spectrum of quality and accuracy in science. Some double blind, placebo controlled human research is excellent and profoundly helpful to us in living better but I will show here that some "science" is tantamount to a ranty, opinionated blog, some is funded by the pharmaceutical industry and really is just marketing masquerading as science. I'll encourage you to not place blind faith in the establishment of science the way that your ancestors likely placed blind faith in the catholic church or whatever their religious persuasion was.
As Nassim Taleb articulates in Antifragile:
the unconditional belief in the idea of scientific prediction regardless of the domain, the aim to squeeze the future into numerical reductions whether reliable or unreliable. For we have managed to transfer religious belief into gullibility for whatever can masquerade as science.
Information is the most powerful tool we have for living well, bad information really can limit us, science is the best source of helpful information, but it's far from a crystal ball that can be stared into to ascertain absolute truth. If you're willing to devote a little bit of extra attention and cognitive horsepower as a layperson you can easily recognize bad science. Skeptical of Bad Science? Heroin for sale by Bayer Aspirin AND Heroin Cocaine for toothaches An ounce of prevention Vitamin... Donuts? Feeling lucky? It must be healthy because... Protein! #FAKENEWS Sugar for will power? WTF! Because dentists never lie... Asbestos! That's what you really want in your house... As long as they're fresh... If she smokes, she... "No curative power is claimed..." "A health cigar" A hundred years old? Would you like some emphysema with that? Smoking-is-good-for-you.png
You may say...
Come'on Jonathan, there's no such thing as bad science! All science is good!
I'll remind you that:
For 30 years "science" and physicians promised the public that smoking cigarettes was good for you.
For 40 years "science" and the FDA put out the ridiculous food pyramid recommending the public eat a diet mostly of bread, pasta and dairy.
Has science cleaned up it's act in recent times?
In 2015 Richard Horton, editor in chief of Lancet, the UK’s leading medical journal, stated:
“The case against science is straightforward: much of the scientific literature, perhaps half, may simply be untrue. Science has taken a turn toward darkness.”
In 2010 Dr. Marcia Angell of the prestigious New England Medical Journal was equally disparaging of the state of science:
“It is simply no longer possible to believe much of the clinical research that is published, or to rely on the judgment of trusted physicians or authoritative medical guidelines. I take no pleasure in this conclusion, which I reached slowly and reluctantly over my two decades as an editor of the New England Journal of Medicine”
I'm not saying that science is useless but that it should be scrutinized and just because something is labeled "science" you should not turn off your critical thinking skills.
Go to the Source
Probably the most common mistake that the layperson makes is reading an article online about science and assuming that they are actually doing meaningful research. A well meaning person will Google a subject like...
Climate change
Anti-aging
IQ
Or nutrition
...they will read the first few articles they find and give themselves a pat on back for acquiring a modicum more expertise on the subject.
While not totally useless, this information consumption really doesn't count as researching the science on a topic. The same applies to listening to podcasts or watching Youtube videos.
Researching the science means actually reading the scientific studies, meta analysis papers, books and PubMed abstracts. Which are full of...
Stale jargon
Superfluous acronyms
Scientific terminology
And not exactly inspiring verbal prose
...they really are not fun to read but if you actually want to understand a scientific topic, it's crucial to do.
Lifehack: Next time you find yourself in a debate with someone over some scientific topic. Just ask them when was the last time that they actually read a book specifically on the topic of contention.
Really? You don't think IQ is a meaningful scientific measurement of intelligence? What was the last book that you read on IQ?
Almost always they will have NOT read a book on the topic. So then you can point out how really uninformed they are on the topic. As a rule in life:
If you haven't read a book on a topic you really don't know what you're talking about in regards to it.
They have so little commitment to veracity and empiricism that they are not even willing commit a couple of solid hours to understanding the topic.
Then you can point out that their position is really just an arbitrary preference and that you guys debating this issue is really tantamount to merely arguing whether chocolate or vanilla ice cream is better.
Obviously, this argument really only works if you yourself have read a book on the topic. So better read up on the topics you anticipate debating!
Mainstream Media Misinformation
You may think that the New York Times, Huffington Post or The Guardian have high standards when it comes to fact checking and accuracy but I'll suggest that after reading a New study finds... type of story in these publications go and read the study itself.
Often it's just a Google search away. If you take the time to do this often you'll find a blatant error or misrepresentation of the science in the mainstream publication, particularly if there is political or financial implications of the science.
The job of journalists should be to tell the truth but more often they lie. The excellent book Trust Me, I'm Lying by Ryan Holiday explains why.
Information Profiteers
There's a necessary class of merchants of science or science writers that people like myself, Dave Asprey and Steven Kotler fall into. Our job is to make the science more understandable and useful to the public but we make mistakes from time to time, our fact checking is not perfect and our incentives are often not aligned with our earnest desire to educate people on how to use science to live better. I call us a necessary class because scientific publications really are quiet boring and nearly indecipherable to the general public, without marketing minded people repackaging science it would not make it into the mainstream. I think we can all agree that we would like science to be available and understandable to all so that it can be a democratizing force in the world.
However amongst us there is a real spectrum of genuine educators to charlatans who are just in it to make a buck. How can you spot a disingenuous middleman?
Lack of proper citations. Many science or health articles consist of several hundred words followed by a handful of links to studies that ostensibly support the conclusions presented by the writer of the article. But a lot of times the citations really don't support the conclusions, this is why you should look for direct quotes from the studies or researchers themselves supporting conclusions as opposed to just links.
Omissions of unappealing information. Especially in the field of anti-aging products and Biohacking supplements, disingenuous science writers will omit information that hurts the case for the supplement or drug in question.
Clear conflicts of interest. We usually make our money a few different ways:
Affiliate sales of products
Sponsorship
Advertising revenues
Often these income sources create a perverse incentive. If it's clear that a writer has a financial incentive that makes them partial to a particular product or supplement you should further scrutinize their portrayal of the science surrounding it.
Ads. Online advertising creates a bad incentives for writers to put out a great quantity of work in lieu of quality. If you're reading a science article on a website that has a bunch of ads in the sidebar and header and below the article that is further reason to question it.
Ghostwritten. Writers who know what they are talking about almost always put their real name and face on their work. They are proud of their work and stand behind it. There's a lot of quintessential content farm websites that churn out a great quantity of articles about health, science and supplementation. Invariably, the writers are invisible, they are often outsourced digital labors working for a few dollars an hour in a place like the Philippines or India.
Lack of author credentials. Writers who know what they are talking about will have some relevant credentials and experience.
Scientists will often spend decades myopically focused on a singular scientific niche, they'll understand it profoundly but often they'll lack holistic knowledge of how that science could be useful to laypeople. The writer's job is to be a scientific polymath and a lot of times we can articulate applications of the science that can really help people.
However, if you're reading an article online that contains one or more of these red flags that should trigger your skepticism. If you really want to understand something, if you're making a crucial decision based on science, go the source.
Bad Science
However, sometimes the source publication itself is bad science. Consider the case of the recent (hilarious!) hoax paper...
The conceptual penis as a social construct
...that actually passed the peer review process and was published in a mainstream social science journal, Cogent Social Sciences.
The authors specifically wrote the least scientific paper that they could. They specifically wrote a paper that should have been rejected by a scientific journal. A few examples of the absurdities it postulated:
Manspreading — a complaint levied against men for sitting with their legs spread wide — is akin to raping the empty space around him.
We conclude that penises are not best understood as the male sexual organ, or as a male reproductive organ, but instead as an enacted social construct that is both damaging and problematic for society and future generations. The conceptual penis presents significant problems for gender identity and reproductive identity within social and family dynamics, is exclusionary to disenfranchised communities based upon gender or reproductive identity, is an enduring source of abuse for women and other gender-marginalized groups and individuals, is the universal performative source of rape, and is the conceptual driver behind much of climate change.
Destructive, unsustainable hegemonically male approaches to pressing environmental policy and action are the predictable results of a raping of nature by a male-dominated mindset.
The authors intentionally made it as absurd and anti-scientific as possible, from the Skeptic.com article where they admitted their hoax
After completing the paper, we read it carefully to ensure it didn’t say anything meaningful, and as neither one of us could determine what it is actually about, we deemed it a success.
Not only is the text ridiculous, so are the references. Most of our references are quotations from papers and figures in the field that barely make sense in the context of the text.
Nearly a third of our references in the original paper go to fake sources from a website mocking the fact that this kind of thing is brainlessly possible, particularly in “academic” fields corrupted by postmodernism.
Cui bono?
When researching the science it's important to ask who benefits? Who is getting paid?
Many journals like Cogent Social Sciences operate with a pay-to-publish model. The authors of The conceptual penis paid $625, they published under fake names as part of a fake social research group, which Cogent Social Sciences did not catch. So for $625, approximately the same amount you would have to pay to score some cocaine, get drunk on champaign and bang a hooker in a chintzy hotel room in Vegas, anyone's totally nonsensical opinions can be transformed into "science".
How many other papers that have appeared within the pages of Cogent Social Sciences are similar pseudo scientific none-sense? I would wager probably most of them.
Moralizing Should be Scrutinized
You should be very suspicious of science or scientists that make moral statements. Science and morality should not necessarily be separated like the church and state (or matter and anti-matter in the warp drive of the starship Enterprise to use a psuedo scientific metaphor) but the more moralizing statements that bracket the science the more you should be suspicious of it.
Case in point, The conceptual penis is chuck full of moralizing statements - another major red flag that the peer reviewers at Cogent Social Sciences ignored.
To quote the hoaxers again
That is, we sought to demonstrate that a desire for a certain moral view of the world to be validated could overcome the critical assessment required for legitimate scholarship. Particularly, we suspected that gender studies is crippled academically by an overriding almost-religious belief that maleness is the root of all evil. On the evidence, our suspicion was justified.
Luckily for Biohackers the science of peak performance, health and antiaging is not very politicized relative to a field like the social science which is just a minefield of misinformation and propaganda. Let's keep it that way!
What (really) is Pseudoscience?
You probably hear the word pseudoscience bandied about quiet a lot.
You also hear it's cousin pseudointellectual being used.
A whole lot less frequently you may hear the word I like even more than these two, sophistry.
And I'm sure you're already sick of hearing the buzzphrase Fake News, which is definitionally quiet synonymous with pseudointellectualism.
Accusations of pseudoscience or pseudointellectualism almost always are a component part of some political or ideological narrative. Next family reunion bring up a scientific subject and it won't be long before it devolves into an ideological or political stand off over the plates of foods.
Whether effective or ineffective, accusing the other side of psuedo-veracity is one of the most commonly used debate tactics.
How exactly would you know the difference between actual science and pseudoscience?
Actually it's quiet simple if we look at the definition of pseudoscience
Pseudoscience purports to be an accurate description of physical law despite either 1) consistently failing experimental verification or 2) being unfalsifiable.
I think that second part of the definition is most interesting. Pseudoscience or Pseudointellectual movements are fundamentally unfalsifiable.
They make assertions about life, society or the world that cannot be disproven.
What are some examples?
If I say...
There are exactly 2.4 million rabbits in France at this moment.
...can you disprove it?
No.
Can you disprove that there is NOT an invisible dancing penguin in the sky named Pete who gets very sad if you have sex with the wrong person?
Not really.
Ok those examples are pretty silly. What are some more practical ones?
I can't really disprove that god created the universe 10,000 years ago because god in his infinite power would have the ability to create a universe instantaneously that appeared to be 13 billion years old.
So creationism or intelligent design is Pseudoscience.
As was postulated in a hilariously stupid "scientific" paper published in the journal Cogent Social Sciences...
Can I disprove that I, as a male, am NOT causing climate change by raping the empty space around me?
It's so absurd that really I can't disprove it.
So social science is, let's be honest (mostly), Pseudoscience.
Can you disprove that redistributing the wealth of the top 1% of humanity to the rest of the world would create global utopia?
Well, even though it's been downright disastrous almost every time it's been attempted on a smaller scale, it's never been attempted on a global scale. So you can't really disprove it.
Thus the economists and professors that advocate for Globalist Utopian Socialism (or UBI) are Psuedointellectuals.
So next time you find yourself in the middle of a debate on an ostensibly scientific subject or you read in a magazine that some new groundbreaking study discovered something totally counterintuitive.
Just ask how what they are saying could be disproven...
If disproving it would be extraordinarily difficult or impossible then it's unfalsifiable. It's really NOT a scientific or intellectual position, it's just a preference.
Recency
Newer scientific studies should be viewed more credible than older ones. In researching the meta analyses of Nootropics that I write I generally disregard studies that are over 30 years old.
In April of 2017 Pubmed announced they are actually standing up for science by publishing conflict of interest information on the study abstract page instead of allowing it to be buried behind an academic pay wall.
This resulted from 62 scientists and physicians, and five United States senators petitioning the National Library of Medicine & National Institutes of Health to make public the funding sources of studies. This makes me more optimistic about institutions and politicians — in the news it seems that all we hear about is how corrupt and incompetent institutions and politicians are but sometimes they actually act in our best interests!
So it's reasonable to view science published after April of 2017 as a little more credible.
Red Flags of Bad Science
To quote Maciej D. Zatonski on Quora:
Here are some classic examples that indicate that what you are reading is b******t:
- No control group
- No double blinding
- Results not replicated
- No peer review
- Sensationalised headlines
- Bonus: Betteridge’s Law of Headlines says, that if the title has a question, the answer to that question is “No” [1]
- Conflicts of interest
- Misinterpreted results
- Causation assumed when only correlation exists
- Conclusions not drawn from results
- Too small sample or sample not representative
- Selective reporting of data
- Claimed “Galileo’s Gambit” (results from a single study that contradict mainstream science are claimed to be the only correct ones; discredited authors are claimed to be “persecuted” and therefore right)
- Anecdotes used instead of evidence (“I know there is no evidence homeopathy works, but it worked for me!”)
- Changes of conspiracy and collusion
- Stressing or appealing to status or authority of someone (real or fictitious)
- Repetition of discredited arguments
- False dichotomy / failure to realise there are more than only two opposing outcomes
- Cherry picking of data / ignoring majority of evidence (3 studies show that climate change is not real, while ignoring 3000 studies that show otherwise)
- Wishful thinking (there is no evidence for existence of gods, but we wish they were real)
- Appeal to ancient wisdom (“it must be true because many people were saying this for a long time before”)
- Use of pseudoscientific language
- Daily Mail articles / Fox “news”
- Discrediting an argument because it comes from a person you dislike
- Appeal to nature (“it is natural, so must be healthy”; well… earthquakes, scorpions, cyanide and botulinum toxin are natural too!)
- False balance - counter argument to scientific fact claimed to be of equal value/weight to a counter-argument (theory of embryological foetal development vs stork theory of human birth; theory of evolution by natural selection vs creationism, etc)
- Appeal to common sense or alarmism (usually done to receive extra funding for pointless research)
Dr John Ioannidis - The Bad Science Expert
A Greek American doctor; over the past few decades he has very methodically and none-sensationally shown the light on bad science.
An exhaustive article that appeared in The Atlantic interviewed him thoroughly at the University of Ioannina Medical School campus
Ioannidis... delivered what felt like a coup de grâce: wasn’t it possible, he asked, that drug companies were carefully selecting the topics of their studies—for example, comparing their new drugs against those already known to be inferior to others on the market—so that they were ahead of the game even before the data juggling began? “Maybe sometimes it’s the questions that are biased, not the answers,”
On the integrity of scientific process
We think of the scientific process as being objective, rigorous, and even ruthless in separating out what is true from what we merely wish to be true, but in fact it’s easy to manipulate results, even unintentionally or unconsciously.
The science journal Nature, concurred in a 2006 editorial:
“Scientists understand that peer review per se provides only a minimal assurance of quality, and that the public conception of peer review as a stamp of authentication is far from the truth.”
Double Blind, Randomized Placebo Controlled and Pre-Registered
You've likely heard before that the gold standard of science is the double blind, randomized, placebo controlled study
This means that approximately half the subjects are given a placebo. This should prove that the drug or supplement being studied outperforms the placebo effect. Which is actually pretty meaningful because. This should prove that the drug or supplement being studied outperforms the placebo effect. Which is actually pretty meaningful because the placebo effect is powerful
The patients are not told if they are receiving a placebo nor are the researchers told if they are administering the placebo or the real thing. You can imagine if the researchers know they are giving a placebo to an unwitting patient they will act a bit bashfully which the patient may notice, blunting the placebo effect. This is why it's crucial that studies are double blinded.
The Replication Crisis
As Dr. Rolf Zwaan explains in this interview, it was discovered in 2015 that out of a 100 recent studies in the fields of cognitive psychology and social science, less than a third were actually replicable.
[video]
Dr John Ioannidis from the paper Why Most Published Research Findings Are False:
"Several methodologists have pointed out... that the high rate of nonreplication (lack of confirmation) of research discoveries is a consequence of the convenient, yet ill-founded strategy of claiming conclusive research findings solely on the basis of a single study..."
The best solution to the replication crisis would seem to be Pre-Registration, meaning that...
The hypothesis, study design and methodology are Pre-Registered with journals before conducting the study.
This keeps the researchers focused on determining if the data confirms or denies the hypothesis.
This prevents researchers from expressing a bias in research or searching for desired result.
Dr. Ioannidis goes on to clarify the place of Pre-Registration in studies:
"In some research designs, efforts may also be more successful with upfront registration of studies, e.g., randomized trials... Registration would pose a challenge for hypothesis-generating research. Some kind of registration or networking of data collections or investigators within fields may be more feasible than registration of each and every hypothesis-generating experiment. Regardless, even if we do not see a great deal of progress with registration of studies in other fields, the principles of developing and adhering to a protocol could be more widely borrowed from randomized controlled trials."
Pharmaceutical Science
In 2016 Forbes listed pharmaceutical as the most profitable amongst major industries - beating out banking, financial services, tobacco and the IT industry. This creates an appreciable (and irresistible?) incentive for these firms to yield their influence to pervert science.
Consider the sordid history of Bayer Pharmaceutical which has recently merged with the globally hated Monsanto.
[video]
It would be difficult to call the current iteration of the company evil based solely on their participation in WW2 70 years ago, however many still consider it one of the least benign corporate citizens in the world because of it's Factor VIII scandal in the 1980's; when it turned out that a product of their's infected 6,000 hemophiliacs with AIDS they paid out a $600 million settlement and then outrageously proceed to continue to sell the product in other international markets, infecting unwitting people around the world with the deadly virus.
I don't ascribe to the fringe conspiracy theories about the purposeful evilness of these companies; I think it's a combination of the perverse sticks and carrots that our globalized world offers in combination with the outgroup preference that a corporate culture engenders naturally amongst it's employees.
[video]
Ben Goldacre an Epidemiologist points out that
Industry funded trials are four times more likely to have a flattering result
The book Adaptogens is especially critical of pharmaceutical science:
“The great majority of published research is so deeply flawed that it should be considered essentially worthless.” So wrote John Ioannidis, PhD,
(p. 54)
Ioannidis singled out the following types of studies as being particularly likely to lead to a worthless result:
Studies with a small sample size;
Studies that consider a small number of possible effects;
Studies whose outcomes are poorly or subjectively defined;
Studies in which financial conflict of interest is a factor;
Studies in which the researchers are prejudiced by being unduly wedded to a particular outcome;
and Studies of a topic that is currently “hot.”
(p. 55)
John Loannidis clarified further on conflict of interests in studies
"The greater the financial and other interests and prejudices in a scientific field, the less likely the research findings are to be true."
From The Atlantic article:
...drug-company research wasn’t measuring critically important “hard” outcomes for patients, such as survival versus death, and instead tended to measure “softer” outcomes, such as self-reported symptoms (“my chest doesn’t hurt as much today”)
Not everything pharmaceutical is bad, in fact some of the best smart drugs are products of pharmaceutical companies, but where the moral hazard is so great you should be skeptical.
Be Suspicious of Bias Confirming Science
You want to scrutinize science that really underlines the obvious moral position of the author or publisher. Again, a lot of what you see published is opinion masquerading as science.
Examples
A really lefty Liberal arts college produces social science saying that women are actually better at engineering (or whatever) than men.
Evangelical Christians produce an Intelligent Design Biology textbook.
A vegan that publishes nutrition research that eating meat causes inflammation. (I'd be more likely to believe this last one!)
I'm not suggesting that you totally disregard science that supports a preferred bias.
I'm suggesting that when you are reading a study, Google search the authors, publication or establishment and just take about 30 seconds to look at their social media.
If their social media has a really strong ideological or moralizing bent that the study coincidentally supports that should be a red flag, I'll encourage you to further scrutinize the study.
Is the study focused mostly on the data? Or is it full of a bunch of moralizing opinions? Do the researchers admit in the study that they were particularly surprised by any of the findings?
Conversely, a lot of times you'll find studies or researchers that mention specifically that their findings challenged their biases or preconceptions yet they published them anyways, I would take this as a sign of integrity.
Conclusion
On it's surface this topic might seem depressing. Perhaps you're feeling like a little kid that has just found out that Santa Claus doesn't exist. As Biohackers we really love science;
We lionize scientists.
We relish that discovery feeling of learning new things.
We get excited about new scientific findings that allow us to live better.
But the truth is that a lot of science has been corrupted by human bias, bad incentives and bureaucratic institutions.
My takeaways from researching this topic thoroughly are...
Quality matters a lot more than quantity when it comes to studies. If there is a recent gold standard double blind, randomized, placebo controlled pre-registered study done on a given Nootropic I'll mostly disregard the lower qaulity studies done on it.
I'll more seriously consider statistically significant amounts of the anecdotal accounts and Biohacker reports about a given Nootropic.
For example, recently I caught some flack on Reddit from skeptics about a meta analysis podcast of Vitamin B17, which is a bit of a controversial vitamin.
Unsurprisingly, they pointed to some science done many decades ago that declared B17 a hoax, even though there is more recent science done that is more positive about it. The science that is negative about B17 is replete with red flags and it was actually published by a pair of researchers that had in the 1950's defended big tobacco and declared smoking cigarettes healthy; something that we now know is absurdly anti-scientific.
As I mention in my podcast, in my research of B17 I looked through +600 anecdotal reports and did not find one incidence that confirmed the negative B17 "science".
In this kind of case, it's pretty clear that the anecdotal data should be held in higher esteem than the published "science".
I hope you'll practice similarly nuanced critical thinking in your scrutinizing of the science and your personal Biohacking practice.
Finally... LimitlessMindset.com has +500 pages of information demystifying Lifehacking, Biohacking and Smart Drugs - that's kind of an overwhelming amount of information. As soon as you join the Limitless Mindset Community (It's free!) we give you instant access to an interactive infographic which visually breaks the widely disparate topics we cover in exhaustively in our articles, videos and podcasts.Wisconsin is investigating whether gas stations broke the law with $3.39-per-gallon price. (Photo11: Joe Raedle, Getty Images)
Is it even possible for gas prices to be too low?
Wisconsin says yes, and state authorities have stepped in to investigate after a month-long price war between local gas stations in Oconto County saw four stations offering prices as low as $3.39 a gallon this past week — nearly 50 cents less than other stations in the area, WBAY reports.
Wisconsin law says gas must be sold at a minimum 9% mark-up on the wholesale cost, to help protect smaller companies, reports Fox 11.
NEWSER: Ancient Egyptian jewelry came from space
Investigators from the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade, and Consumer Protection are now looking in to whether the prices offered by the Krist, Mobil, Shell, and BP stations were illegally low.
Prices are now back up to at least $3.729, WBAY reports.
Newser is a USA TODAY content partner providing general news, commentary and coverage from around the Web. Its content is produced independently of USA TODAY.
Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/15tjkrqI never dreamed slowly cruising through a residential neighborhood could be so incredibly dangerous! Studies have shown that motorcycling requires more decisions per second, and more sheer data processing than nearly any other common activity or sport. The reactions and accurate decision making abilities needed have been likened to the reactions of fighter pilots! The consequences of bad decisions or poor situational awareness are pretty much the same for both groups too. Occasionally, as a rider I have caught myself starting to make bad or late decisions while riding. In flight training, my instructors called this being “behind the power curve”. It is a mark of experience that when this begins to happen, the rider recognizes the situation, and more importantly, does something about it. A short break, a meal, or even a gas stop can set things right again as it gives the brain a chance to catch up. Good, accurate, and timely decisions are essential when riding a motorcycle…at least if you want to remain among the living. In short, the brain needs to keep up with the machine. I had been banging around the roads of east Texas and as I headed back into Dallas, found myself in very heavy, high-speed traffic on the freeways. Normally, this is not a problem, I commute in these conditions daily, but suddenly I was nearly run down by a cage that decided it needed my lane more than I did. This is not normally a big deal either, as it happens around here often, but usually I can accurately predict which drivers are not paying attention and avoid them before we are even close. This one I missed seeing until it was nearly too late, and as I took evasive action I nearly broadsided another car that I was not even aware was there! Two bad decisions and insufficient situational awareness…all within seconds. I was behind the power curve. Time to get off the freeway. I hit the next exit, and as I was in an area I knew pretty well, headed through a few big residential neighborhoods as a new route home. As I turned onto the nearly empty streets I opened the visor on my full-face helmet to help get some air. I figured some slow riding through the quiet surface streets would give me time to relax, think, and regain that “edge” so frequently required when riding. Little did I suspect… As I passed an oncoming car, a brown furry missile shot out from under it and tumbled to a stop immediately in front of me. It was a squirrel, and must have been trying to run across the road when it encountered the car. I really was not going very fast, but there was no time to brake or avoid it—it was that close. I hate to run over animals…and I really hate it on a motorcycle, but a squirrel should pose no danger to me. I barely had time to brace for the impact. Animal lovers, never fear. Squirrels can take care of themselves! Inches before impact, the squirrel flipped to his feet. He was standing on his hind legs and facing the oncoming Valkyrie with steadfast resolve in his little beady eyes. His mouth opened, and at the last possible second, he screamed and leapt! I am pretty sure the scream was squirrel for, “Banzai!” or maybe, “Die you gravy-sucking, heathen scum!” as the leap was spectacular and he flew over the windshield and impacted me squarely in the chest. Instantly he set upon me. If I did not know better I would have sworn he brought twenty of his little buddies along for the attack. Snarling, hissing, and tearing at my clothes, he was a frenzy of activity. As I was dressed only in a light t |
since ballooned to three sections, with fans showing up dressed as royalty and holding up giant cutouts of Hernandez's face. The seats' occupants have become, over time, more jubilant than any others in baseball, with heavily tattooed hipsters exchanging gleeful high-fives with North Face-clad, Subaru-driving dads after every Hernandez strikeout.
"I'm superstitious, so at first when they talked to me about a special section, I was like, 'I'm not sure I like that,'" Hernandez says. "But the first time we did it, I thought, 'Wow. That was awesome. That was loud.'"
SOMETIMES IT'S DIFFICULT, Hernandez concedes, to resist the desire to throw harder when the count reaches two strikes and the fans in King's Court begin to chant in a way that sounds like crashing cymbals. "K! K! K! K!" When he faces reigning MVP Mike Trout for the first time today, this desire becomes impossible to suppress. Since Trout entered the league in 2011, his clashes with Hernandez have been some of the best showdowns in baseball. Coming into the game, no hitter with at least 40 at-bats against Hernandez has a better batting average than Trout's.367. Hernandez has won his share of these confrontations too, striking out Trout 12 times in 54 plate appearances. "It's always a battle, me and him, but it's always fun," Hernandez says.
Hernandez begins their first clash of 2015 with a 91 mph inside sinker. Trout tries to jump on it, but he's a hair slow and gets only a piece. Foul ball. Hernandez is fidgeting on the mound now, trying to focus. His second pitch is a nasty four-seam fastball, 92 mph, on the inside corner of the plate, and it freezes Trout, who suddenly finds himself down 0-and-2. The crowd is on its feet again. "K! K! K! K!"
"It's fun to face guys like that because
it's a challenge." - Felix Hernandez
Hernandez has Trout exactly where he wants him, at the mercy of his changeup, maybe the best out pitch in baseball. (In 2014, according to FanGraphs, swings against Hernandez's changeup became ground balls 68 percent of the time, and players hit just.160 against it.) This, though, is where the riffing between two great soloists truly begins. Trout knows Hernandez wants to throw a changeup. Hernandez knows Trout is expecting it. Each man is calculating two or three moves into the future, strategizing, guessing and reacting in fractions of a second.
Hernandez comes inside once again, another hard sinker, but Trout isn't biting. Ball one. In their pregame strategy session, Zunino and Hernandez decided they would go after Trout with sinkers and fastballs, work both sides of the plate, keep him guessing, wondering when the changeup might be coming. The fourth pitch is another sinker, this time on the outside corner of the plate, and Trout fouls it off again. He fouls off two more fastballs, then watches Hernandez's first changeup of the at-bat dive at his ankles. On the mound, King Felix purses his lips. Damn, he thinks. Didn't bite.
The eighth and final pitch is a sinker that starts chest-high and doesn't sink. Trout pounces, hammering the ball toward the center-field fence. Hernandez spins and cranks his neck to the sky, hoping he's wrong, but deep down, he knows. He always knows, even a split second after the ball comes out of his hand. The ball was crushed. Home run. 1-0 Angels.
Safeco Field is as quiet as an art gallery as Trout trots around the bases. In King's Court, fans look sucker-punched. Hernandez strikes out Albert Pujols and Matt Joyce to end the inning, but as he ambles toward the dugout, he's shaking his head, still thinking about Trout.
He got me, Felix tells himself. Ain't happening again.
HERNANDEZ CUTS THROUGH the Angels' lineup, his curveball and changeup serving as scalpels, his sinker and fastball a pair of blunt-edged swords. Over the course of the next two innings, only one ball leaves the infield: a lineout to right field. David Freese strikes out looking. Chris Iannetta pops up meekly in the infield, as does C.J. Cron. Erick Aybar grounds out, as does Johnny Giavotella. The mojo of King's Court returns. Disco music blares. The Mariners take a 2-1 lead after an RBI triple by Seth Smith, then an RBI single by Robinson Cano. A man dances with a beer in one hand, a baby in the other. Thirteen-year-old Maxwell Gordon, who is dressed in a red fur-lined king costume, is awarded a giant turkey leg by the Mariners' marketing staff for his enthusiasm, and when the 11,425-square-foot video board shows him holding it triumphantly in the air, the crowd roars.
"I wear this every time I come to King's Court," Maxwell says. "Got to show him my support. Long live the King."
In the top of the fourth inning, Trout comes to the plate again, but this time King Felix does not nibble with fastballs. He's in a rhythm now. He's getting more movement on his pitches. "There's the adrenaline he just thrives on," Zunino says. "You know he's going to rise to the occasion." Once again, he jumps ahead 0-and-2. Trout fouls off a changeup at his knees to stay alive, but Hernandez comes back with it three pitches later. It's the nastiest pitch he has thrown all day, and Trout is badly fooled, flailing at a ball that skips in the dirt.
It's moments like this when Hernandez seems the most like an artist. He's feeding off the crowd and nailing every note.Last week, Americans reelected President Obama and returned a Democratic majority to the Senate. How that will affect the economy, foreign policy, and other aspects of government remain to be seen. One thing we can say for certain—it pulls the Affordable Care Act (ACA) out of limbo.
Almost from the day President Obama signed the ACA into law in 2010, it has been under threat—from legislators, legal battles in court, and presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s vow to repeal “Obamacare” if elected. The President’s re-election means we can expect to see the ACA implemented. It also suggests that many Americans are comfortable moving forward with the ACA, and support a role for federal government in improving access to and delivery of health care.
Some popular elements of the law are already in place: allowing children to stay on their parent’s health coverage until age 26, and allowing for cost-free preventive services. Other more complicated aspects of the ACA remain to be realized.
Work to be done
The ACA seeks to expand health insurance to about 30 million of the 50 million Americans who are without health insurance. The law calls for state-run exchanges through which individuals can buy health insurance. Each state must notify the Department of Health and Human Services this week (by November 16th) about whether it is planning to set up its own exchange. The next deadline comes on January 1, 2013, when states intending to run their own exchanges must show they are on track to offer insurance by October 1, 2013. Residents of states that choose not to establish an exchange will be able to buy health insurance from a federal exchange.
The ACA also extends eligibility for Medicaid to Americans who earn less than 133% of the poverty level (approximately $14,000 for an individual and $29,000 for a family of four). To cover the cost of this expanded health coverage, states will receive 100% federal funding for the first three years, and 90% after that. The Supreme Court’s decision last June allows states to decide whether or not to expand Medicaid coverage. My hope is that the benefits of enrolling uninsured individuals in Medicaid (which include lowering the costs of delivering uncompensated care) will prompt them to do so.
Although the ACA makes no major modifications to Medicare, there are still significant changes on the horizon. The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation will continue to seek new ways to pay for and deliver care that improve care and health while lowering costs. These efforts include shared savings with accountable care organizations, bundled payments, and comprehensive primary care initiatives. The Secretary of Health and Human Services can expand promising programs without congressional approval if they are shown to be beneficial. To control the escalating costs of health care, I and others believe our health care system needs to change from the traditional fee-for-service reimbursement model to one in which clinicians are reimbursed based on the quality and/or the value of the care they provide. Successful experiments from the innovation center should move this process forward.
Some other changes to Medicare may influence Medicare beneficiaries more directly. The ACA gradually closes the Medicare prescription drug “doughnut hole.” This should lead to smaller out-of-pocket drug costs. At the same time, some Medicare beneficiaries may see their costs go up, with the increase in the Medicare payroll tax and an increase in premium costs for beneficiaries with higher incomes.
The ACA established the Patient Centered Outcomes and Research Institute. Its mission is to conduct and support research that will help patients and their health care providers make more informed decisions. The institute has funded 50 pilot projects and will soon announce the recipients of awards for nearly $100 million for research on comparative clinical effectiveness in several priority areas.
Keep in mind that the ACA does nothing to address the looming cuts associated with the sustainable growth rate (SGR). This formula, enacted in 1997, caps what Medicare pays physicians by linking payments to the gross domestic product. This January, Medicare fees to physicians are scheduled to be reduced by 27%, unless Congress intervenes. A permanent fix will cost $270 billion over the next 10 years. Paying for it would require finding $270 billion worth of savings or adding $270 billion to the deficit.
What the ACA represents
I see the ACA as an important step down the path to assuring all that Americans have access to affordable health insurance. It does not have all of the answers. Although it starts to address health care costs, more work must be done to control health care spending. It will almost certainly take additional legislation to make substantial gains in this arena—as was necessary in Massachusetts. Massachusetts implemented a health care expansion in 2006 that is similar to the ACA, but found that additional cost-control legislation was needed to sustain the state’s near universal insurance coverage. It is my hope that legislators will work together to identify strategies to control costs and create a health care system that delivers high-quality and high-value care in a way that our nation can afford.
Dr. Nancy L. Keating is an associate professor of medicine and health care policy at Harvard Medical School and an associate physician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.Antonio Rudiger was linked quite heavily with a Manchester United move a week or so ago. The VFB Stuttgart defender was seen by some as an alternative to Marcos Rojo, but they're quite different players. Whereas Rojo is a central defender who can play on the left, Rudiger is a central defender who can play on the right and also as a defensive midfielder.
The 21 year old is highly rated in Germany and is already a full international. He's been speaking to Sport Bild this week and explained how he hopes the international retirement of Per Mertesacker allows him to get more chances for the World Champions.
Rudiger's aim is to establish himself so he can play a part for Germany at Euro 2016, he told Sport Bild " Of course it's my goal, and I work hard every day. I'd be lying if I said otherwise."
The young defender has another goal and that's to play in the Premier League. When asked by Sport Bild about Manchester United interest, Rudiger is as diplomatic as someone who has come through the system at VFB Stuttgart should be. However, it wouldn't be too over the top to declare what he says as some sort of come-and-get-plea or at least letting the Premier League club, and others, know he's very interested in a move to English football.
"The enquiry honours me, it makes me proud. But I focus on the VFB, and I will continue to grow. What might happen sometime in the future, I do not know. This is of course a top international address. And they play in the league of which I dream."
The only thing that counts against Rudiger for manchester United is his age. After losing the likes of Patrice Evra, Nemanja Vidic and Rio Ferdinand, it could be that Louis van Gaal would prefer someone a little older and more experienced.
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MANCHESTER UNITED PURSUE CARVALHO IN PORTUGAL Manchester United have long been linked with a move for Sporting Lisbon midfielder William Carvalho. Last season the club scouted Sporting repeatedly and there must be reports piled high somewhere about how Carvalho was the club's best player by far. That's not just a David Moyes thing, Manchester United were interested when Sir Alex Ferguson was the manager and Carvalho was on loan at Cercle Brugge... he was scouted there too. Read more...
RABIOT'S MOTHER TO ASK ARSENAL TO UP BID According to reports in the French media, the agent of PSG midfielder Adrien Rabiot is to hold a meeting in London today to the discuss the transfer of the French U21 international to the Premier League side. The youngster has been linked with a move to the Emirates all summer but they will face competition from the likes of Juventus and AS Roma to land the player. Read more...
ROBBEN WORRIES FOR VAN GAAL'S MANCHESTER UNITED FUTURE Arjen Robben is one of several Dutch players to be linked with a Manchester United move this summer. He's one who has commented on it too, saying he'd be pleased with the interest but that he isn't looking to leave Bayern Munich anytime soon. Read more...
CHELSEA WILL CONTINUE TO PAY TORRES Fernando Torres wants to go to AC Milan, probably on loan. The Italian club dearly want to sign him as their replacement for Mario Balotelli. The club's CEO Adriano Galliani picked up the telephone on Wednesday and spoke to Torres who, according to Gazzetta dello Sport, gave his total commitment to joining the Serie A club. Read more...
ARSENAL 'OFFER' USED TO PRESSURE SUNDERLAND? Atletico Madrid need to sell Toby Alderweireld according to Spanish newspaper AS on Thursday. His €5m wages, colossal for such a player at the Spanish club, are hindering them in the transfer market and far too much for someone who has struggled to establish themselves as anything more than a squad player. Read more...
MANCHESTER UNITED MISS OUT ON BENATIA FOR NOT MUCH Manchester United were heavily linked with Mehdi Benatia before the player moved to Bayern Munich. He was arguably Serie A's best defender last season and would have been perfect to fill the lack of experience and class in Manchester United's shaky defence. Read more...
GERMANY DEFENDER UP FOR MANCHESTER UNITED Antonio Rudiger was linked quite heavily with a Manchester United move a week or so ago. The VFB Stuttgart defender was seen by some as an alternative to Marcos Rojo, but they're quite different players. Whereas Rojo is a central defender who can play on the left, Rudiger is a central defender who can play on the right and also as a defensive midfielder. Read more...New York, NY (PRWEB) September 11, 2013 — Old Pulteney Single Malt Scotch Whisky announced the release of ‘The Navigator’, the newest addition to its distinguished portfolio. Dedicated to the sailing community and the skillful individuals piloting ships safely across the seas, ‘Navigator’ pays homage to its birthplace while offering Old Pulteney fans an exciting, limited-edition expression true to the malt’s award-winning character.
Referred to as “The Maritime Malt,” Old Pulteney embodies the seafaring history and heritage of Wick, Scotland, where it is distilled. The distillery was founded in 1826 by James Henderson at the height of Wick’s herring boom. It lies in the heart of “Pulteneytown,” which was settled during its heyday as one of the largest and most important herring fishing ports in Europe. Ships carrying more than 7000 workers, and whisky drinkers, navigated to and from its shores during that time.
While advancements have been made in production, Old Pulteney maintains its integrity by carefully crafting every drop of whisky using time-honored processes. As great navigators still look to the sun, the wind and the stars, Old Pulteney relies on its traditional methods and unique stills. The bottle is a reflection of the stills’ pot belly shape.
Navigator is honeycomb in appearance and full-bodied with bursts of honey, cocoa and oranges. Its long-lasting, spicy finish delivers notes of the salty and fresh air of the North Sea, located right outside the Old Pulteney distillery. Navigators across the world will find a dram as pleasing as a red sky at night – as the old saying goes: “Red sky at night, sailor’s delight. Red sky at morning, sailor’s warning.”
“As such an integral part of the rich maritime heritage of its birthplace and as the Official Scotch of US Sailing, we’ve worked to bring Old Pulteney’s brand to life through various partnerships and promotions,” said Patrick Graney, President of International Beverage, USA. “It is only natural Old Pulteney also release a malt that truly celebrates that community and the skilled people within it.”
Now in its second year, the Old Pulteney Maritime Heroes Award was also launched to commemorate stand-out individuals associated with the maritime lifestyle. The award recognizes men and women across the United States who have made outstanding contributions to the sport of sailing and/or their local sailing communities.
Navigator features special packaging including an illustration of a compass, an essential tool in the art of navigation, and Old Pulteney’s traditional herring drifter. Aqua blue fills the background, further invoking a connection with the sea. Old Pulteney Navigator is available in select markets across the U.S. at a suggested retail price of $49.99. The core Old Pulteney line includes a 12 year Old, 17 Year Old and 21 Year Old. Old Pulteney 21 Year Old won the prestigious Jim Murray Whisky Bible, World Whisky of the Year in 2012. Visit Old Pulteney on Facebook or at http://www.oldpulteney.com for more information.
About International Beverage
Old Pulteney is produced by International Beverage Holdings, Limited. (http://www.interbevgroup.com) IBHL was established in 2005, as the international arm of ThaiBev, one of South East Asia’s leading alcohol beverage companies. With a network of regional offices in Asia, Europe and North America, the company is responsible for the production, sales, marketing and distribution of a portfolio of premium global brands in more than 80 countries and territories. The company’s success is built on a strong understanding of local cultures and markets along with the creation of a global operational network.Virginia McLaurin met President Obama and the first lady on Thursday to celebrate Black History Month. After the White House released footage of McLaurin's visit, the video immediately went viral. (McKenna Ewen/The Washington Post)
As she picked cotton and shucked corn in the fields of South Carolina with her parents, it never occurred to the young Virginia McLaurin that she might one day eat in the same restaurants as white people. And the notion that she would live to see the country elect a black president, and that one day she’d be invited to the White House and clasp his hands and dance with him for all the world to see?
Well, McLaurin could not have imagined that even deep into her old age.
And yet it happened — and was captured in a video released by the White House on Sunday night of McLaurin meeting the Obamas during a Black History Month celebration last week.
Overnight, the 106-year-old D.C. resident became an Internet sensation. But by lunchtime Monday, McLaurin still hadn’t seen the video herself.
[‘A black president, yay’: 106-year-old finally meets the Obamas, dances like a schoolgirl]
Her phone had begun ringing at 5 a.m. in her apartment, on the upper Northwest Washington block where she has lived since 1939. It was her grandson. He’d just seen her dancing with the president and the first lady on the news.
“I didn’t know you were going to be on TV,” he said.
“Neither did I,” she replied.
She kept trying to catch a glimpse, but the phone never stopped ringing with calls from family and friends who’d seen the clip.
Then finally, deep into the afternoon on Monday, McLaurin got to watch the moment that had made her famous. Her eyes were fixed on the iPhone in her lap, as she sat in a backroom of Busboys and Poets restaurant near U Street — in front of a mural of civil rights icons. Her mouth dropped open: There she was, dancing with her beloved president. She seemed almost as amazed by the technology that was allowing her to relive it all.
“Where can I get one of these?” she asked about the smartphone video. “I wish this was mine.”
For a few hours over lunch, she reflected on her life and those precious few minutes she had fulfilling a dream she didn’t even know to entertain until 2008.
“I was so happy to meet the black president,” she said. “I was so happy to shake his hand, and his wife was so nice. It was the joy of my entire life. I can die smiling now.”
‘This was white and this was black’
McLaurin was born in South Carolina in 1909 at a time when slavery was still a fresh memory and African American kids in the South didn’t go to school past eighth grade. She married young, just 13, a fact she’s bashful to share. She lived briefly with her husband in northern New Jersey before he was killed in a bar brawl, and she moved to Washington to be with her sister in 1939.
She had two children — her son has since passed, and her daughter is 83 years old — and did domestic work for families in Silver Spring, Md. She also managed a laundry shop when women weren’t allowed to handle the men’s suits.
McLaurin still lives alone and does all her own housework, except for laundry because there are no machines in her unit. She has too many grandchildren (and great, and great-great, and great-great-great grandchildren and so on) to count, but she estimates them at about 50. Her grandkids’ grandchild has a baby.
As a child growing up in the South, she said she didn’t imagine that there could ever be a world where white and black people were integrated. When the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. marched in Washington in 1963, she didn’t know whether his dream would ever be realized.
“This was white and this was black. There were so many things we weren’t allowed to do, we were raised up like that,” she said. “I felt like it would always be that way.”
Still, she was never bitter — quite the opposite. People ask her all the time how she remains so positive. “I have nothing to do but be happy,” she says. But do you ever worry, they’ll ask. “Why? It ain’t gonna help.”
Deeply faithful, McLaurin attends a weekly Bible study, and she said it’s helped her stay upbeat and healthy. That, she said, and a diet of fried beans and peas. Other than a back surgery about 50 years ago, she hasn’t had any major health issues.
“The Bible said a good laugh is the best medicine,” she said. “You don’t know who you’re going to have to look to before you leave this world, so you treat people how you want to be treated. Treat people nice and somebody will always treat you nice.”
‘I could come to your house to make things easier’
She was watching “Judge Judy” at home last week when her friend, Deborah Menkart, called to tell her there was a good chance that they were going to the White House for a Black History Month celebration. A day or so later, it was confirmed that the very next day at 3:30 p.m. they were going to the White House.
McLaurin wanted to go shopping for a new dress and new shoes, but there wasn’t time. So she wore the electric blue suit she’d worn to her 103rd birthday party where Marion Barry had been a surprise guest. She said she danced with him, too. Her granddaughter painted her nails a bright blue to match – something Michelle Obama later noticed and complimented her on.
106 year-old Virginia McLaurin watches the video of her with the Obamas on Feb 22, 2016 in Washington, DC. The video of McLaurin dancing with President and First Lady Obama last week at the White House went viral on the Internet.
(Photo by Kate Patterson for The Washington Post)
In 2014, another friend had submitted a petition to the White House with a note from McLaurin. “I know you are a busy man, but I wish I could meet you,” she said. “I would love to meet you. I could come to your house to make things easier. I pray to the Lord that I would be able to meet you one day.”
But it wasn’t until Menkart, 59, put a call out on Facebook on behalf of her friend to visit the White House that it actually happened. Marco Davis, the deputy director of the administration’s Hispanics education initiative, saw her post and made the connections.
The White House, on its official blog, wrote that Menkart had advocated for the meeting, citing McLaurin’s longtime volunteer work. For more than 20 years, she’s been a foster grandmother to city youth. When the kids are upset, she tells them to “get the devil off your shoulder” and they leave their time with her laughing and smiling, she said.
It was in that same spirit that McLaurin sauntered into the Blue Room to meet the Obamas. She said she could barely contain her excitement.
And now that contagious glee has made her Internet-famous.
At Busboys and Poets, owner Andy Shallal came to greet her and told her she was an inspiration to everyone. “Thank you for letting me in here,” she said.
“I remember where I came from,” she said.
“It’s an honor,” he told her. “You made so many people light up.”
106 year-old Virginia McLaurin gets a kiss from Pastor Lionel Edmonds who just happened to be passing by and wanted to have his photo taken with her on Feb 22, 2016 in Washington, DC. A video of McLaurin dancing with President and First Lady Obama last week at the White House went viral on the Internet. (Photo by Kate Patterson for The Washington Post)
After lunch, McLaurin leaned on her gold cane and shuffled onto 14th Street, not too far from the historic Howard Theatre, where back in the day she used to go dancing, doing a move she called “picking cherries” and once partying with James Brown. She could barely walk a few steps without passersby recognizing her and asking if she’d join them for a photo. She beamed, and happily posed with everyone, thanking them for taking the time.
“This is what it’s all about,” said the Rev. Lionel Edmonds, a pastor at Mount Lebanon Baptist Church, who stooped to kiss her forehead. “She’s lived to this iconic moment. Every major event that has happened to the African American people she has witnessed. She’s a walking, talking icon.”
One of the first things McLaurin noticed when meeting Obama was how much he’d aged. But she still found him very handsome.
“I wish I could have 30 minutes alone with him,” she said, mischievously. “Oh, you know how women think.”
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Meet the guy who believed Bernie Sanders could be president before anyone else didMitt Romney officially announced his candidacy for president in June 2011. But during the spring of that year, Romney considered scrapping his campaign altogether, as detailed in a soon-to-be-released book about the 2012 presidential campaign by The Washington Post's Dan Balz.
Then in the exploratory committee phase of his campaign, Romney was preparing on a May morning to deliver a speech in Michigan to defend the health care plan he signed into law as governor of Massachusetts and attack President Obama's federal health care measure. The Wall Street Journal released a scathing op-ed that same day slamming the Republican over his Massachusetts plan.
Romney's eldest son Tagg got a message from his father early that morning, he told Balz. "I'm going to tell them I'm out," Tagg Romney recalled his father telling him. "He said there's no path to win the nomination."
Romney confirmed after the election that he called his son one morning to tell him he thought he wasn't going to run. "I recognized that by virtue of the realities of my circumstances, there were some drawbacks to my candidacy for a lot of Republican voters," he told Balz in January. "One, because I had a health care plan in Massachusetts that had been copied in some respects by the president, that I would be tainted by that feature. I also realized that being a person of wealth, I would be pilloried by the president as someone who, if you use the term of the day, was in the 1 percent."
The book, titled "Collision 2012: Obama vs. Romney and the Future of Elections in America," is due out Aug. 6. It details the 2012 White House race through Election Day and its aftermath.
Romney's exchange with his son wasn't the first time he expressed doubts about whether he would run. During a Christmas holiday trip to Hawaii in 2010, the Romney family held a vote. Should Romney, who lost in the 2008 primary, run for president once again? Ten of 12 family members voted no -- including the candidate. Only Tagg and Ann Romney voted yes.
Romney opened up to Balz about his conservative stance on immigration during the campaign, and his use of the term "self-deportation," which Democrats slammed repeatedly. Romney said he did not anticipate the blowback he would face.
"I thought of it as being a term that is used in the community of those discussing immigration," Romney told Balz in January. "I hadn't seen it as being a negative term." He later added: "You have two options of dealing with those that have come here illegally: deportation or self-deportation. The president has deported more I think in four years than President Bush did in eight years. So the president was using a deportation method. The view of others is, no, let people make their own choice.... So I was looking for a more, if you will, compassionate approach, which is let people make their own choice, as opposed to deporting people."
Romney also reflected on his "47 percent" comment, which he said he didn't initially think would become a major focus. He said the perception that his remarks suggested he didn't care about many Americans was incorrect.
"But I realized, look, perception is reality," Romney said. "The perception is I'm saying I don't care about 47 percent of the people or something of that nature, and that's simply wrong."
His campaign's biggest mistake in the primary, Romney told Balz, was not giving more attention to the Feb. 7 contests in Missouri, Minnesota and Colorado. He also worried during the campaign about the surge of Newt Gingrich, even as his advisers tried to assure him Gingrich would not win.
"I have to tell you that, in the discussions I had with my senior staff, people like Stuart Stevens and Russ Schriefer said, 'Look, Newt is not going to be the nominee. I don't care what the polls say, he's not going to be the nominee.' I was far less sanguine about that," Romney said.For scenarios in Command that simulate exercises, as opposed to actual battles, I like to use the following guidelines:
-Opponent uses the equipment of the “actors”, not the “characters”. So instead of MiG-29s and MiG-21s, they would have aggressor F-16s and F-5s. The relative capabilities are what serve as the main indicator of what I’d use as a substitute, as well as just how difficult I want the specific scenario to be.
-Opponent’s skill setting is set to “Ace”, to symbolize the highly trained aggressor pilots. Say hi, Jester and Viper.
-Player’s skill setting is not set to anything above “Regular”, and is frequently below that level, to symbolize the training component of it.
I don’t follow this in every single exercise-styled scenario, but I do in a lot of examples. Why?
-The equipment is there because it’s more novel than seeing the “usual opponent” in actual battle scenarios. While an F-4 and MiG-21 may meet over the skies of-well, just about anywhere given their many users, an F-4 and F-5 are less likely to engage outside of an exercise.
-The skill setting is set there to provide a challenge. Red Flag and similar realistic training exercises were made to duplicate the valuable “first ten missions” in a peacetime setting, and I wanted to reflect that.
-Also, I wanted the scenarios to be a form of “training” in-game as well. There have been times when I even considered turning scoring off completely, and letting the player’s ratios speak for themselves. In the finished scenarios, I didn’t do that, but I still aim for the goal of (in some cases) having them be a “worst case battle”.When he took over as head of the Roman Catholic Church last year, Pope Francis made it clear that he meant to be the leader of a “poor church” – meaning that the Vatican would focus less on its own splendor and more on finding ways to use its vast financial resources to benefit the world’s poor.
It’s turning out to be more of a struggle than Francis may have expected; last week he found it necessary to fire all five directors of the Vatican’s Financial Information Authority – essentially the primary financial watchdog over the Papal State’s considerable financial operations.
Related: Pope Francis Slams Capitalism and Growing Inequality
The announcement on Thursday was only the most recent in a series of firings, replacements, and arrests that have rocked the Vatican’s financial hierarchy. It turns out that for Francis, casting the moneychangers out of the Temple has proven to be a time-consuming task.
Last summer, a number of senior officials with the Vatican Bank resigned around the time that one of its senior accountants, Monsignor Nunzio Scarano, was arrested and charged with conspiring to smuggle more than $20 million from Italy to Switzerland. Scarano, reportedly known in Rome as “Monsignor 500” for his habit of displaying a wallet full of €500 notes, has since been charged with multiple other offenses, including money laundering.
In January, Francis fired four out of the five cardinals on the commission overseeing the bank, known as the Institute for Works of Religion, or IOR in its Italian acronym. Supposed to serve only priests, nuns, and religious orders, the Vatican Bank has been implicated in money laundering schemes and other illegal activity. Francis made it clear that he was open to closing down the bank completely.
In February, by Papal edict, he laid out multiple new transparency requirements for the Vatican’s financial arm, and created a new Secretariat for the Economy, meant to act as an auditor general for the Vatican. The following month, he indicated that the Vatican Bank would survive, though in a vastly different form, as a large number of accounts not related to its central mission were shut down.
Related: For Pope Francis, Religious Visit Quickly Turns Political
The edict, though, has not cleaned out all of the old guard who have made the Vatican’s financial system a laughingstock among law enforcement professionals and a haven for criminals.
Last week’s announcement came after Swiss money laundering expert René Brülhart, who was named to head the Financial Information Authority, complained that he was being obstructed by the board – made up of five Italians with connections to the Vatican’s old guard.
In years past, it might have been Brülhart, at one point the head of Liechtenstein’s respected Financial Intelligence Unit, who found himself out on the street.
To Francis’s credit, there is a new board on its way in oversee the Vatican’s financial watchdog Its makeup is remarkable only because of its international nature: it’s made up of four international experts, including former financial regulators – one from the U.S., one from Switzerland, one from Singapore and a fourth from Italy. It is also notable that the Italian member is a woman, insurance executive Maria Bianca Farina, making her one of the few women with significant authority in the Vatican.
Top Reads from The Fiscal Times"As a kid, I loved Air Force Ones – but they were so expensive. I always had to save up for ages to get them. Now I can call the Nike guy and be like 'can you send me ten pairs?' and they'll be here the same day."
AJ Tracey isn't exaggerating. At 6'2", he's sitting next to a pile of Nike boxes that tower above him. He's not wearing any right now though – everyone takes their shoes off at the door. This is his mum's flat after all, and she's sitting in the next room. A minute walk from Ladbroke Grove tube, the flat looks over the West London heartland that AJ Tracey is keen to finally write into grime history. From the third floor window, he points out some of the most important silhouettes on the skyline: Hazlewood Tower, Latimer Road and the estate where he grew up, playing Yugi-Oh cards in a youth club run by his mother.
Despite a century of hugely influential subculture and one of the UK's most buoyant African-Caribbean communities, the West London area where AJ Tracey lives has become synonymous with a vast juxtaposition in living conditions. Impoverished, neglected estates sit next to multi-million pound apartments complete with glass roofs and walls lined with lavish |
were left trying to stitch together a playoff contender without the man who’d led them in scoring each of the last four seasons. Still, Rubio drew energy from his new surroundings. “I feel wanted here,” he says. “They don’t have doubts with me. They see a future with me. They’re not just talking about this year but years down the road. That makes a huge difference.”
Russ Isabella-USA TODAY Sports
So far, results are mixed. The Jazz have the seventh-best defensive rating in the NBA. With Gobert behind him (when healthy) and Thabo Sefolosha often manning one of the wings, Rubio has the freedom to roam at times on defense, gambling judiciously and choking off passing lanes. On offense, though, Rubio is averaging career highs in points and field goal attempts and a career low in assists. Some nights, like during his 30-point explosion against Portland, this can feel like the next evolution of his skill set, the pass-first point guard finding a scoring touch midway through his career. “Sometimes,” he says, “taking the shot is the best option. I like to share the ball and make my teammates better, but sometimes the most unselfish thing or the best thing for the team is to shoot it.” Most opponents, though, will still gladly allow Rubio any shot he desires. He’s shooting 37 percent from the field and 25 percent from 3, still among the worst marks of any starting player in the league.
“That’s the thing Ricky’s not used to—waiting.” —Jazz coach Quin Snyder
“We understood his perceived deficiencies when we traded for him,” says Snyder. “We feel like he’s eager to improve and he can improve.” Snyder sees room for growth beyond his shooting, though. “The biggest thing we’re working on is his tempo,” Snyder says. “He’s so fast with the ball, but speed is not the answer for everything. If he learns how to change speeds, slow down at times, that makes his faster moments even faster. It will help his reads. It will get him in a better position for shots for himself or for others. I think when you see that, just the subtleties of working on tempo and angles, you’ll see that those things will make him a better shooter too.”
Opposing guards have a long history of going underneath the screen against Rubio on the pick and roll, daring him to shoot, and he has a long history of rewarding that decision. Last season, he ranked in the 41st percentile in situations where the defender went under the screen, according to Synergy Sports, as opposed to the 82nd percentile when they went over the top. Against Portland earlier this month, he made the Blazers pay time and again for laying off of him. “Keep going under those screens,” Jazz forward Jonas Jerebko said afterward. “He’s going to keep hitting shots.” As the season has progressed, though, that game has felt anomalous. Yet if Rubio can shoot just well enough to keep defenders honest, he can open up a range of other possibilities for the Jazz offense. “It’s important for him to understand that if a guy goes under, he has the confidence and freedom to shoot the ball,” says Snyder. “But also, he doesn’t have to shoot it every time. If guys go over, it can free up a decision-making opportunity for him. Maybe it’s a pull-up jump shot, maybe it’s a lob to Rudy, maybe it’s a skip pass. But he can also keep his dribble alive and not feel like he has to make a rushed decision. That’s the thing Ricky’s not used to—waiting.”
It’s true. He couldn’t wait to take the court as a 4-year-old or to turn pro at 14. As a 17-year-old in the Olympics, he played on a stage built for people a decade older. During the end of his time in Minnesota, he often seemed to be playing for the eyes of other GMs. Rubio has always seemed to exist in the future. He’s working on that. “It’s always been so hard for me to think in the moment,” he says. “I’m trying to master it now, but it’s not easy.”
Chris Nicoll-USA TODAY Sports
“I feel wanted here.” —Ricky Rubio
Near the end in Minnesota, Rubio says, “I was kind of lost. I was in no-man’s-land. I didn’t know who I was.” He’d spent his entire life playing and living toward some destiny that seemed preordained. Life as a slightly above-average NBA point guard had never been part of that plan. Lately, though, he’s been thinking less about a future that was promised and more about a present that just is. “If you told me what the next 10 years of my career were going to be,” he says, “I would come to practice with no excitement. Instead, I come to practice to get better, because I never know what’s coming up ahead.” He’s been getting into meditation. “That has given me a peace,” he says, “that I never really had before.”
Now he is neither phenom nor ghost. He is a deeply flawed but sometimes-brilliant basketball player, defined neither by potential nor by disappointment. “I’m in that point in my career and my life,” he says, “where I love what I’m doing. I don’t know what’s next, and I don’t have to know what’s next. Not knowing—that’s what makes life fun.”Star Trek has stared oblivion in the face on many occasions. And, on many occasions, heroes have risen: Actors, writers, directors, producers, talented creators who push the saga of the far-future Federation in bold new directions. One of Trek‘s greatest heroes is Nicholas Meyer, the director of two excellent Trek films and one of the writers credited with crafting the triumph of the human spirit known as The Voyage Home.
Meyer is returning to Star Trek to work on the new CBS All-Access series, debuting next year. And next week sees the Blu-ray release of Meyer’s first Trek film, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, with a host of special features including the Director’s Edition of the movie and a new 30-minute documentary about the film’s creation. EW is excited to share an exclusive clip from the Blu-ray release, in which Meyer recalls that one time he had to rewrite an entire Star Trek movie from scratch in less than two weeks.
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Watch the clip above. The Director’s Edition Blu-ray of Wrath of Khan arrives next Tuesday, June 7. If you’d like to read more about the film, check out my deep-dive essay into Wrath of Khan, part of our ongoing series of columns about the Star Trek films.LOS ANGELES -- The 2014 draft was coming up, and the Rams -- at that point still playing in St. Louis -- badly needed help at wide receiver. Timing was on their side. The Rams held the No. 2 overall pick, and Sammy Watkins, Mike Evans and Odell Beckham Jr. were all among the best players available. But they chose Greg Robinson, a freakishly athletic left tackle who never quite figured it out. After three years, Robinson was gone, sent to the Detroit Lions for a sixth-round pick, and the Rams' desire for a legitimate No. 1 receiver persisted, leaving them to wonder what could have been.
"In '14, I often said, 'Wow, this might be one of the best wide receiver drafts I've ever seen," Rams general manager Les Snead recalled Friday, the day he finally acquired the bona fide outside threat he long coveted. "A handful of players were going to make major impacts in this league."
The Rams finally have one of those players. On the morning before their first preseason game -- at home against the Dallas Cowboys, with kickoff set for 6 p.m. PT on Saturday -- they sent cornerback E.J. Gaines and a 2018 second-round pick to the Buffalo Bills and received Watkins in return.
It was the kind of trade the Rams desperately needed to make, the type that gives their offense a real chance to finally emerge as a legitimate unit.
Sammy Watkins averaged 16.1 yards per catch over his first three NFL seasons. Tom Szczerbowski/Getty Images
Watkins, who went fourth overall in that 2014 draft, possesses the talent of a true No. 1 when healthy, boasting the NFL's fourth-most yards per reception since he came into the league. He gives rookie head coach Sean McVay a deep threat similar to what DeSean Jackson was for him in Washington. It'll create a lot of single coverage for Robert Woods, Cooper Kupp and Tavon Austin, three guys who make most of their impact in the intermediate passing game. It'll open up more running lanes for Todd Gurley, who saw his rushing yards per carry drop from 4.8 in 2015 to 3.2 in 2016. And it'll give second-year quarterback Jared Goff the tools he needs to succeed after a tumultuous rookie season.
"When you attack a team with your pass game, you'd like to use the width of the field and the length of the field, and that's what speed can do," said Snead, who also received a sixth-round pick in next year's draft from the Bills. "It's really just trying to open the field up."
Losing Gaines hurts the Rams. He was very good as a rookie in 2014 and was performing well throughout training camp. But newcomer Kayvon Webster, who is very familiar with Wade Phillips' system from his time in Denver, already had locked down the starting job opposite Trumaine Johnson. And younger players such as Nickell Robey-Coleman, Lamarcus Joyner, Troy Hill and Mike Jordan gave the Rams some adequate depth at the position.
What really hurt was giving up a second-round pick, but the chances of hitting on someone like Watkins in the second round seem far less favorable than the chances of Watkins staying healthy enough to be productive.
The key is making sure this isn't only a one-year stint.
Watkins is eligible for free agency after this season. The Rams and Bills had been talking about a trade like this since the early part of May, when the Bills decided not to pick up the fifth-year option on Watkins' rookie contract (the Rams did the same with Robinson). The Bills paid Watkins most of his 2017 money with a training-camp bonus. He'll cost the Rams less than $700,000 against the salary cap this season, which is roughly $1 million less than what Gaines was on the hook for. But the Rams need to figure out a way to sign Watkins beyond this season.
Doing so would give the Rams enough skill-position players to build around, with Goff, Gurley, Woods and Kupp all 25 or younger and controllable for at least the next three seasons.
It's something Snead is "definitely" interested in.
"He's 24," Snead said of Watkins. "So, you don't just do it for the now -- although we do think he'll help the now. Because of the age, you'd want it to be for the future, as well."
The Rams' offense has finished last in the NFL in yards each of the past two seasons and outside the top 20 in defense-adjusted value over average for the past decade. They know you can't be both bad and boring in Los Angeles, as they were amid a miserable 4-12 season in 2016. So they went about changing that this calendar year. They hired McVay, one of the game's brightest offensive minds, then splurged on a new left tackle in Andrew Whitworth, signed Woods, used three of their first four draft picks on pass-catchers and traded for Watkins.
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Watkins, a teammate of Woods in Buffalo, caught 125 passes for 2,029 yards and 15 touchdowns in 29 starts in 2014-15, seasons when the Bills' passing attack wasn't necessarily setting the world on fire. Calf and ankle injuries held Watkins back early in 2015, but he had 900 receiving yards over the final nine games that season. Foot surgery kept him out of eight games in 2016, a year he finished with only 28 catches for 430 yards. But he's healthy now, and players like him normally don't become available so young.
"I think clearly you’re getting a special receiver," said McVay, who doesn't expect Watkins to arrive in L.A. until Saturday night. "Obviously his career, when he’s been available, he’s been outstanding in terms of being able to stretch the field vertically. But when the ball's in his hands, good things happen."
The Rams wanted Austin to emerge as a deep threat, but injuries -- wrist surgery in the spring, a tender hamstring in the summer -- kept him from working on a role that never seemed to fit him. They held out hope for second-year player Michael Thomas, but he's suspended for the first four games after violating the NFL's policy on performance-enhancing substances. They drafted Josh Reynolds, but he'll take time to develop.
"A guy who can stretch the field -- vertically, with speed and size -- we knew that was on the agenda, whether it was this spring, this summer, next free agency, next draft," Snead said. "It was an item that we felt really helped take our offense to the next level."The instant noodle originated in 1958 in Japan, but since that time, they’ve expanded in popularity all over the world, including of course, the United States. Seeing this, instant noodle companies thought it wise to start building plants here in the 1970s. Since then, many brands operate factories here in the US, mostly in southern California. This is a list of my favorite varieties produced here, encompassing my over 1,100 reviews to date. With that, here’s your top ten, America!
#10: Nongshim Shin Bowl Noodle Soup
Shin Ramyun is one of the most popular instant noodles in South Korea. It’s spicy and beefy. This one here has that same great flavor and is microwaveable! A while back, they changed how they make their noodles for their line of bowls, and although they were great before, they’re even better now. Original review here
#9: Nissin Top Ramen Short Cuts Roast Chicken Flavor Ramen Noodle Soup
Nissin came out with this new line of noodles fairly recently. What’s unique about then is that they are a large box with a bag of seasoned noodles. You can use as little or as much as you like! The noodles are short and broad with a ‘comfort food’ appeal and a nice roast chicken flavor. Original review here
#8: Maruchan Bowl Hot & Spicy Shrimp Flavor Ramen Noodles With Vegetables
Maruchan has been known for a long time for their Instant Lunch line of noodles cups, but here we have something new for them – bowls! This one stood out for me – it had a ‘south of the border’ heat to it and was full of noodles of great quality. Spicy, but not so spicy most couldn’t handle it. Original review here
#7: Nissin Top Ramen Cucharealo Home-Style Picante Chicken Flavor
This is a serious fusion: the noodles are short and thin. I remember noodles kind of like these in other products when I was a kid, but always felt like I was getting way more soup than noodles. This one quells that need for more noodles – there’s plenty of them. The picante chicken flavor is excellent with notes of chili powder and cumin. Original review here
#6: Nissin Chow Mein Spicy Teriyaki Beef Flavor Chow Mein Noodles
I would have never thought that mixing teriyaki and spicy heat together would work, but it does. The combination is excellent – especially since the sauce coats everything so well. The vegetables hydrate nicely and it’s an all around great meal. Original review here
#5: Nongshim Chapagetti Roasted Chajang Noodle
Thick, slightly chewy noodles in a rich black bean sauce – excellent stuff. What’s also excellent is that you can make it in the microwave. It uses just a little water and the finished product has sucked it all up, leaving you with nice, saucy noodles. Original review here
#4: Maruchan Creamy Chicken Flavor Ramen Noodle Soup
I absolutely adore this stuff. Take your standard instant noodle and add a nice creamy chicken flavor. The broth has a really nice ‘stick to your ribs’ way about it. Whenever I’m under the weather, this is my go-to comfort noodle. Original review here
#3: Nongshim Shin Ramyun Black Premium Noodle Soup
After twenty years of Shin Ramyun, Nongshim decided to upgrade it. Enter Shin Ramyun Black. It has a richer broth, great noodles, and an amazing packet with nice veggies and beef – yes, beef. This one has little pieces of freeze dried beef that spring to life – and have an enjoyable chew and flavor! Original review here
#2: Sapporo Ichiban Japanese Style Noodles Chow Mein
This one requires a different approach to cooking, but it really pays off in the end. The noodles are cooked in very little water, which they slurp up rather quickly. Then you stir in the flavor packet and you’ve got some exceedingly wonderful chow. The flavor is reminiscent of yakisoba sauce; kind of a Worcestershire sauce thing going on. Then the fun part – a little packet of ‘green laver’ (powdered seaweed) is supplied for you to sprinkle on top. With it or without it, this one’s worth your time to try. Original review here
#1: Nongshim Jinjja Jinjja Flamin’ Hot & Nutty Noodle Soup
For regular followers of The Ramen Rater, this should be no surprise. I have been touting the greatness of this one back when it was only produced in South Korea. Happily, they make it in southern California now. Jinjja Jinjja (translates to Really Really) is a sumptuous sojourn to flavorland. Ramyun noodles are a little thicker and a little chewier than others. Combine that with a spicy and hearty pork broth, nice veggies and a packet with black sesame seeds and peanut powder. The result is absolutely perfect. Original review hereJason Patrick Callahan (April 18, 1976 – June 26, 1995), previously known as Grateful Doe and Jason Doe, was an American man killed in a car accident on June 26, 1995, in Emporia, Greensville County, Virginia. His body remained nameless until December 9, 2015.[1][2][3][4] Earlier in 2015, photographs of an unknown male surfaced on a Facebook page for the John Doe. DNA testing later confirmed Callahan to be the unidentified man.[5][6] Contents
Death Edit
Physical description Edit
Photo showing Jason Callahan's tattoo Before he was identified, Callahan was estimated to be between the ages of fifteen and twenty-one years old, had brown eyes with long curly brown or dark blond hair that had been dyed a reddish color.[13] There was a tattoo of a star on his upper-left arm and another possible tattoo, which was faded, on his right arm, both of which appeared to have been amateurishly executed. He was wearing a beaded necklace and his left ear had been pierced but he was not wearing an earring.[9][11] There was a scar found on his back.[3] He was a Caucasian, had no apparent dental work as his third molars were visible, and his teeth were fairly well cared for.[7][11] At the time of the accident he was wearing a red, tie-dyed Grateful Dead T-shirt, Levi's jeans, white socks and black Fila running shoes.[3][7]
Investigation Edit
Note written by "Caroline O." and "Caroline T." The vehicle's driver was identified as Michael E. Hager, 21, who may have picked Callahan up as a hitchhiker, and who authorities hypothesize may have fallen asleep at the wheel, as neither of the decedents had drugs or alcohol in their bodies.[15] It has been suggested that Hager may have agreed to transport Callahan because of their similar styles of dress, as they both appeared to be fans of The Grateful Dead.[8] Authorities attempted to identify Callahan through fingerprint analysis with the aid of national databases, but were unsuccessful. When interviewed, Hager's family could not identify the unknown passenger, who had been reported to have been riding in Hager's Volkswagen Vanagon when he stopped to give his father a letter in Williamsburg, Virginia.[12][13] However, a detective from the area stated that this claim was not accurate, and that Hager was alone when he stopped to visit his father.[8] It is speculated that Callahan had actually been picked up between Fairfax and Gloucester, Virginia. Due to the severity of the lacerations on Callahan's face, mortuary photographs could not be released to the public, although a facial reconstruction was later released.[8] In 2012, another facial reconstruction was created by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. The man who had originally bought the tickets found in Callahan's pocket did not remember the person to whom he had sold them.[11] At least 221 missing people were ruled out as possible identities of the victim.[3]
2015 developments Edit
Image of Callahan (left) compared to a reconstruction created by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children In 2015, photographs surfaced of a young man wearing similar clothes to those worn by the then-unidentified Callahan, and who bore a strong resemblance to the reconstruction images. The person in these photographs was named Jason and was described to have been a fan of the Grateful Dead. He had not been heard from since 1995 and was known to have lived in both Illinois and South Carolina. It had not yet been verified whether this was indeed the John Doe as his former roommates and other friends did not recall Jason's last name.[14][16] The New York Post and BuzzFeed were some of the newspapers that covered the story.[5][17] In January 2015, law enforcement conducted a DNA test to see if the John Doe was the same man as Jason Patrick Callahan, the son of a 63-year-old woman who had not seen or heard from him since June 1995, when he left home to "follow the Grateful Dead".[18] Callahan, who was identified as the young man in the photographs, is described as having been a white male with wavy blonde hair and brown eyes, standing between 5 feet 10 inches (1.78 meters) and 6 feet (1.83 meters) tall, and weighing about 160 pounds (70 kilograms). Callahan, if he was alive, would have been 38 at the time.[19] Callahan was not reported missing by his mother until 2015.[5][20] Lt. Joey Crosby, spokesman for Myrtle Beach police, stated that Callahan's mother failed to file a report with police due to the nomadic nature of Grateful Dead fans. "She attempted to report it when he went missing but didn’t know which jurisdiction to report it to," he said.[21] Callahan's family also stated that they presumed he had gone to "live on his own, elsewhere."[6] After initial tests proved inconclusive, additional DNA testing confirmed that the body was indeed that of Jason Callahan.[5][6][22]
See also EditIrene Mathyssen NDP London—Fanshawe, ON
moved for leave to introduce Bill C-260, An Act to amend the Canadian Forces Superannuation Act and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Superannuation Act (deduction of disability pensions).
Mr. Speaker, as the House most certainly knows, it is absolutely essential that our veterans get the financial support that they need. The current practice of clawing back disability benefits once a veteran starts collecting CPP is an outrage. The financial and other impacts of the veterans' impairments continue to exist once they start collecting their CPP, and they should continue to receive that support. The bill would ensure that any disability pensions received by an RCMP or CF veteran will not be clawed back once the veteran reaches the age of 65 and starts collecting CPP, or a similar provincial plan.
(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)AS he tried to concentrate on his final college exams, he couldn’t erase the terrifying images in his head, an endless replay of a video he’d seen. It showed two men being killed — their necks noosed, their bodies dragged through the streets and set on fire.
They had burned, he told me, because they were gay.
Just like him.
Islamic extremism was sweeping through Iraq, and terror coursed through his veins. It became unbearable when, in mid-2014, the Islamic State seized control of the city where he lived. He fled, traveling furtively across Iraq for nearly a month, looking for a point of exit, finally finding one and boarding a flight to a city in the Middle East where he wouldn’t be in danger.
“The greatest moment of my life was stepping on that plane,” said the man, in his mid-20s, who asked that I not use his name or any identifying details, lest harm come to family members back in Iraq. “I was able to breathe again. I hadn’t been breathing.”
On Monday, he will tell his story at a special United Nations Security Council meeting on L.G.B.T. rights. American officials involved in it arranged for me to talk with him in advance by phone.0
Illumination Entertainment’s upcoming animated movie Sing has a pretty stacked voice cast that includes Matthew McConaughey, Reese Witherspoon, Seth MacFarlane, Scarlett Johansson, John C. Reilly, Taron Egerton, Tori Kelly, Nick Kroll, Beck Bennett, Nick Offerman, Jennifer Saunders, Garth Jennings, Peter Serafinowicz, Leslie Jones, and Jay Pharoah.
But those aren’t the only people who lent their voices to the film, which follows a singing competition designed to save a struggling theater. If you look closely during the credits, you’ll see some unexpected names crop up. Specifically, directors Wes Anderson, Edgar Wright, and Chris Renaud (Despicable Me) all lent their voices to the movie. While we’re not sure if they actually did any singing, it wouldn’t surprise me if they did since the audition scene is a huge montage of various animated animals singing snippets of pop songs.
Universal has also released new images highlighting the main cast members, which you can check out below. Sing opens December 21st.Publisher Interview: Jonathan Jacobs of Nevermet Press
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Back in 2009, I had an opportunity through a different review site (BlogCritics.org) to review an anthology of gaming-related articles that was edited and compiled by Jonathan Jacobs – Open Game Table, Volume 1. The OGT pulled together the best of a collection of articles from many of the top RPG-related blogs and websites of 2009. Back then I was just pondering getting back into gaming myself and happy to offer my own take on the results of that great project.
Then in 2010, Jonathan was looking for help with the second volume and I volunteered to filter through a portion of the nearly 400 amazing submissions. Again, Jonathan and the other volunteers did a great job pulling together another collection of great articles from bloggers across the gaming web space. And I was happy to write up a review of Open Game Table, Volume 2 when the project was completed.
So as you can see – even before he started Nevermet Press, he was heavily involved in the gaming community. Somehow he also managed to help get Brother Ptolemy & The Hidden Kingdom pulled together in 2010 with a huge crew of writers contributing. Brother Ptolemy was definitely one of my favorite supplements/adventures of the year.
And then in 2011, Nevermet Press shifted gears and started publishing amazing collections of short fiction in the Stories in the Ether quarterly anthology. Instead of game content, these books are collections of fantasy, steampunk, and science fiction short stories from a variety of authors across the board. Nevermet just published volume 3 this year and I’ve been hooked since the first issue.
But who’s the man behind Nevermet Press and all these great projects? I’ve only known him as “Jonathan Jacobs, PhD.” so I thought I’d interview him and learn a bit more! (By the way, I asked about the PhD and it’s in molecular genetics though he now works in the biodefense industry in bioinformatics, cell line engineering and functional genomics. Or to put it succinctly – back off man, he’s a scientist!)
Stories in the Ether has been a fun read so far (on my Kindle and on my iPad). How’s it been received by the gaming community vs. the broader fiction community?
Stories in the Ether has been an exciting experiment for Nevermet Press – it was our first non-gaming related project. The eBooks themselves have not sold very well, but this is largely due to the fact that all the fiction is available for free from our main blog every Friday. That being said, Stories in the Ether continues to be one of our biggest draws in terms of website traffic and social media sharing. People seem to be really enjoying it and it’s a great way for new authors to gain new readers and for established authors to experiment in a new market. I hope to eventually publish Stories in the Ether eBooks -ahead- of the blog, but to do that requires a sustained effort on behalf of my review team. I’ve recently doubled the number of first-line reviewers involved with the project in the hopes that we can eventually build up a “back log” of accepted stories a full Quarter in advance, which would then make the “eBook ahead of the blog” approach possible.
So – although the raw sales are nothing to write home about – the Series overall has been a big success in terms of drawing new readers to the website. I credit the Stories in the Ether project as the single biggest source of energy and enthusiasm from our fans in recent months. Our RSS subscriber base is the highest it’s ever been and we are sustaining more daily readers (on average) than ever as well. We’ve seen a recent flurry of guest blog posts from new authors as a result and our new weekly book and game review column, Clockwork Reviews, seems to be taking off as well. We’re also now starting to receive manuscripts for longer works of fiction, and in Q3 we should see the publication of our first full length novel. All I’ll say about that is it’s about Nordic werewolves, Russians, and Nazis… you read it here first.
Though I love the gaming community, I can only hope that distributing the collection on Kindle and iTunes has opened up the number of potential readers. Has that been the case?
It has. It’s a bit of a headache though. We used to use Lulu solely for all our publishing needs, but I discovered in mid-2010 that they were not able to get our books into the markets we wanted, so I decided to do it all piecemeal. Now we have our books on Amazon Kindle, Apple iBookstore, Nook, Smashwords, Kobo, Sony eBooks, DieselBooks, and of course – DriveThruFiction.com. This makes for a lot of clicking and remembering of URLs and checking reports and paperwork. It’s worth it though, because our content is reaching more people – which is a good thing.
Nevermet Press has changed a bit between Open Gaming Table, Volume 1 and Stories in the Ether, Volume 1, but the dedication to producing well-written content has never wavered. What’s been behind the shift in focus from gaming material to short stories?
I’ve always had a love for the intersection between gaming and fiction – I just didn’t know how to focus that energy. I’m still figuring it out. To be honest, after the Dead Queens of Morvena project crashed before it left the run way (it would have been a fantastic product), I decided to close shop. I made notice to everyone who was connected to NMP that I was closing up. The push back I received was not only encouraging, but it brought it to my attention that what I needed to do was to start focusing on on a single project that I was personally going to be able to see through. Fiction seemed like a good choice. I have always loved short stories, and with how much everyone’s attention is split these days it seems like short-form fiction is something I think we are going to see more of in the future. Plus, it’s a larger market than table-top games, so I figured it would make sense in terms of boosting our fan base.
Beyond the announcement of new Stories in the Ether volumes, can you share any details about what’s next for Nevermet in the gaming arena? Brother Ptolemy & the Hidden Kingdom has been one of my favorite books of the last couple of years and I’m hoping there’s something new in the pipeline.
Brother Ptolemy & The Hidden Kingdom is a gem. It truly embodies everything Michael Brewer and I originally set out to do with Nevermet Press at the beginning: that is, create RPG products using a collaborative, crowd-sourced approach. It was a huge cat-herding exercise though (have you
seen the author list for that?) and in the end it proved to be far more work to pull off than I think I’ll be able to muster again any time soon.
As for other gaming projects – yes. I hope so. I’m currently working on a Pathfinder project with artist Rob Torno and Jeral Toi (of Paizo Superstar RPG fame) – a Steampunk Folio of sorts that focuses on Victoriana styled undead that can be used in a broad range of fantasy and gothic campaign settings to spice things up, steampunk-style. I wish I could say that project is close to being finished, but there are a few more creatures and loose ends to finish before it’s ready for pre-reviews. I’ll keep you posted. Also – although I have not written about it in over a year publicly, Loaerth & Feywyrd is still simmering. I’m hoping for a 2013 release for that as both a RPG game setting and a shared universe for fiction writers looking for a well-thought out fantasy steampunk setting.
As someone who obviously loves gaming, what was the first roleplaying game you ever played? And what are you playing now? Any good gaming stories to share?
D&D, of course! I was 10 – I wedged my way into my older brother’s gaming group in the 1980’s and eventually stole all his books when they lost interest. Car Wars, GURPS, Marvel RPG, and Shadowrun soon followed. Currently? I’m playing Pathfinder. I stopped playing 4E in 2009 for Savage Worlds – which was a breath of fresh air. Savage Worlds remains one of my all time favorite games, but the familiarity factor of Pathfinder (3E) has brought me back to a 3E D&D mindset lately. I know it’s not flawless, but every game has it’s weaknesses. Pathfinders are few, and I’m willing to overlook them when we run into them. My current bi-weekly game is 1E AD&D Greyhawk using Pathfinder RPG rules – we’re in the middle of A2 Secret of the Slavers Stockade and having a blast.
How would you describe the perfect roleplaying game session?
One with a beginning, a middle, and an end – like a good Shakespearean play. The PCs also usually win some and definitely lose some, but win in the end.
Do you play any other board or card games? What are your favorites?
I was a Magic: The Gathering card-crack junkie during Alliance in the late 1990’s – thank the gods I went to MtG Rehab Camp (aka Ebay). Yes – I play board games too. A friend of mine has quarterly “Board Game Slams” where about 20 people crash at his house and play marathon board games from dusk till dawn. Good times. Favorite game now? I would say the Battlestar Galactica Board Game – there’s nothing quite like being a Cylon and convincing the rest of the players that you are humans and having someone else thrown in the brig instead. =D
What are some of your favorite RPG books or resources you find yourself using regularly? Do you use any kind of electronic devices at the game table?
In terms of books – I tend to horde old Dungeon magazines for adventures. I use those more than anything. All my Pathfinder books (except for the Core Rules) are in PDF form, so yeah… I make heavy use of my iPad at the table. All my GM notes and rants are still in a notebook though – old habits die hard. I tried using Evernote, and then a Google Sites wiki, and then Obsidian Portal for a while to manage campaign information, but then it just became a second job and stopped doing it.
What would be your dream project to work on if you had the chance?
For work or play? If I could work on games and still make even half my professional salary I would definitely take a sabbatical and give it a shot full time. Dream project? To work on a team developing a game that integrated social media with roleplaying games and the semantic web. But I know that’s not in the cards – for me at least. To do something like that – or even anything remotely close to it – you have to go all in.
———————-
I want to thank Jonathan for answering my questions and wish him continued success with all the many irons he has in the fire at Nevermet Press!
Check out the Nevermet Press website for more about existing and upcoming projects and if you’re a fan of short fiction, I’d definitely encourage you to check out any of the Stories in the Ether volumes.
If you’re interested in some of my reviews of Nevermet Press products so far, here are a few:
Related articles
Like this: Like Loading...As state legislatures across the country begin their 2011 sessions, there is one lingering issue that simply won’t die. Conservative legislators in several states have already proposed a number of “birther bills” that allude to the conspiracy theory alleging that President Obama is foreign-born. This marks the fourth straight year in which birther bills have featured in state legislative sessions; Oklahoma |
time at all other positions (except catcher) in 2016 and even got some reps in center field, a position he continued to hone in Venezuela over the winter. He runs well enough that he can pass there in case of emergency, but he’s best at third and in right field, where his arm is an asset.
Robinson has some swing-and-miss issues but also sneaky raw power that he generates with a flick of the wrist. He made the big club out of spring training (and was just sent down) and should have a long career as a big-league utility man.
KATOH+ Projection for first six years: 3.4 WAR
Signed: July 2nd Period, 2016 from Cuba Age 21 Height 6’2 Weight 205 Bat/Throw R/R Tool Grades (Present/Future) Hit Raw Power Game Power Run Fielding Throw 40/45 55/55 40/50 40/40 40/45 50/50
Relevant/Interesting Metrics
None.
Scouting Report
Perez played first, second, and third base — and the outfield — as a teenager in Cuba and intrigued international scouts during workouts with above-average raw power in BP and above-average straight-line speed. He looked huge this spring and, while he’s listed at 205, I think he’s closer to 230 and is a 40 runner underway at best. He profiles defensively at the outfield corners and first base, which is going to put a lot of pressure on the bat. Perez hasn’t played in games since 2014, and his hitter’s timing was surprisingly good this spring, but scouts aren’t sure if the bat is going to play at the positions to which they feel comfortable projecting him.
Drafted: 3rd Round, 2016 from West Orange (FL) Age 19 Height 6’2 Weight 185 Bat/Throw S/R Tool Grades (Present/Future) Hit Raw Power Game Power Run Fielding Throw 30/55 40/50 20/40 50/45 40/45 50/50
Relevant/Interesting Metrics
Hit.366 in August.
Scouting Report
After struggling initially in the AZL after signing, Enright (an overslot third-round pick) got hot in August and hit.366 over the final month of the season. Scouts who saw him in pro ball think he’s going to hit, noting that his left-handed swing is geared for line drives while his right-handed cut might produce more power. He spent time all over the infield last summer but doesn’t project to shortstop, instead fitting comfortably at second base and perhaps passably at third, the latter in question due to middling arm strength.
Enright has a chance to hit his way to everyday duty and, if the bat should lack enough punch for regularity, he could also be a versatile bat-first utility type. Scouts have questioned Enright’s conditioning in the past and Coastal Carolina rescinded his scholarship offer the summer before his senior year. Enright looked bigger this spring, but a scout noted it was “good weight” and added that he liked how Enright interacted with coaches during work in the batting cage.
Signed: July 2nd Period, 2011 from Dominican Republic Age 22 Height 6’5 Weight 178 Bat/Throw R/R Tool Grades (Present/Future) Hit Raw Power Game Power Run Fielding Throw 20/30 60/70 30/50 50/45 40/45 80/80
Relevant/Interesting Metrics
Slugged.511 in Cal League last year,.432 career mark.
Scouting Report
Beras continues to be plagued by the extreme swing-and-miss issues typically associated with athletes of his build. He’s a wiry 6-foot-6 with long levers and a long swing, and the issue is compounded by Beras’s aggressive approach. He has plus-plus raw power projection and elite arm strength, and this is as extreme a traditional right-field profile as there is in the minors right now. Beras is still just 22 (right?) and has time to improve his contact rate. Hitters this size often don’t figure things out until their mid-20s, if they do at all, but scouts are discouraged by the little progress Beras has made to this point, and he has largely looked like the same guy for the last two seasons and again this spring.
KATOH+ Projection for first six years: 2.2 WAR
*****
Other Prospects of Note (In Order of Preference)
Yeyson Yrizarri, INF, 1.9 KATOH+ WAR – Scouts are still largely projecting Yrizarri as a shortstop despite the fact that his body has thickened considerably since he signed. He’s an explosive quick-twitch athlete with elite arm strength and solid actions, so even as he loses prototypical shortstop range, he has a chance to stay there. Some scouts have him projected in a utility role, not because they think he’ll have to move but because they don’t think he’ll hit enough to play every day. Yrizarri has good bat speed, has significantly improved his footwork in the box since signing, and has solid hand-eye coordination, but he almost literally swings at everything. He walked nine times last year and severely limits his own ability to reach base beyond what is acceptable even at short.
Jonathan Hernandez, RHP, 0.4 KATOH+ – Hernandez was one of the more polished pitchers in the 2015 AZL, locating a solid-average three-pitch mix (91-93 with the fastball, fringey slider, average change) to both sides of the plate while appearing somewhat physically projectable. He looked like a potential back-end starter and perhaps a prospect who could move fairly quickly. In 2016, his command backed up and scouts noted he struggled to time aspects of his delivery last year, his arm coming through a bit late at times. He’s repeating Hickory this season and still projects as a back-end starter, but it’s important that the command returns because the stuff isn’t hellacious enough to carry Hernandez if it doesn’t.
David Garcia, C – Garcia ranked 15th on my 2016 July 2 board as a physically immature but promising catch-and-throw prospect whose value was largely grounded in his defensive abilities. He’s still just 17 (he turned 17 in February) and struggled to compete with his peers last fall during instructional league and again this spring. Scouts had him popping around 2.2 in Surprise, noting the length of his arm stroke and not a lack of arm strength as the culprit. Scouts lauded his defensive polish as an amateur and those skills are still extant; he just needs to get stronger. While unlikely ever to do anything significant with the bat, Garcia is still an interesting young catching prospects. He may be a multi-year complex-level prospect who doesn’t kick out to an affiliate until late in 2019.
Mike Hauschild, RHP, 2.6 KATOH+ – The club’s Rule 5 pick from Houston, Hauschild sits in the low-90s with varied sink and cut. He works consistently to his arm side with his fastball, has a sweepy mid-80s slider, and diving low-80s changeup, the latter two of which are fringe to average. Hauschild throws strikes and has above-average command and projects as a swing man, sixth-starter type.
Scott Heineman, OF, 0.8 KATOH+ – Heineman broke out as a 23-year-old in the Cal League last year, leading to skepticism regarding the validity of that output. He came to the Fall League, was patient here, and showed some bat speed and an ability to punish mistakes up in the zone. Scouts thought he struggled with balls in the bottom of the strike zone, though, and generally have a tweener/fifth-outfielder grade on him right now.
Brett Nicholas, C/1B, 0.8 KATOH+ – A passable receiver with fringe arm strength, Nicholas is competent enough to catch, can play some first base, and has some power. He’s solid Triple-A depth as a catcher who can also provide some defensive versatility. He is currently on the DL.
Kobie Taylor, OF – Taylor is raw (as is expected for a prep bat from the northeast) and missed time last year with a thumb injury, but he has a good baseball body, some bat speed, and runs well. He was an interesting buy-low flier late in last year’s draft.
Clayton Cook, RHP – Cook was drafted in 2008 by Cleveland and lost two years to shoulder surgery after reaching Double-A. He got on a weighted-ball program with Driveline (introduced to Cook by Casey Weathers) and went from throwing 88 in indy ball to touching 97 this spring with an above-average curveball. He’s pitching in relief at Frisco. Cook is a native Texan.
Kyle Cody, RHP, 0.5 KATOH+ – Cody was a possible first-round pick entering his junior year at Kentucky but struggled to throw strikes and ultimately didn’t sign with the Twins who drafted him in round two, hoping to return for his senior year and improve his stock. In 2016, he fell to the sixth round, where he was scooped up by Texas. He’s 93-97 with the fastball and has a power, low-80s breaking ball, but it’s arguably 30 control right now and he needs to improve his strike-throwing just to profile in the bullpen.
Tyler Ferguson, RHP – A big, strong-bodied righty from Vanderbilt, Ferguson has had strike-throwing issues but sits 93-96 with sink and an above-average slider.
Jose (Gonzalez) Cardona, OF, 1.6 KATOH+ – Cardona doesn’t have big tools, but he has good-breaking ball recognition and a very minimalist approach at the plate that allows him to make lots of contact. Cardona isn’t a burner, and scouts are split as to whether or not they like him in center field. If he can play there, he has a pretty solid bench-outfield future ahead of him. If not, he’ll need to do a bit more with the bat than scouts are currently projecting.
Tyree Thompson, RHP – A 26th rounder in last year’s draft, Thompson’s velocity was up this spring, topping out around 93. He has a good delivery and frame.
Tyler Phillips, RHP, 2.5 KATOH+ – A 16th rounder out of a New Jersey high school in 2015, Phillips had a rough year at Spokane but was 92-94 with sink this spring and has an average slider.
Pedro Payano, RHP, 1.2 KATOH+ – A big-bodied righty with an upper-80s fastball, Payano has a funky high-three-quarters delivery that takes hitters some time to adjust to. He also has a trick-pitch changeup that has similar diminishing returns as hitters see more of it. Payano also has two fringey breaking balls and fringe command, projecting as an up-and-down arm who can make an effective spot start based largely on deception.
Ti’Quan Forbes, 3B, 0.5 KATOH+ – Forbes was a second-round pick in 2014 and quickly grew off of shortstop. His levers and swing are long, causing contact issues, but he’s continued to fill out and has added power. His approach at the plate is too aggressive but I’m still on the power projection here, enough to keep him on the list. He’s repeating the Sally League this season and doesn’t turn 21 until August.
James Dykstra, RHP – Acquired over the winter from the White Sox for cash, Dykstra was 93-96 with movement this spring, though his control and secondaries are below average.
Jose Almonte, OF – A 20-year-old Dominican outfielder with plus raw power projection and arm strength, Almonte also a very aggressive approach and swing-and-miss issues that scouts largely think will prove insurmountable.
Reid Anderson, RHP – One of two pitchers drafted out of Millersville last year, Anderson’s velo spiked this spring and he was topping out at 96, sitting 93-95.
Cistulli’s Guy
Selected by Carson Cistulli from any player who received less than a 40 FV.
A brief inspection of Profar at bat or in the field reveals a sort of nascent corpulence which, while not currently prohibitive, inspires little confidence for what the future might bring. The body isn’t what one might characterize as “projectable” — and that lack of projectability, combined with Profar’s merely modest athleticism, places barriers between him and a playable profile.
Profar can hit, though. In 1,350 plate appearances as a professional — all of them recorded while playing at two or three years younger than his league’s average age — Profar has produced just an 11.0% strikeout rate, exhibiting some emergent power, as well. As a third baseman, that’s excellent. As a corner outfielder, it’s merely fine. And as a first baseman, it’s probably insufficient. He’s begun the 2017 campaign (as just a 21-year-old) by playing both second and third for Double-A Frisco. That’s promising.
*****
System Overview
Despite losing several prospects in the Cole Hamels trade and via the pseudo-graduations of Joey Gallo and Jurickson Profar, Texas still has impressive depth, largely because of the club’s international program. The thread to follow here, though, is the one tethered to the relatively unassuming names in the honorable-mention section — the pitchers who, as scouts have noted, are throwing harder this spring than they have in the past. The Rangers bullpen is struggling and, as velocity makes up a more significant piece of the reliever’s skill pie, it’s potentially meaningful in an immediate way if the club can join the growing number of clubs able to consistently improve their pitcher’s velocity. Clayton Cook is one to watch at the upper levels.
Texas should add two prospects to the top-third of this list in the first round of June’s draft, as the club has two late-first-round picks (one of which comes from losing Ian Desmond to Colorado via free agency). Scouts in Arizona seem to agree that they nailed last year’s selection of Cole Ragans.From Governor Malloy:
Governor Dannel P. Malloy today released the following statement after the Senate approved a bill in concurrence with the House to amend Connecticut’s Blue Laws:
“Once I sign this bill, Indiana will be the only state in the nation to ban Sunday Sales. It’s a measure that’s long past due and a good first step to making our state’s package stores more consumer friendly.
“Our current laws have cost Connecticut businesses millions of dollars as consumers have flocked over our borders in search of more convenient hours and lower prices. Like many other initiatives I’ve put forward since taking office, this bill has a simple focus: making Connecticut competitive once again.
“But as I said just a few days ago when the House passed this bill, I continue to believe there’s more we can do to lower the cost to consumers in our state. I look forward to the study proposed by the legislature. It’s a good first step and one that I hope lays the foundation for future action. This much is clear–the more we can lower prices for consumers, the more competitive our businesses will be.
“I want to thank the members of the Senate for their work on this issue.iStockPhoto
Sequester happens at 11:59 Friday night, but on Wednesday House and Senate lawmakers found time to re-introduce a bill that would establish regulations for dog breeders who sell animals online.
The Puppy Uniform Protection and Safety Act, known as the "PUPS Act," would require Internet-based breeders who sell more than 50 puppies a year to be licensed and inspected by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Under the proposed law, dogs used for breeding would need to be provided the opportunity to exercise for 60 minutes a day, according to a press release circulated by the Humane Society.
The law would close a loophole in the 1966 Animal Welfare Act that allows breeders currently selling puppies online to avoid the law's provisions that affect brick-and-mortar pet stores.
"I applaud USDA's work to close loopholes that unscrupulous breeders exploited with Internet sales, and the PUPS Act introduced by Senator Durbin and me will help ensure that puppies are treated humanely and bred in safe and sanitary facilities," said Louisiana Republican Sen. David Vitter in a statement.
The co-sponsor is the No. 2 Democrat in the Senate, Dick Durbin of Illinois.
In the House, Republican Reps. Jim Gerlach of Pennsylvania and Bill Young of Florida are sponsoring the bill with California Democratic Reps. Lois Capps and Sam Farr.
The Internet loophole "has resulted in widespread abuse of dogs in breeding facilities," Farr said in a statement. "Leaving dogs crammed into small cages with no exercise or social contact goes against our humanity."
"This legislation will ensure dogs are protected and individuals who put profit ahead of the fair and humane treatment of dogs are held accountable for their actions," added Gerlach.
Acquiring a dealer license from the USDA requires an inspection and payment of a $30 to $750 annual fee.
"Failure to become licensed or registered is a punishable violation," the USDA advises.
The 2009 edition of the Animal Welfare Act allows the USDA to suspend a licensee's right to conduct business for 21 days if there is reason to suspect a violation. If a violation has been determined, the license can be suspended for an additional length of time or revoked.
A violation of the act also brings a civil penalty of up to $10,000 per infraction. "Each violation and each day during which a violation continues shall be a separate offense," the law decrees. The 2009 edition raised the civil penalty from $2,5000 to $10,000 per offense.
The current Animal Welfare Act delegates most rule-making to the USDA. A 2012 USDA fact sheet specifies rules governing lighting, feeding, record keeping, sanitation, pest control, and other issues.
Criminal sanctions for violators can bring one year in jail and/or a fine of up to $2,500.
According to a fact sheet available online, USDA says "inspectors always have the option of inspecting [facilities] as often as they feel necessary and as resources allow; they also follow up on legitimate complaints from concerned citizens and organizations."
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HARTFORD -- In a close 19 to 16 vote, the state's transportation committee passed the Electronic Tolling Bill.
This new bill gives the Department of Transportation the green light to begin the four year planning process of putting up tolls.
Transportation committee co-chair Tony Guerrera, said that planning process will be extensive.
"How we raise money, where the tolling will be throughout the state, how we give Connecticut a discount and with that also, how we start enabling ourselves to start lowering the gas tax," said Guerrera.
But State Senator Toni Boucher, said tolls will simply be a tax on commuters. She thinks the funds gained from tolls will be used improperly.
"There's a lot of concern that if you put in tolls, they're just going to take that money and use it to solve budget deficits just like they have had in the past," said Boucher.
She feels there are better methods to raise money.
"The gas tax is actually more equitable. It affects everyone that drives a car. A toll is just on those people that are unfortunately having to go to their job everyday to somewhere that would cross a state line or go through a toll," said Boucher.
However, Guerrera claims evolving technologies will render a gas tax obsolete.
"Even if you try to raise the gas tax, with today's technology, with fuel efficient cars, hybrids, cars that are going to be driving themselves in about another five years, they're not going to the gas pump anymore," said Guerrera.
He also said the Connecticut Highway Administration has placed restrictions on funds gained from tolls preventing them from misuse.
As for the bill, it still has to pass through the House first, then the Senate.
The next vote in the House on this issue will happen anytime from now until mid June.
41.763711 -72.685093The official Twitter account of Kodansha's Comic Plus portal site revealed on Friday that the live-action film adaptation of Naoshi Arakawa's Your Lie in April (Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso) manga will open in Japan in September.
Kento Yamazaki ( Orange live-action film's Kakeru, Death Note live-action series' L) and Suzu Hirose (Chihayafuru: Shimo no Ku's Chihaya, Umimachi Diary live-action film's Suzu) will star in the film. Yamazaki will play the piano prodigy Kōsei Arima, and Hirose will play the free-spirited violinist Kaori Miyazono. In the original manga's story, the two characters are junior high school students, but Kōsei and Kaori will be second-year high school students in the film. Yamazaki and Hirose began practicing piano and violin about half a year before the start of filming.
E-girls all-female pop group member Anna Ishii will play Kōsei's childhood friend Tsubaki Sawabe, and Taishi Nakagawa ( Ao Oni ver.2.0's Hiroshi, Minami-kun no Koibito ~my little lover live-action series' Minami) will play Ryōta Watari. Boku no Hatsukoi wo Kimi ni Sasagu and Kiyoku Yawaku live-action romance film director Takehiko Shinjō is directing off scripts by Strawberry Night live-action series scriptwriter Yukari Tatsui.
A television anime series adaptation of Arakawa's manga premiered in 2014. Aniplex of America streamed the anime on the Aniplex Channel, Hulu, and Crunchyroll as it aired in Japan. The company plans to release the series with an English dub. Kodansha Comics shipped the manga's fifth volume in North America last December.
Arakawa's original shōnen manga follows Kōsei Arima, a former child prodigy who lost his ability to play the piano when his mother died. His daily life is monochrome, but it begins to gain color when he meets a female violinist by chance. Kaori Miyazono is an audacious go-getter who is overflowing with personality. Enchanted by the girl, Kōsei starts to move forward with his own legs at the age of 14.Millie Bobby Brown opened up about her health and revealed that she is deaf in one ear.
Young Hollywood’s Hottest Stars
The Stranger Things starlet, 13, told Variety in a profile published on Tuesday, October 31, that she was born with partial hearing loss. Throughout her childhood, her hearing rapidly deteriorated and then fully faded away after years of having tubes. Nonetheless, Brown has not allowed her condition to bar her from doing what she loves.
“I just started to sing and if I sound bad I don’t care, because I’m just doing what I love,” the MTV Movie & TV Award winner explained. “You don’t have to be good at singing. You don’t have to be good at dancing or acting. If you like to do it, if you genuinely enjoy doing it, then do it. No one should stop you.”
Celebrity Health Scares
During her visit to The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon in September, Brown showed off her musical talent by rapping Nicki Minaj’s verse from the track “Monster.” The English native dished to Variety that, while she’s a trained actress, her singing abilities “came to [her] naturally.”
Although she is still relatively new to the spotlight, the young actress has made quite a name for herself through her portrayal of Eleven on the critically acclaimed Netflix series Stranger Things. “It’s really twisted and perfect,” Brown told Variety of her character’s future on the show. Added series cocreator Ross Duffer, “It’s an emotional journey for Millie and her character to see where she came from. The first season was a fish-out-of water, E.T. story for her. This season we wanted to give her more of an arc and a journey.”
Fictional TV Hometowns
Matt Duffer, the show’s other creator, noted: “I think people are really going to respond to her storyline.”
Sign up now for the Us Weekly newsletter to get breaking celebrity news, hot pics and more delivered straight to your inbox!
Want stories like these delivered straight to your phone? Download the Us Weekly iPhone app now!The goal is simple: Throw the biggest and best party in the history of gaming.
In 2009 and 2010, ScrewAttack put on two of the best parties in gaming history - SGC. We don't think of SGC as a "convention" but moreso as a 72 hour gamer slumber party. Having a small independent crew at ScrewAttack, SGC actually outgrew the size of what we could handle and unfortunately SGC couldn't return in 2011 and 2012. That sucks. So after two years of EVERYONE asking when it was going to return we figure it's about time! Even though we were unable to independently continue SGC, the community and public outcry was so great we knew we had to find a way to make SGC happen... hence this Kickstarter! We want to bring SGC back in a bad way and judging by the response we've heard from pretty much everyone we talked to, they want SGC to return as well. We now can but only with your help.
We've had some very memorable guests and events in SGC's history included Nolan Bushnell (The Founder of Atari), Jack Thompson (Activist), Uwe Boll (Movie Producer) as well as tons of internet celebs like James Rolfe (The Angry Video Game Nerd), Brent Black (brentalfloss), Nathan Barnatt (aka Keith Apicary), Noah Antwiler (The Spoony One) and many, many more. We obviously plan to only expand on those guests and make SGC 3 a place for gamers to go and meet the celebrities they'd like to meet!
We think Kickstarter is a great tool and want to be as transparent as possible throughout the whole process. You'll notice in our stretchgoals that we don't just want to put on SGC, we want it to be as affordable as possible - preferably even FREE! Yeah, that's a pretty crazy thought, right? We've also built in stretchgoals that allow the cost of someone to register to attend SGC to drop as they are met. It's a pretty unique way to think. Could you imagine if it works? Wow, we'd have one heck of a party.
Update! - August 10th, 2012
We've heard a lot of feedback and it looks like we've done a poor job explaining some pretty important stuff. We want to be as clear as possible about how the Kickstarter money would be used, why SGC costs so much to produce and why our stretchgoals (above) are so crazy. Take a quick look at this video and hopefully we'll answer some of your questions.
Also we want everyone to know that we are going ALL OUT to raise awareness of this Kickstarter with a 12 hour marathon live stream TODAY from Noon to Midnight (Central Time) on ScrewAttack.com and a 48 hour live stream starting August 23rd at Midnight. The first 24 will have the entire ScrewAttack crew gaming hard with the second 24 having ScrewAttack founder, Craig, flying solo for 24 non-stop hours. It's going to be NUTS! We can do this!Nate Robinson is wasting away in the D-league right now, and he'd do just about anything to make his way back to the NBA.
A video has surfaced of one of Robinson's D-league games. While it's expected that the former Slam Dunk Champ would put up some big numbers, I don't think any of us thought he'd literally dribble through another player's legs.
No, no, no..you're imaging the ball going through his legs. In this case, it's Robinson's entire body.
Excuse me?
Now, I'm no pro athlete, but what's this big goober supposed to do to stop that from happening. He made the simple hedge out on a pick and roll, and assumed he would switch back at some point.
Nope, there goes Nate Robinson. We ought to give this guy another chance in the Association. What does a team like the Nets have to lose by letting Robinson lace em up?
<section><h2>Which NBA player means the most to his franchise?</h2></section><section><h2>LeBron James</h2></section><section><h3>James Harden</h3></section><section><h3>Russell Westbrook</h3></section><section><h3>Karl-Anthony Towns</h3></section><section><h3>Kawhi Leonard</h3></section><section><h3>John Wall</h3></section><section><h3>Giannis Antetokounmpo</h3></section><section><h3>Steph Curry</h3></section><section><h3>Damian Lillard</h3></section>This is going to be a long article, because there’s a lot to touch on. If you care about nuanced policy, this may appeal to you. If you are turned off by a wall of text, please seek hot takes in the form of social media posts and video clips elsewhere. Policy has far reaching implications, whether I agree with it or not, and whether I enjoy the cards and decks being affected or not. I own all the cards, I test all the cards, I lend out the cards I’m not using. They are a sunk cost, and I’m not worried about the value of them because of policy changes. The truth is I enjoy playing every type of strategy in Vintage, from hatebears to Workshops to combo to Dredge to the broken blue decks that play all of the most fun cards. In my own preparation for Champs this year I tested and seriously considered 6 distinctly different decks for Champs, then narrowed it to 4 in the final days, before finalizing my 75 the morning of.
The Top 8 of Vintage Champs 2017 consisted of 5 very similar Workshop Ravager Aggro decks and 3 Oath of Druids decks. At first glance, this might look quite alarming, but this ignores the changes that are happening in Vintage, and the decks that narrowly missed the Top 8 (both on tiebreakers, or tripping up a single match along the way). When looking at a metagame, results, and policy, I think it’s a good idea to not exclusively rely on Top 8 data (which is already weighted quite heavily), but look at everything.
Vintage does not have a two-deck metagame, and it is certainly not dominated by one deck. We are nowhere near the days of Standard formats where a particular deck may occupy 65+% of a given Top 32 at a StarCityGames Open event full of grinders. The Top 9th-58th decks or so (21-24 points, IE. one win away or different tiebreakers from Top 8) of Vintage Champs contained tons of other stuff, including Mentor/Pyromancer decks of all stripes, Dredge, Grixis Control, Landstill, Paradoxical Combo, Blue Moon, BUG, Mono Red Moon Control, Delver, StoneBlade, and more (see the sortable table titled “NA Vintage Champs 2017 Standings After Swiss – 21 Points or Better” on our coverage page here). These are all decks that were potentially a single match win away from us seeing a much different Top 8, and that’s why I think it’s often a mistake to only zero in on Top 8 deck performance. We are seeing some interesting new decks bubble to the surface in the Magic Online Vintage League events. This format is arguably less much homogeneous than the current state of Legacy, and even many large Modern events over the past couple of years. We’ve seen a rash of Banned and Restricted List movement in Vintage the past calendar year (well beyond historical norms), coupled with a lot of new impactful printings, and I think it’s time to let it breathe for a little while.
That being said, there’s been a lot of bellyaching about Vintage basically since Vintage came to MTGO, alongside the advent of the Vintage Super League. Both of these have helped grow Vintage exposure and turnout, but also have seemingly brought more of a bubbling muck of discontent than ever before with the additional eyeballs on the format, so I’d like to use this piece to discuss a handful of cards and strategies that are front and center. We’re in a place where Workshops has been at or near the pole position in terms of win percentage against the field on and off for well over a year (White Eldrazi and a couple of others providing brief interruptions for monthly analysis). Workshop Aggro has unquestionably reeled off an impressive string of victories in 2017, and proven itself to be one of the apex predators, for the time being. This is not the first time in Vintage history this has been the case, and the metagame has adapted over time, partly because of new printings, and partly because it was given time to do so.
Rational Actors and Deck Building
The next few paragraphs assume, simply for the sake of intellectual exercise, that players would act rationally in their own best interest to attempt to win the tournament they are paying to enter. We know that people don’t always act rationally though, nor do we have perfect information, so take this discussion with those caveats in mind. Some people are just going to jam what they feel like (or play the cards they have access to) and we’ll ignore that for the time being.
The natural argument goes that we logically build our deck to have the best chance of winning a tournament. If blue decks are 60+% of a given Vintage metagame, it would make sense that you tilt your build accordingly to beat what you are most likely to face percentage-wise, and then fill out your deck and sideboard to help address anything else beyond that where you have blind spots. This is a very simplistic way of looking at a confluence of factors that go in to deckbuilding and metagaming, but the sentiment is logical, if you can accurately predict the metagame and specific decks you’ll face in a tournament.
But not all variables are easy to predict, and not all cards and matchups are evenly weighted, even if you luckily manage to be assigned them at a perfectly predicted ratio of their metagame saturation. As such, those blue builds with tons of dead cards main deck might be the absolute nuts against other blue decks, but may be quite miserable against Workshop decks, Dredge, and other things that occupy a smaller percentage of the metagame. What if this makes your blue deck a 30-70 underdog in Game 1 against Workshops? What if it makes you a 10-90 underdog in Game 1? It’s incredibly difficult to win every Game 2 + Game 3 across those matchups if you are consistently getting destroyed in Game 1 by Workshops. And even aside from that, the strategies and individual cards chosen to combat those non-blue decks may be suboptimal in and of themselves. We’ll get in to that a bit later in the discussion.
To put it more simply, in the current state of Vintage the small incremental advantages you gain by having 4-9 cards in your main deck that are only relevant against blue decks, and blanks against Workshop decks, are often outweighed by the fact that you are such an underdog against Workshop decks that they often don’t even sideboard anything against you in post-sideboard games. That’s how much of a leg up they have on blue decks with how current iterations are constructed, and the inherent advantages they hold over blue decks playing a handful of textless cards main deck, and which often operate on mana bases that are too light. The tradeoffs of so much blue infighting may simply not be worth it, and the data seems to be proving this case.
Many of the blue decks are essentially becoming “glass cannon” decks, built to beat other blue decks and combo decks, but incapable of consistently defeating the boogeymen in the room that has the highest match win percentage the past few months, and unwilling to adjust accordingly. That is the tradeoff, or “the cost” of loading up any deck with conditional cards. Blue decks, and Vintage, are not alone in this regard.
Addressing Mishra’s Workshop Itself
I have heard time and time again the misleading phrase “Mishra’s Workshop is a reusable Black Lotus that you can tap every turn!” Can we officially stop with this nonsense? It can’t cast nearly any of the most broken spells in the game, aside from Memory Jar. It can’t even activate a Mishra’s Factory.
What it can do is appear in roughly 39% of your opening hands to repeatedly cast hits such as Arcbound Ravager and Sphere of Resistance. That is wholly unimpressive on its face, in a format filled with the most hideously broken design mistakes in Magic’s history. I’m reminded of Owen Turtenwald’s old article about Mishra’s Workshop, which essentially boils down to the fact that to enjoy the benefits of playing a Mishra’s Workshop + Ancient Tomb deck, you have to play a bunch of pretty weak cards in a vacuum, compared to what the rest of the format offers. Even in light of recent efficient printings, “upgrades,” and restrictions, that is still the tradeoff today. You are entirely foregoing casting things like Paradoxical Outcome, Tinker, and Oath of Druids so you can repeatedly tap a land for colorless mana to enjoy the upside of producing more mana than a generic land, in order to cast embarrassingly fair cards. A recent run of success by Mishra’s Workshop decks doesn’t change that fact. It didn’t change that fact during the previous high points of Workshop’s own success either, from the 2003-2005 and 2008-2009 eras of Vintage. The community learned and adapted from those times, and can do so in the future as well.
If what I’m saying for blue decks above holds true, that they shouldn’t be as self-targeting as they are when constructing their main decks, shouldn’t this also hold true for Workshops? “Why are they playing Spheres if those are just dead cards in the mirror match?” The truth is, even before the restriction of Thorn of Amethyst, these decks were |
state. Ever notice that the dome on our Capitol building, the Union cemeteries we bury our dead in, the greenback (“in God we trust”) currency we buy our bread with, our national sacramental meal (Thanksgiving, as instituted by Lincoln), and our most persuasive genesis narrative (the Gettysburg Address) all date from the 1860s? In part that’s because Lincoln was our greatest President and the Civil War tempered us a people, but the deeper reason for the above-mentioned coincidence is that the United States of America was founded anew during those years, and the legal means for accomplishing this founding was a Fourteenth Amendment that, designed as it was to rein in potentially racist state legislatures rather than potentially tyrannous concentrated power, altered the constitutionally embedded power balance between the states and the federal government so effectively that it practically outperformed Grant’s gunboats.
So: the Fourteenth Amendment is a rather important document.
Why, then, is its author not better known? When I discovered the identity of this author, it was a little like discovering Madison had once lived in one’s own back yard and the neighbors either hadn’t noticed or didn’t care. Why is that? Well, maybe it’s because John A. Bingham performed yet another service by crafting Fourteenth Amendment language in the way he did, which was to discretely liberate corporations as well as former slaves, the national government, and progressively minded jurists.
It’s a funny thing. I used to think of the river as the local sleight-of-hand province, for thanks to the passage of the Eighteenth Amendment (!) in 1919 and the ensuing prohibition of alcohol sales, bootlegging became big business in an upper Ohio valley that had already been established as a way station for the shipment of iron ore from the Great Lakes to Ohio river steel mills. At the same time, the Hanna-enabled, speakeasy-friendly “Ohio Gang” that had gotten Harding into office encouraged the city of Cleveland and neighboring upper Ohio River law enforcement agencies to grow rich by looking the other way. Thus conditions were well-nigh perfect in eastern Ohio for the establishment of illegal gaming and prostitution, let alone smuggling, and in Steubenville, a town which boasted a large proportion of miners and steelworkers with weekly paychecks to burn, gambling establishments and related amusements proliferated to such an extent that they became transformative. During the 1930s, gambling didn’t just occur, in Steubenville. Rather, it was part of the air everybody breathed. Sixth, seventh, and eighth grade students ran numbers across town for bookies like Pooch Lloyd or Money O’Brien as naturally as they delivered papers, if scholars had academic promise they didn’t so much think in terms of getting good grades as asking for a percentage of the action, and as for the young dice cheats or “mechanics” who evened betting chances behind the town’s multiple cigar store fronts, well, those Ohio Valley denizens went on to manage not-so-minor casinos like the Sands, out in Vegas, and the Tropicana, in Havana.
Lately, though, I’ve been revising this picture a little, for though the upper Ohio undoubtedly was a hustler’s paradise, it has become increasingly clear that the real sleight-of-hand action, the kind that results in the possibility of truly serious capital accumulation, probably occurred out in the dry town of Cadiz, where Bingham surely conceived some of his Fourteenth Amendment insertions.
Bingham’s professed intent, while drafting the 14th Amendment’s Section One in the way he did, was to fully emancipate black citizens by making sure (Madison himself had worried about this) that the Constitutional Bill of Rights (the first ten amendments) applied to incursions by state power as well as federal power. In letters to friends crafted during the time he was working on amendment language, Bingham added that because “each person” was “created in the image of the Lord”, he considered it a solemn duty to protect their “inborn rights”. And – there is no reason to doubt the veracity of these statements. One of his best friends at Franklin College was black. Also, the historical record shows that no less an observer than Mrs. George Armstrong Custer (who spent a fair amount of time fighting off amorous advances while her husband was out west killing Native Americans) vouched repeatedly for Bingham’s character, even going so far as to say at one point that Bingham and House Speaker Schuyler Colfax were the “only exceptions to the rule of debauched bureaucrats and blackleg politicians” in all of Washington, and even if it were true that Bingham’s probity was perhaps a little less complete than Mrs. Custer thought it was, Bingham’s interest in justice appears to have been sincere.
However, there are other aspects to Bingham’s resume that give one pause.
For example, he never tempered his rather ordinary quasi-mystical bias in favor of “the Union” with caution or wit. Hence he was prone to sentimentality and acclimatized to the use of it, as a trick. “It is the high heaven of the 19th century,” he said during one speech delivered in 1858. “The bastilles and dungeons of tyrants, those graves of human liberty, are giving up their dead… [and] the mighty heart of the world stands still, awaiting the resurrection of the nations, and that final triumph of right, foretold in prophecy and invoked in song.” Second, Bingham habitually confirmed the rightness of things and actions by checking to see if they were “sacred” and “in conformity with the Divine Plan”. How did he know God’s intentions? Bingham didn’t worry overly much about that epistemological puzzle, for his wife, Amanda, claimed to have already solved it, and given that the couple lived in “perfect harmony”, why should Bingham second-guess his wife? Upon being asked to explain his decision to serve as prosecutor during impeachment proceedings against Andrew Johnson, Bingham simply reported that his wife had told him “the Sacred Union requires another Pilot for the Ship of State”. So, there are details like that one, on Bingham’s resume.
But the main reason to be wary is the sheer extent of Bingham’s ties to the still variegated, not yet monolithic, but increasingly formidable railroad industry.
When he was a lawyer in Cadiz, Bingham worked across the street from the Kilgore Building at Market and Main, where Daniel Kilgore (soon to serve as proxy for Thomas Scott, president of the soon to be massively powerful Pennsylvania Railroad) directed affairs for the Steubenville and Indiana Railroad. Hence Bingham was familiar with the railroad business, and when he got to Washington he regularly advocated for railroad companies, sometimes by sponsoring bills that extended iron duty credits, other times by helping to secure routes. The Camden & Amboy, Lake Superior & Mississippi, and Alabama & Florida railroads all gave him passes that allowed the congressman to ride for free. In 1857 Bingham bought land in Missouri in the hopes that it would triple in value once the transcontinental route under discussion in Congress was set, and during the Civil War proper Bingham both voted for the 1862 Pacific Railway Act, and opposed the formation of a special committee designed to investigate rumored links between railroad companies and government officials. After the war, Bingham gave a speech urging quick passage of the Northern Pacific Railway bill, and then, after accepting potentially valuable Credit Mobilier stock from former roommate Oakes Ames, who wanted congressmen to have a personal stake in the Union Pacific railroad company he was trying to grow — Oakes Ames was later charged with bribery, on account of this action — Bingham argued aggressively and consistently for the limitation of control by state governments over railroad companies. During a speech on the house floor in April 1869, Bingham reminded his audience that Congress had “$25,000,000 invested in these roads”, and then warned that “before next September” the money would be “substantially sacrificed by reason of the intervention of state tribunals which, if they had any decent regard for the rights of the American people, would not have interfered as they have.” The American people! Well, we shouldn’t be surprised. After all, it had only been a year since, with Credit Mobilier stock certificates satisfactorily banked and already generating extraordinarily handsome returns, Bingham had stood on the same floor and delivered similarly grandiose remarks at the end of the Andrew Johnson hearings. “None are above the law,” he at that point intoned. “Position, however high, patronage, however powerful, cannot be permitted to shelter crime to the peril of the Republic.”
Which gets us to the chief action to which Bingham was called, when he worked to secure the interests of RR companies – namely, liberating corporations from state control by inserting the word “person” into Fourteenth Amendment language, thereby qualifying naturally avaricious, potentially immortal wealth accumulation machines for the same protections freed slaves were soon to enjoy.
Prior to 1868, which was the year the 14th Amendment became law, state governments held corporations on a pretty tight leash. Perhaps because the memory of British East India Tea Company predation was still fresh, states granted corporations customized charters that could be revoked, should a corporation act in a way that proved injurious to a given community’s ability to govern itself. Yes, there was Union Pacific. And, yes, the liberation of modern corporations was already underway thanks to the hotly contested arrival of “limited liability” concepts, Pennsylvania Railroad president Thomas Scott’s invention of the holding company, and (a little further back) the Marshall Court’s 1819 decision in Dartmouth v. Woodward (which implicitly created a zone where private corporate charters were to some extent immune to the threat of revocation in a way that public charters weren’t). But the Union Pacific, created as it was almost by national behest, was clearly an exception, and even though regular corporations were becoming noticeably less accountable to the communities they operated in, they still had to apply to states for the “privilege” of doing business within any given state’s borders, and (assuming that they did business in more than one state) corporations also faced wildly varying degrees of taxation and regulation. Well, the 14th Amendment changed all that, and it did so by means of a single clause that prohibited states from discriminating between classes of “persons”, when imposing fees or taking property.
For those in the know, the word “person” had a definite pro-corporate charge at the exact same time that Bingham inserted it into the clause about “equal protection” (after carefully disentangling it from obviously human qualifiers like race, color, and birthplace). Railroad people knew there were advantages to be gained if “person” could get associated with the concept of equal protection before the law. Lincoln himself had used an argument based on the idea of corporate personhood as early as 1854 in an effort to secure protection for a railroad client against a trigger-happy county in the state of Illinois that had presumed to dictate taxation terms to that client, and though Lincoln lost that case, the impetus for defining railroads as juristic “persons” in order to gain the protection of local laws against non-uniform taxation only grew. By 1866, the year Bingham composed his draft, that impetus had the force of an oncoming locomotive. Hence it would have been surprising if someone had not tried to use the opportunity to lock in support for the personhood argument at the national level while hiding behind the cover of an altruistic concern for former slaves. Was Bingham, a railroad insider, that man? Or was Bingham, instead, a brave soul who risked public ridicule in order to insert “person”, rather than just “citizen”, and thereby protect illegal aliens as well as former slaves? So far the evidence suggests that Bingham was working for the railroads, for if you examine the 39th Congress’ Joint Committee of Fifteen meeting minutes (the log was published in 1907 by a group of Columbia University professors who themselves were studying the extent to which accumulated capital might have subverted democratic process) you see right away that Bingham consistently and steadfastly steered lawmakers away from drafts that exclusively linked proposed Fourteenth Amendment protections to “citizens”, and toward an April 21, 1866 draft that featured a second clause in which it was proposed that states also be barred both from “denying to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws”, and too from “taking private property for public use without just compensation”. One week later, after notable vacillation, the committee conclusively adopted Bingham’s logic, and by June 8, while regular lawmakers on the floor were distracted by the question of whether to allow voting privileges to veterans who had fought for the Confederacy, the industry-friendly version cleared the Senate as well as the House.
A small matter?
At the time, it probably seemed that it was, given how precedent-setting Supreme Court opinions had almost all of them favored state control over corporations. In retrospect, though, that June 8 achievement looms large, for not only did corporations conclusively (in 1886) win the Fourteenth Amendment protection Bingham made possible and thereby win access to other protections customarily enjoyed by citizens like free speech (crucial for advertising) and immunity from unreasonable searches. In addition, they became able to capitalize on those advantages – and to a degree that nobody, perhaps least of all the Carnegies who ran the first vertically integrated corporations, could even have imagined, given that computerization and global free trade agreements did not yet exist. Welcome to the post-racial, federally managed American “marketplace” in which we live today – a world in which ordinary citizens like Tea Party advocates and Occupy Wall Street protesters have outsourced nearly every task requiring independence, bravery and sacrifice to all the better enjoy, courtesy of mutual fund dividend checks and take-outs from Chipotle, unparalleled access to safety, comfort, predictability, and ever-refreshed (corporately managed) desires that are most of them satisfied merely by watching multinational corporations do battle, freely, on a studiously leveled playing field.
Hats off, then, to Mr. Bingham who played arguably the most crucial part in founding this new republic. He deserves statues erected in his honor, and the rest of us should take heed to remember his name.Actress Carey Mulligan was among protesters who left teddy bears outside the gates of Downing Street in protest at persistent, deadly attacks on Aleppo.
Hundreds gathered in London's Whitehall to call on the Government to do more to end civilian deaths in the Syrian conflict.
They said the teddy bears represented the thousands of children trapped in rebel-held eastern areas of the city.
The Syrian government regime recently stepped up attacks, with civilians being pulled dead from the rubble after numerous devastating barrel bombings.
Heavy clashes between regime and rebel forces followed the end of a "humanitarian pause" in Aleppo on Saturday night, according to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Image: An image from campaign group the Aleppo Media Centre
During the protest in central London, demonstrators wore "Save Aleppo" t-shirts and some carried signs urging "No bomb zone now."
Calls for action ranged from a no-fly zone to more pressure on Russia, Syria's key ally in the conflict.
Mulligan, star of films such as Shame and Drive - and an ambassador for the charity War Child - said one of her daughter's toys was among the teddies.
:: Aleppo under siege: a timeline
Syrian children survive on rubbish in Aleppo
The actress said she hoped the protesters could send a "real message" that "we really want our government to be the one to step up and lead this and try to stop the fighting in Aleppo".
"We need to hold people accountable," said the actress.
"There are widespread accusations of war crimes being committed and that can't be done with impunity... They're breaking humanitarian international laws.
"I've got a one-year-old daughter and I think for a moment about what it would be like for my daughter to experience any of the things that are happening in Syria.
The bombs destroying lives in Aleppo
"It's unbearable - it's a lottery where you are born in this world. We were lucky enough to be born here and these children are born in Syria, in Aleppo, and they are experiencing a living hell."
In a statement, Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said: "The UK will continue to work with its international partners to pursue a ceasefire to stop the bombing campaign."
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has called attacks in Syria and eastern Aleppo "crimes of historic proportions".
Hospitals and schools are among the targets that have been attacked, as the death toll in the civil war stands at more than 300,000.A piece on the notorious conspiracy theory website Infowars.com blatantly lied about the site’s promotion of the so-called “pizzagate” conspiracy theory, after the site’s creator Alex Jones deleted evidence he promoted the conspiracy.
In a February 24 article for Infowars.com, editor Kit Daniels falsely claimed that “the discussion around Pizzagate largely occurred on Reddit, 4chan and Twitter -- but not Infowars,” in an attempt to rebut claims made by former Clinton campaign chair John Podesta during a discussion with John Heilemann.
In fact, Alex Jones promoted the “Pizzagate” conspiracy theory on his radio show, urging his listeners “to go investigate it for yourself.” Jones urged his audience to “go to the report, Pizzagate Is Real,” and stated “Something’s going on. Something’s being covered up. It needs to be investigated”:
ALEX JONES: Now I want to be clear. Not everybody in the WikiLeaks is involved in this. Clearly. You have to go investigate it for yourself. But I will warn you, this story that’s been the biggest thing on the internet for several weeks, pizzagate as it’s called, is a rabbit hole that is horrifying to go down. […] Let’s go ahead and go to the report, Pizzagate Is Real. The question is: How real is it? What is it? Something’s going on. Something’s being covered up. It needs to be investigated. To just call it fake news -- these are real WikiLeaks. This is real stuff going on.
During that broadcast, Infowars producer Jon Bowne said Clinton allies were “using a code to communicate child sex trafficking as casually as ordering a pizza,” and Alex Jones suggested he would be “getting on a plane” to visit Comet Ping Pong” because “it’s just like Bohemian Grove and stuff, I can’t just say something and not see it for myself. They go to these pizza places, there’s like satanic art everywhere.” Infowars has additionally published articles headlined “Pizzagate: The Mysterious Death Of A Human Trafficking Investigator,” and “Pizzagate Is Global.”
One week after Jones’ promoted the “pizzagate” conspiracy, gunman Edgar Welch told The New York Times that he listens to Alex Jones, and reportedly went to Comet Ping Pong with an assault rifle to investigate the conspiracy. Days later, Alex Jones attempted to scrub pizzagate content from his website, and downplayed his role in promoting the conspiracy theory, while stating Welch was an “admitted actor,” claiming “the whole thing is classic scripting. I’m not saying it’s scripted -- it has all the telltale signs, they’ve been caught doing it before.”A buff Brad Pitt tears up role (and tendon) as Achilles in "Troy' GO MOVIES
"It's all part of the process," says the actor, downplaying his transformation, which involved cutting carbs and eating four protein-rich meals a day. "It's really no different than what we all do, ever since DeNiro put on 60 pounds for "Raging Bull.' He kind of set the course for us. He screwed us all, really."
Brad Pitt usually avoids movies that play up his good looks. But not for his latest film. To portray "Troy's" Achilles, the actor turned himself into a tanned specimen of great beauty -- not that he had that far to go.
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Then Pitt, who turned 40 in December, laughs. "So, yeah, I really hit it hard. It's amazing what an impending mid-life crisis will do for you."
Adopted loosely from "The Iliad," the $200 million epic revisits the Trojan War. The combat begins after Paris of Troy (Orlando Bloom) falls for the famously beautiful Helen (Diane Kruger), who flees with him from her husband, King Menelaus (Brendan Gleeson). The king promptly calls upon the Greek mercenary Achilles to get her back. Once in Troy, Achilles must face off against Paris and his brother, Prince Hector (Eric Bana), in a battle to the death.
It's fitting that Pitt is back in fine fettle for "Troy" because the movie marks his return to name-above-the-title status after a three-year absence. "I really wasn't thinking, "It's time to re-establish myself as a box-office draw,"' says the actor, whose last starring role was in 2001's "Spy Game." "I was exploring other things, like architecture, and I enjoyed that for a while, and then I missed the movies. So now I'm back."
Ironically, Pitt has stepped up his work load just as his wife, Jennifer Aniston, began winding down her decade-long commitment to "Friends."
"Jen's saying goodbye to an era that meant very much to her," notes Pitt. "She's made great friends and had great experiences. So there's the sadness of that, but there's also the excitement of a new era. So we're at that transitional spot, that moment of being at a depot and wondering what direction to go now."
Fatherhood is now a definite possibility. "Yeah, it's time," Pitt says. "I finally think I'm at the place where I won't mess a kid up too much. And Jen's in agreement that I won't mess them up too much."
In his best roles, Pitt embodies Spencer Tracy's famous edict about acting: "Don't ever let 'em catch you at it." He's the type of performer who brings a naturalness to everything he does, whether it's seducing Geena Davis in "Thelma & Louise," riding a horse in "Legends of the Fall," investigating a murder in "Seven" or knocking off a casino in "Ocean's 11."
Very few of his movies see Pitt playing the conventional leading-man roles. "Heroes, I'm really not good with that," he muses. "That's why I liked Achilles. I saw him as extremely human, with an immense talent for fighting. What I was really drawn to was that he sets up this search for more in his life, which is really just a search for some kind of revealing of himself."
"Troy" turned out to be notoriously difficult to shoot. Originally set in Morocco, the then-impending war with Iraq forced the producers to relocate to Mexico, where two hurricanes ripped through the set, and Malta, where Pitt suffered an injury that halted filming for 10 weeks. "In a bout of stupid irony, I tweaked my Achilles' tendon," he says. "Which is bizarre."President Obama is meeting this afternoon with Rev. Sharpton. Among reforms the President is proposing is buying 50,000 videocameras for policemen to wear, and trying to marginally demilitarize police equipment. If you can remember way back to August, that was what the kool kid konservatives were saying was the Real Problem in Ferguson: cops having too much body armor and the like. Even Ross Douthat fell for that one for awhile.
Anyway, as commenter anonymous-antimarxist notes, equipping even more cops with always active videocameras will keep World Star Hip Hop stocked full of hilarious hi-jinx in the ‘hood.
As you’ll recall, one cause of the rage of the privileged class in the prestige press is that in recent years, Americans have been able to increasingly watch on sites like World Star Hip Hop clips of blacks behaving badly. The national media have responded by turning the volume on the Megaphone up to 11: “Do Not Believe Your Lying Eyes! White Privilege! Black Bodies! Intersectionality! Invisible Knapsacks! Microaggressions!”
Here’s an oldie but goodie from Philadelphia made possible by brand new video security cameras on the bus:
[Note: Pay no attention to Sailerian stock tips.]As the oceans become more acidic due to high carbon dioxide levels, marine life is being visibly affected, according to a study of Antarctic marine snails.
Called pteropods, the snails are a key link in the ocean’s food chain, a vital source of nutrient for fish and birds A team of international researchers has discovered the high acidity of the waters is corroding the pteropods’ shells.
The study, published in Nature Geoscience, was a combined project involving scientists from the British Antarctic Survey, Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research, the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and other institutions.
The burning of fossil fuels has spewed additional carbon dioxide into the atmosphere which, in turn, is absorbed by the oceans. scientists say. This changes the chemistry of the waters, which become more acidic over time.
"The corrosive properties of the water caused shells of live animals to be severely dissolved, and this demonstrates how vulnerable pteropods are," said lead author Nina Bednaršek from the NOAA.
The study marks the first time an acidification analysis was conducted on live specimens in their natural environments.
The scientists were concerned, in particular, with the effects of upwelling on the snails. Upwelling occurs when deep sea water is forced to the surface by extreme winds, and climate models have indicated that upwelling will become more common in the future.
The combination of upwelling and the more acidic nature of the surface water have served to make the environment more corrosive. Pteropods live at the surface of the oceans to a depth of 200 metres.
According to the NOAA, the acidity of surface ocean waters has increased by 30 per cent since the Industrial Revolution. At the current rate that CO2 levels are rising, the waters could be almost 150 per cent more acidic by the end of the century, scientists estimate.
Dr. Geraint Tarling of the British Antarctic Survey and the study’s co-author said the research team will now undertake a "more comprehensive" study looking at the effects of ocean acidification on a wider range of organisms.Abnormal sequences of DNA known as rare copy number variants (CNVs) may play a role in the risk for early-onset bipolar disorder, according to new research from an international team of scientists.
The variants, also known as CNVs, are alterations in which there are too few or too many copies of sections of DNA. Researchers have known that spontaneously occurring or de novo CNVs, which are genetic mutations not inherited from parents, increase the risk for some neuropsychiatric conditions, such as schizophrenia or autism.
But their role was unclear in bipolar disorder, according to principal investigator Jonathan Sebat, Ph.D., assistant professor of psychiatry and cellular and molecular medicine at the University of California San Diego’s Institute of Genomic Medicine.
Sebat and his colleagues found that de novo CNVs contribute “significant” genetic risk in about 5 percent of early-onset bipolar disorder, which appears in childhood or early adulthood.
The cause — or causes — of bipolar disorder remain unclear, noted the study’s first author Dheeraj Malhotra, Ph.D., assistant project scientist in Sebat’s lab.
Researchers know there is a clear genetic component as the disease runs in families, but previous studies that focused on commonly inherited variants have met with limited success in identifying key susceptibility genes, he said.
Malhotra noted that while the findings do not conclusively pinpoint a specific gene or genomic region, they show “convincing” evidence that rare copy number mutations contribute to the development of early onset bipolar disorder.
He added that sequencing of complete genomes or exomes of a large number of bipolar families is needed to determine the genetic contribution of all forms of de novo mutations to the risk for bipolar disorder.
The findings were published in the Dec. 22 issue of the journal Neuron.
Source: University of California, San Diego
DNA photo by shutterstock.
Rare Genetic Mutations Linked To Bipolar DisorderOn his 27th birthday, David Hillebrandt and his wife Sally began to climb Mount Kenya, the second-highest mountain in Africa after Kilimanjaro. Instead of gearing up and heading straight for the mountain's tallest peak—which reaches 5,199 meters—the couple started their journey more leisurely, trekking through scenic ridges and valleys around the mountain at an altitude of about 3,000 meters.
David, who today serves as a medical advisor to the British Mountaineering Council, already had considerable climbing experience at the time: he had scaled a 5,790-meter peak in Pakistan and 3,960-meter peaks in the European Alps. Sally, in contrast, had never done any serious climbing and did not consider herself a mountaineer.
But Sally wasn't the one who needed to stop and turn around.
"I am meant to be this tough, rugged mountaineer," David says, "and I celebrated my birthday by throwing up all over the place." Plagued by a throbbing headache and relentless nausea, David retreated to lower ground. He knew from previous climbs that he was prone to altitude sickness, but he thought circling the mountain at 3,000 meters would be a good way to acclimatize. This time it didn't do the trick. Even though she was a far less experienced climber, Sally adjusted to the altitude much faster.
It wasn't experience that made the difference—it was genetics. Scientists have known for a while that some people are inherently more susceptible to altitude sickness than others—and that this susceptibility is heritable—but only now are they on the trail of the culprit genes. Preliminary studies suggest that a group of six genes predicts who will get altitude sickness with greater than 90 percent accuracy. Such a precise genetic test would greatly benefit the military, which currently has no way of predicting which soldiers will fall ill when flown to high altitudes and would rather not waste money on expensive acclimatization drugs. In a parallel research effort, scientists have been searching for the genes that determine which cows develop altitude sickness, also known as brisket disease, when they graze in the Rocky Mountains. Because tens of thousands of cows die in the western U.S. from brisket disease annually, ranchers would like nothing more than to strip the responsible genes from the breeding population.
Written in blood
The pursuit of a genetic test for altitude sickness began in earnest a few years ago in Robert Roach's laboratory at the University of Colorado. In 2010, 28 people in Roach's lab ascended to an altitude of 4,875 meters without ever leaving the ground. Roach placed his volunteers in a large metal box called a hypobaric chamber and gradually sucked out air with a vacuum pump, reducing atmospheric pressure to mimic a high altitude, low-oxygen environment. Roach purposefully recruited a mixture of people who were susceptible to altitude sickness and people who had never had problems in high climes. As expected, about half of the 28 volunteers felt sick in the chamber, whereas the others felt fine.
Roach took samples of his volunteers' blood, isolated their DNA and programmed a computer to search for genetic differences between the people who got sick and those who didn't mind hanging out in thin air. The program identified six genes that are expressed at unusually high or low levels in people who felt sick; some of the genes are linked to oxygen transport. Looking at the expression levels of those six genes alone was enough to distinguish people who became ill from those who did not with about 95 percent accuracy.
The following year, Roach collaborated with Benjamin Levine of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center to try the rudimentary genetic test on a larger group of volunteers. This time, instead of bringing the mountain to his lab, Roach decided to move his lab to the mountain.
In groups of about 15, Roach and Levine took 140 fit men and women from Dallas to Mount Baldy in Breckenridge, Colo., which is around 4,000 meters above sea level. During their weekend mountain getaway, the volunteers in each group—all of whom had passed the Army Physical Fitness Test—ran 3.2 kilometers, did push-ups and sit-ups, and hiked a trail as fast as they could. A few days earlier, everyone in the group had performed the same exercises at sea level. Altitude made all the difference. "We had some serious athletes in our group, a lot of triathlon people," says Tom Tielleman, 24, a former Eagle Scout. "Everyone did worse on the mountain." Some people did worse than others.
Currently, Roach and Levine are analyzing DNA from the Breckenridge study, searching for the same six genes that Roach identified in the hypobaric chamber study as well as looking for new genetic patterns that discriminate between people whose performance decreased slightly on the mountain and those whose performance worsened dramatically. If they find a strong signature, Roach predicts that they will develop a working genetic test for altitude sickness within a year. The Pentagon, which funds some of Roach's research, wants an easy way to identify soldiers who succumb to altitude sickness when fighting in mountainous regions.
In many cases, the symptoms of altitude sickness are mild and dissipate after a few days. But for some people altitude sickness is not just a minor inconvenience—the headaches, nausea and vomiting are debilitating, making it difficult to stand up or think clearly, let alone fight a war. Some people cough up blood and retain fluid in their lungs as the pressure inside capillaries increases, forcing out water. The U.S. Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine estimates that above 3,000 meters between 25 and 35 percent of soldiers yield to altitude sickness; above 4,000 meters, between 80 and 90 percent of soldiers fall ill. Although there are effective drugs like Diamox (acetazolamide) to prevent and treat altitude sickness, buying drugs in mass quantities for an unknown number of soldiers is expensive and wasteful, and some drugs have unwanted side effects such as blurred vision and excess blood acidity. A genetic test would not help treat altitude sickness, but it would help military leaders strategize, giving the soldiers most likely to get sick more time to acclimatize and thereby reducing the number of medical evacuations.
Bloated bovines
Altitude sickness is also the scourge of entirely different population of mountain-dwellers: cows. By the time a rancher spots one lumbering up and down the mountain, its swollen chest sloshing between its front legs, there is not much he can do except move the animal to a lower altitude and hope it lives. Every summer in the U.S. West—when ranchers take cattle to graze on grassy mountain slopes—tens of thousands of cows die because they cannot adapt to the thin, oxygen-poor air. For the past two years, scientists collaborating with a new research facility at New Mexico State University (N.M.S.U.) in Las Cruces have been searching for the genes that determine which cows develop high altitude sickness, aka brisket disease. Once they find the genes, the idea is to breed them out of the bovine population.
From May to November each year, ranchers in many parts of the western U.S. take their cattle into the mountains where there is more rainfall and more nutritious grass than at lower altitudes—lower oxygen levels notwithstanding. In the Rockies, summer pastures range from 1,500 to 3,650 meters; an altitude greater than 1,500 meters is enough to induce brisket disease. In some parts of Montana and Colorado, cattle graze at altitudes upward of 4,000 meters, says Manny Encinias, director of N.M.S.U.'s Top of the Valle research facility in Valles Caldera National Preserve.
Whereas some cows take the swift transition to high altitudes in stride, others swell up and die. Not all breeds are equally susceptible, nor are all individuals from a single breed—just as human susceptibility to acute mountain sickness varies. Healthy cows respond to low-oxygen environments in a characteristic way: their hearts beat faster to deliver enough oxygenated blood to the body and brain, and blood vessels in the lung constrict to shunt blood to the organ's oxygen-rich areas. Cows that develop brisket disease respond similarly, but their body's compensation is too aggressive for their own good. Blood pressure increases so much that plasma seeps out of the blood vessels into tissues surrounding the heart and lungs, bloating the cows' chests. And blood vessels in the lung constrict so much that the blood backs up into the heart, which eventually gives out. The cows collapse and die from heart failure.
At Top of the Valle, which is nearly 2,600 meters above sea level, researchers are working to pinpoint the exact genes responsible for the physiological differences between a cow that keels over in the mountains and one that remains as lively as Julie Andrews in the Alps.
Ranchers in New Mexico, Texas, Colorado and Utah send their cows to N.M.S.U., where Tim Holt of Colorado State University in Fort Collins slides a catheter through their jugular veins toward their hearts and measures arterial pressure—an indicator of the cow's susceptibility to brisket disease. If tests suggest the cow won't fare well in the mountains, a rancher may avoid a potential loss by selling the cow to a lower-altitude ranch. "It's almost a given that ranchers will lose between 5 and 30 percent of their herd if they send cattle to high country—that's of great economic significance," Holt says. N.M.S.U. says the beef industry loses $60 million annually to high altitude disease. Some ranchers have considered giving cattle drugs designed to treat mountain sickness in people, like acetazolamide, but the FDA has not approved the use of such drugs in animals meant for human consumption.
Even if N.M.S.U. tested all of the nearly one million cows grazing in the Rockies for pulmonary hypertension—high blood pressure in the lungs—it wouldn't solve the brisket problem. When ranchers purchase bull semen for artificial insemination—the most common breeding practice in the Rockies—there is no way to know if the semen contains the undesirable genes responsible for brisket. Furthermore, ranchers risk reintroducing those genes into a population they have already worked to make mountain-friendly through generations of artificial selection. By identifying the responsible genes, scientists give ranchers a way to screen bulls for those genes and eliminate the problem of genetic recontamination.
"If you raise a bull at sea level, you can't figure out his genetic predisposition to high altitude sickness without taking him above 5,000 feet. Our ultimate goal is to take a DNA sample and generate a value: either a concrete 'Yes or No' or a numerical value of genetic merit," explains Jonathan Beever of the University of Illinois at Urbana– |
ahi says, are being systematically oppressed by the religious government of Iran. One way in which that happens is making it difficult, if not impossible, for young Baha'i to pursue higher education.
Which is where BIHE comes in.
The BIHE has no campus or buildings. Professors meet their students in the kitchens, living rooms, and basements of sympathetic homeowners. It is not without risk, though. The government has, at times, raided homes and jailed professors.
Aftahi graduated from BIHE in 2010.
"Teaching at BIHE in Iran means any day you can go to prison, so they put their lives (one the) line," Aftahi said. "I always see that as a big sacrifice and the did that for me."
After graduating BIHE, Aftahi moved to the United States and was accepted to study for a Master's Degree in Architecture from U.C. Berkeley.
Now established as a working architect for a firm in Berkeley, Aftahi dedicates her early mornings and late evenings to her students in Iran. It is risky for them even to take her class.
Aftahzi also realizes that, until government attitude toward the Baha'i changes, she will not feel safe traveling back to Iran to see her family. A nephew of hers died last year but she didn't return for the funeral.
"That was hard," Aftahi said. "Very difficult but it was my choice. And I made that choice."
Aftahi hopes that by shedding light on a school that operates in the shadows pressure will build on the government of Iran to change its position.
Until then, she will keep teaching long distance, hoping for big change.Following his success in Sunday’s London marathon, Jenson Button has announced plans to run the forthcoming Spanish Grand Prix, claiming it will be ‘faster than using the McLaren’.
As well as significantly improved pace, Button is said to be believe that tackling the Catalunya track on foot will bring other major advantages over using his MP4-30. ‘Jenson managed to complete the London marathon without once belching steam and coming to a halt at the side of the course,’ said a source close to the team. ‘Nor did he suddenly get told to sit out the rest of the event for mysteriously unspecified reasons and then have to give an interview in which he is forced to claim the team is ‘making progress’.’
Although the idea of running 190 miles rather than using a car is likely to be extremely challenging, Button is said to be sanguine about potential problems including the risk of needing to take a Paula Radcliffe-style poo stop in front of all the fans. ‘Jenson is cool with that happening,’ our insider noted. ‘It certainly won’t be the first time he’s had trouble with the super softs.’
With less than two weeks until the Spanish race, the phlegm voiced racer is now in talks with Pirelli to buy some extra durable trainers and is working on precautions against the single biggest threat to his Grand Prix marathon – being run over by Pastor Maldonado.The Auburn Tigers and Barrett Trotter got off to a solid start to their season, but things have gone downhill fast. Auburn are still in decent shape at 5-2 with only one SEC loss, but their quarterback situation might prevent them from keeping that SEC record unless rectified shortly. That's why, after three consecutive extremely poor performances, Gene Chizik has reportedly decided to bench Trotter in favor of Clint Moseley. AP SEC writer John Zenor passed along the info via twitter.
In Auburn's ugly win over Florida on Saturday, the two teams used an incredible seven players at the quarterback position between them. One of those was Trotter, who was pulled after starting 2-8 passing. Moseley was not spectacular, but much better than Trotter as he went 4-7 for 90 yards in the second half as Auburn gave the ball to Michael Dyer 23 times.
Over his last three games combined, Trotter is 20-50 passing for 226 yards, two touchdowns and three interceptions.
For more on the Auburn Tigers and their quarterback situation, visit Track Em Tigers.WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center
ADMINISTRATIVE PANEL DECISION
Tata Sons Limited v. D & V Enterprises
Case No. D2000-0479
1. The Parties
The Complainant (hereafter � "the Complainant") in this Administrative Proceeding is Tata Sons Limited, a company incorporated in India under the Indian Companies Act, 1913, having its registered office and principal place of business in Mumbai, India.
According to the InterNIC WHOIS database, the Respondent in this Administrative Proceeding (hereafter � "the Respondent") is D & V Enterprises of 1328 River Road, Suite 325, Lakewood, New Jersey 08701, U.S.A. Other than the e-mail address, which is chares@computersurgeons.com, the Complainant does not have any other details concerning the Respondent�s legal status, place of incorporation or principal place of business.
The Respondent�s postal address is as above, and its Administrative and Technical Contact is Charles Gattsek of Computer Surgeons & Services, Inc., 590 Park Avenue, Freehold, NJ 07728, U.S.A. The Billing Contact of the Respondent is Daniel Berrios of D & V Enterprises, 1328 River Road as above. The e-mail address of Daniel Berrios is Daniel@myhost.com
2. The Domain Name and the Registrar
The Domain Name in issue is bodacious-tatas.com (hereafter � "the Domain Name").
The Registrar of the Domain Name is Network Solutions, Inc. of Herndon, Virginia, U.S.A.
3. Procedural History
A. Issuance of Complaint
The Complaint (hereafter � "the Complaint"), submitted by the Complainant, was received by e-mail on May 23, 2000, by the World Intellectual Property Organization Arbitration and Mediation Center (hereafter � "the WIPO Center"), and has also been received in hard copy. The signed original of the Complaint, together with four hard copies thereof, Annexures and the requisite fee, were forwarded by the Complainant to the WIPO Center by express courier under cover of a letter of the same date. On May 25, 2000, the WIPO Center sent an Acknowledgement of Receipt of Complaint to the Complainant.
The Complaint in question is made pursuant to the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (hereafter � "the Uniform Policy"), which on October 24, 1999, was implemented by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (hereafter � "ICANN") and, pursuant to the Rules for Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (hereafter � "the Uniform Rules"), was implemented by ICANN on the same date.
On May 25, 2000, a Request for Registrar Verification was transmitted to the Registrar, seeking: -
a) confirmation that a copy of the Complaint was sent to the Registrar by the Complainant in accordance with Paragraph 4(b) of the WIPO Supplemental Rules for Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy (hereafter � "the Supplemental Uniform Rules");
b) confirmation that the Domain Name in issue is registered with the Registrar;
c) confirmation that the person identified as the Respondent is the current registrant of the Domain Name in question;
d) provision of the full contact details (i.e. postal address (es), telephone number(s), facsimile number(s), e-mail address (es) available in the Registrar�s WHOIS database for the Domain Name Registrant, and Technical, Administrative and Billing Contact, for the above Domain Name;
e) confirmation that the Uniform Policy applies to the Domain Name concerned;
f) indication of the current status of the Domain Name in issue.
In an e-mail transmission to the WIPO Center of May 30, 2000, the Registrar, Network Solutions, Inc., confirmed that it had received the Complaint from the Complainant and that it (Network Solutions, Inc.) was the Registrar of the Domain Name registration. The Registrar also confirmed that D & V Enterprises was the current Registrant of the Domain Name registration and verified that the name and address of the Respondent was the one given by the Complainant. Further information supplied by the Registrar related to the Administrative, Technical and Zone Contact for the Respondent, which was given as Charles Gattsek, Computer Surgeons & Services, Inc. of 590 Park Avenue, Freehold, NJ 07728, U.S.A. The Registrar also gave the telephone and facsimile numbers, as well as the e-mail address of the Contact. In addition, details of the Billing Contact for the Domain Name were supplied by the Registrar, including the name of the Contact, Daniel Berrios, his e-mail address and telephone number (his postal address is identical to that of the Respondent). Finally, the Registrar confirmed that Network Solution, Inc.�s 5.0 Service Agreement was in effect and that the Domain Name registration was in "Active" status.
B. Formal Requirements Compliance Review
The assigned WIPO Center Case Administrator compiled a Formal Requirement Compliance Checklist on May 31, 2000. The Panel has independently determined and agrees with the verification of the WIPO Center that the Complaint is in formal compliance with the provisions of the Uniform Policy, Paragraph 4(a) of the Uniform Rules, as approved by ICANN on October 24, 1999, and Paragraph 5 of the Supplemental Uniform Rules in effect as of December 1, 1999. The Complainant paid the requisite fee, by the due date and in the required amount, for a single-member Panel.
C. Notification to Respondent and Commencement of Proceeding
On May 31, 2000, the WIPO Center transmitted to the Respondent a Notification that an Administrative Proceeding had been commenced against it pursuant to the Uniform Policy, which, it was pointed out, was adopted by ICANN on October 24, 1999. It is to be observed here that, by virtue of Section 8 of the Registration Agreement made between the Registrar and the Respondent (a copy of which document was transmitted to the WIPO Center by the Complainant), it is provided as follows: -
8. DOMAIN NAME DISPUTE POLICY. If you reserved or registered a domain name through us, you agree to be bound by our current domain name dispute policy that is incorporated herein and made a part of this Agreement by reference. The current version of the dispute policy may be found at our Web site...
It will be seen, therefore, that the Uniform Policy has been incorporated by reference into the Registration Agreement with the Registrar of the Domain Name in issue. Pursuant to this the Respondent was required to submit to, and participate in a mandatory Administrative Proceeding in the event that a third party were to submit a Complaint to an ICANN-approved dispute resolution service provider concerning the Domain Name.
D. Further Details (in abstract form) set out in the Notification to the Respondent
a) Deadlines
It was incumbent upon the Respondent, within twenty calendar days from receipt of the Notification, to submit to the Complainant and to the WIPO Center a Response according to the requirements set out in Paragraph 5 of the Uniform Rules and the Supplemental Uniform Rules.
b) Default
If no Response were to be sent by the due date, which, in the present issue, was June 21, 2000, the Respondent would be considered to be in default. The WIPO Center, however, would appoint an Administrative Panel to review the facts of the dispute and to decide the case.
c) Administrative Panel
The dispute between the Complainant and the Respondent would be decided by an Administrative Panel consisting of either one or three impartial and independent decision-makers. The Complainant in this Administrative Proceeding has elected for an Administrative Panel consisting of a single panelist. Nevertheless, despite the Complainant�s designation of a single panelist, the Respondent had the right, on the fulfillment of certain terms and conditions, to elect to have the case decided by an Administrative Panel consisting of three persons. No response on this point was received from the Respondent.
d) The Administrative Proceeding
If the present case were to be decided by a single-member Administrative Panel, the WIPO Center would appoint the Administrative Panel within five days of the date the Response on the part of the Respondent was due.
e) Communication to the Respondent
The Notification was communicated to the Respondent (including the Domain Name Registrant, and the Administrative, Technical, Zone and Billing Contact, as provided in Paragraph 2(a) of the Uniform Rules) in accordance with the contact details and methods set out on page 6 of the Notification. Having reviewed the communication records, the Panel finds that the WIPO Center has fully discharged its responsibility, pursuant to the provisions of Paragraph 2(a) of the Uniform Rules, "...to employ reasonably available means calculated to achieve actual notice to Respondent".
f) Commencement of Administrative Proceeding
In accordance with Paragraph 4(c) of the Uniform Rules, the formal date as to the commencement of the Administrative Proceeding was set at June 2, 2000.
g) Notification of Respondent Default
On June 22, 2000, having received no Response from the Respondent within the time specified in the Notification of Complaint, the WIPO Center transmitted to the Respondent (and, presumably, also to the Complainant) a Notification of Respondent Default.
D. Invitation and Appointment to Serve as Panelist
a) Invitation
In the light of the Complainant�s request for a single panelist (but without prejudice to any election by the Respondent) the WIPO Center (through Dr. Francis Gurry, Assistant Director General WIPO and Director WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center), in a letter of July 3, 2000, invited Mr. Michael Ophir to serve as Panelist in Case No. D2000-0479, and transmitted to him a Statement of Acceptance and Request for Declaration of Impartiality and Independence.
The Panelist (hereafter � "the Panel"), having signed and dated the Statement of Acceptance and Declaration of Impartiality and Independence, forwarded a copy of it to the WIPO Center by facsimile transmission, together with a short covering note, on July 10, 2000. On July 12, 2000, the original signed and dated Statement of Acceptance and Declaration of Impartiality and Independence, together with a covering letter, was sent to the WIPO Center by FedEx. In the above covering letter the Panel requested a copy of the Uniform Policy, Rules and Supplemental Rules, together with some past Administrative Panel Decisions to serve as precedents as to layout and style. At the Panel�s faxed request of July 13, 2000, several Decisions, together with the other requested material, were sent to him by the WIPO Center by Priority Airmail Post, and were received on August 3, 2000.
b) Notification of Appointment of Administrative Panel and Projected Decision Date
On July 11, 2000, formal written notice, in accordance with Paragraph 6(f) of the Uniform Rules, was given by the WIPO Center to all the parties concerned to the effect that an Administrative Panel had been appointed in the above-referenced case, consisting of a single member: Michael Ophir. It was also stated in the notice that -
"Absent exceptional circumstances the Administrative Panel is required to forward its decision to us by July 24, 2000, in accordance with Paragraph 15 of the Uniform Rules" (panel�s underlineation). This, with the greatest possible respect to the staff of the WIPO Center, was logistically impossible since, as previously stated, the requested material did not reach the Panel until August 3, 2000. The unavoidable delay in drafting this Decision is deeply regretted. At the same time, the Panel gives its assurance that it has made every effort to minimize any inconvenience occasioned to the parties by reason of the delay.
4. Factual Background
The Complainant has asserted, and furnished evidence in support of the following factual matters: -
A. The present Complaint is based on the unauthorized use (that is to say, use without permission) by the Respondent, as a part of its Domain Name, of the Complainant�s trademark TATA.
B. The Complainant first adopted the name "TATA" in 1917.
C. The Complainant is the principal investment holding company of the Tata Group of Companies, which has an annual turnover of over US $9 Billion.
D. Since its inception, the Complainant has used the trademark TATA for all its business activities.
E. The Commercial Activities of the Complainant and its Group of Companies
TATA has a group turnover in excess of Rs. 33,000 crores, and the enterprises promoted by TATA have laid the foundations in the industrial core sectors, pioneering textiles, steel, power, hotels and transport industries in India. Over the years, Tata enterprises entered fields of commercial activities of which the following are examples: -
Metal and Associated Industries � Iron and Steel, Dolomite, Wiredrawing, Roll Manufacture
Tata Steel was founded in 1907 and constitutes India�s first integrated steel plant. Under the TM TATA it manufactures iron and steel products and agricultural implements, both for the domestic market as well as for export.
Tata Refractories Limited is the only manufacturer of burnt and unburned dolomite refractories in India and, at present, has technology agreements with enterprises in both Germany and the United Kingdom.
Tata SSL is the pioneer of wiredrawing technology in India and exports to nine countries including Australia, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Singapore and the U.S.A.
Tata Yodogawa Limited, a company established in 1968, is the pioneer in the field of roll manufacture in India and manufactures for both the domestic market and for export.
Automobiles
Tata Engineering, established in 1945, is India�s largest private sector automobile company and the largest manufacturer of commercial vehicles in India (the sixth largest in the world).
Tata Cummins Limited, set up in 1993, is a joint venture between Tata Engineering and Cummins Engine Company, Inc. (U.S.A.). This joint enterprise manufactures low emission Cummins diesel engines for powering Tata Engineering medium and heavy commercial vehicles for the domestic and export markets.
Energy
The Tata Electric Companies constitute India�s largest electric power utility in the private sector and form one of the major power systems in Western India.
Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals
Tata Chemicals Limited is involved in, among other activities, the production of soda ash, sodium bicarbonate and electrolytic caustic soda, and is engaged in research and development activities.
Consumer Products � Home Appliances and Wearing Apparel
Titan Industries manufacture and market watches, vacuum cleaners and other home appliances, knitwear, T-Shirts and Polo Shirts. These goods are consumer products included in the business of the Tata Group of Companies.
Services � Hotels, Publishing, Printing and Transport System
The Complainant operates a chain of luxury and tourist hotels through the Taj Group of Hotels, which has over 42 hotels in India and 15 hotels in other countries.
Tata McGraw Hill Publishing Company Limited, a joint venture enterprise between Tatas and the U.S. publishers, McGraw Hill, promotes and distributes the entire range of McGraw Hill publications in India.
Tata Donnelly Limited, the largest commercial printer in India, is in joint venture with RR Donnelly. This enterprise includes, but is not limited to, magazines, corporate annual reports, books, calendars and Yellow Page Directories
Tata NYK Transport Systems, a joint venture with a Japanese Shipping Line, was founded in 1993 and provides Container Shipping Services.
Agro Industries
Tata Tea Inc., a subsidiary of Tata Tea Limited in the U.S.A., was established to meet the requirements of the U.S. consumer.
Tata Tetley, a joint venture between Tata Tea and Lyon�s Tetley Limited (United Kingdom), is a member of the Tata Group of Companies. Its aim is to supply high quality tea products to the international market. An agreement has recently been finalized for the acquisition by Tata Tea of the Tetley Group of Companies at the price of 271 Million Pounds Sterling (L.271,000,000.)
Information Technology and Communications
Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), which was established in 1968, as a division of the Complainant, deals in information technology and management consultancy organization, with operations extending to North America and Europe.
Tata Infotech Limited is concerned with information technology, providing services in, for example, the area of hardware, software and education, and protecting third party products from the illicit operations of certain companies and corporations.
Tata Telecom Limited was founded and promoted in order to bring into India the best technology in the area of telecommunications. With this aim in mind it established joint ventures with companies like Lucent Technologies and Japan Radio Corporation.
Tata Teleservices Limited was established to provide basic telecom services to the urban and rural areas of Andhra Pradesh. Its services complement those already provided by the Government of India, Department of Telecommunications.
Export and Overseas Operations
Tata International Limited, one of the first Indian Companies to acquire Export House Status, has an overseas network, which includes nine wholly-owned subsidiaries operating in Africa, Europe, Hong Kong, the U.A.E. and the U.S.A.
Tata International AG and its subsidiary, Tata AG, provide promotional and project services in association with Tata Companies in India and elsewhere. These services range from project identification to design, planning and establishment of overseas ventures.
Tata Limited, which was established in London in 1907 as a subsidiary of Tata Sons Limited, is a representative of the Tata Group of Companies. Its operations include the purchase, insurance and shipment of plant equipment and stores, forwarding and transportation.
Finance
Tata Finance Limited is active in the corporate finance sector, providing short and long term funding and syndication services. This is in addition to financing equipment, such as industrial and construction machinery, motor vehicles and consumer goods.
Social Services
Tata focuses on the promotion of education and research in areas such as science and technology, molecular biology, atomic energy and social development. The Tata Group of Companies has established a trust, which has promoted five pioneering institutions, including Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Tata Memorial Centre for Cancer Research & Treatment and Tata Institute of Fundamental Research. In addition, the Tata Group of Companies operates specific programs, through its network of over 85 Tata Companies, in the areas of Social Forestry, Water Management, Community Health and Infrastructure.
It was asserted by the Complainant that all the aforestated activities and operations of Tata are merely illustrative. An entire Tata Enterprise Brochure, marked "Annexure C", which details all the activities of the Tata Group of Companies, has been annexed to the Complaint. For the sake of good order, it is pointed out that, in fact, the Brochure, a copy of which has been produced to the Panel, is marked "Annexure E" � not "C".
5. Parties� Contentions
A. The Complainant
a) The Complainant, its Group of Companies and their Trademark TATA
The Complainant asserts that it is the proprietor of the trademark Tata (hereafter � "TM TATA") "by virtue of priority in adoption, continuous and extensive use and advertising, and the reputation consequently accruing thereto in the course of trade". It is also submitted that the Complainant and its Group of Companies have exclusively used the TM TATA as a trademark. The TM TATA, accordingly, is identified by the public as an indication of the quality and service claimed by the Complainant and the Tata Group of Companies.
The Complainant, which is the investment holding company of various Tata companies, is the registered proprietor of the TM TATA in relation to goods in various classes. In the words of the Complainant, an "illustrative list of the trademark registrations it holds", in India and elsewhere (eleven other countries) is annexed to the Complaint and marked "Annexures D and E". (For the sake of good order it is pointed out that, in fact, the Annexures in question are marked "C" and "D" respectively).
Various members of the "House of Tata", dealing in goods, mark their products and/or packaging "A TATA PRODUCT", and those members that are engaged in services identify themselves by the distinctive trading style of TATA. The TM TATA, of which the Complainant is the registered proprietor, is licensed, by way of Registered User Agreements, to other TATA companies within the TATA Group of Companies that manufacture the goods and market them under the trademark in question.
It is submitted by the Complainant that the name "TATA" has consistently been associated with, and has denoted the goods and business of, the "House of Tata", as well as the high quality of the products manufactured and services rendered under the TM TATA, or associated with the "House of Tata". For the foregoing reasons, and on account of its highly distinctive nature, the name "TATA" has acquired considerable goodwill. Over the years to the present day the name "TATA", it is contended, has become a household word, synonymous with excellence, in almost every field of business activity.
On the evidence, the Panel accepts the foregoing submissions.
b) TATA as a Corporate Name and Well-Known Trademark � Goodwill and Reputation
The word "TATA", apart from its trademark and service mark aspects, as outlined above, also constitutes part of the corporate name of numerous TATA Companies.
On the Complainant�s submission the word "TATA" enjoys an excellent reputation and goodwill, which go far beyond any specific merchandise or territories. "TATA", it is contended, has become a household name in India so that householders refer to it to indicate both high quality and achievement as well as other positive, distinctive attributes of that nature. In a nation-wide survey, referred to by the Complainant that was conducted in India in 1996 by the Gallup Poll Organization it was assessed that three out of every ten persons surveyed were aware of the name and TM TATA.
The Complainant asserted that the TM TATA is also widely known in many countries outside India.
Without minimizing the importance of the aforestated submissions on the part of the Complainant, it is necessary to point out, here, that no written evidence to substantiate those particular submissions was supplied by the Complainant. On the other hand, it is only fair and correct to stress that the Respondent in no way contradicted the Complainant�s assertions, either in the present context or elsewhere for that matter.
The Complainant contends that, due to its global presence, the Tata Group of Companies is collectively referred to as "the TATAS" throughout the world. Annexure F, annexed to the Complaint, contains copies of articles and reports that have appeared in several magazines and on the Internet.
Subject to the Panel�s foregoing reservations the Complainant�s submissions under the present heading can reasonably be accepted.
c) The Complainant�s Contentions as to the Respondent and its Activities
The Respondent, in the present case, has registered the Domain Name, and according to the Complainant, has misappropriated the TM TATA, which is the Complainant�s exclusive property. The Domain Name incorporates the trademark owned by the Complainant. It is contended that the existence of the impugned Domain Name is causing irreparable loss to the goodwill and reputation that has been built by the Complainant over decades.
The Complainant visited the Respondent�s web-site, which bears the aforestated web address and found that the site in question contained pornographic material. It was revealed that when the Domain Name entered in a web browser, the Internet user is taken to the home page of the Respondent, which contains sexually explicit material. The preview page further contains the web addresses of no less than eight pornographic web-sites.
The Complainant asserts that it has succeeded in obtaining an interim ex parte Injunction against the Respondent from the Hon�ble High Court of Delhi.
The terms and conditions of the injunction are as follows: -
Till the next date of hearing the defendants, their partners or proprietors, their officers, servants, agents and representatives and all others acting for and on their behalf, are restrained from using the domain name bodacious-tatas.com and are further restrained from using tatas as a meta-tag in the source code of their home page and web site at bodacious-tatas.com
September 08, 1999
Issue Notice returnable on 7th January, 2000
Although the Complainant does not specify what court proceedings, if any, took place on January 7, 2000 (or subsequently), this aspect of the matter does not have any crucial importance in the Decision of the Panel.
B. The Respondent
The Respondent did not file a Response to the Complaint, has not contested, in any manner, the allegations set out in the Complaint and, accordingly, is in default.
6. Discussion and Findings
A. Jurisdiction
This aspect has already been outlined by the Panel in this Decision (see: main paragraph: 3. Procedural History, sub-paragraph C: Notification to Respondent and Commencement of Proceeding). The issue, here, is within the ambit of the Uniform Policy by reason of the fact that the Registration Agreement (see: Complaint - Annexure B), pursuant to which the Domain Name, the subject matter of the Complaint, incorporates the Uniform Policy. By virtue of clause 8 in the Registration Agreement (cited earlier), it is implicit that the Uniform Policy is applicable to the present issue. The Panel, therefore, has jurisdiction to deliberate and decide on the present issue.
B. Uniform Policy
Paragraph 4 of the Uniform Policy ("Mandatory Administrative Proceeding") provides in sub-paragraph (a) ("Applicable Disputes") sub-sub-paragraphs (i) to (iii) as follows:
...in the event that a third party asserts to the applicable Provider, in compliance with the Rules of Procedure, that
(i) your domain is identical or confusingly similar to a trademark or service mark in which the complainant has rights; and
(ii) you have no rights or legitimate interests in respect to the domain name; and
(iii) your domain name has been registered and is being used in bad faith.
In the administrative proceedings, the complainant must prove that each of these three elements is present.
C. Since the Complainant, in order to succeed in his claim, must prove each of the foregoing elements and comply with each of the aforementioned requirements, all of these matters will now be discussed in turn.
a) Domain Name "Identical or Confusingly Similar"
It is clear to the Panel that an integral part of the Domain Name registered by the Respondent in this case, namely "tatas", is confusingly similar, and almost identical, to the Complainant�s TM TATA. It is true, of course, that the Respondent, in its Domain Name registration, has used "tata" plus the addition of the letter �s�, whilst the Complainant�s trademark has no �s�. This, however, is of no benefit to the Respondent. In the Complainant�s submission, which is amply substantiated by copies of articles and reports submitted (see: Complaint - Annexures "E" and "F") the Tata Group of Companies is collectively referred to as "Tatas" throughout the world.
One might think, nevertheless, that the inclusion of the word "bodacious" in the domain name registered by the Respondent, taken together with the addition of the letter �s" to TATA, could create a sufficient distinction, for trademark purposes, between the Complainant�s TM TATA, on the one hand, and the Respondent�s Domain Name on the other. Such a contention, however, is untenable in the view of the Panel, by virtue of the very high level of goodwill that both TATA and TATAS have acquired. Further, TATA, without any vestige of doubt, constitutes a famous (or, in international parlance, well known) mark � a subject to which the Panel will return.
As to goodwill, the Panel accepts the Complainant�s submission to the effect that the name "TATA" has consistently been associated with the goods and services of, the "House of Tata". Combined with this, and in association with the "House of Tata", is the high quality of the products manufactured, and services rendered, under the trade and service mark TATA. For the foregoing reasons, and on account of its highly distinctive character, as fully explained by the Complainant, the name "TATA" has acquired considerable goodwill.
The Panel also accepts the Complainant�s contention that it is the lawful proprietor of the trade and service marks TATA by virtue of priority in adoption and on the basis of continuous and extensive use and advertising. The Complainant�s contention holds equally good concerning its exclusive use, and the exclusive use by its Group of Companies, of the TM TATA, and its corresponding service mark, in relation to goods and services in various classes (see: Complaint � Annexures "C "and "D" for illustrative lists).
It must be said, also, that it is now generally accepted in most countries that well-known marks, particularly those surrounded by an aura of high repute, excellent quality and respectability, deserve wide protection. This the Panel holds to be the case with the TM TATA and its corresponding service mark. In this area, therefore, the addition of a word like "bodacious" ["South Midland and Southern U.S.-1."thorough"; "blatant"; "unmistakable"; 2."remarkable"; "outstanding"; 3. "audacious"; "bold"; "brazen" � "Webster�s Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language": (1989)], and the addition of the letter �s�, does not render the Domain Name less identical or less confusingly similar to a trade or service mark. Indeed, the opposite is true, particularly when one considers most of the meanings attributed to the word "bodacious".
b) Respondent�s Rights or Legitimate Interests (if any) in respect to Domain Name
The Complainant�s submission that the mark TATAS is well known is supported by Orders issued by the Courts in India granting protection to the TM TATAS on the basis of its repute. Further, the Complainant�s trademark and name "TATA" are perceived as having international recognition on account of the involvement of the Tata Group of Companies in an extremely large number of diverse forms of business activity. It is noteworthy, too, that the Complainant has well and old established trademark rights, not only in India but also in other countries. Apart from this, the Complainant has applied for the registration of its trademarks in almost thirty countries.
The Complainant submits that the adoption of the well-known and distinctive name by the Respondent has been done with the sole intention of passing off its erotic and pornographic services to users of the Internet. Whether or not this was the sole intention of the Respondent is immaterial since, on the evidence, this, at the very least, was the principal aim.
Of greater importance is the submission that the Respondent has used the well-known mark TATA and/or TATAS in an unauthorized manner to further its business activities. Such use was made on the Respondent�s Home Page and Website, bearing the Domain Name, as a meta tag in the source code of the Respondent�s Home Page and Website, as a hyper link on another Website and as a domain name (see: Complaint � Annexure G).
The Complainant contended that the use by the Respondent of the impugned Domain Name is aimed at taking a �cash-ride� on the Complainant�s image and status. Thus, the unauthorized adoption of the Domain Name has resulted in the Respondent deriving, or attempting to derive, monetary benefit by trading on the reputation and goodwill held by the Complainant. The Panel accepts this contention, which is well supported by the evidence shown in the Annexures to the Complaint. In the light of all the aforementioned submissions, supporting evidence and all the circumstances of the issue, it is the Complainant�s contention that the Respondent has no right or legitimate interests in respect to the Domain Name.
c) Is There Bad Faith on the Part of the Respondent in the use of the Registered Domain Name?
In the present case the Respondent has registered the Domain Name www.bodacious-tatas.com. This, on the Complainant�s submission, amounted to misappropriation of the registered TM TATA, on which the Complainant has exclusive rights. Since the Respondent�s registered Domain Name incorporates the trademark of which the Complainant is the legal proprietor, the existence of the impugned Domain Name, it is argued, is causing irreparable loss to the goodwill and reputation acquired by the trademark in question.
In fact, the Complainant, in its words, visited the Respondent�s website, bearing the foregoing web address, and found that the site contained pornographic material. Further, it was discovered that when the Respondent�s Domain Name is entered in a web browser, the Internet user is taken to the Home Page of the Respondent, which contains sexually explicit material. The Preview Page shows the web addresses of no less than eight pornographic websites.
The principal contentions of the Complainant relating to the Respondent�s bad faith, as set out in the Complaint, have been referred to in Paragraph 5A a, b and c. The Panel, after perusing all the relevant material, agrees with the general tenor of the Complainant�s submissions in the present context. It is felt to be unnecessary, therefore, for further reference to be made by the Panel to the foregoing matters. There are, however, several points, which serve to clarify matters within the framework of good faith. To these the Panel will devote the last part of this Decision.
It is the view of the Panel that the evidence submitted by the Complainant supports the following: -
(i) That the Respondent has unlawfully arranged the search results produced by Internet Search Engines, by placing the Complainant�s TM TATA, in the meta-tags of its Domain Name address. Thus, when an Internet user carries out a search for the Complainant�s TM TATA at any of the Internet Search Engines, the result would include the Respondent�s unauthorized website along with the genuine websites of the Complainant. Such a manipulation induces a potential customer or client into believing that the Respondent's site, containing pornographic material, has been licensed or authorized by the Complainant or, possibly, that it is owned by the Complainant.
(ii) Owing to the tremendous reach of the Internet Electronic Medium and to the vast number of Internet users (some 150,000,000 throughout |
’s gender back to male less than an hour after Texas’s change.
One minute later, someone in the Philippines made Garfield genderless again.
[Transgender boy’s mom sues hospital, saying he ‘went into spiral’ after staff called him a girl]
And so on. Behind the scenes, Wikipedia users debated how to resolve the raging “edit war.”
“Every character (including Garfield himself!) constantly refers to Garfield unambiguously as male, and always using male pronouns,” one editor wrote — listing nearly three dozen comic strips across nearly four decades to prove the point:
The one where Jon tells Garfield “good boy!” before Garfield shoves a newspaper into his owner’s mouth.
The one where the cat’s “magical talking bathroom scale (probably a proxy for Garfield himself) refers to Garfield as a ‘young man’ and a ‘boy.’ ”
But another editor argued that only one of those examples “looks at self-identification” — a 1981 strip in which Garfield thinks, “I’m a bad boy” after eating a fern.
And Milkberg/Texas stuck to his claims: “If one could locate another source where Jim Davis states … that Garfield’s gender is male or female, then this would give rise to a serious controversy in Garfield canon,” he wrote on the Wikipedia debate page. “Yet no such source has been identified, and I highly doubt one will ever emerge.”
Threads of competing evidence spiraled through Twitter, where one commenter compared the Garfield dispute to Krazy Kat: a sexually ambiguous cartoon predecessor, profiled last month by the New Yorker.
@IngSocBob you have to be male to be attracted to girls? — Virgil Texas (@virgiltexas) February 27, 2017
Some hunted beyond the comic section in search of answers, into the ambiguous world of Garfield-themed merchandise and quasi-canonical arguments.
"duhhh Garfield's Pet Force is canon." DOES THIS LOOK CANON TO YOU? pic.twitter.com/V0IBsm8qHE — Virgil Texas (@virgiltexas) February 24, 2017
And some took the whole thing as a joke.
https://twitter.com/ceofBaes/status/835004560947150848
But others chided or philosophized: “Why must we care what Garfield is or isn’t?” Jimmy King asked. “Who cares what someone else perceives as him being male or female?”
cats have probably no concept of gender and it's beautiful @virgiltexas — Michael Curry
Many pondered the meaning of Davis’s words in 2014, which were confusing because the creator referred to Garfield as “he” while suggesting the cat was neither he nor she.
@virgiltexas they gendered him right on the text! "HE's not really male or female" WTF — Jorn (@WoodFeels) February 24, 2017
A Wikipedia user proposed a compromise — “to provide both genders, each appropriately referenced: ‘Male[1] and/or none[2].” That didn’t get much traction.
Garfield’s gender swapped 20 times over 2½ days (during which his religion was briefly listed as Shiite Muslim for some reason) before an administrator was forced to step in.
Garfield was finally, officially listed as male on Wikipedia — citing four comic strips including one from 1979 in which a veterinarian says “he’s too fat.”
And the page was locked against more edits until March.
Never forget the Great Garfield Gender Wikipedia War of 2017 https://t.co/CY8S2JZs9p pic.twitter.com/m1hWpRbdhc — irony guy (@homero_simpsone) February 28, 2017
Yet a Heat Street writer dragged the argument to the very end of February — citing the spinoff character Garzooka’s “hard pecs” and “prominent bulge” as evidence of “a rugged, heterosexual American MAN.”
That didn’t resolve anything, of course.
Maybe this will:
“Garfield is male,” Davis told The Washington Post on Tuesday. “He has a girlfriend, Arlene.”
Presented with new evidence, the satirist deferred to the creator. “He’s in charge of the canon,” Texas said. “I’m just curious how it squares with his prior statement …
“If I had the opportunity I would interrogate him.”
But Wikipedia has already progressed beyond gender disputes. Now other aspects of the fat, lazy cat are being called into question.
“Forget about his gender and alleged Muslim faith,” a user wrote Monday. “Need we really list Arlene under the ‘spouse’ category?”
More reading:
This is what happens when two Internet nerds battle over politics
With his first-ever ‘Garfield’ musical, creator Jim Davis revels in a dream fulfilled
From our 1982 archives: “The Cat That Rots the Intellect”× Child custody exchange leads to shooting at McDonald’s in Randleman
RANDLEMAN, N.C. — A man was injured after being shot during a child custody exchange at a McDonald’s in Randleman Sunday afternoon.
In a report released by Randleman Police Tuesday, the incident took place around 4:47 p.m. when two families met to exchange a 7-year-old girl.
The grandfather, David Michael Laughlin of Cedar Falls, was in a vehicle with the child’s father, Michael Laughlin of Asheboro, when they met up with the child’s mother, Jacqueline Renee Jennings, and the stepfather, Kyle Martin Jennings, both of High Point.
Police say an argument started between the grandfather and Jennings. The grandfather reportedly got out of the car and hit Jennings in the face while he was sitting in his own vehicle.
Jennings then pulled out a 9mm handgun and fired one shot, striking the grandfather in the wrist, police say. David Laughlin was transported to the hospital and has since been released.
David Laughlin was charged with simple assault.
Kyle Jennings was charged with assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury.Fats Are Good And Essential For You
Hi. Today we shall take a look at fat from a different perspective. I say ‘different’ because fat 9 times out of 10 is written about with a tone of shedding, burning, losing and the like as though it is a non-requirement by the body. We are given some fat content in our bodies for a reason else evolution would have done away with it.
Look at the functions fat in our body performs:
1. Production of blood lipids
2. Production of cell membranes
3. Essential in the production of bile (the fat emulsifier)
4. Necessary for energy production (in combination with glucose)
5. It helps produce Vitamin D for calcium metabolization, and
6. Fat triggers the release of mild levels of body steroids
Fat is necessary for survival. Diets with no fat in them cause several body and organ malfunctions. Here is what you could be risking if you tune into extreme diets:
1. Erratic (alternating between very low and close to normal) blood pressure
2. Continued blood flow from injuries
3. Severe constipation
4. Immune system malfunction
So, what are the types of fats you should aim to include in your diet everyday and how much of it is okay?
Fat types Good/Bad Sources Acceptable Quantity Monounsaturated Fats Good Olive oil, Avocados, Canola, Peanut oil, Nuts, Wholegrain, Sunflower, Sesame and Safflower oil etc 15 grams a day. Polyunsaturated Fats Good Salmon, Tuna, Sardines, Walnut, Flax seed oil etc 20 grams a day Saturated Fats Bad Red meats, Whole milk, Cheese, Sour cream, Ice cream, Butter, Coconut oil and milk, Palm oil, Lard etc Not more than 15 grams a day. Lesser if you do not workout. Hydrogenated or Trans Fats Bad processed and fast foods, margarine, cake mixes, soups, cookies, donuts, pound cakes etc Less than 1% of total energy requirements in a day
Until next week, eat right, stay healthy..When it comes to Pakistan, it won’t be wrong to say that the western media in the context of entirety takes a one-dimensional view of this exotic country. Despite facing multiple internal and external threats, this part of the world holds a certain allure that an objective eye cannot ignore.
Such an example here is of Cynthia Dawn Ritchie, who has explored Pakistan and considers it quite contrary to the stereotypical portrayal of the country.
For Cynthia, Pakistan is so much more than a tourist destination — it is an “adventurers' heaven”, she fondly calls the country her ‘second home’.
We got a chance to talk to her about the adventurous journey to this scenic country.
She says that having traveled to Pakistan since 2010 and having lived here for three years, there's so much more to the region and its people.
A ‘global citizen’ of Scottish-German ethnicity, Cynthia possesses Master of Education with additional graduate training in conflict resolution, psychology, and public relations. She started her own non-profit with a focus on media projects and wishes to eventually permanently relocate to the Middle East/ South Asia.
“When one takes a real adventure through Pakistan, they learn to anticipate the unexpected. A mudslide here, random gunfire there (could be a wedding celebration, who knows), masses of cows blocking the road... It's precisely this randomness that makes one a better adventurist. If I only travel to all-inclusive resorts, where my every wish is granted, I'll never be challenged and never evolve. And in one of the most remarkable, geographically diverse countries in the world, the ability to adapt to change is critical,” she said.
She thinks that the list of visiting tourist sites in Pakistan is an extensive one.
“Tourists can visit the modern, gleaming skyscrapers, go to spas and quietly sip tea, meander through Anarkali bazaar/food streets and avoid being attacked by the ungrateful monkeys in Murree (whom I just fed a bunch of bananas — can we trend this on Twitter: #UngratefulMurreeMonkeys),” Cynthia opines.
"Living on a prayer"
When asked about one of her most memorable instances here. Cynthia fondly recalled one from 2011, where she was almost kidnapped.
She says it wasn’t a good time for US-Pakistan relations. She said that one day she got a call from people who hosted her earlier.
The people (all men, some with beards and in Shalwar Kameez) came to pick her from her apartment in Islamabad and to someplace in Peshawar.
The entire way, the men refused to tell her where they are taking her.
“Finally, the entourage reaches their destination and a couple of men jump out before the cars come to a complete stop. They are, clearly, in a hurry to make their way down a dark stairway leading to an underground structure. The rest of the men, get out of the cars, surround the 'gori' and escort her underground to complete blackness," she recalls.
When the room’s door opens, Cynthia is met with cries of "surprise! Happy birthday!" and a bunch of women rushes to hug her and pull her inside.
According to her, the birthday girl's favourite song, Jon Bon Jovi's "Living On A Prayer" was blaring from some loudspeakers in the room.
When coming to describing the picturesque beauty of Pakistan, Cynthia is all praises.
She goes into details, saying how adventurers can go to Balochistan and witness the rare blind dolphins, sit with tribal elders and learn about their methods of conflict resolution in the tribal belt (which is similar to mediation techniques in USA), trout fishing and snow skiing in Swat Valley (where the locals recently publicly celebrated Christmas for the first time), explore cottage industries such as exquisite woodworking in Kashmir and learn about artificial intelligence developments at the local University (Kashmiris adore tourists and love to make their unique Kashmiri chai).
Not only that, she says that tourists can also wander through interior Sindh and feel captivated by Sufism, visit a mango farm in rural Punjab, nibble apricots and sip strong-tasting water of Hunza, and visit Sikh Gurdwaras and Hindu Temples to learn about the religious diversity.
‘Best in Pakistan’
When it came to naming what’s best in this country, Cynthia's reply was simple yet eloquent: People, food, and scenery.
“Anyone who has traveled the region knows South Asians are incredibly hospitable and that the greatest risk is putting on too much weight from all the food. Pakistan also has much to teach, including the region's rich history and countless archaeological sites,” she said.
‘Pindi drift’
Cynthia sheds light on how she has taken almost every mode of transportation in her ‘second home’.
She says she has traveled via bicycle, classic cars, high-performance vehicles (including Porsche Cayennes!) speed and coast guard boats, JetSkis, Tongas, camels, rickshaws, and C-130s, adding that her favorite was perhaps a ride on a 70CC bike, operated by a ‘Pindi boy’.
She recalls that the phrase 'no tension' was inscribed on the bike.
“I request a movie be made about these guys and named: Fast and the Furious, RawalPindi Drift,” says Cynthia.
She also aims to project softer image of Pakistan, which is visible through her narratives.
"I can say there's so much more to this region and its people — which is what I intend to show in my media work. This isn't to say there aren't challenges in the region; we already know there are. Plenty of networks focus on the negative — why should I repeat what's already being covered so extensively?" she says.
— Nida Mujahid Hussain works at Geo.tv as an Associate Producer.MYSTERY: Why Did Bill Clinton Seek Meeting With Russian Nuclear Official Amid ‘Uranium-One’ Decision?
Bill Clinton sought the State Department’s permission to meet with a top Russian nuclear official as the Obama administration decided whether or not to approve the Uranium One deal.
The Hill reports:
As he prepared to collect a $500,000 payday in Moscow in 2010, Bill Clinton sought clearance from the State Department to meet with a key board director of the Russian nuclear energy firm Rosatom — which at the time needed the Obama administration’s approval for a controversial uranium deal, government records show. Arkadi Dvorkovich, a top aide to then-Russian President Dmitri Medvedev and one of the highest-ranking government officials to serve on Rosatom’s board of supervisors, was listed on a May 14, 2010 email as one of 15 Russians the former president wanted to meet during a late June 2010 trip, the documents show. “In the context of a possible trip to Russia at the end of June, WJC is being asked to see the business/government folks below. Would State have concerns about WJC seeing any of these folks,” Clinton Foundation foreign policy adviser Amitabh Desai wrote the State Department on May 14, 2010, using the former president’s initials and forwarding the list of names to Mrs. Clinton’s team.
When the request went unanswered by State, a Clinton aide followed up.
“Dear Jake, we urgently need feedback on this. Thanks, Ami.” an aide to Bill Clinton emailed in June.
According to The Hill‘s John Solomon, it appears Clinton did not meet with the Russian official in the end.
“Requests of this type were run by the State Department as a matter of course. This was yet another one of those instances. Ultimately, President Clinton did not meet with these people,” Angel Urena, a spokesperson for Clinton, told The Hill.
However, a very important question is left unanswered — why on earth would the former President of the United States want to meet a Russian nuclear official?
In another statement to The Hill, Hillary Clinton spokesperson Nick Merrill dismisses the Uranium One scandal as fake news. “At every turn this storyline has been debunked on the merits. Its roots are with a project shepherded by Steve Bannon, which should tell you all you need to know,” Merrill told The Hill.
“This latest iteration is simply more of the right doing Trump’s bidding for him to distract from his own Russia problems, which are real and a grave threat to our national security.
Circa reporter Sara Carter reveals APCO Worldwide Inc., a consulting firm with ties to the Clinton family, lobbied on behalf of Russian nuclear giant TENEX in relation to the Uranium One deal.
Circa reports:
Roughly $3 million in payments from 2010 to 2011 were made to APCO Worldwide Inc., which is described on their website as the second largest lobbying firm in the United States. The firm also provided in kind pro-bono services to Bill Clinton’s foundation, the Clinton Global Initiative, services they begin 2007, according to APCO officials who spoke with Circa and press releases from the company. It was during the same time that then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was part of the Obama administration board that would eventually approve the sale of the U.S. uranium to Russia. […]Long-time Clinton supporter and APCO CEO, Margery Kraus signed the continuing contract on April, 12, 2010, with TENEX, as the Russian company’s top executive Russian businessman Vadim Milkerin was being investigated by the FBI for kickbacks and bribery involving American companies, according to the APCO TENEX contract and court documents obtained by Circa. TENEX is a subsidiary of the the Russian state owned nuclear giant Rosatom, according to financial filings of the company.
Click here to read more of Carter’s report.
In a head-scratching statement, APCO Worldwide Inc. claims they had nothing to do with the Clinton-Uranium One scandal.
In a statement to Circa, APCO Worldwide Inc. said Thursday, “APCO was not involved on any aspect of Uranium One, or the CFIUS process relating to it. APCO Worldwide undertook activities on behalf of Tenex in 2010 and 2011 relating to civil nuclear cooperation, which APCO properly disclosed in detail at the time in public filings. Separately, since 2007-2008, APCO provided services in kind to the Clinton Global Initiative. APCO’s work for Tenex and APCO’s work for the Clinton Global Initiative were separate and unconnected, publicly documented from the outset, and fully consistent with all regulations and US law.”
APCO Worldwide Inc says they have not been interviewed by the FBI in relation to the Clinton-Uranium One investigation.Earlier today we linked to iFixit's iPhone 5 teardown, and there's something interesting lurking in the pictures of the Lightning connector. Although it's clear at this point that the iPhone 5 only sports USB 2.0 speeds, initial discussions of Lightning's support of USB 3.0 have focused on its pin count—the USB "Super Speed" 3.0 spec requires nine pins to function, and Lightning connectors only have eight.
However, iFixit's teardown shows the pins in the iPhone 5's Lightning receptacle, and there are two extras on either side:
The Lightning connector itself has two divots on either side for retention, but these extra electrical connections in the receptacle could possibly be used as a ground return, which would bring the number of Lightning pins to the same count as that of USB 3.0—nine total.
If this is the case, then it shows that Apple has at least thought ahead with its new plug, and may have future-proofed it to support USB 3.0. This would be a wise tactical move on Apple's part and could open the door to Lightning being used to supplement Thunderbolt as a second high-speed standard port, rather than as a one-off iPhone connector competing awkwardly with USB 2.
Of course, the need for extra pins is obviated if the connector's shield can be used as the ground return; in that case, the extra pins are just extra pins, which would be used in some form or fashion for Lightning signaling. As usual, Apple is mum on the details and no official confirmation exists one way or another.
Apple spokespersons have confirmed that HDMI and VGA cables utilizing Lightning will be available soon, so the interface is clearly destined for more than just USB 2.0 data syncing.(H/T: Weaselzippers)
Time and again, we hear from the Democrats that voter fraud is not an important issue. Despite their ardent insistence, we continue to see people getting arrested for voter fraud, usually from their own party! Today’s news continues that trend. Democratic Connecticut State Representative Christina Ayala has been arrested on 19 counts of voter fraud. Per the New Haven Register:
State Rep. Christina “Tita” Ayala, D-Bridgeport, was arrested Friday on 19 voting fraud charges. Ayala, 31, is accused of voting in local and state elections in districts she did not live, the Chief State’s Attorney’s Office said in a press release. The arrest warrant affidavit also alleges Ayala provided fabricated evidence to state Election Enforcement Commission investigators that showed she lived at an address in a district where she voted while actually living outside the district, according to the release. […] Christina Ayala was charged with eight counts of fraudulent voting, 10 counts of primary or enrollment violations and one count of tampering with or fabricating physical evidence.
So, what we should note here is that an elected representative actually lied about her residency and voted in districts where she did not live. This is not merely an activist or group of activists, this is a person trusted with public office. The Register describes the potential punishments:
According to the release, fraudulent voting is a felony punishable by not less than one year or more than two years in prison and a fine of $300 to $500 per count. Primary or enrollment violations and tampering with or fabricating physical evidence are class D felonies carrying a maximum prison sentence of up to five years per count.
But it’s also important to note that this is not her first time running afoul of the law since her career in public service began in 2012. In 2012, she was fined $350 for a hit-and-run accident not long after winning the Democratic primary for her House seat. She also faced domestic violence charges for getting into a fight with her boyfriend, although those were eventually dropped. The Election Law Center blog also notes that the Connecticut State Elections Enforcement Commission recommended criminal prosecution against Ayala’s mother, Democratic Registrar of Voters Santa Ayala, too, for alledgedly aiding her daughter.
Folks, if nothing else, this arrest underscores just how important protecting the right to vote. It’s more than simple coincidence that most of those who oppose measures to protect that right come from the same party that counts among its members so many who have been prosecuted for voter fraud.The Washington Wizards are no stranger to selecting players familiar with their program, and after drafting Georgetown’s Otto Porter with the third overall pick in last year’s NBA Draft, the Wizards will have a chance to add another familiar face in this year’s draft.
Markel Starks, a former teammate of Porter’s at Georgetown, recently completed a pre-draft workout with the Wizards that he described as “outstanding.” Though the Wizards acquired Andre Miller via trade from the Denver Nuggets this past season, Miller is not getting any younger and his future in the nation’s capital is still somewhat uncertain, even though it looks like he’ll be back in Washington next season. The Wizards could potentially buy out Miller’s contract, making him a free agent, but all signs point to him wearing a Wizards uniform next year.
With that said, the Wizards could still add another backup guard, preferably a young guard, and they’ll have a chance to do that with the 46th overall pick in just a few weeks. Starks, a Maryland native, isn’t projected to be a top pick in this upcoming NBA Draft, but he could add some youth and experience to a team looking to bolster their guard rotation. With Garrett Temple entering unrestricted free agency this summer, the Wizards could look to part ways to add a bit more youth to the point guard position, especially since John Wall will get the majority of the minutes at that spot.
Starks averaged over 17 points and 4 assists with the Georgetown Hoyas last season without Otto Porter, and he certainly seems interested in playing for his hometown team–via CSN Washington.
I want to be here. Hopefully I did just well enough, whether they draft me or not, I felt like I had a very good showing. They need a guard that could make shots. Coming into this, I was excited, very confident, you know this is a homecoming for me. Getting a chance to come back home was obviously an honor. If they want to bring me in, bring me in, if not it’ll all work out.
Washington traded for Glen Rice Jr. in the second round during last year’s NBA Draft, but we didn’t get to see much of Rice on the court and I would expect the same for this year’s draft selection. The Wizards completed a run to the semi-finals in the NBA Playoffs and will probably have much bigger expectations coming into next season than they had the year prior to making the postseason.
Second round draft selections are a bit of a gamble, but it’s still nice to see someone actually want to play for the Wizards, which is a sign that times are indeed changing. Well, of course, except for that Tomas Satoransky guy.
Nevertheless, it wouldn’t surprise me if Starks gets selected by the Wizards, but the team will continue to bring in prospects before the NBA Draft takes place on June 26.THREE DEBATES into the Republican presidential contest, the candidates are staging a revolt. Piling onto CNBC for its mediocre — but hardly scandalous — moderating last week, several campaigns are drawing up demands for the media organizations sponsoring debates during the rest of the nominating season. Others are issuing demands on their own. Their discontent has already led to real-world changes: The Republican National Committee reshuffled staff in response.
A staff reshuffle is one thing. Anything that could harm the integrity of the debates, on the other hand, must be rejected.
Some of the changes on the table are virtually irrelevant to the public at large. It won’t matter much to anyone other than micromanaging campaign staff if TV networks keep debate halls below 67 degrees or decline to televise empty podiums. At least one suggestion — that all debates be live-streamed online — would, in fact, be helpful to those who don’t have cable connections.
But the potential for harm is much greater. Candidates appear to want to ban questions that require them to raise their hands or to give yes-or-no answers, on the pretext that such questions don’t allow for substantive discussion. At times, that’s certainly the case. At others — such as when, in the 2012 nominating cycle, the Republican candidates raised their hands in opposition to a 10-to-1 budget deal in the GOP’s favor — binary questions can produce illuminating results.
The same goes for the push to ban candidate-to-candidate questioning, or to allow campaigns to vet graphics and candidate biographies flashed on screen. Journalists should be vetting that material, not campaigns seeking soft treatment. Another potential demand — for 30-second opening and closing statements so that the candidates can recite generally unenlightening prepared remarks — is a plainly terrible idea.
The largest danger to the process, though, is that this controversy might lead Republicans to choose to debate before conservative-friendly media organizations instead of outlets more likely to offer questions out of line with right-wing orthodoxies. Sen. Ted Cruz (Tex.) suggested that irresponsible ideologues Rush Limbaugh, Mark Levin or Sean Hannity moderate the GOP debates. Carly Fiorina wants the RNC to organize future debates with fringey networks such as the Blaze and One America News. The goal, it seems, is to replace perceived liberal bias among moderators with explicit and purposeful conservative bias.
Even if that doesn’t happen, future moderators may now feel pressure to pull their punches, particularly if their networks want to keep hosting debates that draw high ratings. A draft letter to television networks warns that “the quality and fairness of your moderators’ questions” will determine “whether the candidates wish to participate in your future debates.” This is a threat. Responsible journalists will ignore it.WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Production of Lockheed Martin Corp’s (LMT.N) F-35 joint strike fighter, the costliest arms purchase in history, should be slowed because of the potential number of cracks and “hot spots” turning up in fatigue testing and analysis, the Pentagon F-35 program director said.
The F-35 Lightning II, also known as the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF), planes arrive at Edwards Air Force Base in California in this May 2010 file photo. REUTERS/Tom Reynolds/Lockheed Martin Corp/Handout
“The analyzed hot spots that have arisen in the last 12 months or so in the program have surprised us at the amount of change and at the cost,” U.S. Navy Vice Admiral David Venlet said in an interview with Web-based publication AOL Defense.
The Pentagon program office confirmed the vice admiral’s quotes on Friday.
“Most of them are little ones. But when you bundle them all up and package them, and look at where they are in the airplane and how hard they are to get at after you buy the jet, the cost burden of that is what sucks the wind out of your lungs,” Venlet added.
“I believe it’s wise to sort of temper production for a while here, until we get some of these heavy years of learning under our belt and get that managed right,” he said.
Lockheed did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Pentagon currently plans to buy more than 2,400 F-35 aircraft in three models, at a cost of more than $382 billion.
Lockheed, the Pentagon’s No. 1 contractor by sales, has projected the F-35 would account for just over 20 percent of its revenue when it hits full production.
The plane is currently in early production.
(This story corrects the name spelling to Venlet throughout. Also corrects the last paragraph to make the word “revenue,” not “profit.)The changes are intended to assuage concerns from fellow Republicans about the tax plan Sen. Orrin Hatch first unveiled last week. | Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images New Hatch plan makes host of individual tax cuts temporary As expected, the plan would kill the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate to have health insurance, beginning after next year.
A host of tax cuts for individual taxpayers would now be temporary, expiring after 2025, under a major revision late Tuesday to the Senate tax reform plan by Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch.
It's an effort to bring the legislation into compliance with arcane budget rules in the Senate barring the legislation from adding to the government’s long-term debt.
Story Continued Below
But because Hatch would simultaneously make tax cuts for businesses permanent, it’s certain to be attacked by Democrats as siding with Big Business over average Americans.
That's one of the biggest but hardly the only change Hatch is proposing. His revised plan is littered with new proposals as well as changes to previously offered ones.
He is beefing up the child tax credit more than he had proposed, to $2,000 per child, while reducing the income threshold at which it would begin to phase out to $500,000 from $1 million.
Hatch is also tweaking the rates and incomes at which his various tax brackets would kick in. And he's added provisions allowing people to set up 529 education savings accounts for unborn children.
The revised plan drops provisions related to deferred compensation opposed by Silicon Valley. Other provisions would make it easier for businesses known as "pass-throughs" to claim his reduced business rate.
Though the stated purpose of the legislation is to reform the tax code, the revised plan offers special treatment to certain groups, including citrus growers and those who put on theatrical productions.
As expected, the plan would kill the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate to have health insurance, beginning after next year.
The changes are intended to assuage concerns from fellow Republicans about the tax plan Hatch first unveiled last week while getting the legislation to jibe with the Senate’s Byrd rule against adding to government red ink.
The scope of the changes introduced will likely incense Democrats because they come after the Finance Committee has already been considering the legislation for the past two days, with a goal of wrapping up work on Thursday.
The description of the changes by the official, nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation runs 103 pages. It includes 44 new proposals, as well as 16 modifications of previous proposals, according to JCT.
Many Democrats are already unhappy with the decision to add the individual mandate repeal, which Republicans are relying upon to help make their tax math work.
Budget scorekeepers said killing the mandate raises money because, while the government would not collect penalties from people for failing to have coverage, that would be more than offset by fewer people getting federally subsidized health coverage.
This article tagged under: Orrin Hatch
Tax ReformBody of Mia Henderson, 26, was found in an alleyway on Wednesday just six weeks after Kandy Hall was found dead
Baltimore’s LGBT community is calling on the city’s police force to step up its investigation into the murders of two transgender women in as many months amid fears that the incidents may be connected.
The body of Mia Henderson, 26, was found in an alleyway in northwest Baltimore early on Wednesday morning just six weeks after Kandy Hall, 40, was found dead in a field in the northeast part of the city. Both women were African American, and both had experienced “severe trauma”, according to police accounts.
A third trans woman, Kelly Young, 29, was shot to death in April of last year.
The police commissioner Anthony Batts spoke in person to LGBT groups soon after the Henderson murder and, he told reporters, assured them that “we’re paying attention, we’re responding, and we take this very seriously.”
“I have high expectations to resolve these cases,” Batts said. “We want to be strong partners within our transgender community … we need to solve this case, we need to solve the cases that are open. I will not slow down, I will not allow us to not stay on top of these. We will push extremely hard.”
Despite his comforting words, tensions are running high in Baltimore, particularly as there has been no indication from the police that they have any clues as to the perpetrator or perpetrators of any of the three murders. A trans woman in Baltimore who talked to the Guardian but asked not to give her name said: “I know a lot of transgender women who are scared to death, and my family are scared to death.”
She added: “Violence against us is not a new story. This happens over and over and over. It’s very frightening not even having a description of the killer – when I walk down the street he could be walking alongside me for all I know. The unknown, that’s very scary.”
The area in which Henderson’s body was found, local residents told the Baltimore Sun, is frequented by prostitutes and drug users.
Police told the newspaper that prostitution was one line of circumstantial investigation. Henderson had been arrested twice for alleged prostitution, according to court records.
Keith Thirion, director of programs and advocacy for Equality Maryland, the largest LGBT civil rights group in the state, said that the murders had hit a nerve in the community. “Transgender women of colour in particular are subject to violence and harassment on a daily basis – that’s an experience that is just part of life.”
He added that this was “the intersection where race, gender and class come together and make members of our community even more vulnerable to this kind of violence.”
Additional media attention has been drawn to the Henderson murder after a professional basketball player, Reggie Bullock of the Los Angeles Clippers, confirmed on Twitter that he was the brother of Henderson, who was born Kevin Long. “All I can say is my brother showed me how to live your ‘OWN LIFE’ love you soo much man,” Bullock tweeted.
The trans woman who spoke to the Guardian said she was skeptical that the Baltimore police department was pulling out all stops in the investigation. “They keep telling us they are working very hard and doing everything they can, but I don’t see that. If they were so busy looking for the killer, then why do they keep targeting us on the streets and trying to chase us down? I feel more like a suspect than anything else.”
Asked whether she had changed her movements or activities as a result of fear surrounding the murders, she replied: “There’s not a lot I can do. I’m living my life – I’m not going to live in a prison.”Fox News turned to a fast food CEO notorious for his opposition to paying employees livable wages during a misleading segment alleging that social safety net programs trap low-income Americans in poverty.
On the June 24 edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends, co-host Steve Doocy invited CKE Restaurants (Hardee's, Carl's Jr.) CEO Andy Puzder to argue that low-income workers might be wary of higher paying jobs if the salary increase results in a loss of government benefits. Doocy referenced Puzder's June 22 op-ed in The Hill as evidence of the so-called "Welfare Cliff," where employees turn down promotions that could lead to $80,000 salaries because they "don't want to lose the free stuff from the government" (emphasis added):
PUZDER: The policy guys call it the "Welfare Cliff," because you get to a point where if you make a few more dollars you actually lose thousands of dollars in benefits. And, quite honestly, these benefits are essential for some people. They are how they pay their rent; they are how they feed their kids. So, what happens is, we have people who turn down promotions or, if minimum wage goes up, they want fewer hours. They want less hours because they are afraid they'll go over that cliff. [...] DOOCY: And, it's got to drive you nuts, because you're always looking for good people to run your stores. And, if they would just take the next step, take the next step up the ladder, next thing you know they could be a manager making $80,000, but they don't want to lose the free stuff from the government.
The term "Welfare Cliff" was popularized by Pennsylvania's Republican-appointed Secretary of Public Welfare in a July 2012 report, which claimed a "single mom" could nearly double her net income by taking full advantage of nine distinct anti-poverty programs, but the concept of a trade-off between welfare and work dates back to a flawed Cato Institute study from 1995. One thing all such studies have in common is the base calculation of benefits available to a hypothetical "single mom" with multiple dependent children. Most American workers aren't single moms, most recipients of government benefits don't enroll in every single available program, and the value of federal benefit programs like welfare is less now than it was in years past -- facts that are never acknowledged in right-wing media discussions of anti-poverty programs.
By Puzder's own admission, the company he runs does not |
is not an Obama lackey. Though she won’t say it publicly so as not to offend her current boss, who is campaigning mightily for her, Clinton knows that the Obama administration has made mistakes.
She knows the Affordable Care Act requires an overhaul and, from her own efforts as first lady, has an intimate knowledge of the challenges facing truly effective health care reform.
Clinton understands that some Republicans may heed Trump’s call to obstruct a Clinton presidency, much like hardline GOP members have done to Obama.
We have no doubt that Clinton, far more than Trump, is prepared to work her way through such tactics.
Clinton, far more than Trump, is prepared to be president of the United States of America.
And the United States of America will be far better off with her leadership.
The News Journal editorial board includes President and Publisher Susan Leath, Vice President of News David Ledford, engagement editors Jason Levine and Carron Phillips, and reporter Esteban Parra.
Read or Share this story: http://delonline.us/2f2M1c2I arrived in southern California in 2002 with nothing but a backpack. I was fresh out of treatment and facing the steep consequences of my addiction terrified me. California was the new frontier, a place where I could start over. I dreamed of one day building a business, making a name for myself, and exploring the incredible opportunities my recovery had given me. In the next ten years, I did just that. I became part of the Costa Mesa recovery community, appeared as an intervention coordinator on A&E’s Intervention, and opened a treatment center for men like me, who were ready to change their lives.
I saw the people I helped get sober take huge leaps in their recovery. Our community grew. Addiction and recovery entered the mainstream. As the nation’s opioid epidemic surged, so did our community’s response. And for the first time we weren’t fighting this battle alone.
When the Surgeon General identified addiction as a mental illness, I felt like there was hope. Finally, instead of countless addicts and alcoholics dying every year, we had help. Although addicts still faced incredible prejudices, and the stigma of our illness, policy moved forward. Treatment was covered under Medicare as well as the Affordable Care Act.
Over the years, I paid high taxes as a business owner – up to 60 percent, some years. Those costs cut into what I could invest in my treatment center, and limited the services I could offer our clients. Although we were saving lots of lives at my facility, I envisioned what was possible, if only we had more resources.
When Donald Trump ran for office in 2016, his message seemed clear to me: cut taxes, and help addicts. At a town hall meeting in Farmington, N.H., he said, “We are gonna try and help the young people, and the old people, and the middle age people, and everybody that got addicted.” The fact that Trump himself was a non-drinker and non-drug user – abstinent, though not necessarily in recovery – made his words resonate strongly with me. I donated to his campaign and listened carefully when the candidates spoke about the need for treatment, recovery, and help for addicts. When I voted for him in November, I believed that I was one step closer to making my dream a reality.
The needed protection for people who struggle with addiction – among them my center’s clients, my friends, my loved ones, and myself – is not there.
However, since his inauguration, Trump has not made good on the promises that brought him my vote and my campaign contribution. Besides the strange inconsistencies in his behavior, his reactive social media presence, and his paranoia, there was the question of when and how he’d implement the health care policies that would save lives. With a daily death rate of almost 200 people per day, it was time to get serious. Where was Trump on this hard-hitting issue? I still haven’t seen the progressive action that was such an important part of his platform.
Furthermore, TrumpCare isn’t what it seems to be, either. Looking closely at what the president proposes, it’s full of holes. The needed protection for people who struggle with addiction – among them my center’s clients, my friends, my loved ones, and myself – is not there. Trump said that he would “repeal and replace” the Affordable Healthcare Act. The replacement, it seems, was even worse than the original. And it looks like they’re not stopping with ACA, either. Republicans are suggesting a rollback of Medicaid, which offers critical coverage for people who need inpatient and outpatient treatment. Republican leaders, such as Speaker Paul Ryan, are scrambling to find a combination of laws and policies to fill the gap that the Affordable Healthcare Act will leave behind. Ryan pushes for “accessibility” instead of universal coverage. Anyone who has worked directly with addicts knows that this isn’t enough. The out-of-pocket costs for treatment can be astronomical. For a quality treatment center, insurance is practically mandatory to defray the costs. And it is a life-and-death matter. Without treatment, many addicts and alcoholics will die. With every day that passes, another life is lost. Parents lose their children, children lose their parents. Families are torn apart. It is all preventable – but we need help to make it possible for everyone.
When I voted for Trump, I truly believed that he could make America great, and give every addict a chance to get sober. I saw a bright future. Now, I’m not so sure. If he wants to regain his supporters’ confidence, and prevent the drug epidemic from killing hundreds of thousands of Americans, he needs to make good on what he promised. Lower taxes, sure. But not at the cost of American lives.
Jeremy Broderick is a national recovery advocate and founder of Windward Way Recovery in Costa Mesa, California.CLOSE The suspect in a standoff outside Ropers Rockin' Country has been taken into custody and is being transported to an area hospital. Ben Sutton / Hattiesburg American
Buy Photo Law enforcement was involved in a standoff outside Ropers Saturday morning. Officials have confirmed the suspect, Bryan Wright, 40, of Petal has died. (Photo: Susan Broadbridge/Hattiesburg American)Buy Photo
What was supposed to be a normal Friday night out for so many bar patrons at Ropers Rockin' Country changed quickly when witnesses said Bryan Wright arrived and tried to get into the bar.
He was allegedly belligerent, so he was turned away at the door. It was when he returned that things spiraled out of control.
Hattiesburg Police Chief Anthony Parker told reporters that officers were called to an accident around 1:17 a.m. in which someone had driven over a curb in front of the bar and started firing shots from inside a truck.
Parker said the person inside the truck, who ended up being Wright, 40, of Petal, was shooting randomly, not necessarily at Ropers. Police told reporters it could have been as many as 20-30 gunshots.
Two HPD officers were already on the scene, Parker said. WDAM-TV reported one officer returned fire.
According to reports from the scene, the suspect appeared to barricade himself in his truck before being taken into custody and being transported to Forrest General Hospital.
Forrest County Deputy Coroner Lisa Klem said Wright was pronounced dead at 4:10 a.m. Saturday at Forrest General. She said the cause of death is pending autopsy.
Both the north and southbound lanes of U.S. 49 were blocked off during the incident, and the patrons of Ropers were kept inside the building until the standoff situation was resolved. They were finally escorted out of the building in a single file line.
The city of Hattiesburg asked motorists to use caution in the area. "Our number one concern is public safety," its Facebook page stated.
As the sun came up, shell casings could be seen littering the scene and several magazines were also found, which indicated that Wright had reloaded his weapon. Several cars were also kept inside the perimeter because they had been hit by bullets. Reports from the scene showed bar patrons sleeping in the parking lot while they waited for their vehicles to be freed up so they could take them home.
Mississippi Bureau of Investigation spokesman Warren Strain said MBI is assisting Hattiesburg police in the investigation. Parker said the scene has been turned over to MBI "since it’s one of our officers involved.”
Authorities say there were no bar patrons or law enforcement officers injured in the situation.
Buy Photo Law enforcement was involved in a standoff outside Ropers Saturday morning. Officials have confirmed the suspect, Bryan Wright, 40, of Petal has died. (Photo: Susan Broadbridge/Hattiesburg American)
CLOSE Multiple law enforcement agencies are involved in a standoff outside Ropers Rockin' Country on U.S. 49 in Hattiesburg. Ben Sutton / Hattiesburg American
Read or Share this story: http://hatne.ws/2yjRembDo we call them Nazis or not? Posted by Pointman on March 6, 2014 · 29 Comments
An Oxbridge don, after staggering out of a faculty meeting that had dragged on for hours, was heard to remark that how a predominantly male society could produce so many old women, was totally beyond him. What I think he was referring to was the more than usual amount of bitchiness one finds prevalent in academia, even between theology departments.
In a way it’s understandable because there are always contending ideas which have their own sets of passionate supporters. Academics are somewhat like warring fans of different football teams, except they wear beige cardigans and casual shoes rather than bomber jackets and bovver boots. Where it gets spiteful and nasty, is in personal attacks against the people who hold a certain position by people who prefer another explanation.
It’s not always a bad thing to debate a theory vigorously, as it does tend to lead to the occasional paradigm change in a field. Darwin’s ideas gained widespread support with the help of some powerful outspoken advocates like Thomas Huxley in the nineteenth century and in more recent times the theory of plate tectonics went from being an orphan beyond the pale to becoming textbook orthodoxy these days.
More importantly for the health of science as a whole, free debate also exposes fashionable but junk science for what it is, as it did in the end with Eugenics and Lysenkoism, and I think perhaps that’s why real debate about climate science is avoided at all costs by its advocates.
The undeniable politicisation of climate science has exacerbated the bitchiness tendency by orders of magnitude, with vitriolic personal attacks being mounted by advocacy elements well outside the relevant scientific disciplines on what few dissenters remain. All in all, it’s a tough field to express or maintain a minority view which does not rigidly reflect establishment thinking. When you consider the vileness and strength of abuse levelled at people not even in academia, you can imagine how much more difficult it must be to work inside it on a daily basis.
More than one dissenting professor has been forced out of tenure and in a particularly shameful episode, the three postgraduate children of another were threatened with expulsion from their doctorate courses. The sins of the father were going to be visited on the children. Incidentally, that official policy was called Sippenhaft or kin liability in Nazi Germany. It resulted in the murder of thousands of innocent Germans; men, women and children. It’s still alive and well in places like North Korea.
Both Jo Nova and Anthony Watts have written articles on Dr Spencer’s decision to refer to the extremists as climate Nazis and a subsequent attack on him by a climate activist working for the Anti-Defamation League (ADL). What’s pertinent for this piece is the list of quotes contained in both those articles.
When you consider they were opinions being expressed not by the obvious street thugs pictured above, but by supposedly mature, educated and establishment figures, they were extreme, repulsive and violent. Read them but mentally substitute “Jew” for “Denier” and they would fit unchanged into a Joseph Goebbel’s hate speech to a rally of the party faithful.
Given that thumbnail sketch of the hostile environment a dissenting voice in climate academia has to endure for years, Dr. Spencer has in my opinion more than earned the right to call them in return anything he damn well pleases.
Do I think they’re Nazis?
Yes, I nailed my colours to that particular mast a long time ago, most recently in the final part of the “know your enemy” series which you can find here. They attempt to hide behind Godwin’s so-called law, but if they want to tattoo labels on people like Nazis, turn up with burning torches outside people’s homes in the dead of night like Nazis, witch hunt through academia for opposition like Nazis and dehumanise all resistance like Nazis, then that’s what they are – Nazis. I see them with clear eyes for exactly what they are and make no apologies for that judgement. It’s they who should hang their heads in shame.
So yes, I consider them to be Nazis but the true battle we’re engaged in is not against the extremists but for the middle ground, or in other words the opinion of ordinary person. By making such statements, the extremists are shunting themselves towards the irrelevant margin of the only battleground that really matters. They have no limits and are totally at ease expressing the repugnant sentiments quoted in Jo and Anthony’s articles. Views like that alienate any reasonable person but at the same time we have to exploit those mistakes to show them up for what they actually are; dangerous anti-democratic fanatics.
I’m only too aware how difficult maintaining a reasonable voice in the face of provocation can be, but then again, it’s partially meant to make you lose your cool anyway. Don’t. In the eyes of the ordinary onlooker, we’ll always come out so much better in contrast to their abominable hate speak.
For that reason, I try to avoid such invective, preferring instead to use terms like alarmist or eco-fascist as appropriate but I know I’m splitting terminological hairs. However, the disciple I keep in mind is that anything I produce is for consumption by the ordinary person, not an equally raving response addressed directly to various raving fanatics. The first draft of so many things I write has to be taken down a few pegs on the anger scale, and that usually involves finding less abrasive synonyms for words a lot stronger than Nazi.
Roy Spencer, like a handful of other people besieged inside climate science, is a person I deeply admire. I do so because they like Mr FOIA have moral courage and that’s a lonely road to walk when you’re forever going up against all the big battalions. It would be so much easier for them, their careers and no doubt their families if they just shut up, gave up or submitted to the relentless intimidation. They don’t, they hang on in year after year and they take a lot of elective bullets for that integrity.
They are our true heroes.
History will be kind to them and it’ll be at the expense of their detractors, to adapt a very fitting quote. That day is not as far away as people might think.
As global warming and its anti-human policies continue to move into the dustbin of history, its proponents will out of frustration increasingly turn to the language of the crypto-Nazi demagogue and the lynch mob but my thinking is to allow that to remain their liability, and our opportunity to be exploited as it occurs. Put on your hazmat suits ladies and gentlemen of a skeptic persuasion, because I have to tell you it’s going to get a lot dirtier before it gets better.
As for the ADL, shame on you, shame on you. Of all people, you should know better. Take another hard look at those vicious quotes. If the true believers ever had their way, there would be another shoah, but this time around against us skeptics. What would your descendants saying kaddish for those Jews amongst our number be worth then?
Shame on you.
©Pointman
Related articles by Pointman:
Know your ultimate enemy : the dream.
The Nigger Word.
Click for a list of other articles.
AdvertisementsSupporters of Yemen's former President Ali Abdullah Saleh stand under a huge poster of Saleh as they rally in his support in Sanaa November 7, 2014. REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah
SANAA (Reuters) - Representatives of Yemen’s ex-leader, Ali Abdullah Saleh, are in talks with diplomats from the United States, Britain and the United Arab Emirates to help end four months of war in the impoverished country, a member of his party said.
“There are negotiations in Cairo between the leaders of the Congress party and diplomats from the United States, Britain and the UAE in order to find a peaceful solution to the crisis in Yemen and to lift the siege on the grounds that the continuation of the war and the siege serve extremist groups,” Adel Shuja, a leader of the party Saleh leads, told Reuters.
“These negotiations have made significant progress so far.”
Saleh’s loyalists in Yemen’s army are a key force in the country’s civil war, and the talks are the first between the strongman and the key member of the Arab coalition opposing him.
The Emirates had been bombing his forces for weeks and the negotiations coincide with major Emirati and Saudi-backed military gains in the country’s south.
It was not immediately clear whether forces linked to Saleh had pulled back from battlefields around the strategic port of Aden, which local fighters armed by Gulf states and accompanied by Emirati military trainers seized in a surprise offensive this week from Yemen’s dominant Houthi group after months of stalemate.
A wily political operator who played Yemen’s rival armed and tribal groups off each other for 33 years, Saleh enjoyed Gulf support until “Arab Spring” unrest forced him to resign in 2012.
An ousted but still influential figure in Yemen’s security forces, the ex-leader forged an unlikely alliance with old foes in the Iran-allied Houthi militia, which seized the capital Sanaa in September and pressed south toward Aden alongside Saleh forces, triggering the Arab intervention on March 26.The 'Going Clear' director's independent project comes on the heels of Annapurna Pictures scooping up a pitch from 'Big Short' writer Charles Randolph about the women who brought down the former Fox News chairman with accusations of sexual harassment.
More of Roger Ailes is heading to the big screen.
Alex Gibney quietly has been prepping a documentary about the former Fox News chairman, who exited in the summer amid sexual assault claims from women including anchors Gretchen Carlson and Megyn Kelly. Gibney (UTA) confirms the film's existence but declines to elaborate. "As a matter of course, I don't talk about what I'm working on," he tells THR.
The move comes just two months after Annapurna Pictures nabbed an untitled pitch from The Big Short's Charles Randolph about the women who brought down the man once considered the most powerful in media, as well as Ailes' wife, Elizabeth Tilson.
At THR's Women in Entertainment event in December, Kelly praised the Fox News women "who, with their stilettos and nerves of steel, formed an underground army and, at great risk to their livelihoods, brought down a very powerful serial sexual harasser." Whether Gibney's film focuses on that aspect of Ailes or his political influence, the doc is likely to spark controversy. But the filmmaker is no stranger to hot-button topics, having exposed U.S. torture in Afghanistan in 2007's Oscar-winning Taxi to the Dark Side and confronted the Church of Scientology with 2015's Going Clear — another project he prepped stealthily.
Though Gibney works frequently with HBO, he does not do so exclusively. The Ailes doc is being developed independently and currently is not set up. Gibney's most recent documentary, Zero Days, which was on the Oscar short list this year, was produced by Participant Media and aired on Showtime.
Also in the works is a miniseries based on reporting by journalist Gabriel Sherman, whose Ailes biography The Loudest Voice in the Room will serve as source material. That project, from Blumhouse Television, also promises to delve into the newsman's alleged misconduct.
This story first appeared in the Feb. 3 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson says the federal government has "abandoned" affordable housing, as he addressed concerns the city's expensive real estate prices are pushing millennials out.
A study from Vancity Credit Union released earlier this week predicted a mass migration of young people out of Metro Vancouver, because wages are not keeping up with the high prices of housing.
"It's obviously a huge concern," Robertson told the Early Edition's Rick Cluff. "We've seen this wave coming, it's been pretty obvious for a number of years."
Robertson said the city has been focusing on building rental housing, as it is the most affordable city hall can deliver.
But, he said, the federal government hasn't done enough to help major cities like Vancouver that are experiencing a housing crisis.
"We do not have enough support from the federal government to bring the cost of housing down in our cities. Housing is very expensive across Canada because the federal government has basically abandoned the field."
Robertson said he wants the housing crunch to be a major federal election issue.
"You look at a huge supply of our affordable housing right now and it came from programs to build rental housing across Canada.
"Those programs faded away decades ago and that means we have nowhere near enough rental housing being built across the country."
Mayor's message to millennials
The Vancity credit union report indicates a family household income needs to be $123,000 in order to maintain an average mortgage in Metro Vancouver.
But the inconsistent salary to housing cost ratio has led waves of young people to leave the city over the last few years, says the report. 770 are projected to have left in 2012 with that number increasing to 1,571 in 2013.
Robertson says that's unacceptable.
"I don't think we can be letting that happen — we have to do everything we can to prevent it. We thrive as a diverse city where people can live close to where they work."
To hear more, click the audio labelled: Mayor Robertson reacts to housing crisis for young Vancouverites.Tony and Dr. Melfi part ways.
Tony goes to Florida to enlist Lil Carmine’s help in the HUD scam.
Tony has a bad dream while in Miami.
Episode 50 – Originally aired November 24, 2002
Written by Chase, Green, Burgess and David Flebotte
Additional Story by Terry Winter
Directed by Tim Van Patten
___________________________________
A major event takes place in “Calling All Cars”: Tony decides to stop therapy. Despite containing this significant and surprising twist, the episode originally felt like a comparatively minor one to me—I just didn’t find it very memorable. After subsequent viewings, however, I have reassessed my opinion of the hour. “Calling All Cars” is a very substantial episode. It dives deeply into the well of imagery and symbolism (ugh, how I dislike that word) that the series has labored to establish over the last four seasons, while simultaneously providing a wealth of images that will be recalled in future episodes. “Calling All Cars” also helps to break our preconceived ideas about how late-season episodes are supposed to function in the final stretch of a TV season.
The previous episode signaled that we were in the endgame of Season 4 by raising multiple mortal threats against Tony Soprano. “Calling All Cars” continues to escalate some of this tension—but not to the degree that we would traditionally expect in TV drama series. The friction between NJ and NY over the HUD profits is growing. Though it is Vic the Appraiser gets the worst of it right now, Johnny Sac hints to Paulie that Tony might have to be whacked over the issue. Tony hopes that a meeting with Little Carmine may ease the stalemate with Carmine Sr. But the primary focus in this hour is not on these external tensions; it is on Tony’s internal anxieties. The episode opens with a surreal dream sequence, one that alludes to several things that are eating at Tony, including his dalliance with Svetlana, Gloria’s suicide, Ralph’s murder and Carmela’s increasing self-determination. In the following scene, Tony expresses to Dr. Melfi his dissatisfaction with the way his psychotherapy has been—or has not been—progressing. He is still having nutty dreams that he can’t figure out or control. And he still cannot exercise any impulse control, which is leading him to commit mistakes at work (i.e. the unsanctioned murder of Ralph Cifaretto). He is angry and frustrated, and wants to take a time-out from therapy.
Arguably, the main story of the hour isn’t about Tony’s external or internal issues—in fact, it isn’t about Tony at all. It’s about Bobby and Janice. Bobby is having difficulty accepting Karen’s death, even going so far as to bury an anniversary cake at her gravesite. He refuses the reality of her death by refusing to pay off the funeral bill. Janice tells him that “This dispute with the [funeral] bill is morbid clinging.” Soon after making this criticism, Janice does one of the most morbid things we’ve ever seen anyone in SopranoWorld do.
Valerie Palmer-Mehta, in her essay “Disciplining the Masculine,” describes Janice as being in “full feminine masquerade” in this episode. Jan pretends to be matronly and caring but she has a devious, self-serving plan up her sleeve. She knows that Little Bobby and Sophia are struggling with their mother’s death (mainly because she saw them freak out at the phony séance that AJ conducted), and she capitalizes on the children’s pain to draw Bobby closer to her. She instant-messages Little Bobby and Sophia with the user-name Vlad666. When the kids ask who it is that they’re conversing with, she gives the mysterious and frightening reply, “Rising Damp.” Jan then leads them to the Ouija board. (Throughout the seasons, Janice and AJ have seemed to be the truest inheritors of Livia Soprano’s cruelty and callousness, and their parallel use of the Ouija board here solidifies this similarity between them.) After sending the kids into a state of terror, Janice sits and waits for Bobby’s inevitable phone call for aid. When she comes over to Bobby’s house to help, she sensibly tells him, “The dead have nothing to say to us.” She suggests that they reheat Karen’s last ziti, and Bobby quietly assents while a tear runs down his cheek. Janice has definitively replaced Karen. The Queen is dead; long live the Queen.
Meanwhile, Tony receives a call from Svetlana. She thanks him for the diamond brooch, but she is unwilling to continue any romantic relationship with him, despite his attempt to keep the possibility open. Chase notably cuts from this scene to Melfi’s office, where Tony finally terminates his therapy. Svetlana’s rejection of him, along with her criticism of his weakness in the previous episode, may have played a role in Tony’s decision to nix therapy. He may believe that going to a therapist confirms Svetlana’s insinuation that he is not “the strong silent type.” Dr. Margaret Crastnopol at Slate.com writes:
Tony has absorbed Svetlana’s excellent interpretation of his cowardice, and it has shamed him, and his solution is to look for aspects of weakness in himself and get rid of them by cutting off the treatment that exposes this vulnerability. Kinda like shooting the messenger. Not the operation that’s needed, but the one he would inevitably choose, like ordering the destruction of the painting of his beloved dead horse so he won’t have to see it.
Others have a different interpretation of why Tony ends his long-running relationship with Melfi. Judith Shulevitz, also at Slate.com, notes that in the first therapy session of the hour, Tony almost lets it slip to Dr. Melfi that he committed murder (of Ralph); he may be walking away from treatment now in order to prevent himself from saying too much to his therapist. Some viewers think he walks away because of genuine frustration, while some said Chase was preparing to give Melfi the axe because she had become less of an important character over time. Some viewers found the scene to just be another plot-twist. Whatever the reason, Tony is done. Doctor Melfi stands up to shake his hand. Tony kisses her gently on the cheek and walks out.
Tony heads down to Miami Beach where Beansie Gaeta has arranged a meeting with Little Carmine. We heard Tony refer to this younger Carmine as “Brainless the Second” in “The Weight” (4.04), and our first glimpse of him now hints that this description is accurate. Little Carmine mispronounces words and makes his point so archly that Tony can’t even be sure what his point is. Little Carmine agrees to intercede on Tony’s behalf, but we wonder if this boob might just make things worse between New Jersey and New York.
As I mentioned earlier, the threat of mob violence is something of a red herring in the homestretch of Season 4. Tony’s internal disquiet is much more of a significant issue. Tony may stay out of NY’s reach and away from the FBI’s noose, but he cannot escape his subconscious anxieties. The dream that appears in the final scene is very short but it is one of the most haunting and evocative dreams of the entire series. It is largely through this dream that “Calling All Cars” earns its high marks. The dream-sequence pulls together a rich, complex set of symbols, associations and images, some of which have been appearing since the Pilot episode. We may not even clearly recognize the symbolic quality of these images—their significance as metaphors may only barely register on the far edge of our consciousness. Take, for example, the image of the legs (of an unknown woman as she steps out of a car) which opens the dream-sequence:
There is a high probability that the leg belongs to Gloria Trillo, because she was sitting in the same spot in the car in Tony’s dream earlier in the hour, but also because Chase had highlighted Gloria’s legs throughout Season 3, particularly the first time Tony met her in Melfi’s waiting room:
The first time we met Tony, it was also in Melfi’s waiting room, and he was framed by a pair of female legs. By presenting leg imagery in the dream now, Chase may be suggesting that Tony is still in the same situation he was in all those years ago when the Pilot aired. Tony still has a tendency to get ensnared and enclosed by dark, destructive women who approximate his mother Livia—but he no longer has the therapy sessions to help him through such emotional traps:
Another evocative element is the prominent sound of crickets which scores the dream, perhaps recalling the conversation in 2.04 “Commendatori” where Tony says his favorite part of the Godfather movies is the cricket-scored scene when Vito Corleone returns to Italy. Tony appears as an immigrant stonemason in the dream, evoking the times he told Meadow (in the Pilot) and Isabella (in “Isabella”) that this was his grandfather’s trade. The house that stonemason Tony walks up to is also strangely evocative, something about it seems so familiar—I was convinced it was Hesh’s house from Season One, but I’m not so sure after taking a closer look:
Even looking at the screengrabs side-by-side, it’s difficult to determine whether it’s the same house, just with some trim and detailing changed. (Not that it really matters; it just speaks to the dream-like way that Chase plants his images in our minds. Many viewers were later reminded of this “dream” house when Tony/Kevin Finnerty came upon a similar looking home during his dream/coma/near-death-experience in Season 6’s “Mayham.”) When stonemason Tony pushes the door of the house open, he comes across a surreal image. A shadowy figure stands in the staircase, its dark particles seeming to resolve from out of its ghostly outline and bleed into the surroundings. Is it Livia “rising damp” from her grave? Or, if not her grave, at least from the dark recesses of Tony’s subconscious?
I cannot be certain that the obscure figure is Tony’s mother, but David Chase hinted that it is Livia in a 2005 interview with Martha Nochimson (Dying to Belong.) Additionally, because I’ve come to associate Livia with staircases, the Lady on the Stairs strongly conjures her in my mind:
Janice may have been wrong in telling Bobby earlier that the dead have nothing to say to us. Dead Livia appears now in Tony’s dream, and manages—without uttering a sound—to still somehow communicate her fearsome philosophy of meaninglessness.
BEACHED
Tony snaps out of the disturbing dream, startled and damp with sweat. He lumbers into the bathroom to regain his composure but the red nightlight bathes him in a hellish glow and provides no comfort. He sees a sliver of sunlight through the curtains and makes his way out to the balcony. In the warm and bright Florida air, he can calm himself.
I love how Chase utilizes the Fontainebleau Hotel and Miami Beach here. The hotel has appeared in several films over the last 50 years, its iconic curved form attracting many film directors and producers. (For instance, the movie Tony Rome, starring Frank Sinatra, featured the hotel as a backdrop in several scenes.) The sweeping lines of the hotel’s curved terraces lead our eye to Tony as he gets a grip on himself after the terrifying dream.
Chase may have chosen this hotel to shoot the final scene simply because there is a long tradition of filming at the Fontainebleau. But there may be more to it than that. When it opened in 1954, the hotel was panned in architectural circles for being too frivolous, too gaudy, too curved at a time when the straight lines of High Modernism ruled American architecture. It was not considered to be serious architecture. And I think this is why the hotel and Miami Beach work so well here. Miami Beach carries the connotations, in our national consciousness, as a place of frolicking, frivolous fun. We associate the place primarily with sea, sand and superficiality. By abandoning psychotherapy, Tony has essentially chosen superficiality over seriousness—and now finds himself in a place that is an embodiment—at least in our collective consciousness—of superficiality. As he stands on the hotel balcony, the Beach Boys’ easygoing “Surfin USA” wafts up from below. Now that Tony has quit therapy, he is no longer able to delve deeply into his own psyche, he will only surf along the surface of his life. Tony has some serious matters lurking in his subconscious (including some major mommy-issues, as the dream reminds us). But he has beached himself by quitting therapy, leaving himself stranded without Dr. Melfi to help him find his way. Melfi had told Tony at the top of the hour that “meaning is elucidated through verbalization.” Without the therapy sessions where he can verbalize, the meanings of things will be more difficult for Tony to clarify and understand. He is now at greater risk of being consumed by the philosophy of meaninglessness that he has inherited from his mother.
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“LEGS” ONE MORE TIME
Janice is selfish, callous and insecure like both her mother and Gloria Trillo, whose legs seem to be evoked in this hour. Janice’s legs are also highlighted in this episode, as she carries out her conniving plan to ingratiate herself back into Bobby’s life—the camera enters the scene of Janice waiting for Bobby’s inevitable call for help by tracking along her legs:
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ADDITIONAL NOTES:
To his great dismay, Corrado has been found competent to stand trial. (This is a significant event, but it’s dealt with so quickly in the episode that I’ve only mentioned it down here in this section.)
In the October 2005 interview with Martha Nochimson, David Chase said that the “Lady on the Stairs” dream will relate to a future dream-sequence. (My guess is that he was referring to the sequence in “Mayham” which appeared six months after the interview.)
Some viewers have noted that as Janice and Bobby sit down to eat Karen’s last ziti, Janice’s wine glass inexplicably and suddenly moves, as though it was shifted by Karen’s ghost. I’m not gonna touch this one—come up with your own explanation:A man talks on a phone in front of a giant advertisement promoting Samsung Electronics' new smartphone Galaxy S6 in central Seoul, South Korea, April 28, 2015. Picture taken on April 28, 2015. REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji
SEOUL (Reuters) - Sales of Samsung Electronics Co Ltd’s flagship Galaxy S6 smartphones reached 6 million units at the end of April, less than a month after their launch, researcher Counterpoint said on Tuesday, suggesting a positive start.
Counterpoint said in a statement that combined sales of S6 and S6 edge from the April 10 launch to April 30 were better than Galaxy S5’s sales in the same period of 2014.
They were also the most popular smartphone models globally after arch-rival Apple Inc’s iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, the researcher said.
The data, which counts sales to customers as opposed to shipments, suggests the new flagship devices will help the world’s top smartphone maker regain momentum following a disappointing 2014. The new phones were well-received by critics, buoying hopes for an earnings turnaround.
Though Samsung executives have maintained the S6 models would set a new company shipments record, the firm has not disclosed sales numbers so far. Investors have grown worried that sales may not meet expectations, which contributed to the stock’s 7.3 percent decline in May.
While the flat-screen S6 sold more in April, the researcher said sales of the curved-screen S6 edge would have been higher had it not been for supply constraints. Samsung has said supply problems for the edge model will be resolved within the current quarter.
“The Samsung Galaxy S6 series has a chance to become the top selling smartphone overtaking Apple’s iPhone 6 series, if production issues are solved,” Counterpoint Research Director Peter Richardson said in a statement, adding the window of opportunity for the Samsung devices to achieve that goal would be small given the intense competition.
Counterpoint said it expected sales for the new Samsung flagship phones to reach 50 million by the end of the year, better than what the firm estimates to be its current first-year sales record of 45 million units for the Galaxy S4.We’ve tagged 2.1 as RC0, as release time nears. This means it’s feature-complete, and has no significant known regressions from prior releases. How much longer until release depends on what’s discovered from here out |
the Dark One? –Marissa
“I think they came to accept him a while ago,” says Josh Dallas. “Their daughter loves him, so they take to him kindly.” As for Dark Hook’s aforementioned actions, “We all do bad things,” Dallas notes. “Nobody’s either black or white, which is the point of many of these characters. They’ve seen the humanity in [Hook], and that’s an important thing to remember.” (As for Henry’s own reversal-of-opinion on the “dirty pirate” since Season 4A’s “Shattered Sight” episode, Jared Gilmore said, “Henry was maybe a little protecive of his mom in the beginning, but Hook makes her happy, and that’s what Henry wants.”)
What was Jared Gilmore’s reaction to the “Dreamcatcher” episode where Emma had ripped Violet’s heart out and commanded her to break Henry’s? —Jennifer
“When I read the episode, I was kind of blown away and shocked,” Gilmore remembers. “And then when I actually watched the episode, I was like, ‘That’s amazing!’ It was totally unexpected, a really awesome twist!”
Can you tell us a bit more about the episode in which Liam, Hook’s brother, shows up? –Manuela
Details are scarce on Episode 15, “The Brothers Jones,” but Colin O’Donoghue confirmed, “We do see Liam (played by Bernard Curry) at one point, and it’s the one we’ve met before” (as opposed to the recently revealed namesake from another mother). “We get to explore more of that relationship prior to Killian being Captain Hook. And we’ll also get to see Captain Silver (played by Costas Mandylor), which is a fascinating thing.”
Are we ever going to see another wedding on the show? –Alyssa
“Not this season,” says co-creator Eddy Kitsis.
Will we ever get an “I love you” moment from Robin and Regina? –Aaliyah
A smile formed on Lana Parrilla’s face as she mulled her answer to this one. “Hmmmm…. Possibly,” she allowed. “I think so. Not in the 100th episode, but…. I think we will.”
My question is for Rebecca Mader, my favorite actress! What is Zelena’s happy ending? —Pauline
Bex got a bit melancholy in answering this one, admitting: “I don’t know. I really don’t know. I do lie in bed thinking about it, because I don’t know what she really needs to be happy. Probably a therapist and a gin-and-tonic!”JOHN CENA IS INSANE (AND WHY WWE LOVES HIM FOR IT)
John Cena just hit the ring for a dark match main event at the WWE Smackdown taping in Philadelphia, PA.
Earlier today, Cena was in Las Vegas as part of a promotional appearance for his new Fitness product campaign. This means he made the appearance, flew cross-country to Philadelphia for the match....and will now fly back to Vegas tomorrow for the WWE Network announcement.
For all the criticism some fans put upon John Cena, no one can deny that he puts WWE before all else in his life and has a work ethic that is beyond insane. This is why he's in the position he's in for WWE and will stay there...because he earns it.
In the dark match, Cena defeated WWE World Heavyweight champion Randy Orton by DQ. Mick Foley was advertised as guest referee, but did not appear.
If you enjoy PWInsider.com you can check out the AD-FREE PWInsider Elite section, which features exclusive audio updates, news, our critically acclaimed podcasts, interviews and more, right now for THREE DAYS free by clicking here!Dwight Coleby has seemed like a different player the past couple of weeks, ever since he shed that bulky black brace that protected his surgically repaired left knee.
“He has more bounce,” Kansas coach Bill Self said after the Coleby, a seldom-used junior forward from the Bahamas, emerged as the unlikeliest of heroes in the Jayhawks’ 77-67 victory over Texas on Saturday at Frank Erwin Center.
“I think he feels better about his body and himself. He hasn’t felt well in a while. Think about it … it’s been about 16 months since he’s been able to move the way he’s moving right now. I’m happy for him,” Self added.
Coleby, KU’s 6-foot-9, 240-pound junior transfer from Mississippi who was unable to practice during his redshirt transfer season at Kansas because of a torn ACL, scored a career-high tying 12 points on 5-of-6 shooting and grabbed four rebounds (with one blocked shot) while playing 13 minutes in Saturday’s victory, a win that gave KU the outright 2016-17 Big 12 championship.
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Kansas has won 13 Big 12 crowns in a row.
Coleby scored a team-leading 10 points (in eight minutes) the first half in helping the Jayhawks (26-3, 14-2) open a 40-31 halftime lead over the Longhorns (10-19, 4-12).
He had eight points in a 17-3 run that turned a 20-19 deficit at the 10:55 mark in the first half into a 36-23 lead at 4:41. Included was a hook shot, a dunk off a lob from Devonté Graham, two free throws and another dunk.
Coleby wasn’t finished, scoring on yet another dunk that gave Kansas a 40-27 lead with 57 seconds left in the half. His performance seemingly came out of nowhere. Coleby’s previous scoring high as a Jayhawk was six points versus UMKC on Dec. 6. (His other 12-point game came in his time at Mississippi.) In Big 12 action, he entered having scored four points total in six games.
He had grabbed 10 rebounds the entire Big 12 season.
“I felt great, felt great,” said Coleby, who appeared to enjoy a rare appearance in the interview room, playfully answering a reporter, who inquired whether Coleby felt as if he was “getting his explosiveness back.”
“Eh, yeah. Didn’t you see?” Coleby said to laughter from a dozen or so media members.
SHARE COPY LINK Kansas forward Dwight Coleby shares a light-hearted moment with reporters following Kansas' 77-67 victory over Texas on Feb. 25, 2017.
Coleby said he “had no idea” he’d be called upon to help combat Texas freshman center Jarrett Allen, who scored 20 points and grabbed 11 rebounds in 35 minutes. Kansas’ starting big man, Landen Lucas, had eight points and eight boards in 27 minutes. Josh Jackson, who guarded Allen quite a bit, had 18 points and five boards with five assists in 38 minutes.
“Just being ready and focused ahead of time, doing scouting report and being prepared for the game,” Coleby said of secrets to being ready for extended duty. “Whenever my number is called, just be prepared to contribute. Just keep working and hopefully I’ll get better from here on.”
Self said Coleby, “was as good as anybody we had today in the time that he got. (He was) terrific. (He’s had a) great attitude. He was ready when his number was called.
“You guys can tell he looks a lot more athletic than he did two months ago,” Self added. “Hopefully we are going to see that player moving forward.”
Kansas junior guard Graham, who had four assists to go with 12 points, said Coleby has been emerging at practice.
“He hasn’t been playing that much this year with his knee,” Graham said. “He’s been working hard with treatment and rehab. His number was called today and he performed. I don’t think it’s a surprise,” Graham added. “We see it every day, going hard, going at Landen, Carlton (Bragg) and Mitch (Lightfoot). Today he showed it.”
The Jayhawks led by nine points at the half and at one point saw the lead dip to five in the second half, but they were able to build the margin back to 15 with 2:45 left and ultimately hand Texas its fifth straight loss.
“I got on Frank (Mason, 16 points, 39 minutes) and Devonté,” Self said of demanding a strong effort from teammates in trying to wrap up the undisputed league crown. “I said, ‘This is all on you today.’ I think they responded, (but) we did not have the same zip we normally have.”
Graham said the Jayhawks wanted to eliminate any possibility of sharing the crown with anybody else.
“That was our main focus, don’t come out flat because we got a share of the Big 12 title. We wanted to come here and win outright,” Graham said. “Coach preached to come in focused.”
Self had ESPN color analyst Bill Walton speak to the team at the shootaround in an attempt to build his players’ interest in the game. Walton starred at UCLA and in the NBA.
“I asked him if he led the league in assists ever. Twenty minutes later he was talking to our guys still,” Self joked. “He took all the time we were going to practice. I thought he gave a great message to our guys,” Self added, not revealing specifics.
Walton, by the way, stopped Coleby in the hall as Coleby was walking to the team bus. Walton extended his hand and said, “Congratulations,” to the Jayhawk big man.
SHARE COPY LINK Kansas coach Bill Self discusses NBA great Bill Walton, who was part of ESPN's broadcast crew for Saturday's game at Texas.
Self was pleased with the play of freshman guard Jackson, who missed 9 of 14 shots, but did make 6 of 8 free throws en route to his 18 points. Jackson was charged Friday in Douglas County District Court with one count of criminal damage to property, less than $1,000, which is a Class B non-person misdemeanor that is punishable by up to six months in jail.
Self was asked specifically about not suspending Jackson after the 6-8 freshman was charged.
“Why would I suspend him?” Self said. “I punished him back when it happened. So if it hadn’t come out it’s OK not to suspend him, but if it does come out, then you’ve got (to suspend him)?” he added. “I mean the whole deal is that’s like double jeopardy. I handled his discipline back in the day (after the December incident). Everything’s been handled back then. That doesn’t mean there’s still not some things that he’s got to do,” Self added, not delving into specifics about past or current punishment dished out by the coach.
Self went on: “What transpired we knew transpired back in December. It was handled then. He’s felt bad about it for a long time. But the way it’s all come to light here of late obviously is disappointing and embarrassing for him. I thought he certainly responded well on the court today.
“He’s handled it. He had one night where he handled the situation very poorly, but anything other than that he’s handled very well. Sometimes it’s tough to make a wrong a right, but it hasn’t been from a lack of handling his business right.”
The Jayhawks, who won their sixth straight game overall and stretched their winning streak over the Longhorns to seven games, will next meet Oklahoma at 8 p.m. on Monday at Allen Fieldhouse. It’s Senior Night for Lucas, Mason and Tyler Self.
SHARE COPY LINK KU beat reporter Jesse Newell recapped the Jayhawks' road victory over Texas on Feb. 25, 2017, on Facebook Live. With the win, KU clinched the Big 12 regular-season championship outright.
No. 3 KANSAS 77, TEXAS 67
TableStyle: SP-bkwideplayersCCI Template: SP-bkwideplayers
Kansas Min FG-A FT-A R A F Pt Lucas 27 4-4 0-0 8 2 3 8 Graham 37 4-9 2-2 3 4 0 12 Jackson 38 5-14 5-7 5 5 2 17 Mason 39 5-15 6-8 3 3 4 17 Mykhailiuk 19 0-5 2-2 3 0 0 2 Vick 24 3-4 0-0 4 0 0 7 Coleby 13 5-6 2-3 4 0 3 12 Bragg 3 1-2 0-0 0 0 2 2 Totals 200 27-59 17-22 30 14 14 77
Percentages: FG.458, FT.773. Three-Point Goals: 6-19,.316 (Jackson 2-3, Graham 2-6, Vick 1-1, Mason 1-4, Mykhailiuk 0-5). Team Rebounds: 6. Team Turnovers: 11 (28 PTS). Blocked Shots: 1 (Coleby). Turnovers: 11 (Mason 3, Jackson 2, Lucas 2, Coleby, Graham, Mykhailiuk, Vick). Steals: 6 (Graham 2, Bragg, Jackson, Lucas, Vick). Technical Fouls: None.
TableStyle: SP-bkwideplayersCCI Template: SP-bkwideplayers
Texas Min FG-A FT-A R A F Pt Allen 35 8-13 4-6 11 0 2 20 Cleare 24 1-3 2-2 3 0 4 4 Davis 31 2-9 1-2 1 0 1 7 Jones 34 8-16 2-2 3 1 3 18 Roach 35 3-7 3-5 4 6 2 9 J.Young 13 2-2 0-0 0 0 1 5 Isom 12 2-3 0-0 2 0 3 4 Yancy 8 0-2 0-0 1 0 0 0 Banks 8 0-0 0-0 0 1 2 0 Totals 200 26-55 12-17 25 8 18 67
Percentages: FG.473, FT.706. Three-Point Goals: 3-16,.188 (Davis 2-6, J.Young 1-1, Isom 0-1, Yancy 0-1, Roach 0-3, Jones 0-4). Team Rebounds: 7. Team Turnovers: 14 (13 PTS). Blocked Shots: 5 (Cleare 2, Allen, Jones, Roach). Turnovers: 14 (Roach 6, Banks 2, Jones 2, Cleare, Isom, J.Young, Yancy). Steals: 8 (Roach 4, Jones 3, Yancy). Technical Fouls: None.
Half: Kansas 40-31.The news that a recent survey has established that 27 percent of Indians still practice caste untouchability is not, in many ways, news at all. Most Indians have grown up in an India where we have seen such behavior, though the kind of people who read English-language op-eds probably think of it as something that happens in rural, backward villages rather than urban India.
But this survey also packs a few other surprises. It shows almost every third Hindu (30 percent) admitted to the practice. That is, they refused to allow Dalits, the former "untouchables," into their kitchen or to use their utensils. But bizarrely enough, data from the survey showed that untouchability was also practiced by Sikhs (23 percent), Muslims (18 percent) and Christians (5 percent). These are faiths that pride themselves on their enshrining of equality and the brotherhood of faith. Dr. Amit Thorat, the survey's lead researcher, at the National Council of Applied Economic Research, was quoted by the Indian Express as saying, "These findings indicate that conversion has not led to a change in mindsets. Caste identity is sticky baggage, difficult to dislodge in social settings."
These findings -- confirming the persistence of the iniquitous practice of caste discrimination across India's religious communities -- came on the heels of the outrage that greeted a prominent journalist, Rajdeep Sardesai, on social media when he tweeted his joy that two members of his caste of Goud Saraswat Brahmins (GSBs) had been elevated to the Cabinet in the latest government reshuffle.
Part of the reason for the controversy, undoubtedly, was surprise that a sentiment one might associate with, and therefore more easily accept from, someone more traditional and perhaps rural emerged from an English-educated urban professional and certified liberal. People of Saredesai's ilk tend to disavow caste loyalties as unworthy relics of a more unequal pre-independence past. As intellectual heirs of a freedom movement that explicitly rejected caste and outlawed caste discrimination, we aren't supposed to admit to caste feeling even if, in some cases, it lurks somewhere beneath the surface.
Any elitism Sardesai acquired at the elite educational institutions he attended (Campion and Cathedral Schools in Bombay, followed by Oxford University) would normally be assumed to be an elitism of merit, of respect for education and cosmopolitan values. Caste pride sits oddly with such a background.
Or does it? I am conscious of my own bias in the opposite direction. The son of a Keralite newspaper executive who dropped his caste name (Nair) at college in response to Mahatma Gandhi's exhortations to do so, moved to London and brought his children up in Westernized Bombay, I am a product of a nationalist generation that was consciously raised to be oblivious of caste.
"We aren't supposed to admit to caste feeling even if, in some cases, it lurks somewhere beneath the surface."
I still remember my own discovery of caste. I was a ten-year-old representing the 6th Standard in an inter-class theatrical event at which the 8th Standard's sketch featured "Chintu" (Rishi) Kapoor, younger son of the matinee idol and producer Raj Kapoor, later to become a successful screen heartthrob in his own right. I had acted, elocuted a humorous poem and MCed my class's efforts to generous applause, and the younger Kapoor was either intrigued or disconcerted, for he sought me out the next morning at school.
"Tharoor," he asked me at the head of the steps near the toilet, "what caste are you?"
I blinked my nervousness at the Great Man. "I - - I don't know," I stammered. My father, who never mentioned anyone's religion, let alone caste, had not bothered to enlighten me on such matters.
"You don't know?" the actor's son demanded in astonishment. "What do you mean, you don't know? Everybody knows their own caste."
I shamefacedly confessed I didn't.
"You mean you're not a Brahmin or something?"
I couldn't even avow I was a something. Chintu Kapoor never spoke to me again in school. But I went home that evening and extracted an explanation from my parents, whose eclectic liberality had left me in such ignorance. They told me, in simplified terms, about the Nairs; and so it is to Rishi Kapoor, celluloid hero of the future, that I owe my first lesson about my genealogical past.
So I grew up thinking of caste as an irrelevance, married outside my caste, and brought up two children to be utterly indifferent to caste, indeed largely unconscious of it. Even after I entered the hothouse world of Indian politics, I did not consciously seek to find out the caste of anyone I met or worked with. I hired a cook without asking his caste (the same with my remaining domestic staff) and have entertained all manner of people in my home without the thought of caste affinity even crossing my mind.
"I grew up thinking of caste as an irrelevance, married outside my caste and brought up two children to be utterly indifferent to caste."
India is a land of multiple identities, and one of the key identities, inescapably, is caste. To some, it's an instrument of political mobilization. As the "backward caste" Yadav ascendancy in north Indian politics has repeatedly demonstrated, when many Indians cast their vote, they vote their caste. English-speaking urban Indians may scorn such behavior, even while accepting it as part of India's political reality. After all, none of us would object if a Dalit leader advertised her pride in being a Dalit or called for Dalit solidarity. It would be the Indian equivalent of America's "Black is beautiful" slogan or black pride campaigns. But the outrage at Sardesai is, of course, because the journalist's not a member of an oppressed community celebrating its achievements. He is someone at the top of the heap, not merely a Brahmin but a Goud Saraswat Brahmin at that -- the member of a tiny elite. And he's thrilled about members of this privileged tribe acquiring even more power and prominence.
But could it be that his attitude reflects not so much casteism as an admission of its diminished appeal as a badge of identity? Had Sardesai celebrated the elevation of two Campionites, or even two Oxonians, in the same spirit, no one would have objected (except maybe people who went to rival educational institutions). But isn't it possible that his unreflective celebration of two GSBs suggests that his attitude to caste is so casual that he thinks of it as nothing more than the equivalent of any one of the other labels he can also claim?
"India is a land of multiple identities, and one of the key identities, inescapably, is caste."
Had the journalist thought consciously that his tweet would be interpreted as casteist, he surely would not have issued it. Instead, perhaps, there's an element of post-modernism about the entire fiasco. He said what he did not because his caste matters so much to him but precisely because it doesn't. He doesn't base his friendships, his hiring decisions or his political preferences on the basis of caste, and so he unselfconsciously applauded his fellow GSBs the way he might have applauded two members of the same cricket team, the same journalistic fraternity or the same social club as himself. GSB is just another type of identity he shares with others.
At least, that's what I choose to believe. I haven't asked him myself. But I don't need to. Caste won't disappear from the Indian landscape. Too many political and administrative benefits (and disadvantages) derive from your caste affiliation for that to happen. For many Indians, as the NCAER survey demonstrates yet again, it still matters greatly that they inter-marry with, dine with and admit into their homes only people of analogous castes. For someone like Sardesai, who married outside his caste, abhors caste prejudice and thrives in an eclectic social environment, caste doesn't matter in quite the same way. To upbraid him for casteism is like calling India's first prime minister, the secular atheist Jawaharlal Nehru, casteist for allowing people to refer to him as "Pandit" Nehru.
In other words, caste will always be there but, as this episode unconsciously reveals, for many of us it doesn't pack the same punch it used to. If it becomes more and more one of many interchangeable, mutable forms of identity -- one fraternity of many that an Indian can lay claim to -- it can cease to matter so much. The majority of Indians aren't there yet, which is why the offending Sardesai tweet was greeted with such shock. But if we can't escape being conscious of caste, let's be conscious of it like him as the equivalent of an old school tie -- nothing more, nothing less. That will remove its sting.
And then maybe more people will let Dalits into their kitchens when the next survey rolls around a few years from now.Your smartphone apps contain plenty of personal information, and many of them keep you logged in continuously, which presents a potential security risk.
A mobile security startup called PassBan thinks the best way to keep mobile devices secure is to allow people to choose from a bevy of different authentication options—including one that you wear on your wrist.
“We didn’t want to be in the business of forcing one factor or another on the user,” says cofounder and CEO Kayvan Alikhani.
Most of us have to remember countless passwords for different online services, and we are often asked to choose complicated strings of characters to make them harder to guess. A growing number of companies offer alternatives to conventional passwords, including various forms of biometrics (see “Instead of a Password, Security Software Just Checks Your Eyes”).
More than half of cell phone users in the U.S. also own smartphones, and many apps keep users perpetually logged in, thereby bypassing the usual security controls. People also use smartphones and tablets to store and access an increasing amount of personal data, making them ever-more valuable if they’re lost or stolen. And yet, while there are plenty of companies focusing on securing desktop and laptop computers, the market for mobile security is still in its infancy.
PassBan released a free Android app in February called Passboard that allows you to secure individual apps on a smartphone with any of more than a dozen verification techniques, including identifying your voice, face, location, or a specific gesture. Initially available in private beta, the company says, the app will be available to anyone starting Friday.
And at a developer event at the company’s San Francisco office on Wednesday, the company showed off a wristband that can unlock a phone or tablet when the wearer makes a simple gesture in the air. It also showed off tools that will let third-party developers incorporate PassBan’s technology into their apps.
The wristband will be available in a couple of weeks, Alikhani says, and the company hopes to sell it for less than $20. He expects such sensors to ultimately be embedded in watches or other things we carry with us.
PassBoard works by intercepting the launch of any app that a user has secured it with. Once you’ve secured your Facebook app, for example, when you tap on it, a PassBoard popup commands you to verify your identity with whatever method you’ve chosen. For those with a wristband, it can be set up to authenticate you with a shake or tap on the wristband, or with just your proximity to your smartphone. Whichever method you choose, it must be registered and transmitted via Bluetooth to your handset to unlock an app.
Alikhani says it is possible for someone who has the wristband and your smartphone to access data on the handset, assuming they know your signature gesture. But if you secure a phone with a wristband gesture and also require another factor—like choosing a sequence of colors—that could make it trickier to access.
David Wagner, a professor of computer science at UC Berkeley, doesn’t think PassBoard offers anything particularly unique or useful, saying that his research suggests that only a minority of users employ even a simple passcode to lock their phones. He expects this is because there isn’t much of a security risk for most people—someone who steals your phone probably just wants to wipe the data and resell it.
He is intrigued by the idea of wearable authentication, however, though PassBan will have to convince users it’s worth spending the money to get it.
PassBan isn’t the only company that thinks wearable authentication may be the next big thing in security. Google is apparently exploring the idea of using items a user is likely to have on them anyway—such as jewelry—to log in to a computer (see “Google’s Alternative to the Password”).Tension ran high along the Nagaland-Assam border area of Yajang (C) village in Mokokchung district when a mob from Assam, under alleged protection of Assam Police and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), destroyed farms and Jhum fields belonging to Yajang (C) village.
According to Yajang (C) Village Council Chairman Imtionen, more than a hundred came from Assam side came in five vehicles. They were accompanied by Assam Police and CRPF near Akochisapok area under Yajang (C) village jurisdiction bordering Laojan in Assam on Friday.He said when Yajang villagers reached the spot, a bullet was fired as a warning shot from the Assam side after which, the intruding group went on a rampage destroying the Jhum fields and farms belonging to Yajang (C) villagers. He also said more than 500 areca nut trees, over 300 banana plantations, around 100 orange plantations and two farm houses and fences was destroyed by the group. He added that an FIR had been lodged under Longchem police station.
The incident occurred within two weeks after the DCs of Mokokchung (Nagaland) and Jorhat(Assam) had a joint border coordination meeting on April 6. They discussed border issues and reviewed the prevailing situation. During the meeting, SPs of both the districts also agreed to share information on police patrolling along the border areas. They also agreed to instruct OCs posted close to Disputed Area Belt (DAB) to meet frequently and share information.The plan to bring forth a new Soviet man right here in America, and right there in Europe, has become a chilling reality. George Lucas has even called attention to it in his latest installment of Indiana Jones.
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is set in the 1950’s, Indy has been kidnapped by Russians. Mid film his captor, Col. Dr. Irina Spalko, straps Jones to a chair and in a hush voice surrounded by ambient music she softly tells us what we have become, and where we are headed, and if you listen close you’ll hear how its been done.
“Imagine, to peer across the world and know the enemies’ secrets, to place our thoughts into the minds of your leaders, make your teachers teach the true version of history, your soldiers attack on our command. We’ll be everywhere at once more powerful than a whisper invading your dreams thinking your thoughts for you while you sleep. We will change you Dr. Jones, all of you, from the inside, we will turn you into us, and the best part — you won’t even know it’s happening.”
Our dreams have been invaded and a frightening reality has been developed. Our leaders and teachers, none of them are as they seem, they have been turned from the inside, and we have been lead along for many generations. We are in the midst of a merger of the Russian and American models, a step closer to forming the perfect system of control. We are being crushed by the third wave of change. It is not coming, it is here.
“The First Wave of change — the agricultural revolution — took thousands of years to play itself out. The Second Wave — the rise of industrial civilization — took a mere three hundred years. Today history is even more accelerative, and it is likely that the Third Wave will sweep across history and complete itself in a few decades. We, who happen to share the planet at this explosive moment, will therefore feel the full impact of the Third Wave in our own lifetimes.” (Alvin Toffler, The Third Wave, 1980.)
The first wave to hit us reveals just how long and far we have been lead, right into our current position, and with each wave of change that crashes our bonds grow tighter.
The agricultural revolution interrupted hunting and gathering and quickly replaced it with the domestication of plants and animals. Within only a few thousand years the knowledge spread to all parts of the world. How and why the information was uncovered and implemented at such an expedited pace can be debated in theory, but there are few known facts as to what actually triggered the revolution.
The wanderers became farmers, as hunting grounds became farm land, and by the 17th century the second wave began to roll out, change was slow at first, man became farmer and owner, and with it came barter, money and bondage.
Since then we have been even more hurried through time, the industrial revolution was realized in hundreds of years, as opposed to thousands. The crushing changes of the second wave were directly aimed at our families, although several families managed to fare quite well through the assault. Toffler wrote that just like the first wave, “historians cannot pin down the ‘cause’ of the industrial revolution” (The Third Wave, p. 358), however we can see those that were involved in shaping the minds of men throughout it.
Industry drove people from the farm, and as families began moving closer to factories, children would no longer work as they did on the farms, an acceptable solution was mass education and it was ushered in. Toffler points out in The Third Wave, that school was to train children to become good factory workers, punctual, obedient people who can complete mundane tasks repetitively for eight hours a day, which is true, but that describes only half the purpose, mass education was, and still is, much worse than that.
“… place our thoughts into the minds of your leaders, make your teachers teach the true version of history…”
In 1954 the Reece Committee [see “How America Took Up Where Russia Left Off”] investigated the inner workings of tax exempt foundations, such as those run by the Carnegie, Rockefeller and Ford families. The investigation was brought forth in part because of growing suspicion that these organizations were “un-American.” It was ultimately revealed that these tax exempt foundations were working in tandem, using foundation money to meddle with our minds.They needed to change our way of thinking, and using the power and influence of their organizations, they promote the idea of global government. One important way to capture and control us (“the enemy”) was uncovered, get us young and vulnerable, and teach us to love our servitude.
“… We’ll be everywhere at once more powerful than a whisper invading your dreams, thinking your thoughts for you while you sleep…”
America was being slowly lead down a path of collectivism. One report uncovered by the Reece committee summarized the third wave we were sleepwalking into (it was from the American Historical Foundation, est. in 1889) as “the day of the individual in the United States of America had come to an end, and that the future would be characterized, inevitably, by some form of collectivism…”
…We will change you … all of you, from the inside, we will turn you into us, and the best part — you won’t even know it’s happening.”
The harsh changes of the third wave are aimed at the individual, and the Reece Committee was not the only proof of the war on for our minds. Former KGB propagandist, Yuri Bezmenov, revealed soviet secrets of psychic warfare that were not only introduced to children by their teachers, but also spread through Hollywood by various artists (directors, writers, actors, poets, musicians, painters…) and pushed ahead by government leaders, and the press. They are all working against the individual, knowingly and unknowingly, in an attempt change our perception of reality. America has been attacked from the inside, through Soviet ideological warfare.
“It’s not a matter of what is true that counts but a matter of what is preceived to be true.” (Henry Kissinger.)
Yuri Bezmenov has given some insight as to how effortless brainwashing an entire society can be. First the people must be demoralized, and that can take about fifteen years to indoctrinate a single generation, and when they are grown they will lead the next generation, parroting the doctrine. Once the majority has been reprogrammed they will react properly to the planned destabilization, and accept the Stalin or Lenin type leaders that will rise. Then a generated crisis will be used to make people more agreeable, and finally, normalization (which may never end), making the brainwashed society find normalcy in a way of life that no one of sound mind would ever willingly accept.
We have been lead through these waves of change for many generations, and have ourselves endured life long doses of brainwash. Many have been changed and the plans to turn us into a collective are nearing completion, a brave new world awaits us. It is up to those who have refused to be demoralized and have managed to hold on to their conscience to bring the truth forward. Fight the globalist plan to destroy the individual, stop the birth of the collective or prepare to suffer total enslavement.
Eternal Resistance to Tyranny!The Egyptian Army's recent claim that they discovered the cure for AIDS and hepatitis C has been met with public ridicule.
The head of the Cancer Treatment and Screening center boasted of his scientific phenomenon seen by others as a "scientific scandal."
"I defeated AIDS with the grace of my God at the rate of 100 percent. And I defeated hepatitis C," said Maj. Gen. Ibrahim Abdel-Atti, according to a CNN report.
Medical researchers expressed scornful criticism and concern that the announcement would taint their reputation as scientists.
"I want to be clear and explicit, what has been said and published about the invention of the armed forces hurts the image of scientists and science in Egypt," Essam Heggy, the scientific adviser to the president, told the private Al Watan newspaper Tuesday.
Dr. Ihsan Hanfy Hussein, a member of Abdel-Atti's research team, claims that the "Complete Cure Device" cures patients in as little as 16 hours by withdrawing blood from the AIDS patient, breaking down the disease and returning their purified blood back into their body.
One skeptic insists there is no true medical evidence to support this discovery.
"What has been said is not scientifically disciplined. There is nothing published, and there is nothing in medical conferences, and there is no single eminent professor around the project," said Dr. Gamal Shiha, leading liver specialist and member of a team evaluating the controversial device. "Nothing scientifically relevant has been said."
Egypt contains the highest prevalence of hepatitis C worldwide, with at least 10 percent of the population suffering from the disease, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
"Until we see the results of all phases of clinical research, we as academics cannot accept to hear this," Shiha said. "The place of scientific facts is in published papers and journals, not in press conferences."WikiLeaks’ publication of stolen Democratic National Committee correspondence has incited internet tycoon Kim Dotcom to promise he’ll help bankroll the anti-secrecy website through 2017.
“I pledge to raise $1m for Wikileaks within a year,” Mr. Dotcom, the German-born founder |
Linux maintenance to Alan Cox.
2001: 2.4 release of Linux; IBM pledges to spend 1 billion dollars on Linux, and a new maintainer steps up, Marcelo Tosatti.
2002: Linux development moves from patches and email to source control management.
2003: 2.6 release of Linux; SCO Group files a lawsuit against IBM.
2004: The commercialization of Linux increases; companies want regular releases.
2005: Linux has some licensing issues, so Linus writes Git and moves kernel development to it (very popular today).
2006: First LTS (long term support) release of Linux, lead by Greg Kroah-Hartman.
2009: Red Hat market cap equals market cap of Sun Microsystems, which at the time is the largest commercial Unix manufacturer.
2011: 3.0 release of Linux: Linus Torvalds says there's "no change."
2012: Linux server revenue sales equal that of the rest of the Unix market combined.
2015: 4.0 release of Linux: live patching.
2016: Over 135,000 developers from more than 1,300 companies have contributed to the Linux kernel since the adoption of Git; 22 million lines of code.Our guest post today is from Dr. Stacey A Bedwell, a postdoctoral researcher at Nottingham Trent University, whose work focuses in the prefrontal cortex of the mammalian brain. In this post she discusses her work with rats, and why it is important for neuroscience. If you are interested in writing a guest post for us, please contact us today.
My research interests are in brain connectivity, studying how the billions of neurons in the human brain are connected and how their complex organisation allows us to carry out high order functions such as forward planning and decision making. I am specifically interested in the most frontal part of the mammalian brain, the prefrontal cortex. This region is known to be involved in complex processes such as decision making, forward planning and social inhibition – the behavioral restraint a person has in social situations.
Why study the prefrontal cortex?
It is not always clear to people outside of the area why basic research like mine is important for medical science in the long term and how it will indirectly benefit us as humans (and also often benefit animals). A lot of people don’t realise that a lot of work needs to be done to provide the knowledge that is required before exciting new drugs and treatments are developed. For instance, the development of treatment for spinal cord injury has been built upon an increased knowledge the underlying structure. In my area of neuroscience research it is really important to develop a clear picture of the underlying anatomy and organisation before we can improve our understanding of how the prefrontal cortex as a region functions, and ultimately lead to a better understanding of prefrontal associated neurological deficits that will help us to develop improved treatments and prevention strategies.
The prefrontal region has been associated with a range of neurological deficits including schizophrenia, depression and autism. Autism in particular is thought to involve abnormalities in prefrontal connectivity. We cannot begin to fully understand how these functions work and how deficits come about until we gain a clearer understanding of the structure and organisation of the neuro-typical prefrontal cortex, beginning with the underlying anatomical circuitry. My research for the past few years has focussed on revealing the complex neuronal circuitry that comprises this fascinating brain region.
Why do I use rats in my research?
People often ask me why I used animals in my research, whether it was necessary and why I couldn’t use another non-invasive approach in human subjects such as MRI. My most frequent observation, particularly from non-scientists, is that it is hard to see the importance of research using animals, if like mine, it doesn’t focus on a specific disease or produce findings that will lead immediately to the development of a new drug or therapy..
The optimum method for investigating brain connections is to physically visualise them, and the best method for visualising brain connections is the use of neuroanatomical tract tracers, fluorescent molecules, taken up by neuronal cells, that enable us to map pathways and the connections between brain regions. There are several different tract-tracing methods available, but I use fluorescent tracers injected into the prefrontal cortex in rats. With the use of a fluorescent microscope it is possible to visualise neuronal connections down to individual cells, something which we are far from being able to do with non-invasive imaging in humans. Being able to visualise and analyse the 3 dimensional location of connections on such a systematic and fine scale has allowed us to reveal properties of prefrontal cortex connectivity which had previously been undescribed (Bedwell et al 2015 & 2014). Our most prominent and surprising finding is that of non-reciprocal connections in PFC pathways, which is inconsistent with our knowledge of cortical organisation from other complex brain regions – cortical connections have long been assumed to be largely reciprocal in nature. This shows that PFC is organised very differently to other brain regions. These novel organisational properties provide an important basis on which to build a clearer understanding of how this complex region of the brain is organised and offer an insight into how and why the prefrontal cortex is able to carry out complex processes.
What happens to the rats?
I used rats in all of my experiments. The rats were all obtained from a Home Office licensedbreeding facility in the UK and were acclimatised to their new environment for a couple of weeks before they were used in any experiments to reduce their stress. Our rats were housed in groups of at least two and were kept in climate controlled specialist cages – they were very comfortable. There are strict Home Office guidelines in the UK as to how rats used in experiments are kept and cared for to ensure their welfare needs are met, this applies to before, during and after experiments and they are followed to the letter. A lot of effort goes into ensuring no animal suffers as part of an experiment.
My experiments required the rats to undergo surgery so that the tracers could be injected directly into the brain at a very precise location. This was always carried out to a very high standard. We received advice from a vet, who also sat in on the first few surgeries to ensure we were performing the procedure in accordance with regulations. The surgery always involved a team of at least three people and the welfare of the rat was the greatest priority. This included the correct use of anaesthesia, analgesics pre and post operatively, as well as continued behavioural observation in order to identify any post-operative complications before they could cause suffering to the rat. At the end of the experiment each rat was euthanised and the brain removed for microscopic analysis of the labelled connections.
What next?
I am now developing studies of cortical function and functional connectivity, that can be carried out on human participants with non-invasive methodologies such as transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and electroencephalography (EEG), and will complement the earlier studies undertaken in rats. Unfortunately, the technology is not yet available to investigate fine scale anatomy in such a non-invasive manor, so both animal and human studies are required in order to understand how the underlying brain structure relates to function. Until such techniques are developed, animal experiments will continue to be vital for the continued progress in neuroscience, as it is in so many areas of medical science.
Dr Stacey A. BedwellMedia playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Dr Chris Abela, a senior craniofacial fellow at Great Ormond Street Hospital, explains what participants will experience
Visitors to London's Science Museum are being invited to have their faces scanned in 3D.
The Me in 3D stand at the museum uses a series of cameras to build a virtual image visitors can then view and manipulate.
Data from participants will be used by Great Ormond Street Hospital, University College Hospital and Eastman Dental Hospital and Institute to provide better treatment and surgery for patients with disfigurements and congenital conditions.
We know a lot about the bones in our faces but little is known about what makes our face the shape it is Dr Chris Abela, Great Ormond Street Hospital
"It's a very simple process using simultaneous photography by nine cameras and then some software modification to produce a 3D image," says Dr Chris Abela, a senior craniofacial fellow at Great Ormond Street Hospital.
"Any visitor to the stand will be able to spin their image around, look at themselves from behind their ear or from the worm's eye view as we call it and really see themselves in another dimension."
Visitors, who must first sign a consent form so that their data can be used for research (children require parental consent), will also have the option of rendering their 3D faces in zebra and crocodile skin, just for fun.
The more faces scanned, the better we will understand the human face in all its great variety, the researchers say, and that could mean better facial surgery for children born with disfiguring disorders or for patients requiring reconstructive surgery.
"We know a lot about the bones in our faces but little is known about what makes our face the shape it is and about the skin and muscles that make up our face," says Dr Abela.
"By collecting as many 3D face photographs as we can we will have a greater understanding of our complex faces, and have greater knowledge to plan and perform the best facial surgery in the future."
Allan Ponniah, the surgeon and Great Ormond Street research fellow who conceived the project, says: "This will be the largest database internationally of face shapes collected to date. London is the perfect place to capture the wide diversity in facial features of the global population."
"We are entering a new paradigm where we would like to plan surgery based on tailor-made solutions for individual face shapes as opposed to using a one-shape-fits-all average template."
The data could be used to devise better treatments for children with conditions such as Apert, Pfeiffer, or Crouzon syndromes, which result in deformation of the skull.
Super recognisers
The new project follows another based at the museum which involved getting visitors to take part in real scientific research.
The Familiar Faces study, involving scientists from the University of East London, consisted of a series of simple tests to assess the facial recognition abilities of members of the public.
Image caption Fancy a Zebra makeover? Visitors can render their 3D scans with animal options
The tests were designed to spot what are called "super recognisers", individuals who can recognise the face of a person they have barely looked at, and those who might be suffering from a rare condition called prosopagnosia, or face-blindness.
This leaves an individual with little to no ability to recognise faces - even immediate family members.
For the Science Museum, both projects offer a chance to get visitors to the museum involved directly in science.
"We see this as part of our work as a museum not only to have visitors looking at exhibits but to actually be part of real scientific research," says Priya Umachandran of the Science Museum. "It's another great way of engaging the public with science."
Me in 3D runs at the Science Museum until 10 April.Many Russian Jews who arrived to Israel in the Putin era are finding it difficult to settle and are opting to go back to Russia
An interesting phenomenon is taking place in Israel. Russian Jews are leaving, often to go back to Russia.
Not all of them of course. Mainly it is the most recent arrivals. They are different from the typical arrivals from Russia in the late 1980s and the early 1990s in that they tend to be more affluent. In some cases their migration has been motivated more by politics (opposition to Putin's third term) than search of economic opportunities.
Also these recent arrivals know and remember Russia not only as the poverty-stricken disaster it was in the 1990s, but also as the much more functional and consumerist society of the present.
Now enough of them are leaving that the Israelis daily Haaretz set to explore why that is so. It spoke to a number of such immigrants and reported impressions in a piece titled Why members of the 'Putin aliyah' are abandoning Israel.
The entire article is worth reading and to tempt you to do that we'll reproduce one of the liveliest bits here:
Unlike the others I interviewed – who loved Israel but didn't feel they could live there – Anton (not his real name), 39, says he is disgusted with Israel from an ideological perspective. A former journalist who now works in public relations, he came to Israel in 2015 with his wife and four children, and left about a year later. “I came to the conclusion that Israel is a fascist state,” he says. “I don’t want to live in a country like that. I realized that nothing was going to change for the better here. An important factor in my decision to leave Russia was the desire to go with my children to a free country. And no, Israel is not a free country. I do not want to participate in what is happening here and have to take the moral responsibility for it. I am absolutely not interested in moving from the frying pan into the fire." "Without doubt Russia is an authoritarian country, but it is not a fascistic country. In Russia, it doesn’t matter what your surname is, what the shape of your nose is and what your name is, as long as you speak Russian reasonably well. In the middle class circles I travel in, people don’t care about this. It doesn’t matter whether I am Jewish, Tatar, Kalmyk, Dagestani or Arab. In Israel, it does matter.” Alongside the ideological reasons, Anton also lists more practical reasons for leaving Israel: His family ended up in the West Bank settlement of Ariel and his attempts to find work there in his profession – PR and writing copy – were not successful. He worked at a factory and other blue-collar jobs, his wife didn't work and they lived in semi-austerity. In contrast, there were many potential jobs awaiting Anton back in Russia, offering good salaries. Indeed, he started working at one of those jobs about a month after his return to Russia. He doesn't conceal his bitterness toward the attitude he encountered from veteran members of the Russian-speaking community in Israel. “In the Russian army, if it turns out you are a Muscovite they immediately punch you in the face," he says. " In Israel, the attitude is similar. If people discover you are a Muscovite, they treat you with a certain coldness. In principle, they can also punch you – it’s no problem for them. For some reason, they think we are a kind of privileged class of superior beings who, now we are in Israel, have to eat a bit of shit together with them. And they won't hesitate to shove a plate of it under your nose.”
Apparently you can take a Russian out of Russia, but they'll always want to punch a Muscovite in the nose.Hello everyone,I am extremely proud to announce and have to admit that I am blown away that tickets for my Testimonial has now sold out – that is something special.When we first announced it I thought I would be lucky to get 20,000 with the amount of money that the fans have to spend during a season, but when I think about the support that our fans show, nothing surprises me.I am grateful and humbled by it and I just want to make the day special for everybody.I have got some great names playing and can announce that Gianfranco Zola wants to play some part! He called me and I was over the moon to speak with him. He asked about the Testimonial and I said I would love him to be there.I have also spoken to Glen Johnson and Paul Konchesky recently and he wants to play which is great because they were in the Academy.There are still some Corporate Hospitality packages available from £99 - don't forget we will be raising money for three great charities in the DT38 Foundation, Richard House Children's Hospice and Help for Heroes.It has been an amazing few weeks for the Club, especially the feeling around the place after our FA Cup victory over Liverpool which was an amazing night for the players, staff and the fans.We then went to Norwich and went two goals down which was undeserved, but we showed a great reaction to come back into the game and everyone, including the substitutes, played their part.We then had the FA Cup win at Blackburn last weekend which was another special day for the 7,200 fans who made the long journey to Ewood Park. It felt like a home game for us. We don't want to stop there and want to keep progressing.The players we have got now and the players who are coming back from injury shows the quality we have got in the squad.We have now got four of our strikers fit which is phenomenal and everyone is pulling their weight and you are going to need that for the cup run that we are going on and the Premier League.We need all the players and we have got some real quality here.The intensity goes up in training because everyone is playing for places in the side. We have also got players coming back from injury who need to get fit and the standard of training this year has been really high – with the squad we have got now it is a little bit special.We believe as a squad and as a team that we can score goals. We believe in our ability and in our players.We have got some players who are playing at the top of their game and we just need to make sure they keep enjoying their game and we keep winning.With the way it has gone this season we have been behind in some games and have come back. The Premier League is a rollercoaster and nothing is guaranteed at all.We need to keep that belief going and as Julian Dicks has said about the boss, he makes his feelings known when he needs to, but he really believes in his players.I am looking forward to seeing Big Sam back at the Boleyn Ground on Saturday. I spent four successful years playing under him and we got promoted under him, which was massive for the Club.He was brought into the Club to get us promoted from the Championship back into the Premier League and he did that. He then stabilised us in the top flight.I will look forward to seeing Sam, but hopefully only after we have beaten his Sunderland team.Finally, we are honouring Bobby Moore and our heroes from the Sixties this weekend. As a West Ham fan, an Academy product and being from Canning Town, I always heard stories of what Bobby achieved and what sort of player and man he was.It’s an honour for me to be following in his footsteps and captaining this great Club of ours.Come on You Irons!Over the past 6 months, I’ve been working on a programming language called Pinecone. I wouldn’t call it mature yet, but it already has enough features working to be usable, such as:
variables
functions
user defined structures
If you’re interested in it, check out Pinecone’s landing page or its GitHub repo.
I’m not an expert. When I started this project, I had no clue what I was doing, and I still don’t. I’ve taken zero classes on language creation, read only a bit about it online, and did not follow much of the advice I have been given.
And yet, I still made a completely new language. And it works. So I must be doing something right.
In this post, I’ll dive under the hood and show you the pipeline Pinecone (and other programming languages) use to turn source code into magic.
I‘ll also touch on some of the tradeoffs I’ve had make, and why I made the decisions I did.
This is by no means a complete tutorial on writing a programming language, but it’s a good starting point if you’re curious about language development.
Getting Started
“I have absolutely no idea where I would even start” is something I hear a lot when I tell other developers I’m writing a language. In case that’s your reaction, I’ll now go through some initial decisions that are made and steps that are taken when starting any new language.
Compiled vs Interpreted
There are two major types of languages: compiled and interpreted:
A compiler figures out everything a program will do, turns it into “machine code” (a format the computer can run really fast), then saves that to be executed later.
An interpreter steps through the source code line by line, figuring out what it’s doing as it goes.
Technically any language could be compiled or interpreted, but one or the other usually makes more sense for a specific language. Generally, interpreting tends to be more flexible, while compiling tends to have higher performance. But this is only scratching the surface of a very complex topic.
I highly value performance, and I saw a lack of programming languages that are both high performance and simplicity-oriented, so I went with compiled for Pinecone.
This was an important decision to make early on, because a lot of language design decisions are affected by it (for example, static typing is a big benefit to compiled languages, but not so much for interpreted ones).
Despite the fact that Pinecone was designed with compiling in mind, it does have a fully functional interpreter which was the only way to run it for a while. There are a number of reasons for this, which I will explain later on.
Choosing a Language
I know it’s a bit meta, but a programming language is itself a program, and thus you need to write it in a language. I chose C++ because of its performance and large feature set. Also, I actually do enjoy working in C++.
If you are writing an interpreted language, it makes a lot of sense to write it in a compiled one (like C, C++ or Swift) because the performance lost in the language of your interpreter and the interpreter that is interpreting your interpreter will compound.
If you plan to compile, a slower language (like Python or JavaScript) is more acceptable. Compile time may be bad, but in my opinion that isn’t nearly as big a deal as bad run time.
High Level Design
A programming language is generally structured as a pipeline. That is, it has several stages. Each stage has data formatted in a specific, well defined way. It also has functions to transform data from each stage to the next.
The first stage is a string containing the entire input source file. The final stage is something that can be run. This will all become clear as we go through the Pinecone pipeline step by step.
Lexing
The first step in most programming languages is lexing, or tokenizing. ‘Lex’ is short for lexical analysis, a very fancy word for splitting a bunch of text into tokens. The word ‘tokenizer’ makes a lot more sense, but ‘lexer’ is so much fun to say that I use it anyway.
Tokens
A token is a small unit of a language. A token might be a variable or function name (AKA an identifier), an operator or a number.
Task of the Lexer
The lexer is supposed to take in a string containing an entire files worth of source code and spit out a list containing every token.
Future stages of the pipeline will not refer back to the original source code, so the lexer must produce all the information needed by them. The reason for this relatively strict pipeline format is that the lexer may do tasks such as removing comments or detecting if something is a number or identifier. You want to keep that logic locked inside the lexer, both so you don’t have to think about these rules when writing the rest of the language, and so you can change this type of syntax all in one place.
Flex
The day I started the language, the first thing I wrote was a simple lexer. Soon after, I started learning about tools that would supposedly make lexing simpler, and less buggy.
The predominant such tool is Flex, a program that generates lexers. You give it a file which has a special syntax to describe the language’s grammar. From that it generates a C program which lexes a string and produces the desired output.
My Decision
I opted to keep the lexer I wrote for the time being. In the end, I didn’t see significant benefits of using Flex, at least not enough to justify adding a dependency and complicating the build process.
My lexer is only a few hundred lines long, and rarely gives me any trouble. Rolling my own lexer also gives me more flexibility, such as the ability to add an operator to the language without editing multiple files.
Parsing
The second stage of the pipeline is the parser. The parser turns a list of tokens into a tree of nodes. A tree used for storing this type of data is known as an Abstract Syntax Tree, or AST. At least in Pinecone, the AST does not have any info about types or which identifiers are which. It is simply structured tokens.
Parser Duties
The parser adds structure to to the ordered list of tokens the lexer produces. To stop ambiguities, the parser must take into account parenthesis and the order of operations. Simply parsing operators isn’t terribly difficult, but as more language constructs get added, parsing can become very complex.
Bison
Again, there was a decision to make involving a third party library. The predominant parsing library is Bison. Bison works a lot like Flex. You write a file in a custom format that stores the grammar information, then Bison uses that to generate a C program that will do your parsing. I did not choose to use Bison.
Why Custom Is Better
With the lexer, the decision to use my own code was fairly obvious. A lexer is such a trivial program that not writing my own felt almost as silly as not writing my own ‘left-pad’.
With the parser, it’s a different matter. My Pinecone parser is currently 750 lines long, and I’ve written three of them because the first two were trash.
I originally made my decision for a number of reasons, and while it hasn’t gone completely smoothly, most of them hold true. The major ones are as follows:
Minimize context switching in workflow: context switching between C++ and Pinecone is bad enough without throwing in Bison’s grammar grammar
Keep build simple: every time the grammar changes Bison has to be run before the build. This can be automated but it becomes a pain when switching between build systems.
I like building cool shit: I didn’t make Pinecone because I thought it would be easy, so why would I delegate a central role when I could do it myself? A custom parser may not be trivial, but it is completely doable.
In the beginning I wasn’t completely sure if I was going down a viable path, but I was given confidence by what Walter Bright (a developer on an early version of C++, and the creator of the D language) had to say on the topic:
“Somewhat more controversial, I wouldn’t bother wasting time with lexer or parser generators and other so-called “compiler compilers.” They’re a waste of time. Writing a lexer and parser is a tiny percentage of the job of writing a compiler. Using a generator will take up about as much time as writing one by hand, and it will marry you to the generator (which matters when porting the compiler to a new platform). And generators also have the unfortunate reputation of emitting lousy error messages.”
Action Tree
We have now left the the area of common, universal terms, or at least I don’t know what the terms are anymore. From my understanding, what I call the ‘action tree’ is most akin to LLVM’s IR (intermediate representation).
There is a subtle but very significant difference between the action tree and the abstract syntax tree. It took me quite a while to figure out that there even should be a difference between them (which contributed to the need for rewrites of the parser).
Action Tree vs AST
Put simply, the action tree is the AST with context. That context is info such as what type a function returns, or that two places in which a variable is used are in fact using the same variable. Because it needs to figure out and remember all this context, the code that generates the action tree needs lots of namespace lookup tables and other thingamabobs.
Running the Action Tree
Once we have the action tree, running the code is easy. Each action node has a function ‘execute’ which takes some input, does whatever the action should (including possibly calling sub action) and returns the action’s output. This is the interpreter in action.
Compiling Options
“But wait!” I hear you say, “isn’t Pinecone supposed to by compiled?” Yes, it is. But compiling is harder than interpreting. There are a few possible approaches.
Build My Own Compiler
This sounded like a good idea to me at first. I do love making things myself, and I’ve been itching for an excuse to get good at assembly.
Unfortunately, writing a portable compiler is not as easy as writing some machine code for each language element. Because of the number of architectures and operating systems, it is impractical for any individual to write a cross platform compiler backend.
Even the teams behind Swift, Rust and Clang don’t want to bother with it all on their own, so instead they all use…
LLVM
LLVM is a collection of compiler tools. It’s basically a library that will turn your language into a compiled executable binary. It seemed like the perfect choice, so I jumped right in. Sadly I didn’t check how deep the water was and I immediately drowned.
LLVM, while not assembly language hard, is gigantic complex library hard. It’s not impossible to use, and they have good tutorials, but I realized I would have to get some practice before I was ready to fully implement a Pinecone compiler with it.
Transpiling
I wanted some sort of compiled Pinecone and I wanted it fast, so I turned to one method I knew I could make work: transpiling.
I wrote a Pinecone to C++ transpiler, and added the ability to automatically compile the output source with GCC. This currently works for almost all Pinecone programs (though there are a few edge cases that break it). It is not a particularly portable or scalable solution, but it works for the time being.
Future
Assuming I continue to develop Pinecone, It will get LLVM compiling support sooner or later. I suspect no mater how much I work on it, the transpiler will never be completely stable and the benefits of LLVM are numerous. It’s just a matter of when I have time to make some sample projects in LLVM and get the hang of it.
Until then, the interpreter is great for trivial programs and C++ transpiling works for most things that need more performance.
Conclusion
I hope I’ve made programming languages a little less mysterious for you. If you do want to make one yourself, I highly recommend it. There are a ton of implementation details to figure out but the outline here should be enough to get you going.
Here is my high level advice for getting started (remember, I don’t really know what I’m doing, so take it with a grain of salt):
If in doubt, go interpreted. Interpreted languages are generally easier design, build and learn. I’m not discouraging you from writing a compiled one if you know that’s what you want to do, but if you’re on the fence, I would go interpreted.
When it comes to lexers and parsers, do whatever you want. There are valid arguments for and against writing your own. In the end, if you think out your design and implement everything in a sensible way, it doesn’t really matter.
Learn from the pipeline I ended up with. A lot of trial and error went into designing the pipeline I have now. I have attempted eliminating ASTs, ASTs that turn into actions trees in place, and other terrible ideas. This pipeline works, so don’t change it unless you have a really good idea.
If you don’t have the time or motivation to implement a complex general purpose language, try implementing an esoteric language such as Brainfuck. These interpreters can be as short as a few hundred lines.
I have very few regrets when it comes to Pinecone development. I made a number of bad choices along the way, but I have rewritten most of the code affected by such mistakes.
Right now, Pinecone is in a good enough state that it functions well and can be easily improved. Writing Pinecone has been a hugely educational and enjoyable experience for me, and it’s just getting started.Get the biggest Liverpool 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
Jurgen Klopp is considering going back into the transfer market to strengthen his Liverpool squad before the start of the new Premier League season.
The Reds boss has already welcomed seven new signings to Anfield this summer but could add one more.
Left-back remains an area of concern after Alberto Moreno limped off with a dead leg in the defeat to Roma in St Louis.
Klopp has indicated he’s prepared to use James Milner there as cover after failing in a bid to sign Leicester City’s Ben Chilwell.
However, other options are being considered. Germany international Jonas Hector has repeatedly been linked with Liverpool this summer but the ECHO understands that a move for the FC Koln left-back is highly unlikely. The Reds don’t believe he’s worth the £20million price tag.
“Is the activity all over? I have no idea,” Klopp said.
“I don’t think so. We will see what happens.
“If the Roma game was our base then we have to change everything but it isn’t. Was the Milan game more our base? Maybe. But Roma? No.
“(Joe) Gomez, (Mamadou) Sakho and Lucas are all injured so of course we haven’t got enough centre-backs at the moment. But we have to handle situations.
“There have been too many games with not enough centre-backs. We can’t sign someone just for a few weeks. In other positions we do have cover.”
Liverpool looked vulnerable defensively against Roma with Klopp unhappy about their organisation.
However, the boss is confident they will put things right ahead of the Premier League opener at Arsenal on August 14.
“We have to improve a lot but not because of this game,” he added.
“What you saw was an example of how you can’t defend - leaving spaces so big you could have cut grass in between.
“We were too wide, too deep and too far from each other so each pass they played was a chance.
“But we created six or seven chances of our own with really good football.
“It was a bad game but we know why we lost. There were tired legs and it was really hot.”So in the drafts folder of this blog I’ve got a post that just keeps getting longer. It was called “Six Things Aikido Taught Me” but then that turned to “Ten Things…” and so on. And it’s also too long. So I’ve broken up the post into series of small posts. Here’s the first one.
In Bikido I wrote about this odd thing I’d been doing, going straight from a fast 40 km group ride, led by a cycling coach, to Aikido. (By the way, there’s another person blogging about biking, running, and Aikido. See Run, Bike, Throw.) At the end of the ride, it’s fair to say I was pretty exhausted. If the overall pace hadn’t knocked me out, the sprint at the end, followed by a Strava segment I’m trying to reclaim, certainly did. Typically once the ride was over I grabbed a sports bar and coasted to Aikido.
Fast outdoor riding is over now but it seems Bikido isn’t over just yet.
Coach Chris is now leading indoor cycling classes on trainers. We all bring our bikes and trainers to his basement and pedal away. Fine. And again it’s straight from there to Aikido.
I’m pretty exhausted when I bow onto the mat but I think it might actually be improving my Aikido.
How could that be?
Well, in many ways Aikido isn’t a particularly athletic activity. The goal is to use your attacker’s energy to disarm them. It’s pretty non violent as self defense goes. And the best Aikido is all about efficient technique.
By temperament, that’s not my way. I’m strong and bouncy and often try to succeed using muscle, not form. But that’s not good Aikido. I can recognize excellent technique when it’s performed on me. It doesn’t hurt but I have absolutely no choice but to go where my partner is taking me (short of tapping the mat). I notice this especially when I’m working with one of the senior women, who is older and much smaller than me. I could lift her up and carry her off but when we’re working together, she can just throw me around. It’s no surprise that the big men in our club can throw me around but the magic of Aikido is that at half their weight and twenty years their senior she can do it just as well.
When training for my last test, my partner kept reminding me to stop trying to use muscle. His motto for me was “trust the technique.”
Turns out it’s easier to trust the technique when you’re exhausted and power and muscle just aren’t there to rule the day. Exhausted Aikido means my movements are more efficient and I need to concentrate on form to make the techniques work. When my body is tired, my brain takes over and when it comes to Aikido that’s not a bad thing.
It also occurred to me that there might be other areas of life where this is true, where it’s better to trust the process rather than try to muscle your way through.
And hey, if I’m ever attacked after an exhausting bike ride, I’m ready to go.If you would like to see more articles like this please support our coverage of the space program by becoming a Spaceflight Now Member. If everyone who enjoys our website helps fund it, we can expand and improve our coverage further.
STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS & USED WITH PERMISSION
Wrapping up a record-setting flight, Peggy Whitson, America’s most experienced astronaut with nearly two years of time in orbit across three missions, returned to Earth Saturday after a 288-day stay aboard the International Space Station, landing on the steppe of Kazakhstan with Soyuz MS-04 commander Fyodor Yurchikhin and flight engineer Jack Fischer.
Descending gently under a billowing orange-and-white parachute, the Soyuz crew module, scorched after a fiery high-speed plunge back into the atmosphere, settled to a jarring rocket-assisted touchdown near the town of Dzezkazgan at 9:21 p.m. EDT (GMT-4; 7:21 a.m. Sunday local time).
Russian recovery crews quickly reached the spacecraft to help the returning crew members out of the cramped descent module as they begin their re-adjustment to the unfamiliar tug of gravity.
Yurchikhin, Fischer and Whitson were carried one at a time to nearby recliners for quick medical checks and brief satellite phone calls home to family and friends. All three appeared relaxed and in good health, smiling and chatting with support crews under a clear morning sky.
After a more detailed round of medical checks in a nearby inflatable tent, all three crew members were to be flown by helicopter to Karaganda where Yurchikhin will board a Russian space agency plane for the trip home to Star City near Moscow.
Because of the catastrophic flooding caused by Hurricane Harvey, the NASA Gulfstream jet that normally would have met Fischer and Whitson in Karaganda was delayed. Stepping in to help out, the European Space Agency volunteered to |
one of Hope’s victims and explained: “I always understood that he was my first cousin Fabian Lloyd. The Dorian came from Dorian Gray and the Hope from Adrian Hope, who was one of the family trustees.”
Yet why, if Cravan was operating from Paris in the 1920s, did nobody from his old crowd ever run into him? And if, as some suspected, the whole exercise was a mischievous work of performance art, then why did this least modest and retiring of men never unveil himself as its architect? One hypothesis has been advanced by Ed Maggs, whose family’s illustrious rare book dealership, Maggs Brothers, acquired Hope’s wares in 1921. When Maggs spoke to Anthony Gardner in 2007 for a Sunday Times Magazine story, he speculated: “It is feasible that he got so far with the forgeries and then some sort of disaster befell him—he got knocked on the head and thrown into the Seine or something like that. One would love this to be so, because then the forgeries in our archive would be a great Dada work of art.”
Loy knew only too well that Cravan was a gifted dissimulator, though she viewed it as a matter of artistic self-preservation. In her words, he “worked to maintain his reality by presenting an unreality of himself to the world—to occupy itself with—while he made his spiritual getaway.” For a long time she, understandably, refused to believe he was dead. After waiting in vain for him to appear in Buenos Aires, she traveled to her mother’s house in England, heartsick and penniless, to give birth to a daughter, Jemima Fabienne—or Fabi, as she came to be known. The only full-length biography of Loy, Carolyn Burke’s masterly Becoming Modern, reveals the extent to which she was tormented by her husband’s unknown fate. Was he in a prison cell or hospital, she agonized, or stranded on an island somewhere? This obsession inspired much of her creative output in the subsequent years, a period when she would truly make her mark as a poet. T.S. Eliot and Ezra Pound were admirers, and her first collection, Lunar Baedeker, was published in 1923. In 1927, when Loy read her bleak, reproachful poem “The Widow’s Jazz” at Natalie Barney’s Paris salon, she intoned the lines softly until the climactic couplet, which she cried out: “Husband / how secretly you cuckold me with death.”
Loy never would ascertain if she was a widow or an abandoned wife, and she never married again, though for pride’s sake she eventually started saying that her husband had been murdered. Her rootlessness, meanwhile, persisted, as did her bohemianism and dedication to her art. She lived mostly in either Paris or New York, among friends such as Djuna Barnes and Gertrude Stein, until around the time of her seventy-first birthday, when she was persuaded to move from the Lower East Side to Aspen, Colorado, where Fabi and Joella both lived. (In another tragedy, their brother, Giles, had died of cancer at just fourteen.) As an ailing, elderly woman, Loy created assemblages from found objects—an art form she and fellow Christian Scientist Joseph Cornell bonded over—and ruminated about Cravan. He was a frequent topic of conversation with her Aspen friends, mostly young people who came to pay homage to the modernist icon. “Why,” she would ask sadly, “was I never able to find him?”
Loy died at the age of eighty-three, forty-six years after Cravan was declared legally dead. Fabi, whose strange origins evoked Greek mythology, lived a long and happy life. Having inherited her parents’ artistic talent, but perhaps less of their volatility and wanderlust, she worked as a designer, married twice, and had four children. As a seventy-eight-year-old widow, unwell and nearly blind, she committed suicide in 1997. Immortality, of a sort, had been secured more than half a century earlier, thanks to the cameras of her mother’s famous friends Man Ray and Carl Van Vechten. Their photographs of a young Fabi reveal a watchful, dark-haired girl with a perfect profile, an air of steely calm, and an eerie resemblance to the father she never met.Lorde, Joan Jett, Kim Gordon and St. Vincent's performance in Nirvana paid tribute to the essence of the grunge group's ethos says the bassist, before linking back to issues concerning women’s representation in politics
Bassist Krist Novoselic has said that the decision to have an all-female fronted Nirvana at their Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction last week paid tribute to the grunge group's ethos.
In a message left on his personal site This Is Krist Novoselic, the musician detailed why the remaining members of Nirvana enlisted Joan Jett to sing Smells Like Teen Spirit, Sonic Youth’s Kim Gordon to take on Aneurysm, St. Vincent to perform the lead on Lithium, and Lorde on All Apologies.
The blog post, titled Punk Rock Gender Parity, explains that the acts were chosen “as Joan Jett and Kim Gordon are matriarchs of Punk Rock, while St. Vincent and Lorde represent the powerful up-and-coming women in Rock”. He adds that he and Dave Grohl felt that it would be an apt tribute to both Kurt Cobain and "what Nirvana was about".
As well as admitting that Jett was first on his list for the performance, Novoselic wrote, "I feel we conjured the spirit of the band, and we could not have done that alone. This, for me, is a bittersweet notion as we all miss Kurt so much. But considering we were inducted, the show had to go on."
He also stepped into a "political realm", linking the band’s choice to have a female fronted Nirvana to issues concerning women’s representation in politics, posting a video which calls for parity for women in office.
Our “all female” Hall of Fame set also had me thinking about the political realm (Imagine that!) At FairVote we have done a report regarding the state of women’s representation. I will have more to say about this, especially how at-large districts tend to put more women in office, at another time.
Novoselic is currently Chair of the Board of Directors at FairVote, a non-profit organisation which acts as a catalyst for electoral reform and voting rights through regular engagement with scholars, journalists, civic leaders, policymakers, and state and local reformers.
• For videos of the Nirvana reunion performances, head over to the music blogDavid Kase
Position: Forward (Center)
Birthdate: January 28, 1997 (18)
Acquired Via: 2015 NHL Draft - Round 5, Pick 128
2014-15 Team/League: Pirati Chomutov, Czech-2 - 7 G, 7 A in 30 GP
Nationality: Czech Republic (Kadan)
Size: 5'10", 159
Contract Status: None
Ranking in August 2014 25 Under 25: N/A
In the two drafts that have taken place during the reign of Ron Hextall, General Manager, there's been an intriguing inclination -- more of one than there appears to have been in previous years, at least -- towards players who are a bit smaller than the average professional hockey player tends to be. This is particularly so up front, where we've seen top-50 draft picks used on the likes of 5-foot-10 Travis Konecny and Nicolas Aube-Kubel (both of whom will show up later on in this countdown) and later picks used on 6-foot types such as Radel Fazleev and Cooper Marody (who came up in this very space yesterday).
It's unlikely that the Flyers are necessarily going out there with the clear intent of getting smaller players to stock up their forward ranks. But it does seem clear -- and this shouldn't be a surprise after watching Chicago and Tampa Bay, two teams on the smaller end, square off in the Stanley Cup Final this past year -- that this regime is interested, above all else, in getting talented hockey players who have shown that can play the game well in all facets, whether those guys are 6-foot-4 or 5-foot-9.
Which brings us to this past June's fifth-round draft pick, David Kase, who also falls on the shorter end of that spectrum. Kase is listed on NHL dot com as being 5-foot-10 and 159 pounds. Other sites will have him anywhere between 5'9" and 5'11", but the point is that he's a pretty small guy. And his raw scoring numbers -- seven points and seven assists in 30 games in the second-tier Czech league last season -- don't scream high-end prospect.
Yet it's clear that he's got the skill to become one of the more exciting forward prospects in the organization. What he lacks in stature, he makes up for in most other hockey attributes -- from his skating to his vision to his overall hockey smarts, he's shown flashes that led a lot of folks to think he was going to go well before the 128th pick last June.
He's got a history of representing the Czech Republic well in international competition, too -- and ESPN's Corey Pronman (who had Kase ranked as his 30th overall skater heading into the draft) mentioned that his play on the international stage has routinely been excellent. He played for the Czech under-18 team in both his age-17 and age-18 year, and he even made the under-20 team this past winter as a double-underager and will almost certainly make that squad again next year. (In fact, he's been spending this week playing for the Czech team in World Junior camp.)
Below is a video of his highlights from this past spring's under-18 World Junior Championships, in which he was the captain of the Czech team and put up five points in four games. I would strongly advise against taking a sip of any sort of liquid right before the 1:25 mark unless you want it to end up on your computer/mobile device screen.
You can see how the Flyers ended up, per an interview at McKeen's with team scout Todd Hearty, predicting that "someone's going to take him in the second [round]", or how he ended up as the 30th-ranked skater on Pronman's big board, or how he was named the 11th-ranked European skater on Central Scouting's rankings. By all accounts, it looks like the Flyers may have got a steal on this one.
Kase will likely play in the top Czech league this season, and there's no obvious timetable as to when he may make the leap across the ocean to North America (if, of course, he ever even develops to that point). But he's already one of the team's most interesting forward prospects beyond the top tier, and if he's able to take a next step this season, he may find himself even higher on these rankings by this time next year.
How we voted for David Kase:
Al Allison Andrew Charlie Collin Kelly Kevin Kurt Mary Meseret Ryan Travis N/A N/A 17 22 18 N/A 18 19 N/A N/A N/A N/A
Who we voted for at No. 22:Pennsylvania recently passed Act 147 - also known as the Indigenous Mineral Resources Development Act - opening up the floodgates for hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) on the campuses of its public universities. As noted in a recent post by DeSmog, the shale gas industry hasn't limited Version 2.0 of “frackademics” to PA's campuses, but is also fracking close to hundreds of K-12 schools across the country, as well.
We noted the devastating health consequences of fracking close to a middle school/high school in Le Roy, New York, where at least 18 cases of Tourette Syndrome-like outbreaks have been reported by its students. This has moved Erin Brockovich's law firm to investigate the case, telling USA Today, “We don't have all the answers, but we are suspicious. The community asked us to help and this is what we do.”
Earthworks Oil and Gas Accountability's just-published report, “Gas Patch Roulette: How Shale Gas Development Risks Public Health in Pennsylvania,” makes the case that the decision to allow fracking on PA's campuses has opened up a Pandora's Box stuffed with a looming health quagmire of epic proportions.
The health survey and environmental testing conducted by Earthworks took place between Aug. 2011 and July 2012 and the report opens by stating, “Where oil and gas development goes, health problems often follow.” The summary report explains, “Many residents have developed health symptoms that they did not have before—indicating the strong possibility that they are occurring because of gas development.”
Surveying 108 residents in 14 Pennsylvania counties, the report found “that those living closer to gas facilities reported higher rates of symptoms of impaired health.”
Earthworks reports,
[W]hen facilities were 1500-4000 feet away, 27 percent of participants reported throat irritation; this increased to 63 percent at 501-1500 feet and to 74 percent at less than 500 feet. At the farther distance, 37 percent reported sinus problems; this increased to 53 percent at the middle distance and 70 percent at the shortest distance. For severe headaches, 30 percent reported them at the farther distance, but about 60 percent at the middle and short distances.
And how about the health impacts of fracking for young people, who will be attending the K-12 schools and universities set to be situated right next to where drilling is set to occur?
“Surveyed children averaged 19 health symptoms, including some that seem atypical in the young, such as severe headaches, joint pain, and forgetfulness,” wrote Earthworks. “Among all the survey respondents, it was children living within 1500 feet of facilities who had the highest occurrence of frequent nosebleeds (56%),” also noting severe throat irritation as a reported ailment by 69-percent of people younger than the age of 16.
Schools and campuses, of course, require fresh running water to drink and use for other purposes such as showers for lockers rooms, as well as water for students to wash their hands with in the bathroom. Fresh air to breath in, as opposed to the alternative, is also always a plus.
That being the case, the water and air tests conducted by Earthworks demonstrate that students, teachers, professors, faculty and staff should be on high alert, to say the least.
“More than half of the water well samples had elevated levels of methane and some had iron, manganese, arsenic, and lead at levels higher than the Maximum Contaminant Levels (MCLs) set by the PA Department of Environmental Protection (DEP),” the report stated. “All of the air samples were taken in rural and residential areas; in several, higher levels of the BTEX chemicals (benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylene, which are known carcinogens) were detected, as compared to samples taken by the DEP in 2010.”
Pennsylvania For Sale, Open for Bidding To the Oil and Gas Industry
It's a dim outlook in PA to put it mildly, with a recent cherry on the top: Anadarko Petroluem Corporation is in the midst of “talks” with PA's Department of Conservation and Natural Resources about fracking in the Rock Run area, site of a state-owned park. Republican Governor Tom Corbett recently fired the Director of its state parks system, John Norbeck, who was diametrically opposed to fracking in PA's parks.
“Pennsylvania…[is] forging ahead with oil and gas development without considering the public interest,” said Nadia Steinzor, Marcellus Shale Organizer for Earthworks, in a press release. “That needs to change. And they can start by refusing to permit new drilling until regulators can assure the public that they’ve taken all necessary to steps to prevent risks to their health.”
It's a nice thought in theory.
But the current reality in Pennsylvania under the Corbett Administration is far darker, with whatever's left of the state's public assets currently being auctioned off for fracking - in what author and activist Naomi Klein described as “shock doctrine” fashion - to the oil and gas industry's highest bidders.
Photo Credit: Glynnis Jones | Shutterstock"Check your female privilege."
Donald Trump has 99 problems, but female voters are the main one. Were it not for the Nineteenth Amendment, the price of Canadian real estate would be much higher than it is today: A recent NBC–Wall Street Journal poll found that Trump leads Hillary Clinton by 3 points among men, but loses to her by 23 points among women. That same poll showed 69 percent of women respondents expressing an unfavorable view of the Donald. Clearly then, fashioning a new, female-friendly message should be the top priority for the Trump campaign as it pivots to the general election.
"Without the woman’s card, Hillary would not even be a viable person to run for City Council positions," the mogul informed Savannah Guthrie on the Today show Thursday morning. The comment echoed remarks Trump made after sweeping the Acela primaries Tuesday night, in which the he declared, "Frankly, if Hillary Clinton were a man, I don’t think she’d get 5 percent of the vote."
Trump has hammered this point relentlessly for the past 72 hours, playing the “woman’s card” card in every major interview. It appears to be his primary line of attack against his presumptive fall opponent: Trump’s apparent strategy for winning over women voters is to remind them of their “female privilege.”
“Mr. Trump, for you to say that if she were not a woman she would be getting 5 percent suggests the only thing she has going for her is that she was a woman, not that she was a former senator, former secretary of State, and lawyer,” Guthrie explained to the Republican front-runner. “Do you understand why people find that to be kind of a demeaning comment?”
“I find it to be a true comment,” Trump replied. “I think the only thing she has got going is she’s a woman. She has done a terrible job in so many different ways … She’s playing that card like I have never seen anybody play it before.”
Maybe Trump’s new team of veteran campaign strategists conducted exhaustive research into the attitudes of undecided female voters and discovered that they all long for a candidate with the balls to argue, “Women have an easier time attaining positions of power in America than men do.” Maybe what these voters want to hear most is that any success they have in life is due, at least in part, to the unearned advantage of their anatomy. Maybe they all checked “strongly agree” next to the statement “It is cool and good for a male presidential candidate with no experience in government to suggest a female former secretary of State lacks the credentials to run for City Council.”
Or maybe misogyny is Donald Trump’s core ideology, male supremacy his one unwavering conviction. Maybe fear of female power is so fundamental to his psyche, he literally cannot stop himself from whining about how he’s going to have to listen to Hillary’s “shouting” for the next five months. And maybe this is the reason he’s never going to be president.
We report, you decide.Garret Lewis, host of "The Morning Ritual" on KNST (790-AM) in Tucson, said Sherriff Dupnik’s comments had “incited stupidity around the world.”
“People have the image now that we’re a bunch of racist bigots and there are shootouts in the streets,” Mr. Lewis said. “Again, he has absolutely no proof that any of this is true.”
Steve, a caller on Mr. Justice’s show, said Mr. Dupnik’s statements “showed him for the buffoon he is.”
Later, a caller named Lee said the sheriff was “a blithering idiot.” Caller after caller came up with their own colorful descriptions.
In the incredulous language of talk radio, Mr. Justice defended his show and dismissed the notion that Arizona’s political culture had served as the backdrop to the shooting or an inspiration for the suspect, Jared L. Loughner.
“This is a crazy person!” he said. “Politics is out the window — you’re a nutbag! No amount of controlling talk radio is going to change that!”
“People need to go and point fingers,” he said. “It’s unfortunate, but some people do. They have to find somebody to demonize.”
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Mr. Justice, who has made issues like his opposition to Tucson’s ethnic studies programs for Latinos, his concerns about illegal immigration from Mexico and his disapproval of the Obama administration’s health care law a staple of his program, did not discuss those issues Monday.
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Barry Young, the host of a morning show on KFYI (550-AM) in Phoenix, said: “They are telling us that we have to make sure our words and phrases don’t incite crazy people. I have one problem with that: They’re crazy.”
Some callers, however, made it clear that they believed that the state’s conservative-leaning radio hosts bore some responsibility.
“You ought to be ashamed,” Dale said on Mr. Justice’s program. “You are part of the problem.”
Mr. Justice, his voice cracking, responded, “There’s nothing I have said on this radio station that could have inspired” Mr. Loughner.
A caller who identified himself as Rick told the host Mike Gallagher of KKNT (960-AM) in Phoenix that “individuals like yourself instill fear” in people.
“Was Jared Loughner a Mike Gallagher listener?” the host asked. “You’re dishonest, Rick.”
On "Wake Up Tucson" on KVOI (1030-AM), the hosts said their political conversations were more reasoned than inflammatory.
“When we take an issue on, we really, really understand where we’re going,” said Joe Higgins.
“Ninety-nine percent of the stuff that we’ve ever talked about, we’re dead on,” said his partner, Chris DeSimone. “We’re constantly doing our homework.”
On "The Morning Ritual," it was barely light outside when Mr. Lewis began knocking down arguments that gun control laws should be tightened in response to the shooting. “We can’t always depend on the police, the sheriff’s department or anyone else to protect us,” he said. “At some point, we have to do it ourselves.”
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Among the sponsors on several programs Monday were gun shops and gun shows, including the Crossroads of the West Gun Show, which is scheduled for the Pima County Fairgrounds in Tucson this weekend.
Most callers to the shows Monday morning agreed with the hosts and defended their right to speak.
“I don’t know what you did wrong,” said a caller to Mr. Justice’s show named John. “Keep the freedom of speech going.”
But while most radio hosts sought to stay clear of political partisanship, Rush Limbaugh said Monday afternoon on his show that seeking to connect the shooting with radio talk shows — which are dominated by conservatives — was part of a Democratic strategy.
“It is our right and our duty to criticize the people who have put the fate of our country in peril,” Mr. Limbaugh said.Principled political disagreements in the U.S. tend to revolve around two noble ideals: liberty and equality. Should a Christian baker be free to decline requests for gay-wedding cakes, or must he treat every customer the same? Should some Americans be forced to buy insurance to guarantee medical coverage for everyone?
Virginia's race for governor entails similar contrasts, although less intensely. Democrat Ralph Northam and Republican Ed Gillespie both inhabit the political center, and they agree on a great deal.
But their differences generally break along the same lines. Gillespie wants to cut taxes, for instance; Northam calls Gillespie's proposal a "giveaway to the rich."
Yet the game doesn't always have to be zero-sum. Certain reforms can increase the store of liberty and equality at the same time—which means both candidates should find them worthy of support. Here are just a few.
(1) Lower barriers to professional occupations. In a January paper on "Eight Market-Oriented Proposals That Reduce Income Inequality," Dean Baker of the Center for Economic and Policy Research points out that doctors in the United States tend to make far more than their counterparts elsewhere. On the low end, family practitioners in America average $189,000 a year in earnings; cardiologists average more than half a million. Medical care therefore tends to involve wealth transfers from the less-well-off to the more-well-off.
One quick and easy way to counter that dynamic: Increase the supply of providers. For instance, at present foreign doctors who come to the U.S. cannot just start practicing; they first must complete a residency program, which creates a bottleneck in the supply chain—and drives up prices.
Another way to increase the supply of medical care: Let advanced-practice nurses deliver more without a doctor's supervision. Study after study of this issue has been done, and the overwhelming consensus is that expanding the scope of practice for nurses would lower the cost of health care without reducing patient welfare.
Giving nurses and patients more freedom would leave more money in patients' pockets, put more money in nurses', and less money in doctors'. More freedom. Less inequality.
(Northam, by the way, is a doctor. What does he think of the idea?)
(2) Lower occupational licensing generally. Everyone from the Heritage Foundation to the Obama administration has come to recognize the absurd burden that excessive licensing rules impose on people trying to make a living.
In Virginia, roughly 20 percent of workers need to get a government permission slip before they can practice even such trades as massage therapy and upholstery. Virginia is among the most burdensome states, requiring a license for nearly half of 102 low-income occupations. Those unnecessary rules help keep poor people poor.
The restrictions often have more to do with protecting market incumbents from competition than with protecting the public from harm. Massage therapists need 117 days of instruction under the commonwealth's rules; EMTs need only 28.
As the Obama administration noted, such barriers "artificially create higher costs for consumers and prohibit skilled American workers like florists or hairdressers from entering jobs in which they could otherwise excel.... In addition, the patchwork of state-by-state licensing rules leads to dramatically different requirements for the same occupations depending on the state in which one lives, burdening workers who aim to move across state lines—including, for example, military spouses who move frequently."
(3) Eliminate snob zoning. As in any other economic sector, prices in the housing market are driven by supply and demand, and government often curtails the supply in numerous ways.
Minimum lot sizes drive up prices by making buyers purchase more land and by limiting the number of lots that can be sold in a given area. Even generally pro-regulation writers like Paul Krugman concede "national housing prices have risen much faster than construction costs since the 1990s, and land-use restrictions are the most likely culprit."
Historic districts—Richmond alone has more than a dozen—can have similar effects. So can housing codes that restrict the number of people who can live in a single residence, which has been an occasional source of friction in places such as Northern Virginia. Fairfax is the second-richest county in the nation, and folks in its tony neighborhoods have not been pleased to see immigrants crowding into McMansions or running businesses out of the garages.
(4) Encourage immigration. Although federal laws determine who gets into the country, states and localities can be more or less welcoming (just ask Prince William Board Chairman Corey Stewart). To put it baldly, immigrants are great for the economy: They are twice as likely to start a new business as native-born Americans, and are less likely than natives to commit crime. That's true even of illegal immigrants, by the way. Letting poor people come to America and get rich by creating jobs for Americans. What's not to like?
(5) Pare back Puritanism. Privatizing the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control probably isn't going to happen; state lawmakers are too hooked on the revenue. But at the least, Virginia should allow the sale of hard spirits in groceries and mom-and-pop stores, thereby sharing with small entrepreneurs some of the profits that now go solely into the state's pocket.Elsa, Anna, Rapunzel, and Kairi make up four of the new Princesses of Heart. Come theorise who the last three Princesses will be!
Details Published on November 4, 2016 @ 06:18 pm Written by Arielle
Yen Press announced a week ago that they would be publishing the final volume of the Kingdom Hearts II manga series by Shiro Amano in English next year, just in time for the 15th anniversary of the Kingdom Hearts series. Along with the final volume of the Kingdom Hearts II manga series, Yen Press will also be publishing the Kingdom Hearts II light novel series in English starting June 2017!
Kingdom Hearts II: The Novel Volume 1 by written Tomoco Kanemaki and illustrated by Shiro Amano will release on June 20th 2017 for $16 USD and be published under Yen On, Yen Press' light novel imprint. The first volume contains 288 pages and you can preorder the novel right now from Barnes & Noble and Amazon.
Also, don't forget to pick up a copy of Kingdom Hearts: The Novel, Chain of Memories: The Novel, and the Kingdom Hearts manga series by Shiro Amano!
Follow Kingdom Hearts Insider on Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr for the latest updates on Kingdom Hearts Unchained X, Kingdom Hearts 3, Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue and all things Kingdom Hearts!Upon his arrival as general manager of the Toronto Raptors, Bryan Colangelo immediately began to overhaul the roster.
Through low risk trades, Colangelo turned Rafael Araujo, Eric Williams and Matt Bonner into Kris Humphries and Rasho Nesterovic. Additionally, he swapped Charlie Villanueva after his promising rookie season for a speedy point guard in T.J. Ford, while signing Anthony Parker and Jorge Garbajosa from European teams. Culminating with the drafting of Andrea Bargnani in 2006 with the first overall pick, these players joined forces with the existing key pieces in Chris Bosh, Jose Calderon and Morris Peterson and went from 27-55 to 47-35 in one season.
The immediate dividends of these rapid changes were two consecutive playoff berths. Although the Raptors failed to make it out of the first round in either season, it seemed that the team was headed in the right direction for the first time since the Vince Carter years.
Unfortunately, the immediate returns and subsequent excitement for Toronto masked a fundamental flaw in the approach of the Raptors: the team had no direction, and as such, no identity moving forward. This lack of identity is what has led the Raptors to their current four-year playoff drought.
Being a “good” team, which is what the Raptors were from 2006-2008 is not an identity. “Good” or “Bad” are adjectives used to describe performance. A team’s identity is intrinsically tied to its best players, and it is up to the general manager to build around the team’s core group of “stars.” The ideology behind this method of team construction is not necessarily to find the best players available, but players that are the best suited to complement the pre-existing core.
For example, the San Antonio Spurs constantly tinker with their supporting cast to surround Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobli with the right pieces to get back to the finals, while the Dallas Mavericks finally found the right combination to put around Dirk Nowitzki to win it all in 2011.
From his very first draft with the Raptors, Colangelo has failed to do this. At the time of the 2006 NBA Draft, Toronto had a single foundational piece in All-Star power forward Bosh. Rather than trying to pair his sole All-Star with a talented wing player, or perhaps a traditional back to the basket, defensively-oriented center, Colangelo chose to draft Bargnani. The problem with this is not about Bargnani’s talent level or potential, but the limited potential he and Bosh had to coexist.
By using the first overall pick to select a seven-foot perimeter oriented player with three-point range and poor defense, Colangelo showed little long-term vision by effectively wasting the top pick on someone who had many overlapping skills and attributes to his star player. Whereas teams like the Cleveland Cavaliers and Orlando Magic worked tirelessly to surround their young stars in LeBron James and Dwight Howard with complementary pieces that had vastly differing styles to their franchise players, the Raptors foolishly opted for redundancy.
In addition to the lack of a vision, the Raptors' front office has drastically mismanaged roster decisions over the past few years. It is no secret that there are a few franchises that are consistently hot spots for top free agents; Toronto is not one of them. As such, in order to be successful, a franchise like Toronto needs to be aggressive before the trade deadline, draft well, and take some risks in signing talent, even if it means rolling the dice on talented players who have less than stellar reputations. Instead, the Raptors have played it safe in the worst possible way by offering inflated contracts to players who are role players at best. Only for the Raptors is signing Amir Johnson to a five-year $34 million deal on the first day of free agency a success.
The most recent example of the lack of direction that plagues the Raptors can be seen in the decision to draft Terrence Ross with the eight pick in the 2012 Draft. Although many were confused, analysts made sense of the decision by pointing to the slow development of DeMar DeRozan who was in the last year of his rookie deal. The idea then was if DeRozan didn’t take a huge leap forward this year, the Raptors wouldn’t re-sign him and would have Ross as his replacement. This explanation was popular until the Raptors decided to give DeRozan a four-year extension. By committing to DeRozan for the foreseeable future, the Raptors essentially wasted a lottery pick on Ross, who by virtue of playing the same position as DeRozan, will be a reserve at best. The Raptors cannot afford to keep wasting lottery picks, as they may be the only non-playoff team that consistently uses the draft to find role players rather than potential foundational pieces.
Ultimately, as Colangelo’s reign comes to what seems to be an inevitable end, the Raptors are a franchise that has hit rock bottom. The team is near the bottom of the standings, and unlike most of the other teams with whom they share that space, the Raptors don’t have a set, promising franchise player like a Kyrie Irving, Anthony Davis, or even a DeMarcus Cousins moving forward. Poor decisions stemming from a lack of foresight in the front office have left a franchise in disarray and fans in disappointment. Hopefully, the Raptors front office begins searching for an identity and a sense of direction to move forward sooner than later.WASHINGTON – Police in Washington, D.C., have virtually admitted they have video of law-enforcement officers shooting to death a young, unarmed woman, but they’re deliberately withholding it from the public.
WND attempted to obtain video of the shooting death of 34-year-old Miriam Carey in the shadow of the nation’s Capitol on Oct. 3, 2013, by filing a Freedom of Information Act, or FOIA, request.
The request was denied by the Washington, D.C., Metropolitan Police department, which is handling the investigation into the conduct of the uniformed Secret Service agents and U.S. Capitol Police officers who chased Carey in her car, then shot her dead.
By telling WND that releasing the video might adversely affect any criminal proceeding, police have essentially admitted such video might cast a bad light on the conduct of officers and agents.
It also confirmed that authorities are at least considering the possibility of pressing charges against officers and agents involved in the shooting of Carey.
A WND investigation revealed the presence of at least seven security cameras in position to capture video of the shooting at Constitution Avenue NE & 2nd Street. The incident was also likely captured by numerous dash-cams on police cruisers.
WND has now appealed the denial of its FOIA request for the video to the office of Vincent Gray, the mayor of Washington, D.C.
WND has also filed a FOIA request seeking the forensics report on the shooting but has received no reply to multiple inquires on the status of that request.
The mainstream media appear to have lost interest in the story, but serious questions have steadily emerged about the shooting of the dental hygienist from Stamford, Conn., ever since police chased her black Nissan Infiniti from the White House to the Capitol, then shot her to death, apparently with her infant child in the back seat.
Contrary to media reports, the initial police report shows Carey did not ram a barrier at the White House.
Carey only tried to make a U-turn at the White House.
It appears she may have arrived at the White House checkpoint by mistake.
She apparently broke no laws until fleeing after being confronted by heavily armed guards.
Authorities did not use non-lethal means to try to stop her car, such as setting tire spikes or shooting out her tires.
Shooting at moving vehicles is against the policy of the Washington, D.C., Metro police and against the policies of many big-city police departments.
Officers appeared to get ample opportunity to see there was a child in the car before opening fire.
Authorities apparently did not employ non-lethal means to subdue Carey, such as pepper spray or a Taser, before shooting her to death.
Legal and civil rights experts from across the political spectrum have told WND the shooting does not appear justified.
Renowned journalist Nat Hentoff told WND it appeared officers “murdered” Carey.
In appealing to Mayor Gray to release the video of Carey’s shooting, WND noted that it would serve the public interest by allowing citizens to objectively decide for themselves what happened on that day.
WND also noted that nearly three months have passed since the shooting, with no word on the status of the investigation. Meanwhile, police departments in other major cities such as Philadelphia and Las Vegas have released videos of officer-involved shootings before their investigations were complete.
Video of the first shooting incident involving Carey (at the Garfield Monument traffic circle) is already public. Withholding existing video on the second, fatal, shooting involving Carey (at the guard house at Constitution |
immigrants with immediate family members in the United States.
Support and opposition to the bill fell along the same lines as civil rights legislation that LBJ signed into law in 1964: Southern Democrats and Midwestern conservative Republicans tended to oppose it strenuously, while Northern Democrats and moderate Republicans embraced it. In signing the law, Johnson affirmed that the national origins standard violated “the basic principle of American democracy—the principle that values and rewards each man on the basis of his merit as a man.”
While the bill’s champions, including LBJ and Celler, were committed to ethnic and racial pluralism, they anticipated that most of its beneficiaries would hail from Europe.
But the story played out differently. As Europe’s economy finally emerged from the ashes of World War II, fewer residents of Ireland, Italy or Germany moved to the United States, while those residing in the Soviet bloc found it all but impossible to try.
Because of the family exemption, the 1965 act had vast, unintended consequences: Larger numbers of immigrants than expected established roots in the United States legally, and those who did so created a much more diverse population. In the first decade of the bill’s enactment, an average of 100,000 legal immigrants above the cap relocated to the U.S.; by 1980 the annual number soared to 730,000. Today, foreign-born immigrants comprise roughly 13 percent of the total population, approaching the all-time high of 14.7 percent in 1910. Another 20 percent were born in the United States but have at least one foreign-born parent. In other words, first- and second-generation Americans comprise a third of the country.
Moreover, unlike earlier waves, 90 percent of new Americans since 1965 hail from outside Europe—from countries like Mexico, Brazil, the Philippines, Korea, Cuba, Taiwan, India and the Dominican Republic. By 2050, non-Hispanic white Americans will comprise less than half of the U.S. population.
The political consequences, also, have been astonishing.
The statute that put this demographic transformation in motion arrived closely on the heels of a parallel, related development. Writing in 1965, shortly before LBJ signed the immigration act into law, Theodore White, the noted journalist and chronicler of American presidential campaigns, marveled at the striking realignment of black voters. For approximately 75 years following the Civil War, African-Americans had fallen squarely into the Republican camp. Notwithstanding the powerful draw of FDR’s New Deal coalition, even as late as 1960, one-third of “non-white” voters (the vast majority of them, black) supported Richard Nixon, the GOP candidate.
Not so four years later, when the Republicans nominated Goldwater, an arch-conservative who voted against the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and whose law-and-order message struck many observers as a thinly veiled appeal to white backlash. That year, Goldwater scored roughly 6 percent of the nonwhite vote. “If the Republicans can do nothing to include the Negroes in their vision of America,” White observed, “they enter any Presidential race with one ninth of the nation locked against them.”
The immigration act vastly compounded this problem for the Republican Party. When White proposed that the GOP faced a stark choice—get right with nonwhite voters, or become the party of white retrenchment—he was thinking strictly of African-Americans. He wondered how a party could write off 11 percent of the electorate and still have a future. It could not have occurred to him that the Republicans would chose to write off 40 percent of the electorate, or more.
***
The Republican Party appears to be doing that. It’s a party whose presidential nominee uniformly disparaged Mexicans as “rapists” and “killers” and called into question the impartiality of an American-born federal judge of Mexican ancestry. It’s a party that casts a big enough tent to include congressional luminaries like Steve King (for every immigrant child “who’s a valedictorian, there’s another 100 out there who weigh 130 pounds and they’ve got calves the size of cantaloupes because they’re hauling 75 pounds of marijuana across the desert”); Michelle Bachman (who claimed that a top aide to Hillary Clinton had family ties to the Muslim Brotherhood); Peter King (who contends that "80 percent, 85 percent of the mosques in this country are controlled by Islamic fundamentalists”); Louie Gohmert (the GOP’s in-House intellectual, who raised concerns that Muslim immigrants might give birth to “terror babies” who “could be raised and coddled as future terrorists”); and Don Young (who apparently didn’t receive the memo explaining that “wetback” is no longer a term used in polite company.)
This attitude is all quite apparent in the poll numbers. Today, Trump is polling at between 0 percent and 2 percent of the African-American vote, and 20 percent among Latinos—dismal statistics that can all be traced back to the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, and the Republican Party’s failure to adapt to its unforeseen ramifications.
The irony is two-fold.
First, Democrats never anticipated that the 1965 immigration act would create such rich diversity. They certainly never anticipated that it would place them in so advantageous a position heading into the 21st century. Second, and more important, this emerging political alignment never needed to happen. Immigrants who have settled in the United States since 1965 represent vastly divergent faiths and backgrounds. They include evangelical Christians, traditional Catholics, anti-statist refugees and the kind of upwardly mobile, economic strivers whom the GOP courted assiduously in past decades. Had the GOP focused more on ideology and less on skin color, the party could have thrived from the immigrant influx.
The great tragedy of 2016 may well be the full transformation of the GOP from a mainstream political party into a smaller, rump organization dedicated to white retrenchment. That outcome was never foreordained, but rather the unfortunate product of a half-century of resistance to pluralism and demographic transformation. For Democrats, it augurs near-term potential. But it deprives the country of real ideological alternatives at a moment when optionality is key. Lyndon Johnson didn’t visit this upon the Republican Party. The Republican Party visited it upon the rest of us.Game Pencil Engine
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Background image created by p0ss[http://opengameart.org/node/9037]Back in November after Spurs first began experimenting more regularly with three at the back, manager Mauricio Pochettino made a point in one of his press conferences that a change in formation does not necessarily mean a change in system.
Sounding somewhat annoyed by the line of questioning, Pochettino said, “We played with different formations last season against - I don't want to be repetitive - Watford. And against Arsenal at the Emirates and against West Ham. Against Monaco we played with four at the back again. Maybe they're different formations from the beginning but at the end the same philosophy and the same principles.”
This is the key point for understanding how Pochettino’s 3-4-3 actually works and why we can use the formation regularly: It’s not actually that different from how we played all of last season.
Formations in themselves are not that important in the big picture.
Before we talk about Poche’s 3-4-3, we need to make a note up front about how formations actually work in soccer. Though I don’t see it as much as I once did, there is still sometimes an idea amongst soccer fans that a change in formation by definition means a change in system.
Another way of stating the same idea is that fans often act as if formations and systems are the same thing. Thus a 4-4-2 is assumed to always be different than a 4-3-3 or a 4-2-3-1 or even a 3-4-3. But the actual differences between these formations can vary a great deal depending on many different factors.
Indeed, the differences between two teams that play the same formation can vary a tremendous amount. Tim Sherwood and Diego Simeone both frequently use the 4-4-2 but no one would ever confuse Sherwood’s drunk yelling YOLO 4-4-2 with the disciplined, physical 4-4-2 Simeone uses.
So, to take Spurs as an example, many fans have suggested that Pochettino has changed his approach this year relative to last year’s. In some fairly superficial ways that might be true.
To be sure, he has varied his formations more this year than at any other point in his career. And to the extent that it has taken him time to figure out how to get this team playing the way he wants them to, it’s fair to say he has “changed” this season.
That said, what’s striking about the 3-4-3 that he seems to have landed on is that it looks a lot like the 4-2-3-1 of last season in several key ways. We’ll break them down below.
Both the 3-4-3 and last year’s 4-2-3-1 keep three defenders in deep positions and use those three defenders in similar ways.
I won’t spend too much time on the point about splitting the center backs because we already have covered that. But this might be a helpful way of talking about how the center backs work in both last year’s 4-2-3-1 and this year’s 3-4-3: Think of the typical three man midfield. It can be a 4-3-3 or a 4-4-2 diamond; it doesn’t really matter.
In many teams that use a midfield three, though not all, the roles played by the there players are something like this: The two outside players in the trio are box-to-box midfielders who are expected to get up and down the field vertically, assisting as needed on the defensive side but also making late support runs into the box in the attack. The central player in the trio is responsible to stay deeper, recycle possession from a deep central position, and sweep up whatever messes get left behind by the more aggressive outside runners.
The roles of the back three in Pochettino’s system actually look a lot like that, but for defenders. The outside defenders are what we might call line-to-line center backs, meaning they work in the channels on either side of the center back in the space between the goal line and halfway line.
Last season, Toby Alderweireld and Jan Vertonghen played in these wider center half roles whenever Eric Dier, ostensibly a defensive midfielder in the 4-2-3-1, dropped off into a deeper central position. This is something the team did from the very first match of the season. Note where Dier and Alderweireld are receiving the ball even in the first game against Manchester United, which came before the emergence of Dele Alli or the decision to partner Dier with Mousa Dembele in midfield.
Dier:
He’s not receiving a ton of passes, but of the ones he is receiving, a considerable portion are in the part of the field where you more common expect to find a center back than a defensive midfielder.
Now Alderweireld:
The vast majority of the passes Toby received even in his first ever league game for Spurs are received in spaces where you expect to find a right-sided center back in a back three or even a right back rather than the right-sided center back in a back two.
The difference in the number of passes the two players receive hints at another important point. The reason that Pochettino uses his center backs in this way is that they are instrumental in his attacking strategy. I have linked to this piece multiple times, but it tells the story well: Spurs were the only team in the top six last season whose most common passing combinations all involved defenders and who relied on direct attacks to create more than 25% of our shots.
The passes attempted chart for Toby from the same fixture against Man United last season illustrates this point nicely:
Interestingly, one of the changes we have seen in the past six weeks is that Pochettino now seems to favor Alderweireld in the deep central role and Dier in the right-sided role. But the responsibilities seem to basically be the same. The above is from Alderweireld, the right-sided center back in last season’s 4-2-3-1. Below we have Dier’s passes attempted against Chelsea last week:
Obviously he is playing fewer passes than Alderweireld did in that weird opening fixture last season, but the types of passes he’s making and the places where he is making them from are quite similar.
What our right-sided center back needs to do is find room in the defensive half-spaces (the space between where wide players and more central players will typically play) to receive the ball and pick out more aggressive, ambitious passes. This holds true whether Spurs are playing the more conventional 4-2-3-1 we saw for most of last season or the 3-4-3 we have seen more regularly in recent weeks.
This role is vital for the Tottenham attack because one of the things that comes from having a fairly defensive manager like Pochettino is that our front six generally does not include an elite passing midfielder, like Modric or even an Ander Herrera-type playmaker, and so that passing has to come from somewhere else. For Pochettino, it usually comes from the center backs.
Both the 3-4-3 and last year’s 4-2-3-1 use similar strategies in the attacking third.
A second point of similarity between the 4-2-3-1 of last season and this year’s 3-4-3 is that both systems use the advanced attackers in similar ways. Tottenham tends to be an extremely narrow team in the attack for a few different reasons.
The first point is that the commitment to the high press dictates how the team sets up. To press effectively, teams need to be compact. If players are spread out across the field, it is impossible to press well because pressing well requires that multiple players attack the ball in order to both apply pressure to the man in possession and to cut off the passing lanes that would give the man in possession ways to get rid of the ball. One or two players cannot do that.
As a result, pressing teams have to keep a compact shape so that they always have enough players near the ball in order to press when the pressing trigger is activated.
The second thing driving player position in Pochettino’s system is that though Pochettino teams typically have high possession numbers, the system is not meant to produce high amounts of sustained, long-term possession. Rather, the system is designed to attack directly, turn the ball over, win the ball back quickly, attack directly, turn the ball over, repeat.
Interestingly, the top four possession teams in England right now reflect these different approaches to possession. The first and fourth teams on the list, Manchester City and Arsenal, want sustained possession that allows them to control the tempo, wear the opposition down, and probe the defense for weaknesses. The second and third teams on the list, Liverpool and Spurs, want a high number of short bursts of possession ending with quickly taken shots. (Recall that City and Arsenal produce the highest quality chances in the EPL while Liverpool and Spurs lead the league in shots attempted.)
Whether it is the 3-4-3 or last year’s 4-2-3-1, this narrow positioning (and the underlying philosophy that explain the narrow shape) is present. The Chelsea fixture is actually a good example of this. Christian Eriksen routinely played almost more like a right inside forward, operating in the attacking half space as an advanced creator much like David Silva has done for City over the years. This role was virtually identical to the role he plays in the 4-2-3-1.
Likewise, Dele Alli took an advanced central position that often turned him into a de facto second striker as he made vertical support runs off of Kane that led to both of the Tottenham goals. This is the same sort of role he played in last year’s 4-2-3-1.
That said, we should note at this point that the 3-4-3 does add a wrinkle that the 4-2-3-1 generally does not. In last season’s 4-2-3-1, we had four defenders plus Dier as a sort of defender-midfield hybrid, Dembele as a central midfielder, and then four attacking players. The 3-4-3 complicates that picture.
In games where we start Dembele and Wanyama in midfield, we end up sacrificing one of last year’s attacking four for Wanyama. The trio of Alderweireld, Vertonghen, and Dier play in similar ways (with Dier and Alderweireld seeming to have swapped roles, admittedly) but Wanyama and Dembele are then used to provide additional muscle in midfield ahead of the back three.
However, in most of the games where we have used the 3-4-3 this season, we have functionally ended up with something that is almost more 3-3-3-1:
Lloris
Dier, Alderweireld, Vertonghen
Walker, Wanyama, Rose
Eriksen, Alli, Son/Sissoko
Kane
Theoretically we’re still playing 3-4-3 only with Eriksen partnering Wanyama rather than Dembele. But Eriksen is a very different sort of player than Moose and so he ends up as less an orthodox central midfielder and more an odd kind of central midfield/attacking midfield hybrid. I suspect that we’ll see something very like this when Erik Lamela returns from injury.
This, then, is perhaps one of the most encouraging things about the 3-4-3: It allows us to stay in the same basic system, but it not only maximizes Wanyama’s abilities, it also allows us to rest Dembele without breaking our midfield in the way we did whenever Dembele rested last season. (That Pochettino was able to find a tactical solution to the Moose-needs-a-break problem speaks to his creativity as a manager.)
Both the 3-4-3 and last year’s 4-2-3-1 use the fullbacks in similar ways.
Finally, we’ll end on a brief note about the fullbacks. The obvious downside to playing as narrowly as Spurs routinely do in the attacking third is that this can make your attack quite easy to defend. And there have been a number of matches this season where our attack has looked quite stagnant due to too much sustained possession in the attacking third and not enough of the knowledge or ability needed to break down bunkered-in defenses. (Hey guys, we’re playing West Brom on Saturday!)
The way Pochettino fixes this problem is obvious, of course: He pushes his fullbacks far up the pitch. Indeed, even last year in the 4-2-3-1 both Danny Rose and Kyle Walker routinely played more like wingbacks than fullbacks, providing the primary attacking width for the team. That has continued this season.
The risk to playing wingbacks, of course, is that they leave space in behind them that clever opponents can exploit. Tottenham’s fix for that problem last season was dropping Dier off and pushing Vertonghen and Alderweireld wide to deal with those wide attacks from the opposition.
We still see a lot of that this season. But there is an additional patch for that problem with this year’s team: Victor Wanyama. Though he is a significant liability in the attacking phases of play, Wanyama is a fantastic destroyer who covers a tremendous amount of ground. And as Chelsea have shown with N’Golo Kante in their own 3-4-3, if you have an industrious destroyer in midfield who can cover a lot of lateral ground, that can further help deal with the risks of pushing your fullbacks so far forward.
Conclusion
The success of Pochettino’s 3-4-3 is not that it is an entirely new way for Spurs to play. Rather, it is a way of playing that is wholly consistent with Pochettino’s general philosophy that also adds a few additional layers of complexity and nuance to the system. Put another way, 3-4-3 allows us to do all the things that 4-2-3-1 did last year, but it also introduces variation into the system by allowing us to play more of a de facto 3-3-3-1, it gives us a solution that actually works quite well when Dembele is not available, and it maximizes Wanyama’s abilities as a midfield destroyer.
This won’t be a popular comparison, but one of the things Brendan Rodgers did very well at Liverpool is that he was able to think creatively about how to maximize the talent he had in his squad. This is how he ended up playing a diamond midfield for much of the final Suarez season and how he hit on his own version of the 3-4-3 to mask some glaring deficiencies in his team for much of the year after Suarez left.
Unfortunately for Rodgers, his own ego and the often enormous amounts of time he required to figure out the best system (and the bad results he frequently got while figuring it out) meant that he was not a good long-term solution for Liverpool despite some real strengths he had as a manager. Pochettino reminds me a bit of Rodgers in that he has been able to creatively tinker with his squad in order to get the most he can out of his players while staying true to a general attacking system.
That said, because Pochettino is a far better manager than Rodgers, he has been able to figure out a good system a bit faster than Rodgers could and the results Spurs got while Poche was finding that system have been far superior to Liverpool’s results during Rodgers figuring-it-out phase.
This, then, is another reason that Poche is an ideal manager for a club like Spurs: Though he has his weaknesses, the things he does well are perfectly matched to the things that a club like Tottenham need from their manager.The Liberals have vowed to reverse the government's "City to the Lake" strategy, strip the Land Development Agency of much of its power, and prevent shipping containers from sitting idly in the front yards of Canberra properties.
The opposition released its planning policy on Saturday, a collection of 29 commitments across a broad range of areas.
Opposition transport spokesman Alistair Coe wants to reverse the City to the Lake strategy and focus on the city centre. Credit:Jay Cronan
The commitments, a number of which have already been made, include comprehensively reviewing the territory plan, scrapping the lease variation charge in town centres and the city centre, boosting the role of the government architect, and ensuring "meaningful consultation" before planning legislation is introduced.
There are also measures to prevent dodgy building practices, including the creation of a searchable register of builders' past projects, the delivery of training programs for members of bodies corporate, and a requirement that planning officials visit completed buildings before issuing certificates of occupancy.Several police vans come under attack as bottles and missiles are hurled at officers in north London
Protesters angry at police over the death of Rashan Charles, a young black man who died after being chased into an east London shop by officers, blocked a road and threw debris at the police on Friday evening.
Dozens of people gathered outside the convenience store in Dalston, where Charles was pinned to the floor by police officers who had been chasing him in the early hours of Saturday morning. The 20-year-old was taken to Royal London hospital, where he died a short time later.
The protesters pushed mattresses, wheelie bins, traffic cones and rubbish into the street, stopping cars from passing. Several vans of riot police sent to control the demonstration came under attack, with the protesters hurling bottles and other missiles at officers.
When a lorry drove through the barricade, hitting the wheelie bins lined up in its path, protesters jumped on board, clinging to the window, while one sat on a bin which was pushed along by the vehicle. A man clambered on to the roof but the lorry continued to drive with people throwing bottles at it.
Henry Langston (@Henry_Langston) Truck drives through barricades taking a few protesters with it @VICEUK pic.twitter.com/qgcmkZd2aY
Several wheelie bins were set alight at the barricade and a mattress thrown on top of the burning pile sent black smoke spiralling into the air. Fireworks were launched towards the police as a helicopter could be heard circling above.
Officers on horses and others in riot vans were deployed as the police tried to contain the disorder and break up groups of protesters.
Windows were smashed in several Kingsland Road shops, and some restaurants in the area pulled down their metal shutters, trapping customers inside, as the protest became more violent.
Videos posted on social media show people confronting a line of police officers armed with batons as they tried to clear debris off the road.
Spectrum SINO 📻 🔊 (@SINOinUK) This is the scene on Kingsland Road where gangs of masked youth are attacking the police with bottles pic.twitter.com/g5caH4zQDM
The Metropolitan police said they were aware a protest had been planned and that officers were on the scene.
“At approximately 1540, a number of items were placed on the highway of the A10 Kingsland Road, close to Middleton Road,” a statement said. “A number of items including bottles have been thrown towards officers who continue to monitor the situation.”
The Hackney division of the Met tweeted an image of a damaged police car and said the increasingly violent protest was not what the Charles family wanted.
Hackney Police (@MPSHackney) Officers have been subjected to abuse & violence. Whatever the frustrations, this is patently NOT what the family of Rashan Charles wanted. pic.twitter.com/X0WdLHHt0m
In a protest on Monday, at least 150 people marched on Stoke Newington police station. Some carried placards which read “Black Lives Matter” and the crowd chanted “No justice, no peace”.
The Independent Police Complaints Commission has launched an investigation into Charles’s death. The Met said Charles was seen “trying to swallow an object” and that an officer “sought to prevent the man from harming himself”.
In an update on Friday, the IPCC said it had collected videos from cameras worn by police officers and CCTV, and had sent one of its commissioners Cindy Butts to Dalston to meet with people concerned about the case.
The Charles family have re-issued a statement first released on Monday, which called for calm. The statement said: “We appreciate all support, but any hostile actions or other events, at this stage, that may risk detracting from our current cooperative engagement with the IPCC and Met police is unwelcome.”Shooters who blasted trees and left hundreds of shell casings strewn about have prompted Ottawa to ban target shooting in the Marlborough Forest, a huge swath of land southwest of Richmond.
For years, the forest has been a common place to go for people to practise their marksmanship skills, without any major incidents.
But a recent spike in the number of people apparently using the forest in a “dangerous and disrespectful manner” has forced a crack down, the city says.
Pictures speak for themselves. A sign at the forest’s entrance, paid for by sponsors, was riddled with bullets, while garbage and debris from target practice was piled up and the ground left littered with red, green and blue shell casings.
Meanwhile, trees — some greater than 20 centimetres across — were pumped so full of shells that they were severed or had to be cut down.
One area in particular, off Paden Road, was ground zero for numerous complaints to police, bylaw officers and the provincial Ministry of Natural Resources.
Scott Moffatt, the Rideau-Goulbourn councillor elected in 2010 and again last fall, says he received complaints throughout his first term in office. In particular, there appears to be an increase in the number of people coming from outside of the area to target shoot there, he said.
“The appearance is they don’t care about anything because they just leave crap everywhere,” Moffatt said.
The city posted signs last fall, advising forest users that the discharge of firearms for anything besides hunting, as regulated by MNR, is prohibited.
People who continue to skeet or target shoot in the forest could be subject to stiff fines under the city’s trees and natural areas protection bylaw. Fines range from as much as $10,000 for a first conviction to $25,000 for subsequent convictions.
Police are “using this time for education” about the change, said David Barkley, the manager of forest services, when asked if anyone has been charged for illegally shooting in the forest since the signs were posted in September.
Cleaning up the forest last summer ate up $10,000 of the department’s operating budget, he said.
The target-shooting ban is a classic case of a reckless minority ruining it for a respectful majority, said outdoorsman Wes Clyburne.
“There’s always a slob or two who ruins it for everybody,” he said. “You can’t legislate away idiots.”
Having a safe place for hunters to go target shooting is a good idea, Clyburne said, because it allows them to test their firearms before hunting season to ensure everything is in working order. Plinking, which involves firing at informal targets such as pop cans or swinging steel plates, is also popular.
But Clyburne says every hunter safety course — which everyone must pass to get a licence — encourages hunters to clean up after themselves.
Target shooting is not allowed in any other city-owned forests or property, but there are several gun clubs and shooting ranges in the region.
Those are reasonable options, Clyburne said, but they often require memberships and may not be economical for the hobby hunter who just needs to fire off a few rounds at the start of the season to make sure a gun is working properly.
That’s why the Marlborough was a good option for many.
The forest is Ottawa’s largest conservation area. At nearly 8,200 hectares, it’s bigger than every urban ward in the city. And it has a range of diverse users, including hikers, hunters, snowmobilers and scientists.
It’s also takes in private land and there are residents living within its bounds.
Moffatt said he’s received two complaints from forest users who aren’t pleased with the ban and think it’s a heavy-handed response.
He admits that the wide net cast probably catches people who have always cleaned up after themselves, but he supports the decision.
“I, too, saw those pictures,” Moffatt said. “You have to do something.”
mpearson@ottawacitizen.com
Twitter.com/mpearson78We're still months away from the release of Command And Conquer: Red Alert 3, but that's not stopping EA from trying to work fans into a lather with these new, gorgeous screenshots of the series' trademark Soviet war machine in action.
EA has yet to reveal a proper release date for the game, but they have mentioned that the title is planned to appear on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 as well as its native PC platform.
These new screens look great and the water effects are gorgeous, but am I the only one noticing the Tesla Boats in the first picture? Who was the genius who signed off on adding electrical discharge weapons to a vehicle that floats on millions of gallons of ridiculously conductive fluid?Alpharetta police are looking for two ‘bump and rob’ suspects.
Those are people who drive up to your vehicle, intentionally hit you, then rob you when you get out to check the damage, exchange insurance information and wait for police to arrive.
About 3:30 p.m. Feb. 8, motorists headed northbound on Ga. 400 probably thought they were witnessing a typical post-crash scene on the shoulder of the road.
It wasn’t.
According to Alpharetta Department of Public Safety spokesman George Gordon, a large black truck, possibly a newer Toyota Tundra with an extended cab and tinted windows, sideswiped a gray Mini Cooper whose driver pulled over to the side of the road and got out.
The driver of the truck walked up to the victim’s vehicle, pulled out a handgun, reached inside the car and took the victim’s purse and cell phone, Gordon said.
A passenger in the truck walked up to the passenger side of the Mini Cooper and pointed a handgun at the car passenger, Gordon said.
After the robbery, the suspects got back in their truck and drove away.
Police said one suspect was skinny, between 5-foot-4 and 5-foot-6 and about 17-22 years old. He wore a light gray hoodie and blue jeans.
The other suspect is about 18-22 years old and wore a red hoodie, police said.
Anyone with information about the suspects or the vehicle is asked to contact the Alpharetta Department of Public Safety investigative unit at 678-297-6319 or the confidential tip line at 678-297-6307. Information can also be left online at www.alpharetta.ga.us within the public safety page.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
Gordon provided this advice on how to deal with motor vehicle accidents, including times when there is a perceived threat:
“Motorists involved in accidents that involve death, injury or vehicle damage are required by law to remain at the scene. They should immediately contact their local law enforcement agency and advise them of the traffic accident. An officer would be dispatched to the scene to file an accident report.
“However, if motorists feels they are in danger, they should contact 911 immediately and advise them of the circumstances. The safety of the motorists is always a priority. If motorists feel they need to move to a safer location they need to maintain contact with authorities. The dispatcher will advise the motorists what to do and the responding law enforcement officer will be made aware of the situation.”The Fashion History of Southwestern Virgina
Bic Blocked Unblock Follow Following Sep 9, 2016
Oh, you were thinking this, eh?
Applied Banjo Studies @ VPI
Welp, fuck you! This post is about the REAL fashion of lovely little place settled between the Blue Ridge, the Appalachians, and the New River Valley on some (in the winter) tundra ravaged wasteland of a plateau.
Han, you’re crossing the drillfield in THAT coat?
No, seriously. We all know college kids just wear pajamas and shit, except at UVA and Ole Miss (both 0-1 at the moment…) but what I really wanted to discuss is how a team went from this:
Simple, but not awful?
TO THESE PAJAMA JEAN LOOKING MONSTROSITIES :(
Seriosuly Phil Knight? I hate you.
You might not think those look so bad. But fuck you, you’re wrong. But we’ll get to that.
We have to start this thing somewhere, and I chose, for our opening picture, the jersey set Tech wore at my very first game in Blacksburg. August 31st, 2003. The opponent, UCF. The jersey? Pretty damn plain (like most jerseys in 2003), but pretty damn servicable. 2003 is actually a pretty great year for Tech jersey wise in my opinion. I think sporting fashion is pretty much all about NOT fucking up. No one really expects cutting edge from their sports teams. Most “cutting edge” stuff looks a lot more Colorado Rockies than Oregon Ducks.
Quack quack mother fucker! Get in my van!
Shit got real that year September 18th. Thurday night game in the Terrordome. The opponent? Hurricane Isabel. I mean, Texas A&M. The victor? THOSE GLORIOUS PANTS!
SWEET CHRIST!
So this is arguably our first black jersey because of the 19 inces of rain that fell during that damp nationally televised 35–19 trouncing. Tech had worn all maroon twice in 1998, against UVA and WVU, but THIS moment is truly the birth of the ALL MAROON EVERYTHING movement. Because for the first time, it seemed Tech actually had some interchangable outfit pieces (those pants yall), not just two sets and an occasional throwback (more on those later) or solid color look. From an aesthetic perspective, delicious. W-L record though? Not as much… Tech would go 3–3 the rest of the way whilst that year wearing maroon pants, including losses to Pitt, Cal in the Insight Bowl (QB’d by someone named Aaron Rodgers?) AND our last (seriously, like 13 years ago brahs) loss to The Fighting Jeffersonians.
BEAT THESE FUCKERS THOUGH
Great look, shit game. @ Pitt 2003.
Our plain ass road |
, it’s a pulsed signal,” and the other half was saying, “What do I do next?”
Was that an exciting moment?
No, it was worrying, because we were not sure what this signal was. Tony was convinced there was something wrong with the equipment. And we had to know sooner rather than later, because my whole thesis was in jeopardy. After about a month we had sorted out that it wasn’t crossed wires and it wasn’t interference, and it wasn’t this and it wasn’t that. So what was it? It kept pulsing very, very, very accurately [every 1.339 seconds]. Now, if something is going to keep pulsing regularly and it’s not flagging, it must have big energy reserves. That means it’s massive. But it’s also small. When we say that, it’s because of the rapid repetition rate—we’re saying it’s small in diameter. We now know that pulsars are neutron stars, which are indeed very dense. They’re massive but small in dimension.
Your process of elimination is fascinating: You initially considered that the pulse could be a satellite, radio interference, a signal bouncing off a corrugated steel building?
When you’re faced with something new, you have to find your own path across it, and one way is to think off-the-wall about what it might be.
Including the possibility that those pulses could be a signal beamed from another civilization?
Radio astronomers are aware in the back of their minds that if there are other civilizations out there in space, it might be the radio astronomers who first pick up the signal. It didn’t make total sense, but faintly, just possibly. So we nicknamed that source Little Green Man. It was tongue-in-cheek. We weren’t serious, but we had to call it something.
When did you realize what you were actually dealing with?
I was analyzing a recording of a completely different part of the sky and thought I saw some scruff. I checked through previous recordings of that part of the sky and on occasions there was scruff there. That scruff went through the telescope beam at about 2 o’clock in the morning. So at 2 a.m. I went out to the observatory, switched on the high-speed recorder, and in came blip, blip, blip, this time one and a quarter seconds apart, in a different part of the sky. That was great. That was the sweet moment. That was eureka.
How so?
It couldn’t be little green men because there was unlikely to be two lots of them on opposite sides of the universe, both deciding to signal to a rather inconspicuous planet Earth. It had to be some new kind of source, some new type of star that we had never seen before. Later I found a third and a fourth as well.
Why did the discovery of pulsars have so great an impact?
Because it was such a surprise and because the objects turned out to be so extreme. Nobody knew such things were out there. Pulsars later made black holes seem more plausible [by showing that a dying star could collapse to an extremely small size]. They opened up a whole new domain, a bit like when the Spanish conquistadores brought horses to South America. The native people had never seen horses! We had never seen anything like pulsars or neutron stars, and astronomers react not with fear—as the native South Americans did—but with excitement, delight, enthusiasm, amazement, fascination, and engagement to a startling discovery like this.
What was the response in the scientific community?
Following the announcement, every radio astronomer who had access to the right equipment was observing the known pulsars and searching for more. A lot of research projects were disrupted as radio astronomers around the world commandeered anything suitable. Within six months the optical astronomers were joining in, particularly searching for a pulsar in the Crab nebula [the remains of a nearby supernova whose explosion was seen in A.D. 1054]. A group of X-ray astronomers who had previously observed the Crab nebula reanalyzed their data to see if they could have detected a pulsar in it, and they indeed found pulsations in their data. It became clear after about six months that these pulsars were rotating neutron stars. But there are features of pulsars that we still don’t understand, 40 years on. So the science moved very quickly, but it has also continued to be a lively field of research.
After the discovery was announced, you had a somewhat difficult experience with the press.
Yes, that was very...interesting. They didn’t know how to handle a young woman scientist.
They asked Antony Hewish about astronomy, and they asked you if you had a boyfriend—
How many boyfriends.
—and they compared your height with Princess Margaret’s.
I got rather tired of these questions about what my height and breast and waist measurements were, so I said I didn’t know. Then the reporters tried prompting.
And then there was the Nobel Prize snub. Do you wonder how your life would have been different if you had won the prize?
I have discovered that one does very well out of not getting a Nobel Prize, especially when carried, as I have been, on a wave of sympathy and a wave of feminism. I also was getting a lot of other awards, to some extent in compensation for not getting the Nobel. And that’s probably more fun because it means there are more parties. The Nobel goes on a week, but there’s only one party. And if you get a Nobel, nobody ever gives you anything else again because they don’t feel they can match it. So getting a Nobel could well have meant less fun over all.What would you throw away right now if you were given a magical trashcan where you could get rid of all the stuff that’s causing you stress? During times of stress and heaviness, what we need is to let go of the things that are causing the overwhelming feeling of, “it’s too much.”
It’s not about taking on more — it’s about being willing to do less.
So if you could toss out 10 things in your life right now, what would they be?
If you’re feeling overwhelmed and have been for a long time, here are 10 ways to change your thinking to lighten the stressful load you’ve been carrying and finally give yourself a break:
10 Things To Get Rid Of If You Want To Be Happy
1. Get rid of the need to please.
2. Stop feeling like you need to explain yourself.
3. Don’t feel the need to reply immediately to everything (hello, to emails taking over your life!).
4. Let yourself be unavailable when you need to be. It’s OK to say “no” to that event or party.
5. Cast away the thought that you need X to be successful. Why is it we often feel that ONE thing has the power to make or break us? It’s simply not true. There’s always another opportunity.
6. Get rid of the desire to show yourself off. You are enough as you are. There are people that will see you for who you are without having to prove anything.
7. Stop trying to be accepted by everyone. Not everyone is going to accept you and that’s OK. Our job is to accept that.
8. Remember that you don’t need to know every detail. There’s a mystery to the way life works. You might as well embrace it.
9. Toss out the need to be “good” or “perfect.” It’s OK to mess up. It’s OK for someone to see you become a little crazy. It happens to all of us.
10. Stop holding onto the stress of feeling you are responsible to hold up everyone around you. Trust that there is a greater force helping them. Helping and supporting others is wonderful. But the moment it causes stress is a signal to let go. Trust that they will be supported just as you are supported by a greater life-force.
Tossing out the heaviness and the stress that weighs us down is the easiest way to feel light and free again. In lightness and freedom comes a sense of openness, expansiveness, and newfound energy.
And it is with this awakened energy that we can actually do better work and end up helping more people.
When we feel good, we can create a greater impact. So take some time today and make a list of five to 10 things that YOU want to let go of.
Write them down and start tossing them out one at a time. Then, in the comments below, share with us what you plan to let go of!
Breathe into the lightness, freedom, and awakened energy that you’ll receive when you clear out the clutter in your life. You deserve it.
Originally published at: MindBodyGreen
Photo Credit: 藍川芥 aikawake via Compfight ccADVERTISEMENT
Good week for:
Visualizing world peace, after Miss Universe paid a visit to the Guantánamo Bay military base and declared it “a loooot of fun!” After seeing the detainee camps and recreation areas, Dayana Mendoza of Venezuela said, “I didn’t want to leave, it was such a relaxing place, so calm and beautiful.”
Quick thinking, after a woman caught driving 103 mph on an Oregon road with her 10-year-old grandson in the car explained to police that she was only trying to teach the boy never to drive that fast.
Parochialism, after American reporters traveling to Europe with President Obama were given a briefing book informing them that Germany is “about the size of Montana,” the Czech Republic is “about the size of Virginia,” and the U.K. is “slightly smaller than Oregon.”
Bad week for:
Having God as your co-pilot, after a Tunisian pilot was sentenced to 10 years in prison because he paused to pray instead of taking emergency measures before crash-landing his plane, killing 16 people.
Life imitating art, after an Iowa 13-year-old was arrested for biting 11 kids at his school. His father said he meant no harm, but was obsessed with the vampire movie Twilight.
Realism, after an Ontario woman became terrified by a cardboard cutout of a coyote that had been set up in a park to scare away geese. The coyote, she said, “barked” at her as she jogged by, and she fled in panic and called 911 to report a wild animal on the prowl. Police surrounded the coyote before realizing it wasn’t real.Texas curriculum dropped after complaints from lawmakers
The state's regional Education Service Centers will no longer issue lesson plans - and will forbid their use after Aug. 31 - for a popular online curriculum system that became a lightning rod for conservatives who criticized it as anti-American, legislators announced Monday.
The move is expected to leave school districts across the state, including some in the greater Houston area, scrambling to replace CSCOPE, as the program is called, before the start of next school year. Districts that lack the staff or budget to design their own curriculum tend to rely on it.
The CSCOPE plans are in use at 877 districts, or 78 percent of school districts in Texas, said Kyle Wargo, the executive director of Regional Service Center 17 in Lubbock.
"Since we are a small district, we don't have the resources to hire specialized people in that area," said Somerset Independent School District Superintendent Saul Hinojosa, who credits CSCOPE with helping the district raise its test scores.
Somerset, located in Bexar County, spent roughly $27,000 for CSCOPE lessons last year and had received no complaints about them, Hinojosa said, questioning how the state could prohibit its use.
"We actually purchased the curriculum, so does the curriculum belong to the school district or does it belong to the state?" he asked.
The Houston Independent School District does not use the curriculum, but several smaller Houston-area districts do. They include the Cleveland, Crosby, Friendswood, Galveston, Goose Creek, North Forest and Stafford districts.
On Friday, the CSCOPE governing board is expected to unanimously vote to end the lesson plan component of the program under an agreement that was brokered in 72 hours, said Sen. Dan Patrick, R-Houston, chairman of the Senate Education Committee.
All 20 board members signed a letter to Patrick and Sen. Robert Duncan, R-Lubbock, outlining their intent and asking them to help pass House Bill 1675, which would keep the regional Educational Service Centers open until 2019.
Patrick said he saw no reason to object to the request. In the future, he said he would like to see school districts partner on curriculum development. He and other lawmakers said they got complaints from parents about CSCOPE, including a lesson on the Boston Tea Party that invited students to include the perspective of Britons who might have considered it an "act of terrorism," and other allegations that CSCOPE promotes Islam over Christianity.
At least five Bexar County school districts rely on CSCOPE to some degree, including Lackland ISD, which serves the children of U.S. military personnel. Its superintendent, Burnie Roper, called the claims of anti-Americanism "ridiculous."
"I hate the way that it came about because I think, in the end, it makes it difficult for the small districts that don't have the resources such as curriculum writers and all that," he said.View 2 Photos
Toyota is developing a range of Priuses that will include a small pickup based on the 2008 A-BAT concept and a sporty, 2+2 coupe to compete with Honda's upcoming CRZ hybrid coupe. The Prius coupe will have a lower roofline than that of the all-new 2010 Prius hatchback sedan launching this year and will share its powertrain.
The 2010 Prius sedan's battery technology is carried over from the 2004-2009 model, but its 1.5-liter engine may get a small bump in displacement or power output with no penalty in fuel economy. Since the 2+2 coupe will be significantly lighter than the hatchback sedan, having the same powertrain means it will be quicker and faster. Think 1984 Honda CRX with a standard Civic four-cylinder.
We still can't say whether the A-BAT pickup, expected as a production truck no earlier than calendar 2010, will be badged a Toyota or a Scion. Management has decided to return Scion to its original mission of offering only one generation of each model, which would limit the A-BAT's lifespan. A small hybrid pickup would go far in improving Toyota's Corporate Average Fuel Economy for trucks, so you can expect it would be around for more than one product lifecycle.No risk, no reward: the truth about high interest savings accounts
Harry Chemay Blocked Unblock Follow Following Jan 17, 2017
Remember the first time you received interest from your savings account? Whether it’s $100 or just 10 cents, it’s a magical feeling seeing “free” money appear in your account. But feelings can be deceptive, and if you think you’re earning significant money from a high interest savings account, you should look closer.
Savings accounts: what are they good for?
Savings accounts are a good solution for those with shorter-term financial goals where you can’t take any risks with your money. After all, you never see your savings account going down, like you might with an investment.
But if you’re trying to grow your money, a savings account is not the best place to keep it. As Warren Buffet said:
“Today people who hold cash equivalents feel comfortable. They shouldn’t. They have opted for a terrible long-term asset, one that pays virtually nothing and is certain to depreciate in value.”
Current interest rates
Let’s get technical for a moment. The interest rates from a high interest savings account reflect the official cash rate set by the Reserve Bank of Australia, which is currently a modest 1.50% p.a.. Currently, most high interest savings accounts shows standard variable rates ranging from 1.20% to 1.75% p.a., and bonus interest rates are in the 2.95% to 3.15% p.a. range.
The bonus rates do come with strings attached. Often the higher bonus rate applies only for a limited honeymoon period on balances up to a certain amount. Sometimes you have to add minimum monthly additional contributions to get the bonus rates. Whatever it is, to access the bonus there are usually some conditions.
As with most financial products, the devil is in the details, read the terms and conditions of any bonus rate carefully.
What you see isn’t what you keep
At first glance, it might appear that high interest savings accounts are an easy way to make “free” money. But is this really true? When you account for inflation and tax, you’ll see that the rate of return is much smaller than you’d think.
In investing it’s not what you earn but what you keep that matters. And to calculate that, you need to subtract the costs, taxes and inflation. At Clover we call this the “hip pocket return”, and it’s the only return that matters to savvy investors.
Putting your money to work
What if you put $10,000 into a high interest savings account five years ago? What would it be worth today?
To look at the real worth of our savings account, we need to adjust the account balance as we see it in our account for two key items — inflation and taxes. Inflation erodes the purchasing power of money — basically, a dollar today is not the same as a dollar two years ago in terms of its real worth. The purchasing power of a dollar today is lower than what it was two years ago due to a general increase in prices of most goods and services ranging from a loaf of bread to a haircut.
Any interest we earn on our savings account is treated as income and is taxable in the year it was paid. So without adjusting our savings account balance for inflation and the tax on interest earned, we don’t know the real worth of our account.
In order to estimate the real worth of $10,000 invested in a high interest savings account five years ago, we can use the historical interest rates on retail savings accounts/bonus accounts and adjust the data for inflation and tax impacts.
As the chart below shows, $10,000 invested during 2011 in a high interest savings account would have grown to $12,014 over the five year period. After adjusting for the effects of inflation and tax however, that $10,000 would have been worth only $10,438, a return of 0.86% p.a. over the five year period. 😳mecanoo architecten + TU delft unveil a windmill without moving blades
‘EWICON prototype’ by mecanoo architecten and delft university of technology, the netherlandsall images courtesy of mecanoo architects / TU delft
a scale model of the bladeless windmill developed by mecanoo architecten and delft university of technology is now viewable in front of the on-campus faculty building dedicated to engineering, mathematics and computer science. the electrostatic wind energy converter (EWICON) is a steel frame structure that uses particle movement to generate energy. electrically charged water droplets are moved across a bipolar field by wind which creates a current that is transmittable to a grid. as such, the form is freed of mechanically moving parts and instead becomes a sleek steel frame supporting a shear of horizontal tubes. more pragmatically, the lack of moving parts reduces maintenance costs, wear and tear and shadow casting as well as virtually eliminating noise pollution. the technology was developed by TU delft’s departments of chemical and aerospace engineering in conjunction with wageningen university and is slated to be the next phase of wind energy technology. while traditional turbines convert wind energy into mechanical energy that is then turned into electrical energy, the EWICON uses electro hydrodynamic atomisation wherein a high electric field is used to generate and charge particles simultaneously. the EWICON’s filleted rectangular form was integrated in mecanoo’s proposal for stadstimmerhuis 010 in rotterdam, which suggests that future applications of the technology are particularly relevant to urban architecture.
video diagramatically explains the EWICON
image © TU delft
prototype viewimage © mecanoo architects
possible applications in different sitesimage © TU delft
droplet movement diagramimage © TU delft
droplet movement at low wind speed image © TU delft
droplet movement at high wind speedimage © TU delft
test of the charged dropletsimage © TU delft
mecanoo architects had integrated the EWICON in building proposals, seen at the top of urban high-rises image © mecanoo architectsIt all began when one of them inquired of another if she had seen Monroe at a party they’d all been to the night before. The Christian having been thrown to the lions, the ring was cleared and the fight was on. The occasional defence of Marilyn by any of the men present only whipped the ladies up to new frenzy.
"That dress!" said one. "I wasn’t sure if she was trying to get into it or out of it."
"Vulgar," said another anonymous voice behind me. "After all, we know she’s got a figure. She doesn’t have to keep showing it."
"Have you seen the suit she wears?" "You mean the one with the bunch of red roses tucked into the front of it? Seen it, my dear? How could you miss seeing it? I think it’s the cheapest, loudest, Sadie Thompsonish sort of thing I’ve ever-".
”What do you expect?" chimed in another dear lady. "If I told you where I first saw Marilyn Monroe"
A male voice said mildly,.’What were you doing there?" "I was there on business;" Mercifully, the lights went out, music filled the room and the screen ahead of us and the ladies behind me became fully occupied with the doings of Jeanne Crain and Myrna Loy in “Belles on Their Toes”.
Later I said to a studio executive, "What’s Marilyn Monroe got, or what does she do, that brings the pack down on her in full force like that?"
"It’s probably," he said, "that she just exudes sex. She is sex. She makes every man in a room aware of her as a woman. It’s not just the clothes she wears; she’d have the same effect on them if she wrapped herself in an old burlap bag."
And to prove the point, the publicity staff did just that a few days later. Billy Travilla, famous designer, went to work with several yards of burlap. The result appeared in hundreds of newspapers across the country. Marilyn Monroe looking like sex personified and needing no more than a burlap bag, fringed on the bottom, skilfully arranged so that the words, IDAHO POTATOES, were boldly and carefully displayed right there, across the top of Marilyn’s famous and fabulous body. Marilyn was delighted.
"There," she said happily. "That will prove to those old cats who are always criticizing what I wear that I can look good in anything."
But..the old cats. were neither impressed nor depressed, and they certainly were not deterred. it wasn’t a week later that Marilyn’s appearance at a Hollywood premiere in a dress of black lace over red taffeta, with a neckline that forgot altogether when to stop plunging, excited the sisters to new demands that her studio do something about teaching Marilyn Monroe how to dress.
But Marilyn Monroe knows very well how, to dress to get and to create the effect she wants. She not only dresses to get the attention of men and at this she succeeds, but in spades!-she dresses to irritate and annoy women because she doesn’t think that she could get them to like her anyway.
"I let them alone," she says of this running feud between Monroe and women. "Why don’t they let me alone?"
And yet I’m sure she’d like to have women like her. For these women, whose wrath she brings down on her lovely blonde head, are important women. Maybe she doesn’t need their liking or their approval now, but the old Hollywood saying, "Be nice to them all on the way up because you’ll meet them all on the way down," contains more than a morsel of bitter truth.
Besides that, everyone likes to be liked, and Marilyn Monroe is even more eager for approval than most people. As a child in the Los Angeles Orphanage; as a "foster" child put out in the home of any qualified person who offered to care for her at the usual county rate of $20 a month; and as a teenage girl,who escaped the bitter loneliness of that life via a teenage marriage that ended in divorce, Marilyn has shown herself to be an extremely shy, sensitive girl who responds to anyone who seems to really like her.
I felt that tentative reaching out, that feeling her way and hoping to be liked, the first time I met her. And after spending a couple of hours with her, I could add the impressions I got then with the impressions I had received the many times we’d been in the same room together, or at the same party. I knew that here was a girl who made women virtually hate her simply because she was so sure they weren’t going to like her that she went out of her way to do and say the things that would make it almost impossible for any woman to like her.
To the oft-repeated charge that Marilyn is stupid, the answer is that no one can be stupid and get to the top in one of the toughest cities in the world. And there is little doubt that Marilyn Monroe is on the top. At this writing, she is scheduled to star in three forthcoming Fox movies, “Don’t Bother to Knock”, “Monkey Business” and “The Jean Harlow Story”.
Born Norma Jean Baker, in Los Angeles, California on June 1, none of the way up has been easy for Marilyn Monroe, She started as a model, then worked in an airplane factory where she was chosen Miss Parachute by her admiring male co-workers. This honour landed her picture in a national magazine and led to offers from Howard Hughes, 20th Century-Fox and Walter Wanger.
Then came the bit parts that were left on the cutting room floor, a dropped option. more modelling and odd jobs, including posing for the now-famous calendar that caused her studio so many headaches. But, as Marilyn says of that, "What of it? I was behind in my rent at the Studio Club and Tom Kelly’s wife asked me whether I’d pose for Tom in the nude, and he’d pay me $50 for one hour’s work. Natalie said she’d be with me in the studio at the time, and she was, and I did it, and so what?"
Now, with Marilyn a top-bracket star, the calendar has been given nation wide publicity, but Fox has handled it sensibly by echoing Marilyn’s own sentiment. She did it, so what? Other girls, down on their luck and behind in their rent, have done a great deal worse, and Marilyn has wisely chosen to forget about it and hopes the public will, too.
But the calendar story and Marilyn’s well- known approval of her own beautiful body has caused the studio to be wary about her publicity. When one interviewer asked, "What kind of a bed do you sleep in, Marilyn? Twin or double?’. and Marilyn said innocently, "Why, a twin bed, but a wide twin bed," the publicity representative leaped forward to whisper, "Don’t say that, Marilyn. It will make people think things."
Through it all, Marilyn Monroe continues to be the rage of Hollywood, the girl who’s done more than any other woman there to provoke the rage of other women. Marilyn has one answer to all the shouting.
"Oh, well," she says, "I’d rather talk to men, anyway."
"Talk" hiss the women. "Monroe talk? Why, she’s too dumb to talk."
And you can take it from there.
That she is fascinated by her own form and face, there is no doubt. She can spend solid hours in front of a mirror, just plucking out an eyebrow, smoothing a line of lipstick – but mostly being entranced by the lovely reflection she finds staring back at her.
But all this is not the work of a monster ego. It’s something a lot simpler than that. It’s a childish delight at discovering, all over again, that the skinny little ugly duckling of the Los Angeles Orphanage days is really this beautiful young woman. "No one ever told me I was pretty when I was a little girl," Marilyn recalls. " All little girls should be told they’re pretty, even if they aren’t."
So now Marilyn’s mirror, and the eyes of admiring men, and even her success reassure her. She is pretty; she is an actress; she does have a gorgeous figure. And so the skirts get tighter, the necklines lower and the female protests over this "vulgar" display louder. From the American Magazine
"Motion Picture and Television Magazine"
– July 1953 Written by Isabel MooreI was once put in charge of one of the first Coca-Cola machines on the Internet. This was the late 20th century at MIT, where we thought it was pretty awesome that you could, in theory, make the machine dispense a Coke from your desktop computer without having to walk over to it. (Of course you still had to walk there to pick up your Coke in the end.)
Everybody knew then that it was inevitable that more and more “things” would end up connected to the Internet. Now they are: Fridges, smoke detectors, thermostats, furnaces, cars, light bulbs and toasters are all being networked. The benefits of all this connectivity will probably be greater than our Internet Coke machine. But there’s also a pretty good argument that the Internet of Things is going to be a security and privacy disaster.
It’s not just paranoia — it’s more of a business reality. It is a software truism that anything connected to the Internet needs to be patched regularly, or else it becomes vulnerable to vandals. The lack of regular fixes is already a problem with a $500 smartphone; the maker typically loses interest in supporting it and patching it after maybe 18 months. It’s going to be a much bigger problem with a $50 device or a $5 device that lingers in your house for years. Inevitably, bad guys will have their way with them. So somebody far away will be able to turn on your oven when you’re on vacation. Your lawnmower will be part of a botnet sending spam. The fridge of the future will offer to reorder your preferred groceries, because it’s been scanning the barcodes on everything you put inside. That’s great, until bad guys figure out how to read the barcodes off bottles of antiretroviral drugs and learn who has HIV.
To address the technical issues and make these systems more robust and secure, we have started the Secure Internet of Things Project, a collaboration among Stanford, the University of California at Berkeley and the University of Michigan.
On the policy front, it's not yet clear what role Washington will be able to play in addressing the upcoming risks. But a good start would be for political leaders and the public to recognize the importance of communications transparency. I’d even suggest that policymakers consider a new consumer right: “the right to eavesdrop on what our Things are saying about us.”
What is transparency, and why should Washington start paying attention to it?
Your computer and cellphone are already tracking and sending a lot of data about you, and although you may not realize it, you can listen in. (You can generally do it by installing something called a “root certificate.”) Even though only a few people might do this, their findings benefit us all. For example, in 2012, it was a Stanford graduate student, Jonathan Mayer, who first publicized the fact that Google was circumventing the security system in Apple’s Safari browser to track users across the Web, contrary to Google’s prior statements to consumers. Mayer documented this by reading what Google’s servers were saying to the Safari browser on his computer and what Safari was sending back. Mayer reported this, Google stopped doing it, and the company eventually paid $39.5 million in civil penalties to the federal and state governments. Without the Web’s communications transparency, documenting this security hole — and the fact that it was being exploited by a major advertiser — would have been vastly more difficult.
The problem is that today’s Internet of Things devices are different: For the most part, you can’t eavesdrop. Manufacturers are shipping devices as sealed-off products that will speak, encrypted, only with the manufacturer’s servers over the Internet. Encryption is a great way to protect against eavesdropping from bad guys. But when it stops the devices’ actual owners from listening in to make sure the device isn’t tattling on them, the effect is anti-consumer.
It’s likely that bad guys will still learn of bugs they can exploit: Organized criminals and even governments are said to be paying millions of dollars to learn about vulnerabilities in mass-produced products. But good guys will be less likely to find the same bugs and help manufacturers fix them.
Stymieing security research is one result of a lack of communications transparency. Another consequence is to make it difficult for consumers and businesses to buy and install their own independent checks on security and privacy. One such check is called an Intrusion Prevention System: a separate box that acts like a firewall, auditing incoming communications and making sure nobody is telling a device to do bad stuff, and auditing outgoing communications to stop a device from divulging too much. It’s not possible to set up the box if it can’t eavesdrop on what the device is saying.
At a technical level, my colleagues and I don’t yet have a concrete proposal for exactly how to build and enforce a system of communications transparency. And there are many concerns with the Internet of Things that won’t be solved just by eavesdropping on what our devices are saying. The growing power of machine learning means that companies can infer things about us even if nothing tells them straight out, just by looking for patterns across a whole population of customers. That’s a real concern as data become more pervasive and get saved forever. Meanwhile, the algorithms used to analyze that data will only get more sophisticated over time.
This is part of a much larger battle going on, about the power and perils of Big Data and the cloud: Do the makers of these products really need the ability to collect data from the households of all the device owners and hold on to it? Voice, video, everything I ever put in my fridge — you can learn a lot about me from recording all that and saving it forever. Something I said in my TV’s presence in 2015 could be used against me in 2025. Google already keeps a record of everywhere I’ve been at every moment since I started carrying a smartphone — to their credit, their website lets me review and delete that record if I choose (but some of Google’s competitors aren’t so transparent, and anyway, how do I know it’s really been deleted?). These broader questions of personal data and who should control it may be among the most vexing that our society faces.
Even if we don’t have the answers today, policymakers can start to think about what best practices in the industry might look like. Should there be an “Underwriters Laboratories” that audits the software on Internet of Things devices for prudent security and privacy practices? What should happen when a manufacturer stops supporting a networked device that’s in 30 million homes?
As our policies evolve, it’s important to remember that communications transparency — or the “right to eavesdrop” — has been a big part of the practical success of PCs, smartphones and the Web. Knowing what is being said about you is one of the major checks against security and privacy problems. This ought to be preserved as Internet-connected devices become even more intimately wound into our lives. An Internet of Things where your fridge is telling mobsters about the medicine you just put inside, and you don’t even know about it, would make for a scary future. Let’s not head there.
Keith Winstein is an assistant professor of computer science and, by courtesy, of law, and a Robert N. Noyce Family Faculty Scholar at Stanford University. He is a member of the Secure Internet of Things Project, a collaboration among computer-science and electrical-engineering faculty at Stanford University, the University of California at Berkeley and the University of Michigan. From 2007 to 2010, Winstein was a staff reporter at The Wall Street Journal. Thanks to Jonathan Mayer for reading a draft of this essay.As the UK General Elections are getting close and the EU-UK relations are one of the main topics of the electoral campaign, we looked into the decisions of the Council to see, factually, what exactly divides the UK and the other Member States and to what extent this impacts on EU policy making.
We found that the opposition to the appointment of Jean Claude Juncker as Commission President was no single event: in fact, the British government has voted against the common position in the EU Council much more frequently than any other Member: it has stayed in opposition in 85 out of 680 votes it participated in. Next in line, though far behind, are Austria, Germany and the Netherlands. Despite this, the policymaking in the EU has been able to work due to the extension of the qualified majority voting in Council votes, which prevents deadlocks when only one (or very few) countries oppose. This analysis is based on the study of the voting behaviour of all EU Member States’ Governments between July 2009 and March 2015.
The British delegation has found itself the most often in minority on policy areas related to budget, agriculture and foreign and security policy. Similarly to their British colleagues, representatives of the Netherlands oppose frequently the Council’s common position on budget. The Austrian government stays in opposition on environment policy, budget and legal affairs, whereas Germany has mainly been left in minority when it comes to environment, employment and transport.
However, after the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty, most of the decisions in the Council are made by qualified majority, i.e. not all Member States have to agree for the legislation to pass.[1] The most well-known case when a proposal was adopted with the UK (and Hungary) being opposed was the appointment of Jean Claude Juncker as President of the Commission, in June 2014. The analysis shows, however, that the differences go beyond the choices of persons and are reflected in the debates and votes on actual policy orientations.
Quarrels over the money that goes to the EU
The negotiations over the size and the destination of the EU budget are usually the most difficult, as each Member States wants to make the most out of its own contribution to the EU’s coffer. All in all, on issues relating to budget, Austria has been left in minority 7 times, Germany only once and the Netherlands 15 times out of 67 votes they participated in. However, the UK government was in minority by far the most frequently, voting differently than the majority on 23 occasions, out of 67.
For example, the draft budget for the financial year 2015 was adopted with only the United Kingdom’s delegation |
extremist Jewish group that has placed a bounty on the lives of Palestinians.
All three have in the last week ceased enabling donations to WikiLeaks. Neither Mastercard nor Visa have explained the basis for their decision to do so. PayPal has backed away from its initial claim that the US State Department told PayPal WikiLeaks had broken the law after the claim was discredited. This is the third occasion on which PayPal has suspended payment services for WikiLeaks.
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RedditGround troops may be flexing their muscles in Crimea while they await marching orders, but cyber and information attacks between Russia and Ukraine are already underway.
Friday, a group of unidentified men took control of a series of communication centers in Crimea. Maintained by Ukrtelecom JSC, Ukraine's telecom provider, the facilities are essential to linking Crimea with the rest of Ukraine. With the hubs knocked out, landline, mobile, and internet services were severed, with almost no coverage available. It is unclear exactly who was responsible for these attacks, but considering their sophisticated and clandestine nature, it is reasonable to assume they were carried out by professionals.
On the other side of the border, RT—the news channel formerly known as Russia Today and funded by the state—had its website hacked on Sunday morning, with the word 'Nazi' not so stealthily slipped into headlines. Highlights included “Russian senators vote to use stabilizing Nazi forces on Ukrainian territory,” and “Putin: Nazi citizens, troops threatened in Ukraine, need armed forces' protection.” RT was quick to notice the hack, and the wordplay only lasted about 20 minutes.
RT website has been hacked, we are working to resolve the problem — RT (@RT_com) March 2, 2014
But that pales in comparison to Russia's information war tactics, which have been described as "an all-out propaganda campaign" by AFP.
State-run outlets have propagated reports of international involvement in the long-running Kiev protests. TV channel Russia 24 broadcast the message of a Russian claiming he was paid by nefarious western forces to grab a sniper rifle and join the opposition forces. “There are mercenaries there […] they come from very different countries; the United States and Germany, they come wearing identical military uniforms,” he said. The news anchor then added that “mercenaries are now going to Crimea. Their aims are clear enough: to provoke a new wave of the crisis and rob people on the sly.”
Again, AFP's judgment was that “the unspecific but threatening reports seemed principally aimed at stirring fears.”
And it's not just disinformation being spread, but information being cut off all together in some instances. Social media sites such as Russia's VK have been blocking access to pro-Ukranian groups associated with Maidan [Russian article], making them unavailable for those with a Russian IP address. Although this can easily be circumvented with the use of a Virtual Private Network or the Tor network, the blanket censorship will apply to most users within Russia.
These actions may not be directly related to the threat of physical violence on the ground in Crimea, but they're evidence that the battle for hearts and minds is already well underway through the medium of technology and information—and that Russia has a massive advantage.
@josephfcoxCrime scene tape (Shutterstock)
Two students were shot and suffered non-life-threatening wounds outside a gym during a basketball game at a Maryland high school on Wednesday, local police and the school district said.
The shooting took place around 8 p.m. local time at Frederick High School during the junior varsity contest against the visiting Governor Thomas Johnson High School, Frederick County Public Schools said in a statement.
All other students and staff were safe and the two wounded students were receiving care, the district said in a tweet.
Authorities evacuated everyone from the gym to the school’s cafeteria and questioned them, said police in Frederick, about 50 miles (80 km) northwest of Baltimore.
Students were then taken to a nearby bowling alley to meet their parents, the district said.
It was not immediately clear how many people were involved in the shooting, nor what the motive was. Police said in a statement that they were still searching for suspects.
Frederick High School will be closed for students on Thursday, the district said.
(Reporting by John Clarke in Washington; Additional reporting by Curtis Skinner; Editing by Peter Cooney and Dominic Evans)When it comes to shared-universe comic book movies – which are, like, so in right now – Warner Bros. are definitely playing catch up. But they do seem to be moving with competitive speed.
According to “knowledgeable people close to the studio,” and quoted by The Wall Street Journal, Warners are looking to fast track a sequel to Man of Steel for release in 2014. That would probably mean they have to get into production in the next six, maybe nine months and skimp on CG postproduction time. And that would be the end of 2014, I’d expect, not the summer.
Furthermore, the nameless, knowledgable ones say that the Justice League movie:
could come out as soon as 2015.
Which is actually what we were expecting a half-dozen set backs ago. I guess box office like Man of Steel‘s can really light a fire.
Films can be turned around this quickly and still turn out well, but I am always disappointed by the studios’ insistance on setting release dates before they even have screenplays, let alone actual films.
If Warner Bros. really want to play Marvel at their own game expect locked-in release dates announced by, or maybe at, San Diego Comic-Con.
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None foundGeorge Zimmerman was shaking hands, smiling and signing autographs at a central Florida gun show Saturday.Click here to watch the reportZimmerman greeted people and autographed photos of him posing with his dog. He appeared at a scaled-down version of the New Orlando Gun Show at the Arms Room store on East Colonial Drive.The show was originally set to be held at the Majestic on John Young Parkway, but organizers said the venue canceled late Thursday after getting negative feedback about Zimmerman's planned appearance.“They told us they canceled for community pressure,” said Mike Piwowarski, a show organizer. “They were getting phone calls and backlash, and didn’t want that kind of person there.”Piwowarski said he was angry the Majestic canceled the event and he plans to sue for an estimated $300,000 in lost gun sales.He said he supported Zimmerman during his trial in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin and after he was acquitted.Zimmerman offered to return the favor and support Piwowarski’s gun business, which led to today's appearance, he said.
George Zimmerman was shaking hands, smiling and signing autographs at a central Florida gun show Saturday.
Click here to watch the report
Advertisement Related Content George Zimmerman says he wants out of spotlight in new interviews
Zimmerman greeted people and autographed photos of him posing with his dog. He appeared at a scaled-down version of the New Orlando Gun Show at the Arms Room store on East Colonial Drive.
The show was originally set to be held at the Majestic on John Young Parkway, but organizers said the venue canceled late Thursday after getting negative feedback about Zimmerman's planned appearance.
“They told us they canceled for community pressure,” said Mike Piwowarski, a show organizer. “They were getting phone calls and backlash, and didn’t want that kind of person there.”
Piwowarski said he was angry the Majestic canceled the event and he plans to sue for an estimated $300,000 in lost gun sales.
He said he supported Zimmerman during his trial in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin and after he was acquitted.
Zimmerman offered to return the favor and support Piwowarski’s gun business, which led to today's appearance, he said.
AlertMeThe Texas Supreme Court has suspended a Houston judge amid allegations she sexted while on the bench and used illegal drugs.
Harris County Justice of the Peace Hilary Green was suspended Friday without pay at the request of the State Commission on Judicial Conduct.
Records show Green, in response to the commission, acknowledged illegally obtaining prescription drugs, plus used marijuana. Green’s response also indicated she engaged in sexually explicit and drug-related texts with a bailiff.
The Houston Chronicle reported that it’s the first time any Texas judge has received a temporary suspension in at least a decade in a contested matter, the commission says.
Sign Up and Save Get six months of free digital access to the Star-Telegram
The commission in May presented its more than 300-page investigation of alleged misconduct by Green as part of complaints against her since 2012. She’s served on the bench since 2007 and presided over low-level drug possession and similar cases.
An attorney for Green said he’s disappointed by the suspension and they’ll consider how to proceed.
The Chronicle reported that in her own filings to the Texas Supreme Court, Green maintained she had stopped abusing prescription cough syrup about three years ago, and had provided evidence of having passed several recent drug-screening tests.
Read the judicial commission report.
Many of the allegations made against Green to the commission came from her former lover Claude Barnes and her ex-husband Ronald Green.
Barnes alleged that that he consumed marijuana and Ecstasy with Green, according to the commission report. He also alleged that Green’s court officers took marijuana from a detainee in her courtroom and gave it to her. Barnes also alleged that he and Green paid for sex with prostitutes on two occasions.
Green in her responses to the commission inquiry indicated that she engaged in sexually explicit communication with her bailiff between Oct. 16, 2013, and March 25, 2014.
This story includes material from The Associated Press.Emerging Cowboys prop Sam Hoare has been ruled out for the season after sustaining a knee injury, coach Paul Green confirmed on Tuesday.
Hoare will undergo a full knee reconstruction after going down in an innocuous tackle late in the second half of the Townsville Blackhawks' 46-26 win over the Souths Logan Magpies on Saturday.
It is a cruel blow for the hardworking 24-year-old who leads the way for his Intrust Super Cup side, which sits equal top of the ladder (3-0) with the PNG Hunters.
"Unfortunately Sam's season is over. He's had to have a reconstruction which is terrible news for him," Green said.
"I thought he was putting pressure on our guys in the NRL team. It's unfortunate obviously, but it's part and parcel of rugby league."
Had any Cowboys forwards missed football, Hoare was the next in line. After making his first NRL start last season during the Origin period, the 195-centimetre prop was projected as a certainty for at least another two appearances on the big stage this year.
"He would have featured in our team at some stage," Green said.
"He wasn't far away last weekend. He was 18th man for us in the lead-up to last week's game, so that tells you how close he was to selection."
Blackhawks football operations manager Adrian Thomson said it was a setback for both the club and Hoare, who was doing all the right things in the pursuit of a first-grade spot.
"We were hopeful that he would play a few games for us then be pressing his case for first grade," Thomson said.
"I haven't seen the full report but I just know we feel for the lad. From the footy side of things and from our side of things we know that we will miss his presence.
"At present we're worried with regards to his welfare, but he's a strong lad; he's young and he will come back stronger and better than ever."
The loss of Hoare means that Ben Spina (six NRL games) and Patrick Kaufusi (one game) are in line for NRL appearances in Round 12 (away to the Dragons) and Round 18 (away to Canberra), with Matt Scott and James Tamou likely Origin inclusions.NASA Prepares For Risks In Private Space Travel
As NASA somberly marks the 25th anniversary of the space shuttle Challenger accident, the agency is looking ahead to the retirement of its aging space shuttle fleet later this year. The next astronauts to travel to space may go instead by private spacecraft designed and owned by commercial companies.
But a deadly accident like Challenger could have serious ramifications for the fledgling commercial space industry as it tries to take over the job of ferrying astronauts up to low Earth orbit and the International Space Station.
Any accident would probably result in a long investigation and spaceflights being grounded — after Challenger and Columbia, it was years before the shuttles flew again. What would that do to a private company?
"A lot depends on how the private company reacts, and a lot of it depends on the root cause of the failure," says Ken Bowersox, a former NASA astronaut who now works on safety issues for SpaceX, one of the private companies vying to someday take NASA astronauts and other paying customers to orbit.
"But you can imagine that any company in that situation would have a lot of pressure on it," says Bowersox.
NASA would also be under scrutiny, even if it didn't own the spacecraft carrying its astronauts, says Ed Mango, who heads the space transportation planning office at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
For a few years after the space shuttles become museum exhibits, NASA astronauts will get to space on Russian Soyuz capsules. But Mango says that by around 2015 or 2016, it's possible that astronauts could be riding on the outer space version of rental cars — spacecraft designed and owned not by NASA but by private companies.
Even if that happens, though, "the responsibility for the mission is still ultimately accountable to NASA," Mango says. "And if the vehicle does not fly right, then we will be held accountable for what has happened."
Enlarge this image toggle caption NASA NASA
Designing To NASA's Standards
So NASA has been preparing a list of safety standards that a private spaceship would have to meet before any NASA astronaut climbs onboard. Some space industry watchers have criticized a draft of these standards as being too onerous.
But Bowersox says his company is just glad to finally get this guidance from NASA.
"Safety is our No. 1 priority at SpaceX when it comes to building our rockets," he says.
An unmanned test version of the SpaceX capsule has already launched, orbited Earth and returned as planned. If the company has a number of successful missions carrying cargo, people could be next.
And just because the SpaceX rocket ship is designed to be cheap, that doesn't mean it won't be safe, says Bowersox. "Let's look at a Ferrari and a Honda Civic," he says. "They're greatly different in cost, but would you say that the little economy cars are less safe or more safe than the Ferrari?"
Other companies, such as Orbital Sciences Corporation of Virginia, also hope to soon offer crew launching services for NASA.
Handling A Disaster
Mango says government officials are discussing what might need to be done to ensure that a commercial space company could financially survive the aftermath of a disaster, if NASA had come to depend on its launch services for astronauts. "In general, we are looking at that," says Mango. "We don't have a solution that's pounded flat. We are looking at it."
It's unclear how the public would feel about a major disaster with a private spaceship, if people started riding them. John Logsdon, a space policy expert with George Washington University, says if an accident occurred during some of the first commercial trips up, it might create doubt about whether private companies can really manage the risks of human spaceflight
"But if it's three years in to a regular service, I think it would be, not exactly ho-hum, but more akin to an aircraft accident than a space accident," says Logsdon.
After all, these private space companies wouldn't be boldly exploring a new frontier, as NASA used to. They'd just be providing a kind of commuter flight to the space station.
"Yes, there are risks involved, but there is nothing written in stone that says the government can manage those risks better than the private sector," says Logsdon.Hebron, occupied Palestinian territories - On February 25 1994, a US-born Israeli military physician walked into the Ibrahimi mosque in Hebron armed with a Galil assault rifle. It was early morning during the holy month of Ramadan, and hundreds of Palestinians were crammed inside, bowed in prayer.
Baruch Goldstein, who had emigrated to Israel in 1983, lived in the Kiryat Arba settlement on the outskirts of the city. As worshippers kneeled, Goldstein opened fire. He reloaded at least once, continuing his barrage for as long as possible before finally being overpowered and eventually beaten to death. By the time he was stopped, 29 worshippers were killed, and more than a hundred had been injured.
The Israeli government immediately released a statement condemning the act and stating that Goldstein acted alone and was psychologically disturbed.
Twenty years later, Palestinians are carrying out memorial events and Hebron's settlers are preparing celebratory pilgrimages to Goldstein's shrine inside Kiryat Arba.
Muslims and Jews alike believe that the building houses the earthly remains of the religious patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Sarah, Rebecca and Leah, and the complex is divided between Jewish and Muslim areas.
The massacre was widely reported in the international media - but many Palestinians here continue believe that the full story has never been told.
The 29 people killed inside the mosque were not the only "martyrs" that day. Locals estimate the final number of deaths at between 50 and 70 - and an estimated 250 were injured over the course of the day. After the initial attack inside the mosque, more Palestinians were killed by the Israeli army during protests outside the mosque, outside Hebron's Ahli hospital, and even in the local cemetery as the dead were being buried.
Some survivors of the massacre also report that they were shot by a second gunman inside the mosque, and claim that this was a planned attack of which the Israeli military was aware in advance. None here believe the official story of Goldstein acting entirely alone in a fit of madness.
The Israelis ordered 520 businesses to close overnight, and they remain shuttered to this day. Shuhaha Street, the main road through town, was later sealed off.
"The only way to be on this road is to be an Israeli or a foreigner," said Al Jazeera's Alan Fisher. "For Palestinians, this is a no-go area."Long-withheld document provides insight into secretive system in which people can be placed on terrorism databases with astounding ease, and without any way to get off
How the US's terrorism watchlists work – and how you could end up on one
Placement on a terrorism watchlist is a life-changing event. Your travel is monitored and in many cases restricted. If overseas, you could be stranded, costing your employment or reunion with your family. You could be detained and, certain lawsuits allege, tortured by foreign governments.
Yet the ease with which someone can be placed on US watchlists and terrorism databases contrasts markedly with the impact placement has. A long-withheld document published on Wednesday by the Intercept detailing the guidelines for placement shows that the standards for inclusion are far lower than probable cause, and the ability for someone caught in the datasets to challenge their placement do not exist. In 2013, the government made 468,749 nominations for inclusion to the Terrorist Screening Database, up from 227,932 nominations in 2009; few are rejected.
The rise – and the low standards the Intercept documented – is partially explained by the near-miss airliner bombing in Christmas 2009, by a man connected to a Yemeni branch of al-Qaida. Partially it is explained by the overwhelming secrecy surrounding the process: attorney general Eric Holder has called it a state secret (although the guidance document itself is unclassified), preventing meaningful outside challenges that would recalibrate a balance between reasonable expectations of security and liberty.
That secrecy, as the Intercept's publication indicates, is starting to erode – slowly. Recent court cases have given the beginnings of insight into how the US government's apparatus of terrorism databases and watchlists works in practice. Here is a guide.
They're reading your tweets
The watchlisting guidance says that "first amendment protected activity alone shall not be the basis" for nominating someone to the lists. The key word: alone. What you say, write and publish can and will be used against you. Particularly if you tweet it, pin it or share it.
The guidelines recognize that looking at "postings on social media sites" is constitutionally problematic. But those posts "should not automatically be discounted", the guidelines state. Instead, the agency seeking to watchlist someone should evaluate the "credibility of the source, as well as the nature and specificity of the information". If they're concerned about a tweet, in other words, they're likely to go through a user's timeline. That joke about that band blowing up could come back to haunt you at the airport.
Where you go might get you placed on the list – and then stranded
Contained within the guidance is a potential reason why many US Muslims find themselves abruptly unable to return from trips abroad without explanation. An example given of "potential behavioral indicators" of terrorism is "travel for no known lawful or legitimate purpose to a locus of TERRORISM ACTIVITY". Not defined: "lawful", "legitimate" or "locus". That could mean specific training camps, travel to which few would dispute the merits of watchlisting. Or it could mean entire countries where terrorists are known or suspected of operating – and where millions of Americans travel every year.
The guidelines themselves, in that very section, warn that such behavioral indicators include "activity that may have innocent explanations wholly unrelated to terrorism". It warns analysts not to judge any circumstance "in isolation".
What happens on the no-fly list does not stay on the no-fly list. A federal judge, writing in June, noted that the FBI's Terrorist Screening Center shares information on banned passengers with 22 foreign governments as well as "ship captains", resulting in potential "interference with an individual's ability to travel by means other than commercial airlines".
Transportation Security Administration screeners check passengers as they prepare to board flights. Photograph: Joe Raedle/Getty Images
Many people who have sued the US government over the watchlists have reported being unable to return from travel abroad. Ali Ahmed, a US citizen in San Diego, attempted in 2012 to fly to Kenya to meet his fiancee for their arranged marriage. But first he flew to Saudi Arabia to make the religiously encouraged pilgrimage to Mecca; he found himself stranded in Bahrain after he was unable to enter Kenya. Ayman Latif, a disabled US marine originally from Miami who now lives in Egypt, was prevented from flying to the US for a disability evaluation from the Department of Veterans Affairs.
There's room for the family (and perhaps your friends)
A precursor data set that feeds the Terrorist Screening Database (TSDB or, "the watchlist") is the Terrorist Identities Datamart Environment, or TIDE, maintained by the National Counterterrorism Center. TIDE contains records of known or suspected international terrorists. It also contains information on their families and perhaps their friends.
"Alien spouses and children" of people NCTC labels terrorists get put into TIDE. They "may be inadmissible to the United States", presumed to be dangerous. TIDE also contains "non-terrorist" records of people who have a "close relationship with KNOWN or SUSPECTED terrorists", the guidance reads. Examples listed are fathers or brothers, although the guidance does not specify a blood or marital relationship as necessary for inclusion. Those people can be American citizens or noncitizens inside the United States. While those "close relation[s]" are not supposed to be passed on for watchlisting absent other "derogatory information", their data may be retained within TIDE for unspecified "analytic purposes".
Just because a jury finds you innocent doesn't mean watchlists agree
The guidelines explicitly state that someone "acquitted or against whom charges are dismissed for a crime related to terrorism" can still be watchlisted. A federal official nominating such a person for inclusion on the list just needs "reasonable suspicion" of a danger – something defined as more than "mere guesses or hunches", based on articulable information or "rational inferences" from it, but far less than probable cause. A judge or jury's decision is not controlling.
Watch how you walk
In keeping with a general enthusiasm exhibited by law enforcement and the military for identifying someone based on their seemingly unique physical attributes, biometric information is eligible as a criteria to watchlist someone. Several of those biometric identifiers are traditional law enforcement ones, like fingerprints; others are exceptionally targeted, like DNA. Then there are others that reflect emerging or immature analytic subjects: "digital images", iris scans, and "gait" – that is, the way you walk.
Gait and other biometric identifiers do not appear sufficient to watchlist someone. But they are sufficient to nominate someone to the watchlist or TIDE, provided they rise to the "minimum substantive derogatory standards" – articulable reasons for suspecting someone of involvement of terrorism, a far lower standard than probable cause – unless they come accompanied with evidence that the manner of walk in question includes "an individual with a defined relationship with the KNOWN or SUSPECTED terrorist". It does not appear that a particular swagger by itself can be watchlisted.
Lisa says …
Lisa Monaco is a former US attorney who holds one of the most powerful and least accountable positions in the US security apparatus: assistant to the president for homeland security and counter-terrorism. She has enormous influence over the watchlisting system.
The guidelines empower Monaco, her successor or a designee to make a "temporary, threat-based upgrade" to "categories of individuals" already watchlisted. The intent appears to be the creation of a single government official able to rapidly keep people off airlines once threat information, often fragmentary and rarely specific, emerges to indicate an imminent terrorist attack. It is unclear what characterizes a "category". The White House says she has never exercised the power.
Monaco, like others holding her position, does not answer to Congress. No Senate confirms her. Anyone who tries to obtain her official communications will face a legal defense of executive privilege. It appears commensurate with the extraordinary if inconsistent secrecy surrounding watchlisting – attorney general Eric Holder said the procedures were a state secret even as the guidelines outlining them are not classified – that she and not a Senate-confirmable appointee makes the upgrading decision.
An administration official declined to confirm authenticity of the document, but said Monaco has never exercised any such temporary authority. The administration did not say why she and not a cabinet official or subordinate has those powers in the first place.
You can be turned into an informant (or punished if you refuse)
Keeping track of suspected terrorists may not be the only purpose the watchlisting system serves. Recent lawsuits allege that the FBI uses it to as leverage to turn people into snitches.
A 30-year-old Afghan American, Naveed Shinwari, found that after FBI agents questioned him about his 2012 travel to Afghanistan – he was getting married – he couldn't obtain a boarding pass he needed for an out-of-state job interview. Soon he found himself talking to other FBI agents, who wanted to know if he knew anyone "threatening" his community in Omaha, Nebraska.
"That’s where it was mentioned to me: you help us, we help you. We know you don’t have a job; we’ll give you money," Shinwari, who is suing over the apparent quid pro quo, told the Guardian in April.
Similarly, in Oregon, a man named Yonas Fikre is suing the government for allegedly attempting to parlay his no-fly list placement into getting him to infiltrate a prominent Portland mosque. After Fikre declined, he claims, he traveled to the United Arab Emirates, where he was detained, beaten on the soles of his feet and placed in "stress positions" – all, he says, while his torturers asked him questions about the Portland mosque that were suspiciously similar to those the FBI asked.
Effectively, said Gadeir Abbas, attorney for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the watchlists "provide law enforcement with an extra-judicial tool to impose consequences on predominantly Muslims who choose to exercise their rights instead of becoming informants."
So much for that job
Being unable to travel is in some ways more invasive than other forms of surveillance. Unless your friends spend their time digging through court records, they will be unlikely to find out that, say, your assets were frozen, even you suddenly can't pay for dinners. Not all jobs ask about or care about an arrest.
Traveling is different. Being unable to travel on short notice is what Abbas calls a "publicly accessible fact" – that is, something your friends, family and co-workers will learn about in time. His client Gulet Mohammed is an information-technology professional in northern Virginia. "Not allowing him to be able to cover great distances in a short amount of time, that has a dramatic impact on what his prospects are," Abbas said.
Earl Knaeble IV, an army veteran from California, alleges in a lawsuit that he lost a job offered to him after he was unable to return to the US for a pre-employment medical exam after he got married in Colombia. He attempted, unsuccessfully, to drive home.
You can't get off – yet
There is no procedure to challenge and reverse your status on the no-fly list, the terrorism watchlist or TIDE. Inclusion on any is not typically disclosed – making legal remedies difficult – nor does the government provide any process for removal. Travelers suspicious about why their attempts to fly were unsuccessful can launch a redress request through the Department of Homeland Security, but that process does not challenge inclusion on a watchlist or database, nor will even successful requests guarantee against future travel restrictions. Procedures that will, identified within the guidance, are exclusively internal government processes.
"The only way to get off the federal watchlist is through the beneficence of a federal agent, routinely coupled with some form of cooperation with the FBI," Abbas said.
But that lack of redress has now imperiled the no-fly list. Last month, in a federal judge in Oregon ruled that the inability of individuals to extricate themselves from the list is a due-process violation, rejecting the government's contention that there is no constitutional right to travel.
"Such an argument ignores the numerous reasons that an individual may have for wanting or needing to travel overseas quickly, such as the birth of a child, the death of a loved one, a business opportunity or a religious obligation," judge Anna Brown found.
Yet the legal battle over the no-fly list is practically certain to continue. Nor does Brown's ruling touch on the broader watchlists and datasets from which the no-fly list draws.Contributions of rare variants to common and complex traits such as type 2 diabetes (T2D) are difficult to measure. This paper describes our results from deep whole-genome analysis of large Mexican-American pedigrees to understand the role of rare-sequence variations in T2D and related traits through enriched allele counts in pedigrees. Our study design was well-powered to detect association of rare variants if rare variants with large effects collectively accounted for large portions of risk variability, but our results did not identify such variants in this sample. We further quantified the contributions of common and rare variants in gene expression profiles and concluded that rare expression quantitative trait loci explain a substantive, but minor, portion of expression heritability.
Abstract
A major challenge in evaluating the contribution of rare variants to complex disease is identifying enough copies of the rare alleles to permit informative statistical analysis. To investigate the contribution of rare variants to the risk of type 2 diabetes (T2D) and related traits, we performed deep whole-genome analysis of 1,034 members of 20 large Mexican-American families with high prevalence of T2D. If rare variants of large effect accounted for much of the diabetes risk in these families, our experiment was powered to detect association. Using gene expression data on 21,677 transcripts for 643 pedigree members, we identified evidence for large-effect rare-variant cis-expression quantitative trait loci that could not be detected in population studies, validating our approach. However, we did not identify any rare variants of large effect associated with T2D, or the related traits of fasting glucose and insulin, suggesting that large-effect rare variants account for only a modest fraction of the genetic risk of these traits in this sample of families. Reliable identification of large-effect rare variants will require larger samples of extended pedigrees or different study designs that further enrich for such variants.In a shocking incident from Ghaziabad, a man allowed his friend to rape his wife to settle a loan amount.
Naresh, a labourer and a resident of Ghaziabad's Loni colony, fixed a deal with his friend Pintu, a property dealer, to repay a debt he owed to him.
On September 29, Naresh brought Pintu to his home and forced his wife to go with the latter in order to settle the debt.
Pintu later raped the woman. When the victim raised objection over Naresh's decision she was beaten up.
On October 1, the victim filed an FIR at Loni border police station following which both Naresh and Pintu were arrested.
According to the victim, Naresh had taken a loan of Rs 5,000 from Pintu which he was unable to repay. This also resulted in heated arguments between the two.
Also read:
Lucknow: 12-year-old girl gangraped, parents held hostage
Delhi shocker: 2 girls out for a walk gangraped in park, 4 arrested
Bengaluru: Facebook friend rapes minor girl, records it on his smartphoneChinaChange.org Nearly half these people are in custody: Back, L to R: Hao Jian, Cui Weiping, Liu Di, Liang Xiaoyan, Hu Shigen, Li Xuewen, and Guo Yuhua. Front: Zhou Fan, Xu Youyu, Zhang Xianling, Qin Hui, Ye Fu, and Pu Zhiqiang.
This article was last updated on May 30 at 4:00 PM in Hong Kong.
Ahead of the 25th anniversary of the Chinese government’s deadly June 4, 1989 crackdown on student protests in Tiananmen Square, Beijing is casting a wide net to round up would-be agitators.
The government has “routinely tightened control over activists as well as relatives of those who died during the protests” before the June 4 anniversary and “continues to deny any wrong-doing,” according to Human Rights Watch, but this year’s roundup seems especially thorough. What’s also striking is the advanced age of many of the detainees: because the event was 25 years ago, many of the “grownups” who witnessed it, publicly denounced it, and continue to mark it are now of retirement age (though many continue to write, teach and report).
Here’s a list of the people who have been detained, drawn from statements by other activists, their families and, in some cases, state-owned media. It is likely there are other individuals who are in custody whose names have not been made public.
Human rights lawyer Pu Zhiqiang: A student participant in the Tiananmen Square protests, Pu became a lawyer protecting dissidents including artist Ai Weiwei, and because he was born in 1965 is one of the youngest. Since Pu’s criminal detention on May 6, for “creating a disturbance” after attending a seminar on the June 4 crackdown, there here has been little information about his whereabouts. His name is completely censored on social media. Several others from the May 3 seminar (where the picture above was shot) have also been detained. His niece, lawyer Qu Zhenhong, was detained on May 15.
Philosophy professor Xu Youyu, born 1947: Before the June 4 crackdown, professor Xu walked through Tiananman Square telling students meditating there in protest to leave because troops were coming. The students responded with a “naivete and earnestness [that makes me] sigh even today,” he wrote in a 2009 essay on the 20th anniversary, saying to him “Why would the people’s army suppress us?”
Xu was rounded up after the May 3 seminar, human rights website ChinaChange.org reported, along with Beijing Film Academy professor Hao Jian, who has also taught at Harvard University, author Liu Di, and dissident author and former professor Hu Shigen, born 1964. Hu was previously jailed for over 15 years on charges of “organizing and leading a counter-revolutionary group” for planning a June 4 anniversary event. The whereabouts of another attendee, Liang Xiaoyan, born 1957, a lecturer at the time of the original Tiananmen Square crackdown, are unknown, the South China Morning Post reported.
Journalist Gao Yu, born in 1944, was detained for more than a year after the Tiananmen Square protests. She has been in custody since April 24 for “leaking state secrets,” according to reports in state-run media. Gao’s filmed confession, in a prison uniform, was recently broadcast on state-run media, in which she expressed “deep remorse” for her actions.
The document she was believed to have leaked, an internal Communist Party policy guide, was published earlier by the state-run People’s Daily, according to her US-based magazine publisher.
Yao Jianfu: A retired scholar, Yao wrote a book about the Tiananmen Square crackdown that was published in Hong Kong in 2012, in which the Beijing mayor at the time called the incident an “avoidable tragedy.” Yao and Gao appeared together at a 2012 photo exhibition in Hong Kong:
AP Photo/Kin Cheung Yao Jianfu (left) and Gao Yu in 2012.
Dissident and journalist Xiang Nanfu, 63: Xiang was detained in Beijing for selling “fabricated information” to a foreign website Boxun News, state media reported May 13. Xiang has written for Boxun for many years, mostly about petitioners who come to Beijing to plead their cases with government there, the SCMP reports.
Activist Wen Kejian and 11 others were detained by police evening of May 13 at a restaurant in Hangzhou, an attendee at the dinner told the AP. The rest were released, but Wen, an advocate for democracy, remains in custody.
Journalist Wu Wei, a former reporter for the South China Morning Post, has been detained in Beijing, according to several reports in Hong Kong’s Chinese-language press (link in Chinese).
“Justice For All” head Yu Fangqiang and several other activists: Beijing police detained Yu and others ahead of a planned meet May 6 about the difficulties gay groups have registering as NGOs in China, he told The New York Times. The detainees were released but Yu said he was ordered by police to leave Beijing.
Chinese Human Rights Defenders Several attendees at this February memorial for Tiananmen Square have been detained.
Yu Shiwen and his wife Chen Wei and three other activists were detained on May 23 for “gathering a crowd to disturb public order” in their hometown of Zhengzhou after organizing a commemoration to Tiananmen Square victims in February, Chinese Human Rights Defenders reports.
Activist |
provides the best canopy light penetration with diffused light and a recommended 18-28 inches mounting height. The HLG replaces a single 1000W HPS/MH lamp In total, there are four lights on the fixture, each one using a custom Quantum Board,with Samsung LEDs.It’s flowering footprint in 4.5’ x 4.5’ or 4’ x 5’ is perfect for any environment, as it complements the ability of the system to aid rapid growth in plants. In terms of heat management, the HLG 550 features passive cooling, that gives it an edge which protects plants from being overexposed to heat. This lamp is built from first-rate anodized aluminum. It is also dimmable via the HydroPods WiFi Dimming Module. The HLG 550 is crafted to make an impact as portrayed by its detailed specifications ranging from power to dimensions and an impressive 30 sq.ft. vegetative footprint.
The FATPHARM250 comes with clear instructions and diagrams showing a variety of potential grow room set-ups. If you have any questions, Super Grow LED’s in-house lighting engineers are happy to help at any time.
Manufactured in a commercial LED factory along with millions of high-bay LEDs with similar solid state blood lines, FATPHARM250 is full spectrum, and it is ideal for use from seed to harvest. Its robust fanless heat management system allows for greater flexibility and power savings. Ruggedly built with anodized aluminum chassis, the FATPHARM250 is fully packed with a constant self-protecting power supply, and its real draw in Watts of 250W/ [email protected] gives it the capacity it needs to function at the most efficient level.
SimuLight LED-9614G is a 1,000 HID replacement unit. These lights are full-spectrum, dimmable, programmable and entirely full-spectrum, dimmable, programmable and entirely customizable with individual Veg, Grow, and Flower channels. The most striking feature about these lights is its highly efficient fixture with optics that help in giving direction to the light for improved penetration and more rapid growth; this fixture can be utilized in the various stages of plant growth. The grow lights can be controlled remotely, and they are daisy-chainable as well. The remote control extra is welcome for bigger crops, as it allows a more hands-off experience. Made of aluminum and glass, this fixture is quite durable. Its low heat output reduces the need for cooling and ventilation. These lights can be used in greenhouses, plant factories, and nurseries. The lights also come with a 36” control cable which is optional but gives room for the user to chain up to eight lights, enabling their operations under the same program.
Back to the Chinese Amazon grow lights, Roleadro 400W, is a COB LED light sold by GalaxyHydro. This is a full spectrum light that offers an inexpensive solution for all phases of plant growth. Weighing 6.45 pounds with a two-year warranty and 30-days money back policy, this fixture has a lot to offer for its price. Although we are not essentially dismissive of LED fixtures manufactured in China, these grow lights are not recommended not recommended for those who want something more out of their crops. On the other hand, they will allow newbies on a budget to enter the world of growing smoothly and without worry. The COB of LEDs promises an improved color uniformity and PAR value, while at the same time reducing heat and risk of failure. The unit is fan-cooled (with fans reaching 55DB in max power) and has a reflector that controls light distance and area. Finally, we should point out the manufacturer’s commitment to customer satisfaction: they are very active on Amazon, and they answered all our questions quickly and clearly.
The Growy company is, in fact, a branch of the Polish company Neonica Polska, which specializes in LED lighting. It offers industrial products to Poland and some European countries, mainly in the form of bars. All its products are made in Poland. The company has been specializing in the production of LED lighting systems since 1995. They exclusively use CREE and OSRAM chips, which they rigorously test in laboratory environments. Although the company is still not as popular as others, its 30W model is a great choice for small crops, as it packs quite a punch for its size. Also, heat emission is negligible, allowing for placement near the plants. Neonica has been working on their own special LED sequence, that, according to their claims, reduces the time of vegetation. It is well worth noting that the unit is also self-cooled and requires no fans to dissipate heat.
MEIZHI is an Amazon retailer from China, offering affordable grow lights similar to Global Star and Galaxy Hydro Similar to the above, you get a surprising amount of power and extras for a much lower price. Quality is indeed an issue, but then again, experienced growers are not the target group for these products. The MEIZHI has a lifespan of 50,000 to 100,000 hours depending on usage, and it provides a 12-band spectrum. The MEIZHI reflector is a full spectrum light, using heat sinks and fans for heat dissipation. It can replace a 600W HID fixture, while it offers a surprising amount of brightness and light penetration with a PAR value of 1120umol. The unit features a VEG/FLOWER switch and is not dimmable.
Mars Pro II Epistar 320 LED Grow Light is the evolved version of the well-known Mars Pro Epistar 320. Only this time, instead of a remote control, it comes with veg and bloom switches to control the lights between different growth phases! Of course, this is not the only thing that changed in this new edition. Under the hood, Mars Hydro upgraded the fans, the power supply and the LEDs (320 Epistar chips) to provide a more powerful product. The Epistar LED chips offer a great output for small to middle-sized grows. This model is equivalent to an 800W HID fixture. All of the components are housed in a reflector cup design to ensure proper light distribution, while, as with all Mars Hydro products, the build is modular, meaning you can swap, upgrade and expand to your heart’s content! Heat is managed via the dual cooling fans and aluminum heat sinks. Mars Hydro has a reputation for creating affordable and relatively high quality grow products and all of their lights are specially designed to fit their grow tents, for more discreet home operations.
Fluence SPYDRx is the newest version of BML Lighting Spyderx. At 340W (actual: 330W), this indoor grow light has an average Photosynthetic Photon Flux Density of around 455 µMol/S That makes a good solution for both commercial and full-cycle home growing operations without CO2 supplementation. Fluence claims that their spectral wavelengths are specially designed for particular photomorphogenic plant responses such as photoperiodic signals, chlorophyll A and B absorption, xanthophyll carotenoid pigments, and anthocyanin accumulation in plant tissue. Confused? Well, Fluence is really big on scientific research! Their goal was to create a customized full spectrum that will be perfect for complete physiological plant growth. To do this, they had to reinvent their own products. According to the people at the company themselves, their previous models, with a red (700nm)/blue(400nm) spectrum, coincided with peak Chlorophyll A and Chlorophyll B absorption areas, however, they left out of range other critical photoreceptors for plant growth. Determined not to repeat mistakes of the past, Fluence developed their own full-spectrum range, the Fluence PhysioSpec Indoor. This spectrum is tailored for full-cycle growth, regardless of the development stage of the plant. In addition, the contrast was specially engineered to allow you better control over your plant’s health. Fluence grow lights are designed and built in Austin, TX and they are good for operation at temperatures from -40°C (-40°F) to 35°C (95°F) when suspended and up to 30°C (86°F) when surface mounted. Operating temperature ranges between 25°C (77°F) to 30°C (86°F) above ambient.
ProMaxGrow is among the most reputable manufacturers of LED panels and has frequented our lists for many years now. The MAX600 is designed to emulate natural sunlight and do not emit this familiar red/blue tint. This, not only is better for plant growth but also enables you to check on your plants’ status directly, rather than removing them from your grow space (which can be harmful). The MAX600 consists of 6 boards, containing 384 LEDs placed in a 120º hood. This angle enhances coverage and ensures equal light distribution. Another pro is that it generates virtually no heat and thus, it requires no cooling fans. You just plug it in, point it at your plants and forget about it until harvest time. The full-spectrum it offers is great for both vegetative and flowering stages. However, it should be noted that there is no information available on the brand of their LEDs, a fact that stirred controversy among cannabis growing forums. Also, while the company claims that this fixture replaces a 1000W HPS/MH panel, we believe that 600W is a far more realistic proposition. These lights are designed by Eco-Lite Products, a company with more than 30 years’ experience in manufacturing specialty lighting for a variety of industries. The PRO MAX600 LED fixtures are entirely assembled in the United States..
The Black Diamond V2- 115W LED grow light by Lil’ Tomato Concepts is one of the most energy efficient grow lights on the market. Although it is great for small crops, its price tag might deter newbies and small-time growers from buying. Regarding build quality, the Black Diamond stands true to its name and is made from a lightweight and durable material This LED grow light only draws 115W while putting out full spectrum, white light over a 16 sq.ft. area. Another cool fact about the Black Diamond is that the end LED bars are rotatable for targeted lighting. Due to its exceptional design, the 48x3W Luxeon diodes by Phillips do not require noisy and power-consuming cooling equipment! The heat sinks do an adequate job and the LEDs are guaranteed to last 70,000-100,000 hours! The Black Diamond V2 comes with a 6-foot over-molded power cable and quality-constructed hangers. A great choice for those who have both the budget and the need for quality.
The aptly named GOLDENi 600 is an ambitious project by Smart Grow Systems. What they offer is a lightweight and powerful LED panel, which is also completely remote controlled! In terms of spectrum, the company has developed their own Smart Grow Golden Glow, which mimics the sun’s natural light. The Smart Grow GOLDENi 600 LED is ideal for SoG and SCRoG methods of growing, offering even light distribution and a flexible (but sturdy) design. The unit is lightweight (5.1 lbs) and thin (1′ thick) and features a user-friendly remote driver power supply. The Smart Grow Golden Glow spectrum imitates the sun’s PAR levels, with a spectrum mix that is perfect for cloning, vegetative and blooming growth stages. By eliminating the purple/ magenta 660nm red light chips which were harmful to cloning and early vegetation, the new Golden Glow spectrum promotes healthy plant growth throughout the entire grow cycle.
Cost per True Watt: $2.41 Total LEDs: 1680 Samsung LEDs mounted on an aluminum PCB; 50,000-hour lifespan
Spectrum in nm: ‘Golden Glow’ warm white spectrum; for seedlings through harvest
‘Golden Glow’ warm white spectrum; for seedlings through harvest Heat Management: Passive cooling
Passive cooling Build Quality: Aluminum
Aluminum Coverage: 10.6 sq.ft. (0.9 sq.m.) at 10″ (254mm) above plants
10.6 sq.ft. (0.9 sq.m.) at 10″ (254mm) above plants LED Brands: Samsung
Samsung Operating/input voltage: 110VAC @ 5.45A; 240VAC @ 2.5A
110VAC @ 5.45A; 240VAC @ 2.5A Dimensions: 41″ x 21″ x 1″ (104x53x2.54cm)
41″ x 21″ x 1″ (104x53x2.54cm) Weight: 5.1 lbs (frame), 7.8lbs (LED Driver) (2.2kg-3.5kg)
5.1 lbs (frame), 7.8lbs (LED Driver) (2.2kg-3.5kg) Extras: Luminaire, V-hangers, 8′ driver leash, 110-120v plug
Luminaire, V-hangers, 8′ driver leash, 110-120v plug Built in the USA
Warranty: 3 years
Unit Farm UFO-160 Cree Osram Led Grow Light
MSRP: $770
The Australian-based Unit Farm is a qualified player in the LED grow light scene. For over 9 years they have been producing a lot of OEM product for various organizations and companies all over the world.
Their experience is obvious, as they have done a pretty good job in creating a great all-rounder with the UFO-160 LED grow light, which incorporates high-output CREE and Osram LED chips.
The specially designed reflectors blend the wavelengths while directing the light down to your plants. All Unit Farm models feature a switch between Growth and Bloom modes to conserve energy and aid the plant according to its development.
As far as quality goes, Unit Farm LED grow lights are an affordable and reliable alternative compared to the many other LED grow lights on the market.
Detailed Specs
Actual Draw in Watts: 360W (±5%@AC120V) – 350W (±5%@AC240V)
360W (±5%@AC120V) – 350W (±5%@AC240V) Cost per True Watt: $2.13 – $2.2
$2.13 – $2.2 LED Brands: CREE and Osram
CREE and Osram Spectrum in nm: 450~475nm 620~630nm, 650~660nm, and white
450~475nm 620~630nm, 650~660nm, and white Heat Management: Active cooling via aluminum heat sinks and cooling fans
Active cooling via aluminum heat sinks and cooling fans Lumens: 17540 Lm±5%@AC120V 17174 Lm±5%@AC240V
17540 Lm±5%@AC120V 17174 Lm±5%@AC240V PAR Value: 2028.6umol
2028.6umol Amperage: 2.99A/120V 1.483A/240V
2.99A/120V 1.483A/240V Max Coverage: 36 sq.ft. (3.3 sq.m.)
36 sq.ft. (3.3 sq.m.) Dimensions: 18.3″ x 13.4″ x 3.14″ (465x340x80mm)
18.3″ x 13.4″ x 3.14″ (465x340x80mm) Weight: 17lbs (8kg)
17lbs (8kg) Built in the Australia
Warranty: 3 years
Model: MarsHydro Reflector 480W
$174 (Original Price: 189.99)
MarsHydro is a well-known brand in the hydroponic growing world, often associated with affordable LED grow lights. However, this drop in price does not necessarily equal a lack of quality.
The Reflector Series is a popular series among growers. This particular product comprises of 96x5W diodes and has an actual power draw of 200W. Mars Hydro are upfront about the actual wattage and they clearly state it on the product description.Each LED chip features a reflector (hence the name) that mixes the emitting light and distributes it equally all over the canopy.
The spectrum of the Mars Hydro Reflector uses 10 bands of light (430-440nm, 450-475nm 620-630nm, 650-660nm) including white and infrared (730nm) range, which is invisible to the naked human eye.
The full spectrum of light will allow you to grow your plant from seedling to the vegetative stage and flowering without much effort.
Even though it is not fancy, the heat management is adequate in this model. LEDs run way cooler than traditional HPS/MH light systems, they still need to be cooled and in this unit this is done via a quiet fan, running as loud as a PC. This fixture comes with a 2-year warranty and there are dedicated repair centers in the United Kingdom and Germany.
Detailed Specs
Actual Power draw: [email protected] – [email protected] Cost per True Watt: $0.87 ($0.95) – $0.91 ($1) Total LEDs: 96x5W LEDs Brand: Epistar Spectrum in nm: 430-440nm, 450-475nm 620-630nm, 650-660nm, and white Real IR spectrum: 730nm (invisible to humans) Heat management: Cooling Fans Lumens: 17540 Lm±5%@AC120V 17174 Lm±5%@AC240V PAR Value: 2028.6umol Amperage: 2.99A/120V 1.483A/240V Veg. Coverage Area: 8.75 sq.ft. (0.81 sq.m.) Flowering Coverage Area 4.5 sq.ft. (0.4 sq.m.)
Dimensions: 18.3″ x 13.4″ x 3.14″ (465x340x80mm)
18.3″ x 13.4″ x 3.14″ (465x340x80mm) Weight: 10lbs(4.5kg) /12lbs (5.6kg)
10lbs(4.5kg) /12lbs (5.6kg) Made in China
Warranty 3 year
Our Top Picks
All of the LED grow lights we presented above are trustworthy solutions for your indoor garden. That’s why we made three top picks, one from each price category. Starting from LED lights that market at or below $500, we decided to go with the Mars Hydro Reflector 480. This full spectrum grow light has a 200W power draw and a really low cost per true watt ratio. MarsHydro is very responsive to messages and they will be happy to answer whatever question you might have. In all, this is a solid option for beginners or growers on a tight budget.
Moving on to the $501-$900 category, we picked the full-spectrum SuperGrow LED SK 450. Completely fan-less and made with aluminum, this unit offers amazing value for money at about $860, making it a great all-rounder choice. A single unit will replace a 500W HID fixture, for a drastically reduced cost, while all models come with a 5-year manufacturers warranty.
Finally, for the last category, we saved the place for the most luxurious of the LED grow lights we presented: The Cirrus T500. Built for commercial purposes and advanced growers, this unit has the ultimate specs: Full-spectrum, a 5-year warranty, amazing build quality and an extremely powerful mCOB design for optimal light intensity and penetration. This behemoth retails at $2,299 and surely offers enough to match the price.
There are many LED grow lights on the market, so there is a chance we missed a great unit. We’d love to hear about your favorites! Tell us which light you would like to see featured on this list and we will get our hands on one.
Best LED Grow Lights for 2017
We have rounded up the best and newest LED grow lights we have found across the world. We aim to review only well built, high (broad full) spectrum LEDs with an eye on fan-less hat management. We also communicate with the manufacturers and ask them questions you guys want to know the answers too. Here we go, in no particular order.
Dorm Grow G8-600B G8LED Bloom Only/ G8-900 Veg/Flower Models One of the most active grow light manufacturers in the US, Dorm Grow, is back with the newest iterations of their critically acclaimed G8LED series (the most recent being in 2016, when they won Best LED Grow Light according to “High Times” magazine for their 600W MEGA LED model). Designed to offer specialized support to your plants depending on their grow phase, the all-new G8-600 and the G8-900, succeed in creating a perfect combination of power, safety and yield maximization, suited both to professional and amateur growers. Also, the company’s known G8-9RR Flower Booster makes a return, offering a reliable supplemental lighting for flowering seasons. G8-600B 600W Bloom Only The G8LED 600W Bloom Only Light comes as a replacement to the successful 450W model and is specially designed for the flowering phase of a plant’s development. It covers an area of 20ft2 (2m2 – about 10 fully grown plants) and is larger than its predecessor. It offers an optimal rate of 8 bands of the color spectrum, with an emphasis on UV and extra red wavelengths to maximize yield. That being said, it is important to clear up that this grow light is better suited to those who like to keep their plants separate, according to their status (vegging/flowering). G8-900 900W Veg/Flower The company’s flagship model, the G8-900 is a great all-rounder solution to any serious grower. Using an actual power draw of 540W, this full-spectrum grow light has an output of 900W, that can easily replace more powerful MH or HPS fixtures at 1200-1400W. It covers an area of 24ft2 (2,3m2 – about 12 fully grown plants) and it can penetrate about 5’(150cm) into the canopy. Like most of the modern “plug ‘n’ play” grow lights, the G8-900 comes with a Vegetative/Flowering switch, which turns the blue and red diodes on or off depending on your needs. For those who want a little extra “oomph” in their yields, this light truly shines (pun intended) when used alongside a G8-9RR Flower Booster. This supplemental light can be added to your fixture and deliver some extra red wavelengths in your growth, offering a great return on the “yield per Watt” scale. All of the Dorm Grow products come with a 2-year warranty, 24/7 support and a 90 Day money back guarantee. Actual Draw in Watts While it is an almost standard marketing practice for manufacturers to not release the actual power draw of their products, this is not true for Dorm Grow. The data advertised are in line with our own calculations, so that is an extra plus regarding their credibility. Below you will find comprehensive tables about the wattage of each model G8LED 600W Bloom Only Actual Power Draw: 380Watts 3.5Amps @ 110V 1.7Amps @ 220V G8LED G8-900 Veg/Flower Actual Power Draw: 540Watts 4.9Amps @ 110V 2.5Amps @ 220V Total LEDs and Spectrum G8LED 600W Bloom Only The G8-600B is ideal for the flowering stage of your plants and therefore offers an increased UV lighting and emits more red wavelengths. Note that the G8-9RR is not needed when using this grow light, as it packs quite a punch by itself. Spectrum: 740nm, 660nm, 630nm,610nm, 580nm, 475nm, 460nm, 440nm, 380nm, 6000k G8LED G8-900 Veg/Flower The G8-900 can be used as one-size fits all solution, although some experimenting might get you more bang for your buck (if you know what you are doing. Otherwise, stick with the G8-900 for all stages of plant growth and you’re golden! Just remember to pull turn the switch when flowering starts! Spectrum: Most Efficient for cannabis photosynthesis. 740nm, 660nm, 630nm, 610nm, 580nm, 460nm, 440nm, 380nm, 6000k740nm, 660nm, 630nm, 610nm, 580nm, 460nm, 440nm, 380nm, 6000k Thermal Management Due to the 3W Bridgelux diodes used in all Dorm Grow products, the lights run at cool temperatures, eliminating the need for noisy (and energy-consuming) fans. Coverage and Build Quality G8LED 600W Bloom Only Flowering Coverage: 5’x4′ (1,5×1,2m)
No. Plants Coverage: 6-10 mature plants
Dimensions: 21”x14”x3” (53x35x7 cm)
Made in USA
Diodes by Bridgelux
Weight: 20lbs / 9kg G8LED G8-900 Veg/Flower Veg Coverage: 6’x4′ (1,8×1,2m)
Flowering Coverage: 6’x4′ (1,8×1,2m)
No. Plants Coverage: 8-12 mature plants
Dimensions: 24”x14”x3” (61x35x7 cm )
) Made in USA
Diodes by Bridgelux
Weight: 22lbs / 10kg Warranty 2 Year Full Warranty
90 Day money back guarantee
Neonica – Growy LED-254-200W
Model by Neonica
Hailing from Poland, Neonica recently introduced their very promising Growy LED series. Although it is among the very few European grow lights manufacturers, the company has been working hard to increase its presence in the world market. They are not newbies in this game either: they have been specializing in the production of LED lighting systems since 1995, having secured some very solid partnerships along the way:
“Among few in Europe we have special machines able to produce a variety of LED solutions: led strips, led lamps, led tubes, led bulbs, led modules and led lighting for industrial applications. High qualified staff, know-how and expanded photometric laboratory allow us to develop and improve a whole range of products.
High innovation of our solutions and their quality is appreciated both by thousands of satisfied users, industry experts and international leaders of the market. Leading manufacturers of LED chips CREE and OSRAM offered Neonica Polska partnership agreements. Thus Neonica Polska has permanent access to high-tech LED chips and our products are tested not only for necessary certifications in national laboratories but also in order to ensure world’s highest quality.”
Their credentials are surely impressive, but what about their products?
Although in this case we will be presenting the 200W model (which stands as a true replacement of a traditional HPS600W fixture), LED fixtures from Neonica company come as a pleasant surprise: they significantly increase vegetative growth, boosts flowering and budding. Though not very well known in the US, these Polish guys work really make up on their company’s obscure reputation by focusing on their products sophisticated components and build quality.
Actual Draw in Watts
The Growy-254 is not the largest and most powerful grow light created by Neonica and thus it is recommended for small/medium sized crops. However, its 200W Watts draw is designed to and will replace a 600W HPS fixture. Of course, we have approached the people at Neonica with some questions regarding the true Watts intake, but haven’t received an answer as of yet. The lack of detailed information on the web only made matters worse. Based on our own calculations, the actual wattage is around 185W.
Total LEDs and Spectrum
Growy 254 features a carefully selected LED sequence enriched in 520-540nm and 595-615nm wavelength to suit perfectly the needs of plants on the chlorophyll “A” and “B”. Its LEDs do not emit much heat radiation so that the lamp can be installed very close to plants without having to worry about their condition. Again, although we have contacted Neonica to ask about any “gaps” in the spectrum, there was no response.
Also by working at a much lower temperature Growy LED fixtures drastically decrease the consumption of water needed to grow. Growy LED uses specially dedicated OSRAM LEDs which guarantees maintenance-free use and high quality product. However, if you so wish, you can use different focusing optics, allowing for individual adjustment of Growy LED to a different style.
Thermal Management
The Growy series’ specially engineered housing with anodized aviation aluminum alloy does not require active cooling by fans, reduces energy requirements and extends the lamp life up to at least 10 years of continuous use.
Peak Photon Delivery in µmoles
Coverage and Build Quality
Dimensions: 56.3” x 5.5” x 4.2”; Expected Lifetime: 50,000 hours; Voltage: Voltage AC 90-264V/50-60Hz; Special selected high-quality LEDs from OSRAM; Robust housing made of anodized aluminum provides excellent heat dissipation through gravity exchange (passive cooling); Modern design with handles for easy installation in line or stand alone; Designed and manufactured in Poland.
Warranty
Neonica offers a 36-month warranty plan.
Comments
Being a European company, Neonica’s Growy series is not especially well known among US growers. Information about their product series was scarce and their social media presence is scanty, to say the least (they have disabled comments in their YouTube channel and their FB page looks neglected). However, their website is regularly updated, so you can easily find out information about shipping details.
Pro Max Grow – MAX1200 – 250 Watts
Model
Pro MAX Grow LED products have a reputation for reducing grower’s expenditures, while simultaneously, increasing the size of their harvests. MAX1200 is the pinnacle of this philosophy. This LED panel has been designed to generate virtually no heat and therefore it does not require external cooling fans – a factor that significantly lowers energy costs. Also, it is worth mentioning that the technology between the ProMax grow lights, enables them to work equally well in both the Growth and Flowering stages, meaning that you can just plug the light and just never change the settings. Plug’n’play, from seed to harvest!
The lights themselves are designed by Eco-Light products, a company that has more than three decades of experience in specialty lighting manufacturing, all in US soil. Perhaps the fact that the people at NASA have been using their products to conduct research on their study for plant growth in space says everything there is to know about them: your space cookies will finally be spacier than ever!
Actual Draw in Watts
It is a common theme for grow light manufacturers not to state the correct number of their products’ Watts draw so we asked the manufacturer and Christie Lunsford from ProMaxGrow told HTG:
“The Max1200 is only 250W and it draws 250W. We use the most advanced LED diodes on the market which are significantly more efficient and allow Pro MAX Grow lights to produce more usable light power while drawing less wattage than traditional LED grow light fixtures that draw much higher wattage.” – Christie Lunsford ProMaxGrow
Turns out that Christie was completely sincere in her answer. In fact, testers and reviewers concur that not only the company’s claims are true, but that the actual number is slightly higher, reaching 259W in some instances!
Total LEDs and Spectrum
The MAX1200 features 768 custom-made diodes that will last for more than 50,000 hours if the LED lights are on 57% of the time. Christie also answered some of our questions regarding the LED lights quality and the color spectrum:
Do you use ‘white’ LEDs to get the spectrum?
“Pro MAX Grow’s Max1200 is a full spectrum “white” light LED Grow light. Our chip produces a white color in order to permit accurate plant health evaluation. However, within the white color that is projected, we hit the peak spectrums along with the ancillary spectrums required to produce quality, high yielding crops. Our cultivators love us for our full spectrum technology.”
Are the lights “dimmable” or able to select spectrum?
“Pro MAX Grow grow lights are dimmable. You cannot select a specific spectrum, because by choosing only one spectrum you are going to negatively impact the other spectrums and negatively affect the spectrum which would cause a gap in the band. While many grow lights require constant turning of switches to change from one spectrum of light to another, our advanced diodes integrate the necessary light waves required for both growth and flowering/vegetation so that one of our Max 600 or 1200 grow lights is all you need for growth and flowering.”
The MAX1200’s 768 full-spectrum, high-power white diodes emit an array of light that and will cover a 48″ x 48″ (16 sq.ft) area and could easily replace a much more expensive and power-consuming 1000+ Watts HID system. It goes without saying that this is suitable for all phases of plant development.
The company’s CEO, Jeffrey Gasman, was even so kind as to email us a copy of the lab results from one of ProMax Grow’s clients, to highlight the effects of MAX1200 on the THC level of the plants:
“They are getting just over 16% more THC from their plants that are growing under the Max1200 than they are getting with the same strain while it was grown under 1000Watts HPS.”
Thermal Management
Fans are not required; the operating temperature ranges from 40°F to 104°F without the need for thermal management.
Coverage
16 sq. ft. (48” x 48”) ProMax claim that the MAX1200 gives you high PAR readings throughout your grow space and thus, it has an actual 4’x4’ grow area. That means that you can grow 12 good-sized plants in a space this size.
Build Quality
Build: Powder coasted white finish; Dimensions: 11.5” x 22.5” x 29.9”; Weight: 20 lbs.; Expected Lifetime: 50,000 hours.
Warranty
Five Years Limited Warranty; 30 Day Money Back Guarantee; Made in the U.S.A.
Comments
MAX1200 reviews are unanimously declaring it as one of the most successful LED grow lights that have ever been produced:
“After several tests with other grow lights, we found a favorite in the MAX600 from Pro MAX Grow Lights. Not only did our test plants thrive under the MAX600, with all nutrients tested, but they were also a huge money saver on our electric bills. When it comes to it, MAX Grow Lights are the best choice out there on the market.”-Sheila Keller,MyGrowPhonics “The Pro MAX Grow MAX1200 have outperformed consistently for our most discerning clientele. Product quality and yield are greater than ever with the Max1200.”-Charles Allin, THC Global Consulting, Missoula, MT “We rely on Pro MAX Grow MAX1200’s for our cannabis collection. We appreciate the cooler temperatures of Pro MAX Grow and the amazing cost savings on electricity.”-Kim Ott, Green Lion Farms Seattle, WA
TruthLighting-M16-760Watts-1.jpg
Lighting Science VividGro V2
Model by Lighting Science
Another space-traveler, the VIVIDGRO V2 by the Florida-based company Lighting Science, promises to take your growing to the next level. This high-end fixture was built by the same brilliant minds that helped astronauts aboard the International Space Station grow their own food. VividGro is incredibly energy efficient and it is optimized for all horticultural activities, so feel free to grow a healthy batch of tomatoes (along with your MJ) with this.
“Plants are all about photosynthesis, and LEDs offer an unrivaled source of optimized solid state lighting that’s used to fuel plant cultivation and propagation. The nurturing of plants in an indoor environment, supported by LED light, helps to control many of the elements influencing the growth of the plant,” said Randy Mortensen, leader of the Agricultural Business Unit at Lighting Science. “With our proprietary VividGro™ technology, the spectral output of the light can be tuned to a particular species of plant, delivering optimal plant growth and energy efficiencies. As the urban population centers continue to flourish and higher demand is placed on growth of specific plants, such as in the cannabis industry, indoor horticulture will require more quality, energy efficient lighting, like that provided by our VividGro V2 LED Grow fixture.”
This model uses a passive, fan-less cooling method, that is both quieter and more energy efficient. It is also making use of an advanced thermal technology that provides maximum light intensity with increased PAR (Photosynthetic Active Radiation), needed to enhance growth, development and yield, with a proven 45% reduction in energy costs. Note that the V2 qualifies for utility rebates, so check with your energy provider for specific instructions and info.
Actual Draw in Watts
The VividGro V2 has an actual 585W draw, which can easily act as a true replacement to a 1000W HPS/Metal Halide fixture. According to the guys at Lighting Science, that’s because HPS and MH grow lights weren’t designed for horticultural purposes in the first place and can, in fact, be harmful to marijuana plants. The solution to this problem was the development of a light with a spectrum, coverage and temperature specifically designed to ensure plant growth (and not object illumination).
Total LEDs and Grow Light Spectrum
312 High Power LEDs; 60,000-hour lifespan (10+ years if LED lights are on 57% of the time). V2 uses seven-band wavelength spectrum and their color bands are at:
UV: 300-400nm; Blue: 400-500nm; Green: 500-600nm; Red: 600-700nm; IR: 700-800nm; Visible: 400-700nm; Blue: 400-500nm.
Peak Photon Delivery in µmoles
V2 can deliver about 1081 µmol at a 24″-30″ distance.
VIVID GRO V2 offers a broad light spectrum – tailored to maximize photosynthetic absorption efficiency. The light is engineered to penetrate down into and across the canopy, without sacrificing PAR efficacy.
Thermal Management
VIVIDGro2 uses Aluminum Heat Sinks without fans, a system that significantly cuts down energy costs (and unwanted noises).
Coverage
16 sq |
, Corbin is throwing fewer four-seamers and change-ups for more two-seamers and sliders. Last year he was throwing his change 14.7% of the time despite it being his lowest-valued pitch, according to the PITCHf/x pitch values — hitters hit.328 and hit 21.4% of their homers against it. They only struck out four times and walked three times in 218 times Corbin threw it.
Now he’s throwing it on 9.3% of pitches, and the 5.4% decrease has resulted in a 4.4% increase in slider frequency, a pitch that is much more effective. Its “pitch value” has gone down with its increase in frequency, but hitters are still only hitting the slider for a.114 clip and have struck out 29 times on 133 sliders.
In regard to the change in fastball type, Corbin’s throwing his two-seamers 12.7% more often and has decreased the frequency of his four-seamer, a pitch that yielded a.366 batting average last year, by 11.6%.
This change could be a result of Corbin’s 71% first-pitch strike rate. Miguel Montero is able to call more moving pitches because, obviously, the two don’t find themselves down in the count as much. Corbin’s not being forced to try and sneak suspect 1-0 changeups for a strike anymore and is commanding his pitches well enough for that to continue.
Fantasy World consensus still doubts Corbin’s consistency, so you might still be able to grab him at value. He’s now owned in 100% of ESPN standards so you he won’t be free, but would I trade Homer Bailey or Tony Cingrani for him? Yeah, I would. I’m buying in.
He’s, of course, not a 1.75 ERA guy, but I’d expect somewhere in the 3.0-3.30 range henceforth.
For more Fantasy Awesome Guy, follow Nick Tom on Twitter @NickTomFBFor decades now, a dispute has raged between liberals and conservatives about whether the decline in marriage is a cause or a consequence of economic problems for the American working class. Conservatives like David Brooks believe a crisis of morals is driving poverty up. Liberals like Paul Krugman counter that this is backward, and it's working-class economic decline that's driving the crisis of values.
They're both wrong — and not just about their explanations for the problem. They're wrong about the idea that there is a problem to explain.
This is clarified by looking at two pieces of data. One is international comparisons of marriage trends; the other is actual outcomes for American children. Globally, we don't see low marriage rates leading to widespread poverty, nor do we see poorer countries exhibiting lower marriage rates. Instead, the countries with higher rates of out-of-wedlock births are generally the ones with the most fortunate working classes, while countries that are considerably poorer than the United States have stronger marriage norms.
But the decline in marriage is no black fly in the chardonnay, either. It's true there is a lot of very persuasive observational data to indicate that children raised by stable, loving couples end up better off than children whose family lives are disrupted by divorce or breakups. But what we don't see is the aggregate increase in children borne by unmarried women leading to bad aggregate outcomes. Instead, the current generation of teenagers is the best-behaved on record. Young people are doing less drugs, having fewer teen pregnancies, and even doing better at meeting federal exercise guidelines. The high school graduation rate is at an all-time high, and so is the share of the population with a college degree.
How marriage fights poverty
One thing conservatives are absolutely right about is that marriage is an extremely powerful tool in the war on poverty. What conservatives are less good at is explaining how and why this works. Marriage's potency as an anti-poverty tool is largely a mechanical result of how poverty is defined in the United States, paired with the existence of basic household economies of scale.
A woman working 40 hours a week, 50 weeks a year, at the federal minimum wage of $7.25 will find herself earning $14,500 a year — well above the federal poverty level. If she has a kid, her two-person household will slip below the poverty line — even if she's working the same hours. But if she marries another single mom with an identical job, their new four-person household makes $29,000 a year — and is no longer poor, according to the government. Indeed, they could even have a fifth child and still not be poor.
If every poor adult in America married another poor adult, in other words, we would see a significant drop in the poverty rate. Nobody's actual income would have increased, of course, but through the magic of statistics we would achieve a significant win in the war on poverty.
And of course, if every poor person in America were to fall in love with a quality partner and form a fulfilling lifelong partnership, that would be great news! Indeed, one is strongly inclined to say it would be great news for much deeper reasons than anything related to economics.
By the same token, however, passing a law saying every poor unmarried adult is going to get flogged on Valentine's Day would almost certainly reduce poverty. What it wouldn't do is actually make people better off. What would happen is some single people would be flogged (bad) and some newly married people would be unhappy in their relationships (also bad).
A roommate could be as good as a husband
Some of this goes to show there's a level of arbitrariness to our definitions of household income and poverty. But it really is the case that bigger households have economic advantages. It does not cost twice as much to heat a home for two. Nor do you need two times the cable subscriptions. Bulk purchases of food (or, for that matter, toilet paper) are more efficient than shopping for one. And of course, a multi-person household can share things like kitchen space and bathrooms.
This is why when I first moved to Washington, DC, and didn't make much money I lived with roommates.
But eventually I started making more money and moved out of the group house I was renting to a shiny new one-bedroom condo. Because my monthly mortgage payments were substantially higher than my share of the old group house rent, I ended up with slightly less disposable income than I had before the raise. But that's not a wildly unusual situation for an urban professional who's getting a bit long in the tooth. You decide you want to live alone, and you're willing to endure a moderate financial sacrifice for the sake of personal space.
The relationship between marriage and economic prosperity should be seen in somewhat similar terms. In places where women have very few economic opportunities, they can't afford to be too choosy about marriage partners. Where women are more empowered, they become choosier. At times, this greater choosiness leaves them with less money than they would otherwise have. But that's the point. It's precisely because women are more empowered that they can afford to trade off economic security for other benefits.
Marriage is getting better
Unlike the conservative or liberal pessimist narratives, the optimist narrative fits a broad range of data. Marriage has declined more in the Nordic countries than in the United States, but more in the United States than Portugal, because the USA is between the Nordics and Portugal in terms of economic security for working-class women. And marriage rates are lower almost everywhere in 2015 than they were in 1915 because working-class women have more economic opportunity today in virtually every country than they did 100 years ago.
Marriage has long been, at least in part, a deeply gendered economic arrangement, so it's natural that growing economic opportunities for women would transform the meaning of marriage. In particular, it has made women choosier about their partners. That led to a surge in divorces in the 1970s, followed by a slow and steady decline in the divorce rate ever since 1981 or so.
Among college graduates, marriage has been re-founded on a new basis. As Betsey Stevenson and Justin Wolfers put it, we have gone from shared production to shared consumption and formed more egalitarian partnerships based on common preferences rather than a swap of housework for rent money. This new model of partnerships has thus far not taken root as strongly in working-class relationships. That's unfortunate. But it's a mistake to believe women are making themselves worse off than their next actually available alternative. As women have become more empowered, they have gotten pickier. That means more single women, and a higher quality of relationship for the non-single.
None of this is to deny either the conservative premise that many people would be better off in stable, loving relationships or the liberal premise that more and better employment opportunities for working-class men could make such relationships more likely.
But to explain a social crisis, you first have to establish that a crisis is occurring. There is no major dimension on which American children are doing worse in 2015 than they were in 1975. That should be a huge giveaway that the decline of marriage is a consequence of something good — prosperity, especially for women — rather than a cause or a consequence of something bad.Stephen Rea reads Wilde's famous letter in the prison cell where it was written. With an introduction from cell C.3.3 in Reading Prison by writer and director Neil Bartlett.
Oscar Wilde was incarcerated in Reading Prison between 1895 and 1897, enduring the Separate System, a harsh penal regime designed to eliminate any contact between prisoners. During this period he wrote one of his last great works: an extended letter to his lover Lord Alfred Douglas, later published as De Profundis.
Here the actor Stephen Rea (The Crying Game, Michael Collins, V for Vendetta) returns to cell C.3.3 in HM Reading Prison to perform De Profundis. The reading is preceded by a feature documentary where writer and director Neil Bartlett examines the conditions under which Wilde was writing.
In Autumn 2016, Reading prison will open to the public for the first time for an Artangel project in which a 30-strong showcase of artists and writers share works in response to De Profundis.
And next week on Radio 4, in Letter from Inside, writers and artists from around the world read letters on the theme of imprisonment. The series is at 7:45pm from 12th to 16th September, with letter writers including Ai Weiwei, Jeanette Winterson, Anne Carson, Gillian Slovo, Joe Dunthorne, Tahmima Anam and Binyavanga Wainana.
Produced by Barney Rowntree and Joby Waldman
Executive Producer: Jeremy Mortimer
A Reduced Listening production for BBC Radio 4.We’re pleased to bring you the premiere of Western Divide’s new music video for their song “The Reprise” (watch it below). The track is taken from the band’s debut album Fall in Love to This, which is scheduled to be released in July 2017.
The band comment on the song & video:
“‘The Reprise’ is a narrative about the exact moment when I felt the exhilaration of a brand-new love, as it replaced negative feelings from the past. The music video represents an actual moment in time, in places that actually exist, witnessed by passersby that might have seen it if they were paying attention. We shot the video in all the same places to encapsulate that moment. It’s about as real as it gets, crafted from the raw imagery and emotion of that memory.”
Drawing from a tradition of American hardcore, folk, and indie-rock, California-based ensemble Western Divide traverses genres to deliver an infectious blend of songwriting, energy, and emotion; and they are aiming straight for your heartstrings. Reminiscent of groups like the Clash, Jawbreaker, and Gaslight Anthem, Western Divide’s honest and melody-driven approach will hit you where you can feel it.
The band’s debut single “The Reprise” is now available on all major streaming platforms, with their debut album Fall in Love to This is set for release in July 2017.
Connect with the band:
Official Website | Instagram | SoundcloudRetired South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu coined a new moniker for the oil sands Saturday – calling it "filth" in a keynote speech and saying northern Alberta's bitumen production is the upshot of "negligence and greed."
Archbishop Tutu, 82, has called for apartheid-like boycotts and divestment against fossil fuel companies, and in his speech at a First Nations conference Saturday he said "climate change is the moral struggle that will define this century." Following a helicopter tour in the skies above the oil sands region north of Fort McMurray, he said he was "shocked" to see oil in the Athabasca River and he remains concerned about environmental effects of Alberta's oil sands mega-projects.
But ever the peacemaker, his aerial tour appeared to soften the tone of the Nobel laureate and human rights activist.
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"No one wants to see an end to industry. If you have industry that is responsible, they have to be commended and encouraged," he told reporters moments after stepping off the helicopter. "It's not as if we go around saying, 'to hell with them, whatever. Clobber them.'"
He said he learned at least some of the bitumen naturally seeps into the water from the sand, and was impressed what he heard from a senior executive from oil sands producer Suncor Energy Inc. – which paid for the helicopter flight – about the oil sands company's investments in First Nations communities and renewable energy sources such as wind.
Archbishop Tutu was the main attraction this weekend at a Fort McMurray conference focused on treaty rights and the environment, and spoke to a room of about 200, including First Nations members from across the Prairies and Northwest Territories – many of whom spoke about their struggles their loss of traditional territory and concerns about safe drinking water due to energy projects. Archbishop Tutu said he was touched by their stories. Besides hurting the health of First Nation communities, he said projects such as the oil sands are worsening climate change.
"The fact that this filth is being created now, when the link between carbon emissions and global warming is so obvious, reflects negligence and greed," Archbishop Tutu said.
Although producers say they have made strides to make the oil sands less environmentally damaging, oil sands take more energy to produce than conventional oil, and bitumen mines – one method of extraction – use up vast tracts of land.
The man who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984 for his work in the battle against South African apartheid said bitumen production is emblematic of a high carbon era that must end. Archbishop Tutu joins a list of critics who have variously described the oil sands as "dirty" or the most destructive industrial project on earth. Earlier this year, rocker Neil Young said the region north of Fort McMurray resembles atomic-bomb devastated Hiroshima. In recent months, Archbishop Tutu has said he stands in solidarity with communities that oppose oil sands pipelines such as Keystone XL, Northern Gateway and Energy East.
The renowned human right crusader was in Fort McMurray to attend the As Long As the Rivers Flow conference, sponsored by Toronto law firm Olthuis Kleer Townshend LLP and the Athabasca Chipewyan.
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Chief Allan Adam of the Athabasca Chipewyan also spoke Saturday, saying multinational companies want to come into the band's traditional territory and develop the resources at a rapid rate beyond the control of his 1,100-person community.
At the same time, the conference is being held at the modern, energy efficient headquarters for the band's ACDEN group of companies, which according to the chief earns more than $250 million in annual revenues from industrial contracts with oil sands producers. While Chief Adam has called for strict environmental regulations and a halt to new projects, he said "we don't want to stop development, we don't want to shut it down."
Mark Little, Suncor executive vice president for upstream operations, travelled with Archbishop Tutu on his helicopter flight. Mr. Little said they found "a lot of common ground."
Mr. Little spent part of the flight talking to Archbishop Tutu about Suncor's investments in community projects, such as First Nations seniors homes, or First Nation business startups.
The Canadian pipeline company behind the proposed Keystone XL project, which would transport oil sands bitumen to the U.S. Gulf Coast, also issued a news release Saturday in rebuttal to Archbishop Tutu's comments. TransCanada Corp. spokesman Davis Sheremata said Archbishop Tutu is entitled to his opinion but sources of energy, such as oil, have a positive impact on the daily lives of people around the world.
"Oil powered the jet that flew Mr. Tutu to Canada from Africa, produced the fuel for the helicopter tour he had planned of the oil sands, and helped manufacture the microphones and TV cameras for his press conference," the release said. "Without oil we wouldn't have fertilizers to grow our food, plastics for surgical tape and heart valves, and gasoline to start the more than 250 million cars in North America every morning."Bandai is sponsoring the inaugural "Gundam Posing" contest, in which entrants can submit photos of their HG 1/144 scale series Mobile Suit Gundam plastic model kits to win prizes. The contest includes 3 categories ("Cool Award", "Unique Award", and "Nice Photo Award") with 2 winners per category. Master Gunpla builder Katsumi "Meiji" Sawaguchi will lead the panel of contest judges.
Entry is open to Japanese residents from the ages of 8 to 15. The deadline for entries is August 23, 2015. The winners of the contest will be announced on September 10, 2015. You can check out the official home page (including the current entries and some helpful instructional videos) here.
Source: Animeanime.jp
Paul Chapman is the host of The Greatest Movie EVER! Podcast and GME! Anime Fun Time.Police have said no further action will be taken against Simon Brodkin, the prankster who waved a fake P45 at Theresa May during her keynote speech at the Conservative party conference.
Brodkin was tackled by security guards and dragged from the auditorium in Manchester after interrupting the prime minister’s speech on Wednesday. He was arrested for breach of the peace but released shortly afterwards, and Greater Manchester police (GMP) said no charges were being brought against him.
The serial prankster, who acts as his character Lee Nelson, is known for carrying out a series of stunts against high-profile figures in recent years. In 2015 he showered the then Fifa president, Sepp Blatter, with fake banknotes, and last year at the reopening of Donald Trump’s Turnberry golf resort in Scotland he hijacked the then US presidential candidate’s speech with golf balls emblazoned with swastikas.
Prankster in chief: why I threw swastika golfballs at Donald Trump Read more
In Manchester, Brodkin caught May’s eye in the middle of her speech. She carried on speaking as he handed her the letter and told her: “Prime minister, Boris told me to give you this.” May, stumbling over a word, eventually took the letter and had to bend to put it on the floor. Brodkin then approached the foreign secretary, Boris Johnson, and gave him a thumbs up, saying: “Boris, job done.”
Questions have been raised about the vetting of conference attendees after police said Brodkin had legitimate accreditation granting him access to the hall, despite being well known for such stunts. Patrick McLoughlin, chair of the Conservative party, said there would be an investigation into the security breach.
Applicants for accreditation are vetted by both CCHQ and GMP, while the private security firm G4S is in charge of security around the perimeter on the days of the conference, including looking at attendees’ passes and and carrying out “necessary checks to their person and their belongings”, a G4S spokeswoman said.
A spokesman for GMP said on Thursday that applicants applied for accreditation through the Conservative party, and these names and details were passed on to the police. The checks the force carries out are related to criminal backgrounds, such as whether an individual is known to counter-terrorism police or has been arrested in the past.
“If he’s known for being a prankster but doesn’t have a criminal record, then that wouldn’t necessarily come up on the checks that we do,” he said. “That could be something that may have come up on the Conservative party’s checks, but I don’t know the specifics of their checks. Ours is criminal and terrorism.”
A Conservative party spokesman said on Wednesday: “In light of the arrest during the prime minister’s speech, we are working with the police to review the accreditation process and security arrangements for party conference.”
Steve Park, a former police protection officer who now provides specialist training and support services to the corporate and commercial security industry, said Wednesday’s events were a failure on the part of protection officers who were in the building. “From a risk perspective, the building is fit for purpose for conferences, there was a £2m police operation in place,” Park said.
No matter how Brodkin got into the building, he said, something was “clearly wrong” with the process inside the building. “Police are ultimately responsible for what goes on, even if there is a private security company in place to do the check-in and scans,” he said.
“A couple of security personnel should have been close by, and they should have dealt with this professionally, which means removing the guy.”
But Park said he counted up to 30 seconds before any action was taken to remove Brodkin. “I was thinking what the hell is going on here? We’re not talking about anybody here, we’re talking about the government, people that, when they walk around the building, have a contingent of four or five protection staff closely guarding them in a diamond formation.”
Greg Clark, the business secretary said the breach was shocking and the party needed to investigate.
Theresa May deserves respect for her 'guts and grace' says Clark as leadership doubts revive - Politics live Read more
Clark did not defend McLoughlin when asked whether the blame lay ultimately with him. “I don’t know which part of the weakness of the system it was but it clearly needs to be established,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Thursday. “We need to look into it and find out what happened and make sure it can never happen again.”
Clark said the feeling in the cabinet was that the prime minister had dealt well with the adversity. “She made a much better joke than the prankster, saying she wanted to give Jeremy Corbyn a P45, I think that shows a dignity and command,” he said.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Brodkin approaches May with the P45 on Wednesday. Photograph: Paul Ellis/AFP/Getty Images
It was the first of a series of problems during the speech for the prime minister, who also had to deal with a cough that at times left her almost unable to speak. Three-quarters of the way through the speech, letters started falling off from the slogan on the wall behind her.
During her speech, the prime minister promised to introduce a draft bill next week to give the energy regulator, Ofgem, powers to cap the bills of people on standard tariffs, whom Clark said were being punished for their loyalty.
May offers the ‘British dream’ but speech turns into a nightmare Read more
However, No 10 admitted later that ministers were just giving Ofgem the powers to impose a cap for everyone on a standard variable tariff, not actually ordering the regulator to impose it.
Ofgem had been expected to announce a much narrower cap this week, for 2 million of the most vulnerable households, to take effect in January. The Conservatives said the new powers would allow the regulator to go further, including potentially implement a cap on all 15m households on the standard tariff.
“This is doing the right thing. There was a two-year investigation by the independent competition authority, and they said consumers who are loyal and on the high-cost default tariffs are overpaying to the extent of £1.4bn. That is a huge amount, this is big money,” Clark told Sky News.While the business of NBA is big, including massive television/media package that has escalated the NBA salary cap, the business of airing Preseason basketball games is not. This includes the Denver Nuggets who’s "company owned" television network, Altitude, made the decision some years ago to not air preseason games.
On a strictly financial note, it makes a bit of sense. Preseason games are... well, Preseason games. They don’t drive money and the audience would be predictably small. I mean, who wants to pay to lug TV equipment to the often-times exotic NBA Preseason locations (last night the Nuggets were in Calgary) with an audience that is a fraction of what it would be in the regular season. If I was running Altitude I would have a hard time going there.
Yet...
For the first time in their 49 year history the Denver Nuggets finished dead last in attendance. The very first time. That came amidst reports that Altitude’s viewership was one of the worst in the NBA. Interest, in general in the Nuggets was down league wide as the Nuggets were thoroughly ignored. By pretty much all "interest" measures the Nuggets couldn’t be in a worse position. Yet, there’s nowhere to go but up and the team needs to drum up some serious excitement.
Altitude is not run by the Nuggets, nor are they run by the Colorado Avalanche or Colorado Rapids. Altitude is a separate, independent subsidiary of Kroenke Sports Enterprises (KSE). I say this only because the lack of coverage of Nuggets Preseason games has nothing to do with whatever decisions the Nuggets would make in that regard. The decisions that are made about Nuggets, Avalanche and Rapids coverage resides completely within the purview of Jim Martin, the CEO of KSE. Ann Walton Kroenke owns the Nuggets and the Avalanche, Josh Kroenke is the team president and Governor of the same teams and sits on the board governing Arsenal in England. KSE is a separate organization that is run with it’s own rules.
I have sympathy for the challenges of the Denver market. Particularly when you are directly competing with the Denver Broncos. The Broncos rule the market and that can be a tough riddle to solve. How do you compete with a Super Bowl winning juggernaut? NFL is king, right? Yet as soon as people start hearing the words "cost efficiency" they start wondering if the bottom line is an overriding theme.
Consider this column a request... no... a plea for Altitude TV to change their approach to Denver Nuggets coverage. The Nuggets have a young, exciting team. Emphasis on young. The average NBA fan is young, millennial, and isn’t prone to looking for the game on your radio station. As great as Jason Kosmicki is (and I listen to him frequently when the Nuggets are on the road) your average, every day, NBA listener is more exposed to podcasts and online, at-your-fingers, audio. The youth of the NBA is a tremendous strength of future growth, However television still rules and the Nuggets are a falling behind because their coverage isn’t what it could be. What it SHOULD be.
Comment after comment. Angry direct twitter message after angry direct twitter message has flooded to me with increasing angst the last several seasons as there is a virtual blackout on Nuggets preseason coverage. Both for those of us who need to cover the team on a daily basis (Denver Stiffs and more) who don’t travel with the team, and for the fans who are attempting to become excited about their new, young team.
There is a disconnect. Where is it? As a young team is attempting, struggling, to regain interest after being in the depths. At a critical juncture when the team NEEDS all it can get in terms of exposure. I can’t tell you how frustrating it is to look at twitter and see comments on a game you CAN’T see. What I wouldn’t have given to hear Chris Marlowe and Scott Hastings calling the beginning of a new era of Nuggets basketball rather than having to rely on dodgy streams and second-hand video from opposing announcers.
If the Nuggets are going to step into the future, they need to cover all of the Nuggets games and build upon the newfound excitement. They need all the help they can get, and I’m sure Avalanche fans would say the same. Altitude needs to know that Nuggets fans LOVE the Nuggets and want to see the games. Let them know. Write them. Call them. Tell them that you WILL watch the Nuggets games in the preseason.
Tell them you’re excited about this team. I think they need to know you feel the love.
(here is a nifty pass from Juancho Hernangomez in the game we couldn’t seeJuly 15, 2016 Costa Rica – Breakout Gaming, the online gaming entertainment company offering poker, sports wagering, casino games, fantasy sports and other gaming options will soon be launching two new platforms powered by the company’s own Breakout Coin. The launch of Breakout PVP and its upcoming ‘Breakout Game Store’ follows the recent launch of its successful online poker games and tournaments site – Breakout Poker.
The Breakout PVP platform is the latest eSports website which will be opened for the public today, Friday July 15. Players on Breakout PVP will be invited to participate in player vs player contests and tournaments on many of the most popular games, starting with CS:GO, and expanding to include titles like Dota2, Minecraft, League of Legends, and more. While these games can be played for free, those players in legal-to-play jurisdictions can also win real money by wagering Breakout Coin (BRK) or other international fiat currencies.
The addition of eSports into the company’s portfolio will allow Breakout Gaming to tap into the rising community of eSports enthusiasts and hardcore gamers across many countries in the world where eSports competitions are common and considered as skill gaming.
“We’re enthusiastic about adding eSports to our gaming portfolio,” announced Gian Perroni, Director of Breakout Gaming. “It is a great fit with our current poker site and fits well with our pending sportsbook and fantasy sports products coming this fall. The games offered on our new site are best of the breed, and each one has tens of millions of players engaged.”
Breakout Gaming’s eSports platform is working with another peer to peer eSports wagering platform, Gaimerz. Regarding the collaboration with Breakout Gaming, the co-founder of Gamier Martyn Denny says,
“Gaimerz.com Ltd is delighted to be working with Breakout Gaming as they launch what promises to be a market-leading online eSports platform.” Denny adds, “Breakout Gaming will be giving its players the opportunity to compete against each other, for cash prizes, via some of the world’s most popular eSports titles. As a result of our partnership, instant verification of every game outcome will now be possible, allowing players to focus solely on winning challenges.”
Breakout Gaming will also be launching an AI based skill poker training software in association with the award winning Neo Poker Lab on its upcoming Breakout Skill Poker platform. All these Breakout gaming projects are currently being funded by Breakout Services, the company responsible for the recent launch of the Breakout Multicurrency blockchain marked by the crowdsales of BRK and BRX on the reputable cryptocurrency exchange Bittrex.
The Breakout Stake [BRX] crowdsale is currently underway on Bittrex where 6,547,761 crypto tokens are currently up for grabs. The 14-day crowdsale started on the 10th of this month and will be open until July 24. Once the sale is complete, it can be traded against Bitcoin on the same exchange. Those interested can take part in the BRX crowdsale here.
About Breakout Gaming
Breakout Gaming is creating a new gaming platform that will provide members with a full selection of the most advanced gaming products online. In addition to serving the current, established online gaming market, which was estimated to have generated over US$40B in revenues in 2014, Breakout Gaming is entering into the two newest and fastest growing online gaming markets; Fantasy Pro Sports and Fantasy eSports.
To participate in player vs player contests and tournaments, please visit: http://breakoutpvp.com/
To learn more about Breakout Coin, please visit: www.breakoutcoin.com
To participate in the Breakout Stake crowdsale on Bittrex, please visit: https://bittrex.com/crowdfund/brx
To trade BRK on Bittrex, please visit: https://bittrex.com/Market/Index?MarketName=BTC-BRK
For more information about the BRK crowdsale, please visit: www.breakoutcoin.com/coinsaleSpring practice wraps up this weekend for most schools, and with it comes our annual post-spring ranking of the top 25 players in college football.
These rankings are based on a combination of on-field performance and next level potential.
1. QB Matt Barkley, Sr., USC
2011: 39 TDs (2 rush), 7 INT, 3,528 yards, 69.1 completion percentage.
The breakdown: Maybe the most impressive factor of all: His significant improvement from Year 1 to Year 2, and Year 2 to Year 3. If he stays on that trajectory, he’ll have a huge senior season.
NFL scout says: “He would have been a top 5 pick this year. He’ll probably be No.1 overall next year.”
2. WR Marqise Lee, So., USC
2011: 73 catches, 11 TDs, 1,143 yards, 15.7 yards per catch.
The breakdown: No one does more with the ball after the catch. Speed, moves, dynamic ability.
NFL scout says: “These are the guys where you wish we had the one-and-done rule of the NBA.”
3. QB Collin Klein, Sr., Kansas State
2011: 40 TDs (13 pass); 1,141 yards rushing, 1,918 yards passing, 7 INT.
The breakdown: Is he a legit NFL QB? No. But he’s one of those rare athletes that can control a game with talent and sheer will.
NFL scout says: “I love watching him play. Someone will find a place for him.”
4. RB Montee Ball, Sr., Wisconsin
2011: 1,923 yards rushing, 40 TD (6 receiving, one passing).
The breakdown: A tough, between-the-tackles runner who plays big in big games. Not an elite prospect (well behind Marcus Lattimore, Knile Davis of Arkansas, Eddie Lacy of Alabama).
NFL scout says: “I can see him getting with the right team, in the right system, and having a lot of success.”
5. DE/OLB Jarvis Jones, Jr., Georgia
2011: 70 tackles, 19.5 TFL, 13.5 sacks, 42 QB hurries.
The breakdown: Disruptive edge rusher, sure tackler, defensive leader. The perfect combination.
NFL scout says: “He the prototypical 3-4 outside linebacker. A top five (overall) guy.”
Photo gallery: Top 10 players for 2012
6. WR Sammy Watkins, So., Clemson
2011: 82 catches, 1,219 yards, 12 TD, 14.9 yards per catch.
The breakdown: Can dominate a game at receiver and in the return game. Slippery, speedy and deceptively strong.
NFL scout says: “He’s just a bit behind Marqise Lee. And there’s no shame in that.”
— 247Sports' football camps coverage: Atlanta Nike | Orlando Nike | NLA Elite 7-on-7 near Pittsburgh
7. QB Tyler Wilson, Sr., Arkansas
2011: 28 TDs (four rush), 3,638 passing yards, 6 INT
The breakdown: With former coach Bobby Petrino, Wilson had the potential for a huge (Heisman Trophy-type) season. Now what?
NFL scout says: “He would’ve been a low first-round guy had he come out. Great arm, plays in a pro system, can move up (draft boards) this year.”
8. CB Tyrann Mathieu, Jr., LSU
2011: 76 tackles, 7.5 TFL, 2 INT, 6 forced fumbles.
The breakdown: A big play waiting to happen. A classic risk/reward player at corner, and the most dangerous special teams player (returns and coverage) in a long time.
NFL scout says: “He’ll get exposed a bit with bigger receivers, but he’s one of those guys who is always making a play when you need it.”
9. WR Robert Woods, Jr., USC
2011: 111 catches, 1,292 yards, 11.6 yards per catch, 15 TD
The breakdown: A fluid and physical target. The classic USC receiver of the last decade—and would’ve been the best until Lee came along.
NFL scout says: “He’s going to play a long time in this league. He has position smarts; he knows the game and is loaded with ability.”
10. QB Denard Robinson, Sr., Michigan
2011: 3,349 total yards (1,176 rush); 36 TD (16 rush), 15 INT.
The breakdown: His throwing ability is suspect (hello, jump balls), but you can’t argue his impact on a game. A formidable, dangerous player.
NFL scout says: “He won’t have a problem finding a place to play. He could develop into a third receiver, and a big-time returner.”
11. RB Marcus Lattimore, Jr., South Carolina
2011: 818 yards, 11 TDs (one receiving)
The breakdown: Played in seven games and missed the remainder of the season with a significant knee injury. Prior to the injury, a top 5 player.
NFL scout says: “You never know how guys respond to ACL surgery. It’s a big question—especially for a guy who some thought was better than (Alabama’s) Trent Richardson.”
12. DE Barkevious Mingo, Jr., LSU
2011: 40 tackles, 15 TFL, 8 sacks, 11 QB hurries
The breakdown: Spent much of last season rotating among a deep unit, but will get more exclusive time this fall. Speed pass rusher, strong against the run.
NFL scout says: “He has a chance to move into the top five (overall). In this league, it’s the quarterback first, and then guys that can affect the quarterback.”
13. DT Johnathan Hankins, Jr., Ohio State
2011: 67 tackles, 11 TFL, 3 sacks.
The breakdown: Burly, bruising run stuffer; a classic 300-pounder who takes up multiple blocks.
NFL scout says: “A disruptive guy. Love his intensity and willingness to absorb and shed blocks.”
14. RB D’Anthony Thomas, So., Oregon
2011: 1,200 total |
, and while I can't say he's going to be great now that Stevie Nicol is gone, I also can't say there's a lot of evidence to say he'll be catastrophic.
Frank Dell'Apa reinforced my position not long after with a good piece about the inner workings of the Revolution organization in the aftermath of Nicol's departure (apologies, it's behind a paywall, and there's nothing I can really do about that). Without going into too much detail, he outlined the varied responsibilities of Jonathan and Robert Kraft, Sunil Gulati, Mike Burns, and Steve Nicol under the previous regime and it matches up just about the way I laid it out. So, from a pure operational standpoint, the jury remains out.
From a media and fan relations standpoint, however, Mike Burns was, is and will remain an unmitigated disaster.
Brian O'Connell from New England Soccer Today recently caught up with Burns to have a quick conversation about the season that was, his role with the Revs, and steps to improve in the future. By the looks of things, Brian could have sat down and had a conversation with a brick wall and gotten just as much out of it.
Burns starts by saying a whole bunch of nothing about his role with the team. Nevermind that the entire Revolution community could have read my piece or Frank's piece to get a much more accurate idea. Obviously, the thing to do is to try and keep that damned veil of total opacity over the inner workings of this organization. An organization, by the way, presiding over one of the very worst teams in the league, that lags behind the rest of the field in most categories both on and off the pitch.
The funniest part about that exchange, though, is when Brian asks Mike about the misconceptions concerning his role with the team. This is Mike's verbatim response: "What are the misconceptions? Because I don't know what they are..."
Look, I understand that in this business you have to kinda turn a blind eye to what's said about you in the media. Otherwise, you're likely to go crazy. But all sports figures, from the most revered to the most hated, have at least some idea of the public opinion and the pulse of the fans and writers. Burns has no freaking clue. What's worse, it seems like he doesn't care. It's not his concern. The peasants will make their complaints; "let them eat cake," says Burns.
Brian then asks about how the league has changed during Burns' 6-7 as a VP, and naturally he skirts the question by talking about obvious stuff like expansion, the reserve league, and academies. Not that those aren't legitimate answers, but I think everyone realizes that Brian was getting at changes in talent level, roster rules, competitiveness, and all the things that go along with MLS 2.0. Mike follows that up by discussing the Academy, something with which, I will concede, he does a good job, and seems to be up front about it. That's the lone bright spot in the entire interview.
Brian then nails down Burns on a major bone of contention - the idea that Milton Caraglio was signed after being scouted only by DVD highlights. True to form, Mike stutters, side-steps, contradicts himself and denies it without really denying anything. In fact, here's the full sequence:
In terms of bringing in some international players, like Milton Caraglio - there were reports that Caraglio was brought in based upon there being a DVD submitted of his highlights. Burns: That's inaccurate... OK. Burns: That's true, we also had people that we trust see him in person and live and so that's a little bit..it's not entirely accurate that he was signed solely off of a DVD. That's not entirely 100% true.
Who are "people that we trust?" Agents? Independent scouts? I can tell you with full confidence that it wasn't a Revolution scout. Why? Mike goes right ahead to answer that for us in the next breath.
Along the lines of that, of the front office receiving a player's DVD reel like with Caraglio, instead of waiting for that DVD, wouldn't it be better go down there and scout him in person? Burns: Well, listen, I think if you look around the league, us included, listen, we're an 18-team league. There aren't scouting departments per se. So I think if you asked any team, and I'll speak for us, it's very, very challenging during the season and if you remember in Milton's case, he was a summer signing as was (Monsef) Zerka, it's very challenging for coaches to take time away from the first team during the season to go see people live. I'm not going to say it's impossible, but it's challenging.
What the hell does being an 18-team league have to do with anything? And why, if other teams don't have a scouting department, do the Revs suddenly feel they don't need one? So many recent league standards have been set by teams willing to forge ahead and break new ground. Columbus built Crew Stadium in 1999 when no one else was playing in their own ballparks. Other teams broke down the press barrier to bloggers very early, and still others have revolutionized the league's policies on social media interaction just by experimenting with it ahead of everyone else. Imagine the competitive advantage if the New England Revolution becomes the first MLS team with a large, dedicated scouting department? With the capability to travel to Argentina and scout a Caraglio mid-season? Would that not be instrumental in catapulting the Revs back to the top?
That answer made me sick.
His next one made me laugh.
Brian asked about a European player the Revs were supposedly close to signing. Burns, in typical one-word screw-you-if-you-want-to-know-anything fashion, refused to reveal the player's identity.
That's ok, though, because Frank Dell'Apa already did! I'll quote if you can't read because of the paywall: "Nicol went to Istanbul to sign Turkish striker Semih Senturk, who agreed to terms with the Revolution, according to multiple sources." Again, if Mike had any clue as to what was going on outside his own insular little world, he would have realized this information was public knowledge and could have opened up to the fans about it. Perhaps this would garner him and the organization some understanding, if not some sympathy. Instead, he just sounds hard-headed and difficult.
The last few questions serve to highlight perhaps Burns' biggest problem in this realm. It's not so much the substance of his answers to fan and media questions as it's the manner in which he answers them. Brian asks about why Caraglio is a DP despite making just $54,000 in base salary. No one, least of all me, expects to get concrete numbers. That's just not how this league operates, let alone this organization. All Mike had to do was say "listen, salary is only part of the equation," and then waffle around for another line or two from there. He's not really saying much, but it's a softer answer and it's something. Instead, Mike takes the hard line, refuses to say anything about it, and makes his answer sound like a chastisement of Brian for even asking.
Brian then asks how far they are in the coaching search, and Burns has the audacity to say "That's a fair question." Of course it's a fair question, Mike! Did you think any of these weren't fair questions? You're the VP of the worst team in the East, possibly the worst in the league! A team that has been declining in spectacular fashion for three or four years now, that shows no signs of moving ahead with the times, has a dwindling fan base, plays in a cavernous void, and is becoming the butt of more jokes than Toronto FC in this league! There is no out of bounds anymore, Mike. If we asked you whether you prefer boxers or briefs, you had damn well better answer the question, because public opinion on you, your staff and the whole front office has hit rock bottom, and all you insist on doing is digging the hole deeper and deeper.
Finally, Brian asks about who has been interviewed so far. That's a shot in the dark question; you know the guy isn't going to answer it. No one will. It's an ongoing job search. Again, though, Burns shoots himself in the foot not in what he answers, but how he answers.
"Yeah, I'm not going to comment on the people that we're interviewing. I'm not going to comment on which direction we're going to go in. We're going to try to hire the best candidate we can."
That last part is funny, just because you have to figure that's always the goal. Does it bear repeating? But again, here he just sounds irritated, like Brian is an annoyance to him and he shouldn't have to answer to anybody but himself and his superiors. That can be a great attitude to have in some industries, but in sports, it's important to remember you answer to fans. And if you lose the fans, you lose your job, because the team dies.
I don't want to sound like a guy with a vendetta against Burns, but what ticks me off the most is that this is nothing new. Wind the clocks back to July 2010: I'm writing for ASN, and both Brian Bilello and Mike Burns do Q&A sessions with fans via email through the team website. You can read my breakdown of Burns' answers here. He regurgitates - almost verbatim - all of his answers from the season ticket holders' summit that February, and in the process he infuriates everybody.
What has become obvious here is that Mike Burns is a PR nightmare. He doesn't seem to care about the fans, at least not about what they think or want. He obviously has no respect for the media, or at the very least the independent media, and doesn't want to lower himself to their level to give illuminating, or at least tactful, answers to their questions. And it's not like he's the norm: go around the league and read interviews with guys like Dave Checketts, Merritt Paulson, even Kevin Payne or the guys from Sporting KC. They get it. They want the fans involved, rabid, and informed. Mike doesn't want to be bothered.
For all I've said about giving him a chance, letting him prove himself competent or otherwise, he still manages to let his myopia hinder his own cause. All I can say is this: either Burns needs a PR coach like a starving man needs a cheeseburger, or he'd better get this team winning yesterday. Because given his terrible track record and image with media and fans, I don't think he's going to get anywhere near the kind of leash guys will get anywhere else in this league.For the first time, a majority of Americans (58 percent) support the legalization of marijuana, according to the latest Gallup poll published on Tuesday.
The results reflect current policy changes. Both Washington state and Colorado have legalized the drug over the last two months, Gallup reported. Policy changes may have also spurred greater tolerance. Acceptance levels increased 10 percent since last November when the drug was legalized in Colorado.
"Legal momentum shows no sign of abating," according to Gallup, evidenced by the recent statements of California Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, who asked marijuana be legitimazed in his state. A statewide proposal to support Newsom's ideas should be completed by 2014, according to Gallup.
The Federal government, which has long maintained a party line against marijuana legalization, will do nothing to slow momentum. Deputy Attorney General James Cole announced in late August that the Justice Department would not challenge the rulings in Colorado or Washington.
Colorado continues to lead the way. Almost a year after achieving legalization, Colorado became the first state to legalize recreational use of marijuana. Non-medical weed projects to hit Rocky Mountain stories in January of 2014, according to The Huffington Post.
Americans have slowly changed their attitudes to marijuana over the years. In 1969, just 12 percent believed in legalization. Last year, support was split 50-50. 2013 represents the first year of a "clear majority," according to Gallup polling.
More widespread use could be another reason for shifting perceptions, the polling system points out. Thirty eight percent of Americans admitted this year to having tried marijuana at least once.
Senior citizens make up the only demographic that does not support marijuana, according to the Gallup poll.After encountering Santa Claus on her rooftop, Clara is taken by the Doctor to an Arctic base. There they discover its crew are being attacked by sinister face-hugging creatures known as Dream Crabs, who induce a blissful dream state in their victims while absorbing their brains. But how can the Doctor defeat them when he can’t tell the difference between dreams and reality?
The myth, the man: Santa Claus
It’s the North Pole. It’s Christmas Day. You’re dying. Who’re you gonna call?
So Santa is real, then a collective figment of the imagination and then, finally, with the final lingering shot of a tangerine as the TARDIS dematerialises in the background, real again.
Steven Moffat treats the legend of Santa playfully throughout, even drawing comparisons with the Doctor himself. Both are cantankerous older men, travelling in vehicles that are bigger on the inside and able to accomplish seemingly impossible feats that confound our linear perceptions of time.
And Nick Frost plays Santa with the same hint of unworldly devilment that we associate with the Doctor, adding an edge to the good-natured, avuncular figure we traditionally regard Santa as. I could have done with him throwing in fewer of David Brent’s mannerisms, though.
Dreams within dreams
Have you ever woken up from a dream and discovered that you’re still dreaming?
This story draws obvious parallels with Alien, with Professor Albert even stating the similarity between the film’s Facehuggers and the Dream Crabs. But the episode’s central concept of life-like dreams nested within dreams reminded me most of Inception.
Although the Dream Crabs’ appearance is fearsome, the visual scare quotient is kept relatively mild, in keeping with a family-friendly early evening timeslot. It’s the psychological horror that is more likely to send shivers down viewers’ spines, with the idea that a person could be trapped along with others within a series of happy dreams to anaesthetise the pain of being slowly killed. As the Doctor says:
No one knows they’re not dreaming. Not one of us, not ever, not for one single moment of our lives.
Here Moffat is invoking the Chinese philosopher Zhuang Zhou, whose work Zhuangzi contains the famous passage:
Once upon a time, Zhuang Zhou dreamed he was a butterfly, a butterfly flitting about happily enjoying himself. He did not know that he was Zhou. Suddenly he awoke, and was palpably Zhou. He did not know whether he was Zhou, who had dreamed of being a butterfly, or a butterfly dreaming that he was Zhou.
In Clara’s case, her blissful dream involves a world in which Danny Pink is still alive and they are enjoying a perfect Christmas morning together. It’s a reminder of what her life might have been, made all the more heart-breaking when the Doctor tears her away from it for her own good and the 62 years later dream revelation of her never marrying.
In the end, though, Clara finds the next best thing in reality. She pursues a second chance to travel aboard the TARDIS after she and the Doctor admit the lies that separated them at the end of Death in Heaven: that Danny is dead and that the Doctor never found Gallifrey.
What do you get a Time Lord for Christmas? You reunite him with his best friend.
Middling
But is Last Christmas actually any good?
It certainly benefits from being less busy, confusing and continuity-heavy than The Time of the Doctor, although casual viewers will have been left scratching their heads about all the Danny references. There’s also plenty of buddy movie humour in the Doctor’s interactions with Santa.
But I can’t help but feel that Clara’s renewed travels with the Doctor feels too much like back-tracking on the events of Death in Heaven. The whole of season eight built up to the moment where a bereaved Clara quietly turned her back on her life of adventure. That felt like a fitting end to the character’s journey, and I’m not sure whether there’s still a worthwhile story to tell.
Maybe now we will get a definitive answer as to whether the timeline that leads to Danny’s descendant Orson Pink remains intact, and whether that means Clara is pregnant, as has been hotly debated in the fan community.
Beyond Clara and the Doctor’s reunion, like much of season eight this story is strongly character-focussed, to the extent that there’s actually very little action other than the concluding sleigh flight above the streets of London. The CGI here wasn’t the best the show has ever produced, and the whole sequence felt tacked on and a little gratuitous to me. It was still fun, but felt like a box-ticking exercise.
So, back to my original question: was this year’s Christmas special any good? It wasn’t a patch on The Christmas Invasion or The Runaway Bride, but neither was it the unholy mess of Voyage of the Damned. It was okay. No more, no less. Like the dreams the characters experienced, as a story this felt incomplete and lacking in fully formed detail. A diverting hour, but no classic.
Fun stuff, references & quotables
“It’s a lovely story, dear, but it’s time to start living in the real world.”
The dusting of snow that flies off the spinning TARDIS during the opening credits.
The song playing to keep Shona distracted as she enters the infirmary is, of course, Slade’s 1973 Christmas number one, Merry Xmas Everybody.
Shona: “Reindeer can’t fly.” Santa: “No, no, they can’t. It’s a scientific impossibility. That is why I feed mine magic carrots.”
How does Santa get all his presents in his sleigh? It’s bigger on the inside, of course. Where have we heard that before?
“There’s a horror movie called Alien? That’s really offensive. No wonder everyone keeps invading you.”
As in Listen, an important message – “You are dying!” – is conveyed via words scrawled in chalk on a blackboard.
“I can commit several million house-breaks in one night dressed in a red suit with jingle bells.”
“How much more obvious do you want me to make it? Cos I can text the Easter bunny, you know.”
“As the Doctor might say: ‘Oh, it’s all about dreamy-weamy.'”
“Who’re you gonna call?” The answer to anyone of a certain age is, obviously, Ghostbusters.
“God bless us every one” is a line associated with the character Tiny Tim in Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. Dickens himself appeared in the Ninth Doctor story The Unquiet Dead.
“Time travel is always possible in dreams.”
Professor Albert is played by Michael Troughton, the son of second Doctor Patrick Troughton. His brother David also appeared in the Tenth Doctor story Midnight.
, the son of second Doctor Patrick Troughton. His brother David also appeared in the Tenth Doctor story Midnight. Yes, that’s Dan Starkey playing the elf Ian – for once appearing without all the prosthetic make-up that turns him into everyone’s favourite Sontaran, Strax.
Rating: 7/10
Doctor Who season 8 reviews
8.1 Deep Breath
8.2 Into the Dalek
8.3 Robot of Sherwood
8.4 Listen
8.5 Time Heist
8.6 The Caretaker
8.7 Kill the Moon
8.8 Mummy on the Orient Express
8.9 Flatline
8.10 In the Forest of the Night
8.11 Dark Water
8.12 Death in HeavenThe legal battle over the Transportation Security Administration’s installation of Advanced Imaging Technology – its “virtual strip search” machines – in airports has gone on for nearly a decade, and it’s focused mostly on privacy rights.
The feds use an X-ray type technology designed to reveal whether an airline passenger is carrying a weapon or another banned item underneath clothing.
But there have been numerous lawsuits over the images the machines create – initially an essentially nude rendering of the passenger – and how the images were handled. The agency said it altered its software so that the images now render a “stick figure” that doesn’t reveal intimate details.
But now there’s a lawsuit raising another claim: The machines are responsible for hundreds of deaths per year.
The lawsuit was filed in the District of Columbia Court of Appeals by the Competitive Enterprise Institute and the Rutherford Institute against the Department of Transportation and the TSA.
The suit is being pursued in conjunction with a similar case by the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
Read the case for personal freedom in Judge Andrew Napolitano’s “It is Dangerous to be Right When the Government is Wrong.”
When the TSA began installing the machines in 2007, the government failed to follow the Administrative Procedure Act’s requirement that it propose and adopt standards. Consequently, formal complaints and challenges to the TSA program were delayed.
Now, the standards finally have been formalized, and they allow the use of “a device … that creates a visual image of an individual showing the surface of the skin.”
“TSA characterized AIT as reducing the need for pat-downs, and stated that privacy concerns regarding body scanners’ production of naked body images had been eliminated through new software that produced only a ‘generic outline’ of a passenger’s body,” the new lawsuit explains.
TSA noted the public opposition and “conceded” that some travelers are limiting airline travel as much as possible because of the screening demands.
“And it noted the argument of some individuals and organizations that, given the greater risks of driving compared to flying, this could raise a safety issue – ‘some estimated as many as 500 additional deaths per year,'” the new complaint says.
However, the TSA dismissed as negligible any such impact.
That creates an issue, the lawsuit contends.
“Comments from both analysts and private individuals squarely presented TSA with this issue. Many commenters pointed out that they had already reduced their air travel in favor of driving, for such reasons as privacy and airport screening hassles. Nonetheless, the agency summarily dismissed this as insignificant.
“But the agency’s own break-even analysis for the alleged life-saving potential of AIT demonstrates, the risks raised by a shift from planes to cars are at least as large, in magnitude, as the projected benefits of AIT. The agency cannot base its decision on one side of the equation while ignoring the other.”
The lawsuit demands that the rule be returned to the agency for further review.
“‘We the people’ have not done the best job of holding our representatives accountable or standing up for our rights,” said John W. Whitehead, president of The Rutherford Institute and author of “Battlefield America: The War on the American People.”
“However, something as expensive, invasive and seemingly ineffective as these scanners certainly shouldn’t be foisted on an unsuspecting American populace without the absolute assurance that it will not harm our health or undermine our liberties.”
The scanner became the primary means of screening passengers in 2009, even though there was no legislation or regulation allowing it.
The court cases ensued, and even though a judge ordered the government in 2011 to adopt standards, the TSA complied only this year.
Now, the complaint is that the TSA is refusing to include in its analysis the estimation that hundreds of people will die each year because the invasive scanning will cause them to travel by road instead of by air.
It was the TSA itself that estimated the scanning would result in as many as 500 deaths per year.
The complaint argues that not only does TSA not contest the estimate, it verified the premise in an analysis of the impact of the 9/11 attacks that showed travelers chose road trips rather that air travel.
“TSA here is ignoring the scores of comments from people who have switched from flying to driving,” the complaint said. “The record contains clear evidence that AIT was causing a sizable number of people to shift from flying to driving – a fact that TSA itself conceded.”
The estimate of the scanners’ impact cited in the complaint comes from the 1.5 percent of all commenters who said they would opt to drive rather than fly. That would be 12.2 million fewer enplanements each year, and studies reveal “a decrease of 1 million enplanements leads to an increase of 15 driving-related fatalities.”
“Of course, the commenters who participated in TSA’s rulemaking may not be representative of airline passengers overall. However, even if they are overrepresented by a factor of eight, this still would result in 24 road-related deaths, a figure that is larger than the 20 to 21 lives claimed by TSA in its break-even analysis,” the lawsuit said.
“Perhaps the best evidence against TSA’s characterizations of AIT is this fact – AIT scanners are conspicuously absent from the two expedited screening programs that TSA has instituted for certain categories of passengers,” the lawsuit said.
The TSA was criticized in 2010 by Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., for its “enhanced pat-downs” which accompanied the scanner image controversy, and WND reported extensively on the controversy when judges threw out challenges against the agency based on a “secret order” issued by the TSA.
In one of the court cases challenging the scanners, District Court Judge Henry H. Kennedy Jr. cited a “secret order” issued by the TSA as the basis for dismissing the case.
At one point, the Libertarian Party of Florida formally asked sheriffs across the state to start arresting TSA agents in the 67 counties for sexual battery.
“As sheriff, you have the absolute duty to enforce the law uniformly and without prejudice. You are, at best, engaged in selective enforcement by choosing to further ignore these flagrant violations of federal and state law. At worst, you are complicit,” said a message to the 67 sheriffs from the party, signed by chairman Adrian Wyllie.
Paul’s criticism of the process was blunt.
“The press reports are horrifying: 95 year-old women humiliated; children molested; disabled people abused; men and women subjected to unwarranted groping and touching of their most private areas; involuntary radiation exposure,” he wrote. “If the perpetrators were a gang of criminals, their headquarters would be raided by SWAT teams and armed federal agents. Unfortunately, in this case the perpetrators are armed federal agents. This is the sorry situation 10 years after the creation of the Transportation Security Administration.”
Read the case for personal freedom in Judge Andrew Napolitano’s “It is Dangerous to be Right When the Government is Wrong.”Are you an Ubuntu user and seeing regular notifications to upgrade the older version (14.04 or 15.10) to the newest Ubuntu 16.04? If that’s a yes, then let me unveil for you seven major benefits you can draw by upgrading your older Ubuntu version to Ubuntu 16.04.
Called as Xenial Xerus, the latest Ubuntu 16.04 upgrade is a Long Term Support (LTS) release. So, no grumbling over critical security, bug and app updates from Canonical, for at least five years. In my view, if you are looking forward to a stable, predictable system, Ubuntu 16.04 should definitely be your choice.
Let’s Talk About Top Seven Virtues Of Ubuntu 16.04
No Spyware In Ubuntu 16.04 LTS
Since 2012, unbuntu was mired in the controversy over the online search results in Ubuntu’s Dash. The things were only made worse with the introduction of “Smart Scopes Service” in 2013, so much so that Free Software Foundation President Richard Stallman called Ubuntu Linux "spyware". He along with many people raised concerns over the operating system sending data to Ubuntu maker Canonical when a user searched the desktop. However, the latest Ubuntu upgrade puts all such search-related concerns to rest.
Online search features in Ubuntu 16.04 come disabled by default for new installs, meaning your search terms will reside within your computer only. In case you think the move will attenuate your ability to search and preview content through the dash, you can re-enable online search results in a couple of clicks.
Snap: The New Packaging Format
Ubuntu 16.04 sports a brand new packaging format, opening gates for developers to distribute packages that contain everything needed to run. Unlike previous Ubuntu versions, Ubuntu 16.04 boasts of snap that can contain both application binary and any dependencies required for it to run. And this is regardless of whether or not libraries are installed on the host system.
So now, there is no need to add x PPA for an app and then y PPA for the latest version of z dependency. Moreover, developers can include newer versions of any libraries as part of their Snap. In previous versions, developers faced limitations of building apps to frozen base of libraries. But not anymore, thanks to snap in Ubuntu 16.04. Users can also enjoy newer versions of apps on older versions of Ubuntu without compromising on the stability of the entire system.
New Software Center
Image source: pentruprieteni.com
People were bored with Ubuntu’s centralized app store, which was introduced by Canonical in 2009. Due to slow speed of Ubuntu Software Center, many users got frustrated and wanted something that acts briskly. To address the issue, Canonical has brought up a new package manager, called GNOME software, in Ubuntu 16.04, which is fast, lightweight and very responsive.
Ubuntu 16.04 Allows To Move Unity 7’s Launcher To The Bottom
Image source: askubuntu.com
With the latest LTS release of Ubuntu 16.04, many users believe their requests have finally been heard by Canonical, especially with Unity launcher. Now, the Unity 7 desktop on Ubuntu 16.04 LTS enables users to move the launcher bar to the bottom of the screen. Now that we mostly use widescreen monitors, the launcher bar on the left hand side does not make sense to many.So, Ubuntu 16.04 finally gives you the choice to preserve’ space efficiently by moving the application launcher to the bottom.
However, you need to use the GUI and the command-line. Don’t worry, it's hassle-free. Simply open a terminal window and enter the command given below.
gsettings set com.canonical.Unity.Launcher launcher-position Bottom
In case, you don’t find it the cup of your tea, you can easily undo it by using this command.
gsettings set com.canonical.Unity.Launcher launcher-position Left
Linux Kernel 4.4
Ubuntu 16.04 LTS comes with a modified version of Linux 4.4 kernel. The move aims at providing improved system stability, efficiency, performance, power, and file system handling. Moreover, it gives better support for Intel Skylake, Intel’s new sixth-generation Core family of mainstream processors, and Raspberry Pi.
Other advantages of Kernel 4.4 are:
3D support in the virtual GPU driver
New driver for Corsair Vengeance K90
Support for TPM 2.0 chips
Journaled RAID 5 support
Set App Menus To Always Show
Image source: www.makeuseof.com
In Ubuntu 16.04, a new setting called "Menus visibility" is available in the Appearance panel. You will see two options therein - “Displayed on mouse hovering” and “Always displayed”. So, by choosing “Always displayed”, users can ensure that the menus of any application are always visible.
It won’t be wrong to say that by leaving the menu visible in each application’s windows, you can easily combine old-school functionality with a modern look.
Support for ZFS File System
Image source: arstechnica.com
Ubuntu 16.04 is the first version to support zfs filesystem on Linux. As per Canonical, zfs is the combination of a volume manager and a filesystem. The new version does not ask you to make any effort from your side, since zfs.ko will be automatically built and installed on your Ubuntu systems. Zfs facilitates improvements towards enterprise and server use.
Also, zfs is better than BTRFS and allows users to efficiently create snapshots of your machine. Zfs support in Ubuntu 16.04 opens gates to manage multiple physical storage devices in a much better way than previous options, like ext3 and ext4.
Without a doubt, Ubuntu 16.04 is the most exciting release by Canonical in the past few years. There are many other benefits of Ubuntu 16.04, like access to session shortcuts in Dash, which allows users to Logout, Reboot & Shutdown, directly through it. However, I have discussed the top six that have been coaxing Ubuntu users into upgrading to Ubuntu 16.04.
Do you think Ubuntu 16.04 is the right choice for you? Have you already upgraded to Ubuntu 16.04 and facing issues with it? You think of benefits that are more important than what I have discussed? Please share your views in the comment box below.Poland is edging closer to receiving its first Leonardo Aermacchi M-346 advanced jet trainer, following the successful conclusion of electromagnetic testing in an anechoic chamber.
That effort has now ushered in a phase of experimental and certification flights, which will eventually use Warsaw’s first two aircraft.
Initial sorties with a lead aircraft will test the M-346’s communications and avionics systems, before moving on to trials of its embedded tactical training simulation (ETTS) equipment.
A second Polish M-346 is scheduled to fly by the end of September, and this will be primarily used to test the trainer’s braking parachute.
Bartosz Glowacki
Certification of the M-346 in the Polish air force configuration is scheduled for the end of October, leading to a first delivery the following month. Poland will eventually have a fleet of eight of the type, with an option on another four.
Leonardo is also contracted to train 16 instructor pilots for the Polish air force. The first batch of six personnel are now at the final stage of that process, and another four were recently inducted.
The Italian airframer has additionally offered the dual-role M-346FT to Warsaw as a potential replacement for its fleet of Sukhoi Su-22s.The most exciting second leg matches in European knock out competition will follow a home 0-0 or 2-1 result, according to analysis of 6,975 Champions League and Europa League games.
Professor David Forrest, a football industry expert in the University of Liverpool’s Management School, assessed the outcome of every two-legged match in European competition from the birth of the away goals rule in the 1960s right up to the 2012/13 season.
Home advantage?
Professor Forrest was seeking to establish how satisfied a club should be with a given first leg outcome, and what the prospects for progression would be against a series of variables, including relative club and country strength.
He found that the advantage conferred on playing at home has diminished significantly over the 60 years of European competition, with 56% of home legs won between 1965 and 1981 reducing to 46% between 1997 and 2013.
Despite this, he found that ‘home-first’ clubs have become “more adept at converting any given scoreline to success over the whole tie”.
“Suspense will be maximised where the first-leg score is 0-0 or 2-1, but we found that a 1-0 home win for an underdog gave it a better-than-evens chance of causing an upset in the tie as whole”
Part of the reason for this is the adoption of a more defensive approach in home-first legs, as Professor Forrest found the impact of conceding an away goal in the first leg “proves to be severe”.
So, where a 1-0 result in the period 1965-1981 was considered the “closest to a neutral result”, by the period 1997-2013 “a first-leg win by 1-0 must be considered a good result for the home-first club, giving it almost a 2-to-1 advantage going into the second leg”.
Professor Forrest said: “Similarly, winning by one goal but conceding an away goal had to be considered a poor result for the home-first club in the first data period, but it is now the closest to being neutral: it is the result which yields the most balanced contest going into the second leg.
“The damage inflicted on the home-first club by an away goal in the first leg proves to be severe. A score draw, compared to a 0-0 draw, leaves the then visiting club an underdog by nearly 3-to-1 concerning progression to the next stage.”
Parity
Professor Forrest found that a 0-0 first-leg draw or 2-1 first leg win for the home team are “the only two results which leave anything approaching parity between the two teams following the first leg”.
Professor Forrest said: “Suspense will be maximised where the first-leg score is 0-0 or 2-1, if all the matches are between average strength teams. But we found that a 1-0 home win for an underdog gave it a better-than-evens chance of causing an upset in the tie as whole.
“In this circumstance, the fans may find it worthwhile to travel and the clubs to field full-strength teams!”
What is a good result in the first leg of a two-legged football match? was published in the European Journal of Operational Research. The report was co-authored by Dr Juan De Dios Tena Horrillo from the University of Liverpool’s Management School and Dr Ramon Flores and Cesar de Pablo from Universidad Carlos III, Madrid.Washington Has Discredited America — Paul Craig Roberts
Washington Has Discredited America
Paul Craig Roberts
Years ago when I described the George W. Bush regime as a police state, right-wing eyebrows were raised. When I described the Obama regime as an even worse police state, liberals rolled their eyes. Alas! Now I am no longer controversial. Everybody says it.
According to the UK newspaper, The Guardian, the Chancellor of Germany, Angela Merkel, had an angry exchange with Obama in which Merkel compared Obama’s National Security Agency (NSA) with the East German Communist Stasi, which spied on everyone through networks of informers. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/17/merkel-compares-nsa-stasi-obama
Merkel grew up in Communist East Germany where she was spied upon by the Stasi, and now that she has risen to the highest political office in Europe’s most powerful state, she is spied upon by “freedom and democracy” America.
A former top NSA official, William Binney, declared that “We (the US) are now in a police state.” The mass spying conducted by the Obama regime, Binney says “is a totalitarian process.” http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2013/12/former-top-nsa-official-now-police-state.html
Perhaps my best vindication, after all the hate mail from “super patriots,” who wear their ignorance on their sleeves |
decision.
Ellins said he discussed his plans with the country attorney, and vowed to use only private donations if a legal challenged ensues.
Ellins began issuing same -sex marriage licenses Wednesday after he said his review of state law allowed him to do so. As of midday Thursday, 65 licenses had been issued.
Most of the couples were from New Mexico, Ellins said. But a few crossed state lines.
Monica Corral and Luz Saenz said they came from nearby El Paso, even though their marriage won’t be legal in Texas.
They said they just wanted to make the lifelong commitment, and “hopefully I will live long enough to see it happen in Texas,” said Saenz.
Article continues below
Although King earlier this year advised county clerks against issuing same-sex licenses, the attorney general said Wednesday he had no plans to challenge the move by Ellins or any other county clerks who might allow the practice.
Ellins said he had been considering issuing the licenses since June, when King released a position paper saying state laws don’t allow same-sex marriage, but that King thinks those laws are unconstitutional.
County and city officials aro und the country have taken it upon themselves in recent years to issue same-sex licenses, with one of the first and most highly publicized cases in San Francisco in 2004. The city issued the licenses for about a month before being ordered by courts to stop. The marriages were eventually invalidated. But gay marriage is now legal in that state.
Dona Ana County became the first county in New Mexico to actively issue same-sex licenses since a Sandoval County clerk issued 64 licenses to same-sex couples in 2004. Then-Attorney General Patricia Madrid soon declared the licenses were invalid and a court later ordered the clerk to stop.
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This Story Filed UnderChanging of the Guard Ritual The guard is changed every hour on the hour October 1 to March 31 in an elaborate ritual. From April 1 through September 30, there are more than double the opportunities to view the change because another change is added on the half hour and the cemetery closing time moves from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. An impeccably uniformed relief commander appears on the plaza to announce the Changing of the Guard. Soon the new sentinel leaves the Quarters and unlocks the bolt of his or her M-14 rifle to signal to the relief commander to start the ceremony. The relief commander walks out to the Tomb and salutes, then faces the spectators and asks them to stand and stay silent during the ceremony. The relief commander conducts a detailed white-glove inspection of the weapon, checking each part of the rifle once. Then, the relief commander and the relieving sentinel meet the retiring sentinel at the center of the matted path in front of the Tomb. All three salute the Unknown who have been symbolically given the Medal of Honor. Then the relief commander orders the relieved sentinel, "Pass on your orders." The current sentinel commands, "Post and orders, remain as directed." The newly posted sentinel replies, "Orders acknowledged," and steps into position on the black mat. When the relief commander passes by, the new sentinel begins walking at a cadence of 90 steps per minute. The Tomb Guard marches 21 steps down the black mat behind the Tomb, turns, faces east for 21 seconds, turns and faces north for 21 seconds, then takes 21 steps down the mat and repeats the process. After the turn, the sentinel executes a sharp "shoulder-arms" movement to place the weapon on the shoulder closest to the visitors to signify that the sentinel stands between the Tomb and any possible threat. Twenty-one was chosen because it symbolizes the highest military honor that can be bestowed -- the 21-gun salute. Duty time when not "walking" is spent in the Tomb Guard Quarters below the Memorial Display Room of the Memorial Amphitheater where they study cemetery "knowledge," clean their weapons and help the rest of their relief prepare for the Changing of the Guard. The guards also train on their days off. The Guards of Honor at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier are highly motivated and are proud to honor all American service members who are "Known But to God."
Sentinels of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is guarded 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, and in any weather by Tomb Guard sentinels. Sentinels, all volunteers, are considered to be the best of the elite 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment (The Old Guard), headquartered at Fort Myer, Virginia. After members of the 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment become ceremonially qualified, they are eligible to volunteer for duty as sentinels at the Tomb. If accepted, they are assigned to Company E of The Old Guard. Each soldier must be in superb physical condition, possess an unblemished military record and be between 5 feet, 10 inches and 6 feet, 4 inches tall for males or 5 feet, 8 inches and 6 feet, 2 inches tall for females with a proportionate weight and build. An interview and a two-week trial to determine a volunteer's capability to train as a tomb guard is required. During the trial phase, would-be sentinels memorize seven pages of Arlington National Cemetery history. This information must be recited verbatim in order to earn a "walk." A walk occurs between guard changes. A daytime walk is one-half hour in the summer and one hour in the winter. All night walks are one hour. If a soldier passes the first training phase, "new-soldier" training begins. New sentinels learn the history of Arlington National Cemetery and the grave locations of nearly 300 veterans. They learn the guard-change ceremony and the manual of arms that takes place during the inspection portion of the Changing of the Guard. Sentinels learn to keep their uniforms and weapons in immaculate condition. The sentinels will be tested to earn the privilege of wearing the silver Tomb Guard Identification Badge after several months of serving. First, they are tested on their manual of arms, uniform preparation and their walks. Then, the Badge Test is given. The test is 100 randomly selected questions of the 300 items memorized during training on the history of Arlington National Cemetery and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. The would-be badge holder must get more than 95 percent correct to succeed. The Tomb Guard Identification Badge is a temporary award until the badge-holding sentinel has honorably served at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier for nine months. At that time, the award can be made a permanent badge, which may then be worn for the rest of a military career. The silver badge is an upside-down, laurel-leaf wreath surrounding a depiction of the front face of the Tomb. Peace, Victory and Valor are portrayed as Greek figures. The words "Honor Guard" are shown below the Tomb on the badge. There are three reliefs, each having one relief commander and about six sentinels. The three reliefs are divided by height so that those in each guard change ceremony look similar. The sentinels rotate walks every hour in the winter and at night, and every half-hour in the day during the summer. The Tomb Guard Quarters is staffed using a rotating Kelly system. Each relief has the following schedule: first day on, one day off, second day on, one day off, third day on, four days off. Then, their schedule repeats.A review of Manitoba Justice Vic Toews conduct by the Canadian Judicial Council will have to wait until a federal court rules on a challenge made by Toews himself.
In April Canada's federal ethics commissioner ruled Toews breached the Conflict of Interest Act. Commissioner Mary Dawson determined Toews broke the rules by doing consulting work for two Manitoba First Nations after he left politics in 2013. He was appointed a Queens Bench Justice in March of 2014.
Toews wants to have the Federal Court of Canada throw out Dawson's ruling.
Winnipeg lawyer Robert Tapper, who represents Toews, says he will file legal arguments with the court in the next several weeks and doesn't expect a hearing to be scheduled until at least January.
Tapper says "his [Toew's] right to defend himself was denied."
"We have to show that she [Dawson] denied my client basic civil rights or rights under what lawyers call natural justice laws," Tapper says.
Tapper says the ethics review did not allow Toews or his lawyer to interview witnesses who testified to the commissioner.
"He has a right to defend and ascertain what he was facing," Tapper says.
Toews was a federal cabinet minister in successive Conservative governments. He was president of the treasury board, public safety minister, and also served as Canada's justice minister.
The Canadian Judicial Council (CJC) has the responsibility to review the conduct of judges across the country. It launched an investigation in April into Toews's conduct as a result of a complaint filed by a private citizen.
In an email to CBC News, CJC spokesperson Johana Laporte says Toew's challenge in Federal Court must be dealt with before any review is initiated.
"It is standard practice for the CJC to put a file in abeyance when the subject-matter of a complaint is the subject of a court proceeding. We will await the outcome of the court proceedings before finalizing the matter," wrote Laporte.
In the meantime Toews continues to sit as a Manitoba Justice and hear cases.There have been calls for his removal from the bench.via exmormon.org Mormon Blood Atonement: Fact or Fantasy?By Jerald & Sandra Tanner(This article originally appeared in The Salt Lake City Messenger, Issue No. 92, April, 1997)It is a well-known fact that the early Mormons suffered a good deal of persecution at the hands of the Gentiles-i.e., non-Mormons. The prophet Joseph Smith and his brother were murdered by a cowardly mob that took the law into their own hands. A number of Mormons lost their lives during these early years. Unfortunately, however, many Mormon historians have overlooked the other side of the story.During the early years of Mormonism it was frequently alleged that the leaders of the church sanctioned the practice of putting both Gentiles and Mormon apostates to death. In 1969-70, we made a detailed study of the charges and published our conclusions in a book entitled, The Mormon Kingdom, Vol. 2. The evidence that we marshalled convinced us that many of the claims were genuine. Since doing this research we found even more evidence to verify that there was a conspiracy to destroy dissenters and other people that the Mormon leaders hated.While many Mormon scholars would like to scoff at those who have seriously studied this matter, there is incontrovertible proof that Brigham Young, the second prophet of the Mormon Church, publicly preached a doctrine called "blood atonement." Although one might think that the name of this doctrine came from the atonement of Jesus on the cross, the truth of the matter is that it relates to people being put to death. Brigham Young explained this in a sermon given on September 21, 1856:"There are sins that men commit for which they cannot receive forgiveness in this world, or in that which is to come, and if they had their eyes open to see their true condition, they would be perfectly willing to have their blood spilt upon the ground, that the smoke thereof might ascend to heaven as an offering for their sins; and the smoking incense would atone for their sins, whereas, if such is not the case, they will stick to them and remain upon them in the spirit world...(Sermon by Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, Vol. 4, pages 53-54); also published in the Mormon Church's Deseret News, 1856, page 235)On another occasion Brigham Young made this chilling statement regarding a person's obligation to spill the blood of those who committed serious sins:..."... I have known a great many men who have left this Church for whom there is no chance whatever for exaltation, but if their blood had been spilled, it would have been better for them...."This is loving our neighbor as ourselves; if he needs help, help him; and if he wants salvation and it is necessary to spill his blood on the earth in order that he may be saved, spill it.... if you have sinned a sin requiring the shedding of blood, except the sin unto death, would not be satisfied nor rest until your blood should be spilled, that you might gain that salvation you desire. That is the way to love mankind." (Sermon by President Brigham Young, delivered in the Mormon Tabernacle, February 8, 1857; printed in the Deseret News, February 18, 1857; also reprinted in the Journal of Discourses, Vol. 4, pages 219-220)"To whatever extent the preaching on blood atonement may have influenced action, it would have been in relation to Mormon disciplinary action among its own members. In point would be a verbally reported case of a Mr. Johnson in Cedar City who was found guilty of adultery with his stepdaughter by a bishop's court and sentenced to death for atonement of his sin. According to the report of reputable eyewitnesses, judgment was executed with consent of the offender who went to his unconsecrated grave in full confidence of salvation through the shedding of his blood. Such a case, however primitive, is understandable within the meaning of the doctrine and the emotional extremes of the [Mormon] Reformation." (Utah Historical Quarterly, January, 1958, page 62, note 39)This may be the same case spoken of by John D. Lee, who was sealed to Brigham Young and was a member of Young's secret Council of Fifty:"Rasmos Anderson was a Danish man who came to Utah... He had married a widow lady somewhat older than himself... At one of the meetings during the reformation Anderson and his step-daughter confessed that they had committed adultery... they were rebaptized and received into full membership. They were then placed under covenant that if they again committed adultery, Anderson should suffer death. Soon after this a charge was laid against Anderson before the Council, accusing him of adultery with his step-daughter. This Council was composed of Klingensmith and his two counselors; it was the Bishop's Council. Without giving Anderson any chance to defend himself or make a statement, the Council voted that Anderson must die for violating his covenants. Klingensmith went to Anderson and notified him that the orders were that he must die by having his throat cut, so that the running of his blood would atone for his sins. Anderson, being a firm believer in the doctrines and teachings of the Mormon Church, made no objections... His wife was ordered to prepare a suit of clean clothing, in which to have her husband buried... she being directed to tell those who should inquire after her husband that he had gone to California."Klingensmith, James Haslem, Daniel McFarland and John M. Higbee dug a grave in the field near Cedar City, and that night, about 12 o'clock, went to Anderson's house and ordered him to make ready to obey Council. Anderson got up... and without a word of remonstrance accompanied those that he believed were carrying out the will of the "Almighty God." They went to the place where the grave was prepared; Anderson knelt upon the side of the grave and prayed. Klingensmith and his company then cut Anderson's throat from ear to ear and held him so that his blood ran into the grave.In the same book John D. Lee made this startling statement:"I knew of many men being killed in Nauvoo... and I know of many a man who was quietly put out of the way by the orders of Joseph and his Apostles while the Church was there." (Ibid., page 284) Lee also revealed another very cruel practice which took place both in Nauvoo, Illinois, and in early Utah:.... In Utah it was the favorite revenge of old, worn-out members of the Priesthood, who wanted young women sealed to them, and found that the girl preferred some handsome young man. The old priests generally got the girls, and many a young man was unsexed for refusing to give up his sweetheart at the request of an old and failing, but still sensual apostle or member of the Priesthood.As an illustration... Warren Snow was Bishop of the Church at Manti, San Pete County, Utah. He had several wives, but there was a fair, buxom young woman in the town that Snow wanted for a wife.... She thanked him for the honor offered, but told him she was then engaged to a young man, a member of the Church, and consequently could not marry the old priest.... He told her it was the will of God that she should marry him, and she must do so; that the young man could be got rid of, sent on a mission or dealt with in some way... that, in fact, a promise made to the young man was not binding, when she was informed that it was contrary to the wishes of the authorities."It was then determined that the rebellious young man must be forced by harsh treatment to respect the advice and orders of the Priesthood. His fate was left to Bishop Snow for his decision. He decided that the young man should be castrated; Snow saying, 'When that is done, he will not be liable to want the girl badly, and she will listen to reason when she knows that her lover is no longer a man.'"It was then decided to call a meeting of the people who lived true to counsel, which was held in the school-house in Manti... The young man was there, and was again requested, ordered and threatened, to get him to surrender the young woman to Snow, but true to his plighted troth, he refused to consent to give up the girl. The lights were then put out. An attack was made on the young man. He was severely beaten, and then tied with his back down on a bench, when Bishop Snow took a bowie-knife, and performed the operation in a most brutal manner, and then took the portion severed from his victim and hung it up in the school-house on a nail, so that it could be seen by all who visited the house afterwards."The party then left the young man weltering in his blood, and in a lifeless condition. During the night he succeeded in releasing himself from his confinement, and dragged himself to some hay-stacks, where he lay until the next day, when he was discovered by his friends. The young man regained his health, but has been an idiot or quite lunatic ever since...."After this outrage old Bishop Snow took occasion to getup a meeting... When all had assembled, the old man talked to the people about their duty to the Church, and their duty to obey counsel, and the dangers of refusal, and then publicly called attention to the mangled parts of the young man, that had been severed from his person, and stated that the deed had been done to teach the people that the counsel of the Priesthood must be obeyed. To make a long story short, I will say, the young woman was soon after forced into being sealed to Bishop Snow."Brigham Young... did nothing against Snow. He left him in charge as Bishop at Manti, and ordered the matter to be hushed up." ( Ibid., pages 284-286)...Orrin Porter Rockwell was certainly one of Brigham Young's "meanest devils." Rockwell, who had served as a bodyguard for Joseph Smith, did not hesitate to shed blood.... Bill Hickman was another ruthless man who killed many people. In his book Brigham's Destroying Angel, Hickman confessed that he had committed murders for the church.In 1858, an extremely grotesque double murder was committed. Henry Jones and his mother were both put to death. These murders were obviously the direct result of Brigham Young's doctrine of "blood atonement." Two months before Henry Jones was actually murdered, he was viciously attacked. Hosea Stout, a very dedicated Mormon defender, wrote the following regarding the first attack on Jones:"Saturday 27 Feb 1858. This evening several persons disguised as Indians entered Henry Jones' house and dragged him out of bed with a whore and castrated him by a square & close amputation." (On the Mormon Frontier; The Diary of Hosea Stout, Vol. 2, page 653)...About 8 o'clock in the evening of the murder the company gathered at Bishop Hancock's... They said they were going to guard a corral where Henry Jones was going to come that night and steal horses; they had guns...."Those who murdered Henry Jones and his mother may have remembered President(Journal of Discourses, Vol. 3, page 247)In his book, The Mormon hierarchy: Extensions of Power, Vol. 2, pages 241-261, Dr. Quinn presented compelling evidence showing that "blood atonement" was endorsed by church leaders and actually practiced by the Mormon people. Quinn gave the names of a number of violent men who served as "enforcers" for Brigham Young. In addition Quinn wrote: "During this period Brigham Young and other Mormon leaders also repeatedly preached about specific sins for which it was necessary to shed the blood of men and women."Although most accounts claimed that the militia killed only the adult males and let their Indian allies kill the women and children, perpetrator Nephi Johnson later told an LDS apostle that 'white men did most of the killing.' Perpetrator George W. Adair also told another apostle that..."As late as 1868 the Deseret News encouraged rank-and-file Mormons to kill anyone who engaged in sexual relations outside marriage....On pages 804-805, of the same book, Quinn reported concerning a murder committed in 1902......The following article (written by S.M.A.R.T.) is compiled from information and quotes from the journal article “Deviant Scriptualism and Ritual Satanic Abuse Part Two: Possible Masonic, Mormon, Magick, and Pagan Influences,”by professor Stephen A. Kent, Department of Sociology, University of Alberta, Edmonton (Canada). His article was originally published by Religion (1993) 23, 355-367, c 1993 Academic press Limited...“…This study compares portions of people’s accounts (using interviews and diaries from several alleged survivors), with doctrinal precedents for satanic ritual souse in deviant interpretations of Masonic, Mormon, Magick and Pagan traditions… Just as parts of the Bible may provide direct inspiration or justification for satanic worshipers, so too may some of these same parts provide additional sanctification of satanic worship through aberrant Freemasonry.” (Page 355)“…. at least five survivors from allegedly three separate groups have indicated that male ritual abusers whom they remember were also Masons” (S.M.A.R.T. note: other studies have shown incidences of Masons allegedly ritually abusing children as high as 33 percent of the total number of reported cases of ritual abuse, see S.M.A.R.T. Issue #1 http://ritualabuse.us/2008/10/issue-1-march-1995/ ).”...“…Masons frequently are willing to rent their lodges to appropriate individuals or organizations, and few if any questions would he asked about a fellow ‘brother’ who used the facilities (along with a few ëassociates’) from time to tine. Satanic rituals could occur in Masonic lodges (as at least some survivors suggest in their stories) without respectable members knowing anything about them.” (Page 357)...Louise (a pseudonym), whose father was a Mason, remembers at age 3, “being sexually assaulted by a man in a crimson robe that her father brought to her. She also recalls an incident where she was placed on top of a white set of three steps... and sexually assaulted by numerous men. She also recalls seeing a young girl sacrificed and dismembered next to her on a table. Furthermore, she spoke about another incident in which thirteen men each placed an object into her vagina and caught the resultant blood and additional discharges in a container (Louise, 1992)” (page 357) Kent claims that Crowley’s rituals may provide an explanation for this...“The strongest (but not definitive) evidence that satanic rituals are being conducted in the context of deviant Mormonism appears in an internal memo about ‘ritualistic child abuse’ written by a Mormon bishop…. Bishop Glenn L. Pace …. indicated that he had “met with sixty victims. That number could be twice or three times as many if I did not discipline myself to only one meeting per week… All sixty individuals are members of the church. Forty-five victims allege witnessing and/or participating in human sacrifice. The majority were abused by relatives, often their parents.” (Pace, 1990 p. 1, reprinted in Utah Lighthouse Ministry, 1991 p.3)... The alleged perpetrators were Mormons, often ones in prominent church positions.” (Page 358) These included Young Women and Young Men leaders and members of the Tabernacle Choir...“There can be no question that the “Five points of Fellowship” were derived from Freemasonry.” (Page 29) Mormons in Utah were not allowed to join the Masons because “Joseph Smith stole part of the Masonic ritual and included it in his temple ceremony.” (Page 144). The book also shows similarities between the Mormon “The First Token of Aaronic Priesthood” and the Masonic oath in the First Degree, and “The Second Token of the Aaronic Priesthood” and the Masonic Second degree. Other similarities are shown between other grips, vows, signs, use of aprons, anointing ceremonies, etc....via Wired Databases of the DeadIt's open-source time in the great beyond. The Mormon Church, famous for a fixation on departed souls, is dumping a mountain of free data into the red-hot world of Web genealogy. Twenty-two miles southeast of Salt Lake City, buried deep in the ragged rock of Utah's Wasatch Range, lies a catacomb of names. Behind 700 feet of granite and six monstrous Mosler doors, the Mormon Church has squirreled away the world's largest collection of genealogical material: more than 2 million microfilm reels of parish records, marriage indexes, necrologies, census reports, pilgrim registers, and piles of other documents -. The Granite Mountain Record Vault holds around 2 billion names, a sizable portion of the total number of people who have ambled through recorded history...The White House says President Trump has full confidence in acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe, who has stepped in temporarily to replace former Director James Comey after Trump fired him on Tuesday.
White House deputy press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Wednesday “several individuals” are being considered in the search for a full-time director.
She added the Department of Justice is also considering whether McCabe will act as interim director for the entirety of the search to replace Comey.
But asked at a press conference if Trump has confidence in McCabe serving out his duties as acting director, Sanders responded: “Yes, he does.”
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Reporters eagerly pointed out that White House spokesman Sean Spicer has said at prior briefings that Trump had full confidence in Comey. Sanders said at Wednesday’s briefing that Trump had been considering firing Comey since his first day in office.
Trump reportedly met with McCabe in the Oval Office hours after Comey’s ouster, though the content of their discussion was not revealed.
Rumors have been flying in the hours since the White House’s move to fire Comey that someone other than McCabe might step in as acting director.
Several media outlets ran profiles of McCabe that praised him as a well-regarded bureau man. But he comes with some baggage.
A super PAC supporting McCabe’s wife, Jill McCabe, in a Democratic bid for Virginia state Senate took in hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations from allies of Gov. Terry McAuliffe, a close confidant of the Clinton family.
The FBI’s inspector general is probing the matter to determine whether McCabe should have recused himself from the investigation into Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham ClintonSanders: 'I fully expect' fair treatment by DNC in 2020 after 'not quite even handed' 2016 primary Sanders: 'Damn right' I'll make the large corporations pay 'fair share of taxes' Former Sanders campaign spokesman: Clinton staff are 'biggest a--holes in American politics' MORE’s use of a private server as a result.
And Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley Charles (Chuck) Ernest GrassleyOvernight Health Care: Drug execs set for grilling | Washington state to sue over Trump rule targeting Planned Parenthood | Wyoming moves closer to Medicaid work requirements Senate reignites blue slip war over Trump court picks Lower refunds amplify calls to restore key tax deduction MORE (R-Iowa) has honed in on McCabe in his search for answers about whether British spy Christopher Steele, who compiled a controversial opposition research dossier about Trump, was at one point on the FBI payroll.
“Mr. McCabe's appearance of a partisan conflict of interest relating to Clinton associates only magnifies the importance of those questions,” Grassley wrote in a March letter to Comey. “That is particularly true if Mr. McCabe was involved in approving or establishing the FBI's reported arrangement with Mr. Steele, or if Mr. McCabe vouched for or otherwise relied on the politically-funded dossier in the course of the investigation. Simply put, the American people should know if the FBI's second-in-command relied on Democrat-funded opposition research to justify an investigation of the Republican presidential campaign.”
Sanders on Wednesday said Attorney General Jeff Sessions Jefferson (Jeff) Beauregard SessionsTrump says he hasn't spoken to Barr about Mueller report Ex-Trump aide: Can’t imagine Mueller not giving House a ‘roadmap’ to impeachment Rosenstein: My time at DOJ is 'coming to an end' MORE, who recused himself from investigations into Russian meddling in the 2016 election after it was revealed that he failed to disclose a meeting he had with the Russian ambassador during the campaign, would nonetheless participate in finding a replacement for Comey.
Sanders reasoned that the FBI is involved in much more than just an investigation into alleged ties between Trump campaign officials and Moscow, so Sessions’s recusal doesn’t preclude him helping with the search.
“It’s one of the smallest things on their plate, so he should absolutely have a role in determining that,” Sanders said.Europe’s most prominent Jewish organisation has called on the victor in Austria’s election not to form a coalition with the far-Right.
Sebastian Kurz is set to become the world’s youngest leader after winning Sunday’s elections at the age of just 31.
He is widely expected to form a coalition with the nationalist Freedom Party (FPÖ) after his conservative People’s Party (ÖVP) failed to win an outright majority,
But on Monday the European Jewish Congress urged him not to offer the nationalists a place in his government.
“A party which has run on a platform of xenophobic intolerance and the targeting of immigrants must not be granted a seat at the governing table,” Moshe Kantor, the president of the Jewish Congress, said.
“Europe in general and Austria in particular should know all too well where acceptance of populist and pernicious ideologies leads.
“Austria’s central role in a post-war Europe founded on democracy and human rights must not be allowed to be sacrificed on the altar of political expediency and short-term populism which reminds us of far darker times within living memory.”As Congress moves ahead on tax reform, we hear most about the impacts on the middle class. Rarely do we hear about tax reform’s potential to significantly reduce poverty. Depending on how any final tax bill is written, it could make things significantly worse or significantly better for those struggling at the bottom of the economic ladder to make it to the next rung.
As former Republican chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, I saw firsthand the power of the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit—which encourages the development and preservation of affordable housing through public-private partnerships and is now responsible for virtually all new affordable housing in the U.S.—to positively impact millions of families and communities.
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Fortunately, the House Republican tax reform bill proposes to retain the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit – and I applaud my colleagues for recognizing its value. But other changes in the House tax bill would reduce the resources available for financing affordable housing under this program by more than half, causing us to lose out on more than a million affordable homes that would have been built at a time when we cannot afford to lose them.
The House tax reform bill eliminates private activity bonds, which include multifamily Housing Bonds – a type of financing that currently makes possible more than half of all affordable apartments in the U.S. It’s not just that the financing is important for these homes – but for financing from Housing Bonds, these homes would not be built. If the House tax bill passes, it will devastate America’s ability to create homes that are affordable to our nation’s families, seniors and veterans.
Thankfully, the Senate tax bill retains Housing Bonds in addition to the Housing Credit, recognizing the importance of a home that families can afford. As congressional Republicans and the administration work towards a compromise on tax reform legislation, I urge my former colleagues to retain the Housing Credit and multifamily Housing Bonds to keep our affordable housing delivery system strong.
Eliminating Housing Bonds would also impact a movement currently underway to replace HUD’s old way of providing homes with the much more successful use of public-private partnerships. HUD’s Rental Assistance Demonstration has been transforming our nation’s aging, dilapidated public housing stock into more financially stable, healthier housing, relying heavily on the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit and Housing Bonds to do so. The Republicans in Congress and HUD Secretary Ben Carson Benjamin (Ben) Solomon CarsonPuerto Rico governor, White House clash over meeting Puerto Rico governor says Trump won't meet to discuss hurricane relief The Hill's Morning Report - Can Bernie recapture 2016 magic? MORE are both proponents of this program – which would essentially be ended as we know it by the House tax bill.
The reality is that market-rate housing will always be out of reach for some low-income families, but there are millions for whom an affordable home is the first step to getting ahead, and who will eventually be able to lift themselves out of poverty if given this opportunity. If we want more families to get to a place where they no longer need support from the government, we can’t set one million of them back.
Both the House and Senate bills include many provisions worthy of support – expanding the lower income bracket, increasing the child tax credit and nearly doubling the standard deduction – all of which will help lower-income Americans. But these changes do not outweigh the devastating impact tax reform could have on affordable housing. At a time when the demand for affordable homes far outweighs the supply, we can’t lose tools that are critical to creating affordable housing in every state.
Tax reform has many moving parts, and it’s easy to make one seemingly small change that has unintended but significant consequences. I believe that my colleagues in Congress want an affordable housing system that works to help low-income people to get ahead and reduce poverty. Eliminating Housing Bonds would have the opposite effect, which is why I call on Congress to retain them in any final tax bill. A future filled with the opportunity to escape poverty for millions of our citizens depends on it.
Rick Lazio is a member of the executive committee of the J. Ronald Terwilliger Foundation for Housing America's Families and a partner at the Jones Walker law firm. He served four terms in the U.S. House of Representatives.Venezuela has a very monopolized beer market; Polar, a company which makes all kinds of food in addition to beer, holds an 80 percent marketshare. And in April, all of its breweries were shut down.
Beer can be made from basically any cereal – rice, wheat, corn – but most commonly it’s made from malted barley, a temperate cereal most commonly found in colder areas. (The top producer in the world, with almost twice as much production as the runner-up, is Russia.) Barley doesn’t grow in Venezuela, and Polar’s beer is, like most other beers, reliant on the barley crop. In the past that’s not any more of a problem than it is for Maxwell House to be an American company producing coffee: just import it.
But the Venezuelan government also controls all imports and exports, and Polar, according to NPR, has been unable to import the barley it needs from other countries. This is, to be fair, a much bigger problem for food than it is for beer; the country is facing a severe food shortage, with one study finding that 12 percent of the country is unable to afford three meals a day.
The reason for the shortage is complex, partly due to the complicated and restrictive laws on foreign currency and partly due to the country’s reliance on its oil industry at the expense of agriculture. But to address outrage at the lack of beer, the country’s president, NicolÁ¡s Maduro, has claimed that Polar is deliberately halting production at the behest of enemy powers (like the United States) to disrupt the Venezuelan economy. Polar, for its part, has expressed bafflement at the accusations.
There seems to be an end in sight, at least for Polar; Reuters reports that the company has secured a loan for $35 million from Spanish bank BBVA that will allow it to begin importing raw materials again, both for food and beer. But this seems a temporary solution at best.The women’s march was yesterday. And I was pressed to find an actual reason of why they were protesting.
Were they protesting the atrocities on women caused by Radical Islamic terrorists. That can’t be it, because the founder of the march, Linda Sarsour, is Pro- Sharia Law.
Linda Sarsour- Pro Sharia Law
Surely they were not protesting the horrible treatment of women in the Middle East, because their favored nominee, Hilary Clinton, accepted tens of millions of dollars from Saudi Arabia. Yes the same Saudi Arabia that kills a women for driving, or throws gays off of roofs.
Clinton Foundation Donor List
Did all these people marching fail to see that President Trump was the only pro-gay candidate before taking the oval office? Or was that hidden in the media, because God forbid, he is painted in a favorable light, and maybe people would change and support him.
Donald Trump’s Advocate Interview Where He Defends Gays, Mexicans
Maybe they were supporting Planned Parenthood and were in fear that it will be defunded.
My body my rights! Am I correct?
So we can have the right to have as much sex as we want without repercussions. Because that is where true power lies? All the rights, but no responsibilities.
The responsibility to open up your heart and to care for your own child.
What?!
That thing inside me is a child? It is not just a clump of cells? At least that’s what Planned Parenthood told me.
Yes the same planned parenthood that harvests and sells baby parts to research.
Oh but that is just Fake News right? Those undercover videos were heavily edited.
Wrong.
That undercover investigation prompted Congress to do their own investigation of Planned Parenthood, independent of those videos, and the results were shocking.
Advanced Biosciences Resources (ABR) had a technician embedded at a PP clinic |
system need not wake up the app just to have that broadcast ignored.
Use IntentService to implement a service that automatically shuts down when its work queue is empty.
Optimize for Code Size
Lean applications are fast applications. The less code you have to load, the less time it will take to download your application and the faster your application will start and initialize. Here are a few suggestions:
Use Proguard to strip out unused code. If you are building with Gradle, you can also strip out unused resources, including those from libraries on which your application depends.
Carefully consider your library dependencies. For example, don’t use a large library full of different collections options when all you need is a single, specific kind of data structure.
Make sure to understand the cost of any code which is automatically generated.
Prefer simple, direct solutions to problems rather than creating a lot of infrastructure and abstractions to solve those problems.
[Next Chapter — The Rules: Performance]NEW YORK –Doug Jones, the Democratic candidate for December’s Senate special election in Alabama, spearheaded an effort on behalf of a legal group massively funded by billionaire George Soros that sought to fundamentally transform the role of U.S. Attorneys from one of prosecuting criminals to activists that enact a so-called progressive criminal justice agenda.
Among other things, Jones’ project called on federal prosecutors to reduce or avoid sentences for drug offenders, make decisions about seeking jail time on individual cases based upon federal incarceration levels and use their pulpits to “spread change” and work with outside “community organizations” to root out the “causes of violence.”
One section of the report seeks to put U.S. Attorneys in the role of social justice warriors who go to schools to preach against “bullying,” coach Little League teams and mentor at risk youths. All this while working to “develop solutions to problems that do not involve prosecutions, such as mediating disputes and participating in school intervention programs.”
Jones is running against Republican challenger Roy Moore, whose victory in the GOP primary against establishment-backed candidate Luther Strange has been seen nationwide as a stunning electoral victory for Trumpian nationalist policies that promote the working class. Jones was previously appointed by President Bill Clinton to serve as U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama.
Jones’ Soros-Funded Report
The Brennan Center for Justice at New York University Law School is a liberal policy institute that says it “focuses on the fundamental issues of democracy and justice.” It has been the recipient of numerous grants from Soros’s Open Society Foundations totaling over $7,466,000 from 2000 to 2010 alone.
In 2014, the Soros-funded Brennan Center released a 69-page document titled, “Federal Prosecution for the 21st Century,” which was the culmination of a Brennan Center project led by Jones.
The report was specifically based on the results of a Brennon Center initiative co-chaired by Jones calling itself the Blue Ribbon Panel that convened “criminal justice experts, including leaders in law enforcement, prosecutors and public defenders, former government officials, and federal grant recipients, to provide comments on the performance measures” and form the basis of the recommendations in the report.
Jones served as co-chair of the Blue Ribbon Panel and he also wrote the introduction to the report. His name is listed on the cover of the Brennan document.
The report itself acknowledges the support of Soros’s Open Society Foundations to the Brennon Center’s Justice Program, which sponsored the initiative spearheaded by Jones.
The report was launched at a September 23, 2013 conference keynoted by then-Attorney General Eric Holder and titled, “Shifting Law Enforcement Goals to Reduce Mass Incarceration.” In his opening remarks, Holder singled out Jones for co-chairing the Brennan Center’s Blue Ribbon Panel.
Jones: Federal Prosecutors Can Create ‘Change’
In his introduction, Jones laments that when he and his colleagues on the panel served as prosecutors, “there was an underlying drive to focus almost exclusively on the enforcement of federal laws without engaging in crime prevention.”
“Federal prosecutors have many tools to create this change,” Jones wrote. “They can use their resources to change prosecutorial practices; their bully pulpit and convening power to change hearts and minds; and their leverage in hiring young prosecutors to pick not only the best and the brightest, but also those with a nuanced view of justice.”
Jones used language reminiscent of the Obama administration’s infamous interagency memos that enacted “prosecutorial discretion” – which was widely regarded as de facto amnesty – when it came to bringing charges against young illegal aliens. Jones wrote that the report’s recommendations “encourage prosecutors to keep in mind the larger purposes of the justice system when recommending sentences, choosing what charges to bring and whom to prosecute, and deciding the terms of plea negotiations.”
The report itself goes on to recommend that “given their enormous power and discretion over charging and sentencing decisions, U.S. Attorneys possess a unique lever to spread change.”
The report states: “Prosecutors are well-positioned to create opportunities to improve public safety while also reducing the nation’s incarceration footprint. They are granted unique authority to make charging decisions, enter cooperation agreements, accept pleas and frequently dictate sentences or sentencing ranges.”
Sentence Recommendations Based on Incarceration Rates
When it comes to prosecuting crime, U.S. Attorneys were urged to “change perceptions that longer sentences are always better.”
One radical recommendation entailed having the prosecutor make decisions about an individual case based upon the total number of federal prisoners that originated from the prosecutor’s district:
A second success measure would focus on the number of total federal prisoners that originated from the district overall, and how that number fluctuates over time. This measure allows the district to determine whether it is increasing or decreasing its prison population over time. It also allows a district to discern how it fares against other districts. Notably, the size of the prison population is affected not only by the number of sentences to prison but also by the length of sentences of these prisoners. Therefore, this second measure captures broader information than the first measure. This second measure can also influence decisions prosecutors make in their cases, encouraging them to reduce charges or recommend whenever appropriate for less (or even no) incarceration time.
Letting Drug Offenders Off the Hook
A key goal of the report was to push reduced sentencing for drug offenders. This has also been a major policy aim for Soros. His Open Society Foundations gave a whopping $50 million to the New York-based Drug Policy Alliance, which seeks to decriminalize drug offenses. The Alliance’s main aim, according to its website, is to create a world in which people “are no longer punished for what they put into their own bodies but only for crimes committed against others.”
The Jones-led report opines that “shifting prosecutorial priorities to include focusing on reducing the numbers of people sent to prisons could have a dramatic impact. Not accepting certain types of drug cases, altering charging decisions or recommending diversion or alternative sentences for drug offenders would reduce the number of drug offenders entering the Federal Bureau of Prisons and are well within a prosecutor’s discretion.”
It recommends considering an “alternative sanction” for drug offenders in lieu of prison. “Rigorous studies have shown that drug treatment programs and close supervision, such as federal probation, can both reduce recidivism rates and costs,” the report added.
Social Justice Warriors
The report presents the case for U.S. Attorneys to work with outside organizations to root out the “causes of violence.”
Many U.S. Attorneys at the Blue Ribbon Panel said, with great force and conviction, that they thought preventing violent crime ought to be a priority for U.S. Attorneys’ Offices. … These attorneys recognized the need to move from a standard “enforcement” model of prosecuting those who commit violent crimes — such as firearms offenses, high-level narcotics trafficking, gang activity or bombings — to one of trying to reduce or eliminate the causes of violence. Emphasizing the joint sentiment of other U.S. Attorneys not present at the event, panelists suggested that a new model requires working with community organizations, faith-based organizations, youth groups, those with prior criminal justice contacts and schools to identify and address the issues which drive the problem of violence.
It urged outreach activities, which can include “participating in town hall meetings, partnering with schools, developing relationships with churches and faith-based organizations and engaging with underrepresented populations, such as Native Americans and many urban neighborhoods.”
The report documented that some members of Jones’ Blue Ribbon Panel have instituted “requirements that the attorneys who serve in their office work to improve the community,” including coaching Little League teams.
The report states:
For example, some U.S. Attorneys require prosecutors to participate in community outreach outside of work, such as coaching Little League teams, mentoring at risk youths or speaking at local elementary schools about preventing violence. To quote one former U.S. Attorney at the Blue Ribbon Panel, “I pulled people out and told them that we needed to be involved in our communities and that interacting with the community wasn’t just for social workers.”
Jones’ report hails that some U.S. Attorneys “have changed their attorney Performance Work Plans (which evaluate and set goals for prosecutors) to ask how many community meetings prosecutors have attended to speak about anti-violence initiatives or how many trips they have made to speak to underserved communities.”
The Brennan report hails a project led by U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida Wifredo Ferrer titled Violence Reduction Partnership, which required “prosecutors to conduct workshops in schools on preventing bullying and protecting against Internet predators.”
The report also pushed a strategy whereby prosecutors go outside the preview of the U.S. judicial system to monitor disputes within the framework of working locally within the community.
The report advocates a strategy that “often entails opening up a neighborhood prosecutor’s office in a storefront.”
“Prosecutors speak with neighborhood residents to better understand their concerns regarding crime. They use that information to choose which crimes to prosecute and which charges to bring. They also develop solutions to problems that do not involve prosecutions, such as mediating disputes and participating in school intervention programs.”
To push its agenda, the Brennan Center recommended that the Obama administration enact “Success Oriented Funding,” which “ties government funding as tightly as possible to clear priorities that drive toward the twin goals of reducing crime and reducing mass incarceration.” In other words, more funding would seemingly be granted to jurisdictions that enact shorter sentences for offenders.
Jones Has Deeper Ties to Soros Group
Besides his work heading Brennan’s panel on reforming the role of U.S. Attorneys, Jones is also a member of a group formed in 2015 by the Soros-funded Brennan Center calling itself Law Enforcement Leaders to Reduce Crime and Incarceration. The group says it aims to push “reforms to reduce incarceration and strengthen public safety.”
Jones participated in a Brennan conference titled, “Shifting law enforcement goals to reduce mass incarceration.”
On his 2017 Senatorial campaign website, Jones pushes a living wage plan for the state and country that, as Breitbart News reported last week, has a history of hurting small businesses, negatively impacting local economies and decreasing employment opportunities for low income workers. The brief economic policy listing on Jones’ campaign website calls for the enactment of a “living wage,” which would hike the minimum wage above the federal minimum.
The Brennan Center played a leading role in helping to craft living wage ordinances and ballot measures for numerous cities and states.
The living wage was originally a project of the controversial former group known as ACORN, or the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, which played a central role in enacting the scheme in several cities.
Aaron Klein is Breitbart’s Jerusalem bureau chief and senior investigative reporter. He is a New York Times bestselling author and hosts the popular weekend talk radio program, “Aaron Klein Investigative Radio.” Follow him on Twitter @AaronKleinShow. Follow him on Facebook.
Written with additional research by Joshua Klein.A Virgin flight that left Sydney bound for Los Angeles today has been diverted to Brisbane due to a hoax threat.
Passengers on flight VA1 earlier took to Twitter to report the plane had been diverted.
It’s understood the plane was diverted due to a threat which was later revealed to be a hoax.
Virgin opted to disembark passengers in Brisbane for additional screening in the interests of passenger safety.
The airline released a statement saying the diversion was due to a security issue and all passengers and crew had safely disembarked the aircraft.
FULL STATEMENT
Virgin Australia flight VA1 from Sydney to Los Angeles diverted to Brisbane this afternoon due to a security issue. All passengers and crew have safely disembarked the aircraft.
A full search of the aircraft has been conducted by the AFP, and the AFP has confirmed the travelling public and aircraft have been cleared of any potential danger. The safety of our guests and team members is always our highest priority.
VA1 will depart Brisbane for Los Angeles at approximately 10:00pm AEST (Brisbane time) this evening.
© Nine Digital Pty Ltd 2019Another one of my super budget deck building ideas. This one uses the DTK Massed Ranks intro deck as a core, but once again, we're going to enhance it with other cards picked up over time and see how she does.
Name of the game here is buffing relatively cheap creatures through the bolster mechanic and throwing them at the opponent. On the defensive side, ideally I will have a solution to the bigger threats such as Pacifism or Revealing Wind at all times.
This deck is, as I envision it, much more midrange-y than I am typically used to. Should be interesting to see how she develops and how she plays.
I'm still very new to this, and any and all suggestions and constructive criticism are welcome!Mack Beggs won two matches at the Texas state championships Friday. But the larger conflict — over whether a 17-year-old transgender boy should be wrestling girls — remained unsettled.
Beggs' family has said he would rather be wrestling boys. Some girls and their advocates agree, arguing that the testosterone treatments Beggs has been taking while in transition from female to male have made him too strong to wrestle fairly against women. But under the state's governing policy for athletics, students must wrestle against the gender listed on their birth certificates.
Beggs beat Taylor Latham in the 110-pound class Friday. The score was 18-7.
It was a match Latham's mother didn't want to happen. Her daughter, she said, was wrestling someone whose body was chemically toned for strength.
"I wanted her to forfeit as a protective mom," Lisa Latham said. "She's a fighter. She's not a quitter. She's a senior. She's fought for the last three years to get here. She was going to see it through even though I wasn't sharing the same opinion."
COLLEGE: FECES SWASTIKA FOUND IN GENDER-NEUTRAL BATHROOM
At match's end Beggs shook hands with Latham before pointing high in the stands to cheering fans wearing the colors of his school, Euless Trinity. He celebrated for a few seconds. Then Beggs and his grandmother, led by his coach, jogged across the mats and into an area restricted to athletes and coaches.
While many cheered Beggs, others said the match was unfair. Patti Overstreet, a self-described wrestling parent, left her seat shouting, "that's cheating" and "big cheater!"
"Look at how beefed up she is," Overstreet said, referring to Beggs. "It's because she's taking an enhancement. Whether she's a boy, girl, wants to be purple or blue it doesn't matter. When you're using a drug and you're 10 times stronger than the person you're wrestling because of that drug that (shouldn't be) allowed."
Later Beggs beat Mya Engert 12-4 to push his record to 54-0 and leave him two victories away from a state title. Beggs got a bloody nose during that match and had to stuff gauze up his right nostril to stop the bleeding. It didn't slow him down much as he added several points after that to capture another decisive win.
TRUMP A 'MONSTER' FOR UNDOING TRANSGENDER BATHROOM POLICY?
Beggs hugged Engert and pumped his fist in the air after the win before darting off the mat. Engert was weeping as she walked away, and her coach shooed reporters from the area with a stern: "No comment."
Beggs will resume competition in the semifinals on Saturday morning.
The controversy over Beggs' participation in the women's sport comes at a crucial moment, as the public and politicians debate how they should react to the growing belief that gender is fluid. Just this week, the Trump administration announced an end to federal protections which allowed transgender students to use facilities based on their gender identity, leaving states and school districts to determine their own policies.
And in Texas, lawmakers are considering a bill similar to the controversial HB2, a law in North Carolina that prompted the NBA to move this year's All-Star game out of that state. If passed, the Texas version, called SB6, would require transgender people to use the bathroom of their "biological sex."
CAITLYN JENNER SLAMS TRUMP OVER TRANSGENDER BATHROOM STANCE
As Beggs arrived for weigh-in on Friday morning, several girls excitedly ran up and embraced him as he smiled and laughed. Soon after that he pulled a gray hoodie down so low that it all but obscured his shock of bright blond hair. Standing in line among a sea of girls, he gnawed the nails of his left hand aggressively, perhaps nervous about the match — or the controversy surrounding it.
The University Interscholastic League, which oversees athletics in Texas public schools, enacted the birth certificate policy on Aug. 1.
Attorney Jim Baudhuin tried and failed to get injunctions before both the district and regional meets to prevent Beggs from competing while he transitions. He told The Associated Press earlier this week that he doesn't blame Beggs for the situation, but faults the UIL.
"The more I learn about this, the more I realize that she's just trying to live her life and her family is, too," Baudhuin said of Beggs. "She's being forced into that position. Who knows, through discovery we may find out that's not the case. But every indication is, the way the winds are going now, the blame rests with the UIL and the superintendents."
Despite criticism of the policy, UIL executives don't envision a change.
"Ninety-five percent of the school superintendents in Texas voted for the rule as it was proposed, which was to use birth certificates," UIL deputy director Jamey Harrison said. "So any rule can be reconsidered, but... given the overwhelming support for that rule, I don't expect it to change anytime soon."
Beggs reached the state tournament after two opponents forfeited at the regional competition amid concerns about the testosterone treatments. Harrison refused to concede that such forfeitures taint the tournament.
"We never like students to avoid the opportunity to compete. That's the whole point of having competitions," he said. "But to answer your question specifically: Do we believe that any accomplishment by an individual or the overall event in itself is somehow tainted or painted in a negative light because a student may choose to forfeit? No we do not."Mayor Sadiq Khan announces first 50 schools to undergo audits to help identify measures to minimise the impact of pollution on children
The most polluted schools in London are to be audited as part of the mayor’s drive to clean up toxic air across the capital.
Earlier this year a Guardian investigation revealed that hundreds of thousands of children are being exposed to illegal levels of damaging air pollution from diesel vehicles at schools and nurseries.
Sadiq Khan said on Wednesday that air pollution was “the biggest public health emergency of a generation”. He announced the first 50 schools to undergo a pollution audit, and said the results would be followed by “hard-hitting measures” to minimise the damage being done to children.
“It is shameful that children across London are breathing in toxic air simply by going to and from school and I am determined to do everything in my power to safeguard their health.
“These air quality audits are a big step towards helping some of the most polluted schools in London identify effective solutions to protect pupils from toxic fumes but, of course, this is only part of the solution.”
The audits will be completed by the end of the year and recommendations may include:
moving school entrances away from busy roads
green infrastructure such as ‘barrier bushes’ along busy roads and in playgrounds to help to filter toxic fumes
‘no engine idling’ schemes to reduce harmful emissions during the school run
minimising emissions from boilers, kitchens and other sources
changes to local road systems and restrictions on the most polluting vehicles round schools
The Guardian’s investigation used the government’s own pollution modelling from 2015 to identify the scale of the problem. It found that pollution from diesel traffic was not limited to large metropolitan centres but threatened the health of children and young people in towns and cities across England and Wales.
Khan said today’s move was part of a package of measures his administration was pursuing.
“Next month, I will be launching my T-charge to rid central London of the oldest, most polluting vehicles and before the end of the year I will be announcing a decision on my plans to bring forward and extend the Ultra-Low Emission Zone along some of our busiest roads.”
He claimed he was “making great strides in London” but said ministers must do more. “The government must match my ambition in tackling the biggest public health emergency of a generation.”
Jonathan Bartley, co-leader of the Green party, said: “While it’s great to see Sadiq Khan taking action on air pollution, his plans are narrow minded in the face of the scale of the crisis. Children don’t only breathe our dirty air at school.
“The mayor’s plan to expand the low emission zone and reduce emissions near schools are welcome. But if he is serious about cleaning up London’s air he must ban dirty diesel vehicles from the capital. We also desperately need to see proper investment in safe and accessible walking and cycling routes so people are able to leave their cars at home.”The Creed of the Church of Scientology was written by L. Ron Hubbard shortly after the Church was formed in Los Angeles on February 18, 1954.
After Mr. Hubbard issued this creed from his office in Phoenix, Arizona, the Church of Scientology adopted it as its creed because it succinctly states what Scientologists believe.
We of the Church believe
That all men of whatever race, color or creed were created with equal rights.
That all men have inalienable rights to their own religious practices and their performance.
That all men have inalienable rights to their own lives.
That all men have inalienable rights to their sanity.
That all men have inalienable rights to their own defense.
That all men have inalienable rights to conceive, choose, assist or support their own organizations, churches and governments.
That all men have inalienable rights to think freely, to talk freely, to write freely their own opinions and to counter or utter or write upon the opinions of others.
That all men have inalienable rights to the creation of their own kind.
That the souls of men have the rights of men.
That the study of the Mind and the healing of mentally caused ills should not be alienated from religion or condoned in nonreligious fields.
And that no agency less than God has the power to suspend or set aside these rights, overtly or covertly.
And we of the Church believe
That Man is basically good.
That he is seeking to Survive.
That his survival depends upon himself and upon his fellows and his attainment of brotherhood with the Universe.
And we of the Church believe that the laws of God forbid Man
To destroy his own kind.
To destroy the sanity of another.
To destroy or enslave another’s soul.
To destroy or reduce the survival of one’s companions or one’s group.
And we of the Church believe
That the spirit can be saved.
And that the spirit alone may save or heal the body.Get the biggest money 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
After much fanfare, the new £5 notes are finally arriving in wallets and corner shops.
The hardy, waterproof cash has excited many, so it's only right that people are doing something interesting with the first fiver they recieve.
But rather than framing it, going crazy at the off licence or trying to burn it with a flamethrower, people are doing something much more meaningful - they're giving the money away to charity.
Hundreds are involved with the spontaneous scheme to donate their first £5 note to a good cause.
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(Image: Getty)
The idea was coined by John Thompson. He tweeted the plan last Friday with the hashtag #fivergiver and a poll prompting others to play a part.
It's finally catching on...Eleven Indians evacuated by a Pakistani navy ship from strife-torn Yemen arrived by a special Pakistan Air Force plane in New Delhi Wednesday night, marking a rare instance of co-operation between the two neighbours.
Pakistani navy personnel on board PNS Aslat evacuated the Indian nationals from the Yemeni port city of Mukalla on Sunday, setting sail for Pakistan's largest city, Karachi, where they arrived on Tuesday.
Ramasami Anbazhagan, a chemical engineer from Chennai, India, was working for an oil and gas company in the Hadramaut region of Yemen at the time of his evacuation.
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"The place I was staying, there was not much problem," said Mr. Anbazhagan in a phone interview shortly after arriving in Chennai. "As a precaution, my employer asked us to go back. In some areas, there were problems."
Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula has reportedly made inroads into the Hadramaut region, taking advantage of the strife in Yemen. Mukalla, the region's capital, was targeted by militants last week who broke into a jail, freed dozens of prisoners and attacked a military base, killing five soldiers.
Mr. Anbazhagan added that, because the airport in Mukulla was inaccessible, his company ordered all 30 of its employees to board PNS Aslat, which docked in the vicinity and had around a 180 passengers on board, mainly Pakistanis.
Once in Karachi, Mr. Anbazhagan and his colleagues were put up in a hotel by Pakistani authorities, working in conjunction with the Indian embassy.
"They were very friendly … they were very helpful in filling formalities. They took us to the hotel," he said.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi thanked his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif for his "humanitarian gesture," the Press Trust of India reported on Wednesday. "Service to humanity knows no borders," Mr. Modi added.
Pakistan and India have been conducting frequent evacuation and rescue operations as the insurgency intensifies in Yemen. "A thousand coming back to India tonight, if all goes well," Syed Akbaruddin, the official spokesperson for the Indian Ministry of External Affairs, said on Twitter on Tuesday.
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India evacuated 232 people from 26 countries on Tuesday, including 17 Pakistanis, according to a list released by the Indian Ministry of External Affairs.
Karachi-based Syed Arsalan Ali recently met his sister and brother-in-law at the airport after they fled Sanaa by plane on the first flight organized by the Pakistani government. They left with only one carry-on, Mr. Ali said. "You know how bad the situation is there," he said. "They'll contemplate going back only once the situation gets better."
Despite the current gestures of goodwill, Pakistan and India share an uneasy relationship. The two countries have gone to war three times, in 1965, 1971 and 1999. There are frequent border skirmishes between their militaries over the disputed territory of Kashmir; both countries often point the finger at the other for inciting the violence.
More evacuations are expected to take place in the coming days. "Responding to needs of 140 nurses India extends air evacuation from Yemen by a day," Mr. Akbaruddin tweeted on Wednesday, who added that the flights were subject to clearance.The Iberian ribbed newt defends itself by poisoning its own bones and shoving them through its skin. Humans took a look at it and decided that if any animal deserves to be an astronaut, this newt does.
Which is why the Iberian newt has been sent into space six times. Some of those times it was accompanied by humans, as it was on the Mir space station in the mid-1990s. Most of the time, however, it was thrown off of Earth with only animal companions. It was on the Kosmos satellite, along with rhesus monkeys and rats, all the way back in 1985. Most recently it went up in 2005 on the Foton-M, a spacecraft launched by the European Space Agency.
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Will it eventually be going to Mars? That depends on what it can teach us. Iberian newts are studied for two qualities, their regeneration ability and their fertility. Any animal that shoves its bones through its own skin as its first line of defense has to have impressive healing properties. The earliest experiments looked at how newts regenerated limbs in space. The results were mostly lackluster — either there was no difference between limb regeneration times or very little — but one variation was interesting. When the newts had begun regenerating their limbs before they were sent into space, their 13-day spaceflight slowed down their healing process. Once they were back on the ground, though, the regeneration process sped past the progress of already grounded newts. Could we heal faster if we undertook a short trip in space? Maybe. If we were newts.
Iberian newts also went to space because of an odd quirk in their fertility. I'll let the paper describing the experiment explain it:
After mating (on Earth) the females retain live, functional sperm in their cloacum for up to five months, allowing normal in vivo fertilisation after hormonal stimulation.
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How convenient! Astronauts spent time observing the development of the newly-conceived newts in microgravity, but the results were not promising. Many of the newts developed shrunken heads, or developed without heads at all. If they managed to grow normal heads, however, the baby newts grew normally, although the experiment didn't track them past the aquatic larval stage.
So what can the space newts teach us? Unfortunately, not how to make your own bones into space weapons, but there's always the next experiment.
[Via Pleurodeles Watl, Developmental Biology Research In Space]
Image: Peter Halasz.When President Trump announced the withdrawal of the United States from the Paris climate accord, he cast the decision as being in the best interests of coal miners and other working-class Americans whose support helped sweep him into office.
Trump cited three states in particular that would benefit: Pennsylvania, Ohio and Michigan — all of which were key to his electoral college victory.
And as he stood in the Rose Garden, Trump listened as Environmental Protection Agency administrator Scott Pruitt praised him for keeping a campaign promise and “fighting for the forgotten men and women across this country,” echoing Trump’s rhetoric from the race.
The announcement on climate change Thursday was just the latest in a series of actions orchestrated by the White House to buoy Trump’s political base at a time when he remains historically unpopular for this point in his presidency.
“It’s clear that his strategy is a constant doubling down on his base voters,” said Republican consultant Doug Heye. “Those were the people at the rallies applauding when he said these things.”
President Trump on Thursday walks out to speak about his decision to withdraw the United States from the Paris climate agreement. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)
Trump allies say the president is merely trying to follow through on his campaign promises, but others see missed opportunities to broaden the appeal of a Republican president who lost the popular vote to Democrat Hillary Clinton and whose job approval hovers around 40 percent.
Trump’s action on the Paris agreement carries particular risk, given polls have shown the accord was supported by a large majority of Americans, including independent voters. Moreover, some prominent Republican business leaders were among those who forcefully — but ultimately unsuccessfully — lobbied the president to stay the course.
At the urging of his chief strategist Stephen K. Bannon and others, Trump instead sided with those who were most enthused about his unanticipated win last year and whose support the White House deems crucial as Trump seeks to weather the turmoil of multiple investigations into Russian election meddling.
With two of Trump’s marquee campaign promises — repealing the Affordable Care Act and cutting taxes — stalled in Congress, Trump has appeared particularly eager to act in areas where he can move forward on his own.
He is continuing to press a plan to temporarily ban citizens from six mostly Muslim countries, turning this week to the Supreme Court for help in reviving a controversial campaign promise that lower courts have blocked.
Trump recently announced an executive action intended to mitigate the impact of the so-called Johnson Amendment, which curtails the ability of churches to play an active role in elections. That was a priority of evangelicals, who overwhelmingly sided with Trump last year.
And early in his term, Trump announced the withdrawal from the United States from the Trans-Pacific Partnership. As recently as in his speech Thursday, he reiterated his desire to renegotiate other trade deals that he routinely disparaged on the campaign trail to the delight of his blue-collar supporters.
Trump’s withdrawal from the Paris accord plays particularly well with rural backers who embraced his “America First” mantra and are wary of the impact of Obama-era deals cut with allies overseas. Trump’s scolding of NATO allies for their level of military spending during his foreign trip last week also appeared designed to play to his base at home rather than strengthen friendships abroad.
“When forced to choose between keeping promises to his base or broadening his appeal, President Trump always seems to choose his base,” said Michael Steel, a former senior aide to former House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio). “It may be smart politics to dance with the one that brung ya, but it’s another reason this looks different than any presidency in American history.”
Not all Republicans are convinced it’s smart politics.
The composition of the electorate in the 2020 presidential race may well look different than it did last year, when Trump prevailed in the electoral college by narrowly defeating Clinton in a small handful of states that have traditionally tilted toward Democrats.
If the Democrats are able to field a stronger candidate than Clinton and run a better race than she did, suburban women could play a more pivotal role next time around, said Rick Wilson, a longtime GOP strategist and frequent Trump critic.
While climate change is not likely to be a determinative issue, Thursday’s decision “is one more piece in a mosaic” of why such voters, particularly those who are college-educated, are being turned off by Trump, he said.
“In the short term, that’s their goal: keep the base locked in,” Wilson said of the White House. “He’s under the gun in so many other aspects of his presidency, he’s looking for any lift he can get.”
Several Trump advisers have suggested that the strength of the economy will play a large role in whether the president is reelected — an argument White House counselor Kellyanne Conway sought to bolster on Twitter on Friday morning.
“Guessing this headline on @CNN is more relevant than ‘Russia’ to real people: ‘U.S. Unemployment hits lowest level since 2001,’” she wrote.
In explaining his decision Thursday, Trump said the Paris agreement “handicaps the United States economy in order to win praise from the very foreign capitals and global activists that have long sought to gain wealth at our country’s expense.”
“They don’t put America first,” Trump said. “I do, and I always will.”
That kind of appeal resonates among Trump voters, said Marc Rotterman, a longtime GOP consultant in North Carolina, another swing state that was key to Trump’s victory last year.
Rotterman said many of Trump’s supporters are watching to see if he can deliver on tax cuts and other promises that will affect their pocketbooks. In the short term, Rotterman said, the bold action taken Thursday will remind them of a president fighting for their interests.
“Politics is about the perception of momentum,” he said. “The White House is trying to reboot so they can get their agenda moving on health care and tax reform. And he’s short on time.”
Heye, a former communications director at the Republican National Committee, suggested Trump stands to gain from another dynamic that started playing out Thursday: the vehement condemnation of his action by those on the left.
“His base of supporters will look at that and think he’s making the right call,” Heye said.Seeding the ocean with iron may halt global warming, say scientists.
In what experts call "geoengineering," German researchers say that dumping iron into the ocean to spur the growth of algae may work to absorb excess carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
According to the Guardian, the process works by dumping iron sulphate into the ocean to fertilize and grow the algae, which blooms and traps carbon dioxide through photosynthesis.
When the algae dies it drags the carbon to the bottom of the ocean with it.
The technique remains controversial but a study conducted several years ago yielded promising results that are just now coming to light.
In 2004, researchers at the European Iron Fertilization Experiment (EIFEX) fertilized 100 square miles of ocean with several tons of iron sulphate.
For several weeks the team of researchers watched the bloom and death of the algae.
More from GlobalPost: Germany battles over future of solar
According to the Christian Science Monitor, the scientists found that with each atom of iron added, 13,000 atoms of carbon was pulled out of the atmosphere.
"At least half of the bloom was exported to depths greater than 1,000 metres," said study author Victor Smetacek, a marine biologist at the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, reported TG Daily.
Other studies have shown that iron can lead to greater algae blooms but they have been unable to show that the carbon was dragged to the sea floor.
Despite some promising results ocean seeding with iron on a large scale remains banned by international conventions.
Side-effects of adding iron to the ocean remain unknown and researchers have stopped such experiments altogether.
"We just don't know what might happen to species composition and so forth if you were to continuously add iron to the sea," said Smetacek, according to the Christian Science Monitor.
"These issues can only be addressed by more experiments including longer-term studies of natural blooms that occur around some Antarctic islands."The Bundy Ranch has had its PayPal accounts blocked. The Bundys, a US family of cattle ranchers in Nevada, rose to fame (notoriety?) in 2014 for refusing to pay the federal government for grazing rights on federal lands. This conflict resulted in an armed standoff between federal agents and supporters of the Bundys, many of them members of private militias from across the country. The standoff ended without violence, and members of the Bundy family had been receiving donations in support of their plight through PayPal.
The Facebook page run to support the Bundy family and their struggle against the federal government posted the bad news |
0s. There were more than five hundred overall deaths from sectarian strife in 2012, more than double the 2011 figure. A new U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom report concludes that large numbers of attacks have targeted Pakistani religious communities over the last eighteen months. Shias and other minority communities are assaulted in their homes, at their centers of worship, in recreation centers and on public buses. In 2011, Pakistan’s minority-affairs minister, a Christian, was gunned down in his car in broad daylight.
Stability is Washington’s core interest in nuclear-armed, volatile Pakistan. This is why it agonizes over the Pakistani Taliban’s (TTP) vicious campaign of anti-state terror, and obsesses about the possibility of another military coup, a radical Islamist takeover, or nuclear weapons falling into extremist hands. Yet it’s arguably sectarian violence that poses the greatest threat to Pakistan’s long-term stability.
Consider sectarian militancy’s broad reach. One of its most powerful practitioners, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ), has staged attacks in all four Pakistani provinces—prompting experts to describe LeJ as “ more powerful in its countrywide presence” than the TTP. LeJ gets plenty of help from the Taliban, however. The TTP is increasingly targeting religious minorities and has claimed responsibility for several recent sectarian attacks ( including the one that killed the porter on Nanga Parbat ). These new tactics suggest a developing alliance between two of Pakistan’s most fearsome Sunni extremist organizations.
Then there’s public opinion. Few Pakistanis embrace the anti-state TTP’s vision of destroying the country’s political system, but many sympathize with the underlying views of sectarian extremists. In a recent Pew poll, 41 percent of Pakistanis said that Shias are not Muslims. In another poll, 60 percent of Pakistani youth contended that Ahmadis—who belong to another minority sect of Islam—are not Muslims. Punjab province governor Salman Taseer was assassinated in 2011 for his public opposition to Pakistan’s so-called blasphemy laws, which are often used to persecute religious minorities. Scores of Pakistanis—including many lawyers—rallied in support of Taseer’s assassin, at one point showering him with roses as he made his way to court. By expressing support for the basic ideas fueling sectarian violence, Pakistanis indirectly confer legitimacy on sectarian militants’ activities.
Finally, the Pakistani state has institutionalized sect-based discrimination. The second amendment of Pakistan’s constitution explicitly states that Ahmadis are non-Muslims. Not surprisingly, Pakistan has few laws that protect religious minorities—yet it does have the blasphemy laws, which produce the opposite effect. The assassination of Taseer has silenced much of the policy debate about religious minorities, and has made reform of the blasphemy laws—much less their elimination—a political nonstarter.
The most troubling aspect of the state’s complicity in sectarianism is the nexus between sectarian extremists and the security establishment. Human-rights groups believe Pakistan’s intelligence agency leverages these organizations to take on separatist insurgents in Balochistan province. There are also links between sectarian fighters and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N)—the political party that has long run Punjab’s provincial government, and now leads the central government. In 2011, Punjab’s law minister admitted his government provided financial assistance to the family of LeJ’s supreme leader, Malik Ishaq. Last year, he campaigned with the leader of Sipah-e-Sahaba, LeJ’s parent organization. Given that the PML-N’s bastion in Punjab is also the stronghold of most sectarian extremist groups, such linkages, while disturbing, are unsurprising.
Predictably, sectarian militants operate with impunity in Pakistan. Ishaq, the LeJ leader, lives freely in Punjab (he is periodically detained, before being promptly released). Suspects are rarely arrested, much less prosecuted. Last year, after tombstones at Ahmadi cemeteries were desecrated, police took no action. In many cases, police refuse to come to the aid of victims. After a mob set fire to homes in a Christian neighborhood of Lahore this year, a report produced by Pakistan’s Human Rights Commission concluded that police had been aware of an arson threat in advance, yet neither preempted the attack nor sought to save the homes. Last month, according to media reports, as Christian women were paraded naked by an armed mob, police arrived only “after much time”—and offered little assistance. Later, a PML-N legislator ordered police to back off because the perpetrators supported his party.
Compare this to how the state responds to the Pakistani Taliban. The TTP may operate with impunity (it waged a months-long assault on three major political parties during this year’s election campaign), but Pakistan’s army has been fighting it for years—with many lives of soldiers lost—in the country’s tribal belt.
In essence, Pakistan’s sectarian militants enjoy nationwide reach, considerable public support for their views, and protection from the state. Given these circumstances, minorities’ future prospects are grim. Already, some Pakistani commentators are referring to repeated attacks on Shias as “genocide.” Shias have fled to Europe and Australia. Hindus, describing their plight in Pakistan as “worse than hell,” have gone to India. A Christian girl falsely accused of blasphemy recently received asylum in Canada.
Yet most embattled minorities refuse to leave. Most are peaceful. Ominously, however, the militant network in Pakistan—where the Shia presence is larger than any country outside Iran—features two powerful Shia extremist groups, Sipah-e-Mohamadi and Tehrik-e-Jafria, which often avenge anti-Shia attacks with their own violence.
In a nation as fractured as Pakistan, where so many citizens define themselves by their ethnicity or religion instead of nationality, and where sectarian tensions flare on so many levels (from violence between Barelvi and Deobandi Sunni Muslims to bans on beverages produced by Ahmadi companies), sectarian warfare—even outright Balkanization—is a very real threat.
Can Pakistan’s sectarian nightmare be averted? Because so many necessary policy fixes are non-starters, it’s tempting to say no. Given the clout and tactical utility of sectarian organizations, Pakistan’s security establishment isn’t about to crack down on them—much less sever ties with them. Given its close relations with Riyadh, Islamabad won’t soon scale back its ties to a Saudi regime that has long exported its hardline Wahhabi (and anti-Shia) ideology to Pakistan. And given the lack of a public clamor for more religious tolerance, it’s unlikely policy makers will take the politically risky step of introducing new laws that protect minorities.
Yet all is not lost. Not long ago, analysts lamented how Pakistanis were “in denial” about their sectarian strife, and how they shrugged off the problem as another example of “foreign hands” making mischief—in this case, Saudis and Iranians using Pakistan as a proxy battlefield for their sectarian competition. Today, however, thanks to the violence’s scope, denial is no longer an option. The heightened violence also obscures an encouraging reality: Pakistan does enjoy some interfaith cooperation. Earlier this year, Sunnis intervened to try to stop LeJ gunmen from massacring Shias on a bus; a nineteen-year-old Sunni was shot for his brave efforts.
Unfortunately, these tales of tolerance may prove no match for Pakistan’s sectarian-driven jihadist juggernaut. So while today Washington’s anxious eyes are wisely fixated on the Haqqani network and the Afghan Taliban (which attack U.S. forces in Afghanistan from their sanctuaries in Pakistan’s tribal areas), as NATO troops continue their withdrawal from Afghanistan over the next eighteen months, American eyes should also be trained on the likes of the LeJ. Sectarian militancy will persevere in Pakistan long after the last American soldier has left Afghanistan—and with devastatingly destabilizing consequences.
Michael Kugelman is the senior program associate for South Asia at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington. He can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @michaelkugelman.
Image: Flickr/ Daniel Schmidt. CC BY 2.0.BARCELONA, SPAIN—Samsung has such a large presence at Mobile World Congress that it doesn't just have one giant booth; there are also several smaller ones scattered around the show halls. While the main booth exclusively shows Android phones and the biggest product of the show was the Android-based Galaxy S5, one of the most important areas for Samsung is a small booth tucked away in the last hall of MWC: a Tizen booth. Here, in the "App Planet" section of Mobile World Congress, Samsung has actual Tizen phones on display—phones with an OS that is fully under Samsung's control. Samsung's choice between Android and Tizen is one of the more interesting stories in tech right now, so when we stumbled upon this booth, we immediately grabbed our cameras and started snapping.
The OS runs on "prototype" hardware that very closely resembles a Galaxy S4. Tizen is a Linux-based OS primarily developed by Samsung, and, the theory goes, Samsung's grand plot is to eventually turn Tizen into a drop-in Android replacement, own the market with an OS of its own making, and never have to deal with Google again. So far, Tizen seems a pretty accurate Android clone, but it's shocking how far along it is. On the surface, it seemed just as capable as a TouchWiz Android device. Samsung has done such a good job of replicating the Android interface that there is very little to write about—everything looks and works similarly to the way it does on Android, just without any kind of ecosystem.
Tizen uses the same button configuration as many Android Samsung phones, with Menu, Home, and Back buttons. Samsung's OS runs really, really well—it seems just as snappy and customizable as Android. Tizen has an app drawer, home screen pages, a pull-down notification panel, and widgets just like Android. The big differences are round app icons and lots of widget functionality. Widgets are expandable—a swipe down on the weather widget, for instance, will expand a multi-day forecast panel from the bottom of the widget. Widgets and icons are actually the same thing—the widgets are resizable just like they are on Android, but shrinking a widget down to a 1x1 square will turn it into an icon, and expanding an icon to 2x2 will turn it into a widget. Both features are very slick, and they're something we wouldn't mind seeing Android adopt.
Long-pressing on the Home button will bring up recent apps, just like in Android, but here thumbnails are displayed in a paginated grid instead of a scrolling list. You can't swipe away thumbnails, either; you have to press a little "minus" icon. The standard suite of smartphone applications is here, and overall, it seems like a finished, working operating system. Samsung even has multi-window support up and running on Tizen. By long-pressing on the back button you can bring up a list of "mini apps" that will float around the screen in their own window. There is even a mini camera app. The apps seemed to work just as well as they do on Android—it was very impressive. Samsung claims real, live Tizen devices will hit the market sometime in 2014, but it wouldn't say what region they would launch in.
One of the weirdest changes from the typical Android interface that Samsung has made with Tizen is in the notification panel. Individual notifications aren't presented in a list, but as a two-wide grid of squares. There are other oddities, too, like the first page of the settings being a grid of squares and the second page being a list view.
The interface isn't everything—we still have no idea what developers think of Tizen's development toolset versus Android's. We were told that development could be done with either native C++ or HTML5 apps, so it doesn't sound like expertise building Android apps in Java will translate to Tizen. There are third parties offering Android app support on Tizen, but Samsung wasn't demoing that. The HTML5 apps looked good (for HTML5 apps). The renderer isn't just limited to pages of text and images; it supports 3D apps with WebGL, and Samsung even had an HTML5-based polygonal racing game that looked simple but ran very well. Samsung already convinced a few companies to develop Tizen apps—there was a native version of Gameloft's Asphalt 8 on the device.
Surprisingly, there were even a few Google icons pre-loaded on the Tizen prototype. There were YouTube and Google Search icons, which were just links to the mobile site. We don't recall an OEM ever doing that before. Google has messed with its mobile sites before to put the screws to its competitors—if Samsung shipped a Tizen phone with app drawer shortcuts to the mobile websites of Gmail, Maps, Google Search, and YouTube, we wonder what Google's response would be.
While Samsung is obviously trying hard to make Tizen look like Android, it looks like Tizen has actually influenced the new design of the Galaxy S5's settings screen. When we first saw the colored circles in a grid formation, we said the design looked like something that was from a completely different OS. It turns out that OS is Tizen. With Samsung making the two OSes so closely resemble each other, some day it might be possible to quietly swap OSes in Samsung's mainstream smartphone, just like it did with the Gear line. For the interface at least, the change-over seems like it would be pretty seamless.
Building the OS is the easy part, though. The hard part is solving the chicken-and-egg scenario of app support, where no one makes apps for Tizen because no one buys Tizen phones, and no one buys Tizen phones because there are no apps for them. Samsung will try to convince customers that app drawer shortcuts to mobile webpages count as "apps," but that has never been good enough in the past.
The big problem for Tizen, though, is apps. While Tizen isn't finished, at this point it seems like nothing more than an Android clone. Samsung has yet to demonstrate a compelling reason for anyone to pick a Tizen device over Android or even demonstrate why it chose to spend resources developing Tizen instead of creating a Google-less AOSP fork. Our best guess is that it has become a matter of pride for the company. With Android OEMs having to deal with extensive rules and restrictions dictated by Google, Samsung would like to control the software end-to-end.
Google is such a huge software developer that it can provide its own killer apps for its OS. Products like Google Maps, Gmail, Google Now, and YouTube are the best parts of owning an Android device, and many users would even say that those apps are the best part of owning an iPhone. Tizen will never have those apps, and getting apps from other developers is going to be a huge challenge. Even with Samsung's huge market presence, a phone with no apps won't sell. How does the company go from zero Tizen apps to millions of apps, all without losing its current market share and giving its winded Android rivals an opening in the marketplace? Tizen seems ready to go as a viable phone OS, but just ask Microsoft or BlackBerry how well having a very viable phone OS has worked out for them.A number of cars were attacked on Stowell Street in Newcastle at around 10pm on Tuesday. Bendtner and Cattermole were arrested by police yesterday and questioned over the attacks. Both men were bailed.
A Northumbria Police spokeman told the Evening Chronicle : “Police can confirm that on Thursday, December 15, two men aged 23 were arrested on suspicion of criminal damage.
Sunderland pair Nicklas Bendtner and Lee Cattermole have been arrested on suspicion of damaging cars parked just a few hundred yards from the ground of bitter rivals Newcastle.
Bendtner and Cattermole, both 23, were arrested on Thursday after Northumbria Police studied CCTV evidence of several cars being damaged in the Chinatown area of Newcastle on December 6, only hours after Martin O’Neill had been presented to the media as the club’s new manager.
At least three cars parked in Stowell Street are believed to have been targeted at about 10pm when it would have been packed with people visiting the many restaurants and pubs in the area. It is thought the CCTV footage shows wing mirrors being kicked.
Bendtner and Cattermole are understood to have been for a meal at a Japanese restaurant in the city that evening. They were interviewed before being released on bail, leaving them available for selection for the club’s game at Tottenham on Sunday
If the allegations are proved, Cattermole and Bendtner can expect to be heavily fined by O’Neill, who demands a disciplined approach from his players off the pitch.
Sunderland yesterday refused to make any comment on the arrests, but O’Neill was aware of them when he spoke about the two players at his weekly press conference.
Newcastle United, whose ground overshadows Chinatown, declined to issue any comment on the incident yesterday, but their fans went on website forums to question why Sunderland players would choose to spend a night out on Tyneside - a view echoed by Sunderland supporters.
And the widely-read site nufc.com said: “If proven, news of Bendtner’s ability to successfully hit an intended target would be welcomed by Mackem (Sunderland) followers yet to see him master that skill during football matches.”
Bendtner, who is on loan from Arsenal until the end of the season, has scored only two goals as Sunderland have struggled in the Premier League.
A night out ended badly for him recently when the Denmark international’s credit card was turned down as he tried to buy a pizza at a Copenhagen takeaway.
Staff refused to give him a free one before two other customers agreed to buy it for him. One onlooker described him as arrogant and added: “Bendtner acted as if he owned the place. All the people just stood and looked at each other and shook their heads over the way he behaved.”**This post will be revised as ABC News coverage plans are updated**
ABC News to Air Special Expanded One-Hour Edition of "World News with Diane Sawyer" on Monday Evening
Terry Moran to Anchor "Nightline" From Boston Monday Night
George Stephanopoulos and Josh Elliott to Report From Boston for "Good Morning America" Tuesday Morning
Diane Sawyer and George Stephanopoulos anchored an ABC News special report to the ABC Television Network. ABC News producer Kendall Heath, who was on the scene at the marathon, is talking to Sawyer and Stephanopoulos on the phone. In addition, Senior Justice Correspondent Pierre Thomas and Chief GlobalAffairs Correspondent Martha Raddatz are reporting on security measures and reaction to the incident by Homeland Security; Chief White House Correspondent Jonathan Karl is reporting on the reaction from the Administration. Sawyer and Stephanopoulos also are talking to eyewitnesses on the phone who are describing the scene for viewers. ABC News is live streaming the network'sspecial report across its digital and mobile platforms here: http://abcnews.go.com/LIVE
Update (5:00 p.m.): ABC's Linsey Davis is currently reporting from Boston for all ABC News broadcasts and platforms. Chief Investigative Correspondent Brian Ross is en route to Boston to cover the ongoing investigation.
ABC News is covering the breaking news across all broadcasts and platforms:
"World News with Diane Sawyer" will expand to one-hour on Monday night. Diane Sawyer will anchor a special edition of the newscast from ABC News Headquarters with reports from the team that has been covering the developing story all afternoon.
will expand to on Monday night. Diane Sawyer will anchor a special edition of the newscast from ABC News Headquarters with reports from the team that has been covering the developing story all afternoon. " Nightline " will dedicate its broadcast to the developing story on Monday evening. Terry Moran will anchor "Nightline" from Boston.
will dedicate its broadcast to the developing story on Monday evening. will anchor "Nightline" from Boston. " Good Morning America " will have special coverage on Tuesday morning with George Stephanopoulos and Josh Elliott reporting from Boston.
" will have special coverage on Tuesday morning with and reporting from Boston. ABCNews.com has live updates here: http://abcn.ws/11ikV1p. ABC News and Yahoo! News will live-stream "AFTER: The Boston Marathon Bombings" Tuesday morning at 10:00 a.m., ET. Watch here: http://abcnews.go.com/live
has live updates here: http://abcn.ws/11ikV1p. ABC News and will live-stream "AFTER: The Boston Marathon Bombings" Tuesday morning at 10:00 a.m., ET. Watch here: http://abcnews.go.com/live ABC News Radio Correspondent Aaron Katersky will be reporting from Boston.
Correspondent will be reporting from Boston. ABC NewsOne Correspondents Marci Gonzalez and Tahman Bradley will report from Boston for more than 200 ABC affiliates, stations and clients.
Watch the ABC News Special Reports that began airing shortly after 3 p.m., ET:
Boston Marathon Explosion Was 'Horrifying': Hayden Cardy describes the scene in Boston following two explosions -
Boston Police Department reports at least two deaths after explosion at finish line -That is the assurance of SARU CEO Jurie Roux, who spent much time in the UK during September and October gathering intelligence for the expected SA bid for the follow-up tournament to Japan-staged RWC 2019 - the host will be known in around two years’ time.
Here is the first instalment of the Sport24 interview; part two will be run tomorrow...
What were your broad impressions, as SARU CEO, of RWC 2015?
I would say from an organisational point of view, probably the best event I have been to. Just from a day-to-day operational aspect, general working of the event itself and even in the build-up... everything was on time; they hit every deadline. We had very few hiccups in the event. Of the World Cups I have been to, this was the best by far.
It seemed to do well commercially, and world rugby broadly seems in a healthy space...
Yes, I mean London is a very unique city and it has the ability to generate revenue. Obviously with the pound being so strong, the commercial argument is always a very strong one in London. It is well documented that it has commercially been the biggest World Cup ever, had the most tickets sold, and had a slightly different commercial plan where the RFU was incentivised to actually push it past the normal guarantees and limits. So business-wise, it was a huge success. There is a bit of a catch in that... World Rugby works on a four-year-forward cycle, so all of the funding for World Rugby in the last four years was on the back end of the planning of RWC 2015. So other than the very last uptake in tickets and commercial value, all of that has been spent over four years. We now enter a new cycle and yes, there will be some money left from RWC 2015, but the new cycle works on the planning of the 2019 World Cup. That is obviously a completely different commercial argument.
Did the latest World Cup only strengthen your resolve to nail it down for 2023?
Just from an aspirational point of view, yes. I mean, you look at everything and ask yourself: can we do this? We’ve staged major events before, we’ve got the stadiums... great venues in our country, actually. We have the people to do it, and we’ve definitely got the climate to be able to stage something like that. But there is also a little bit of a fear aspect in there: commercially it will be a tough act to follow, and not necessarily just Japan (next in 2019)... you know, purely from a commercial aspect all World Cups should be centred on London, because we would make enough money to run world rugby for four years every year! It’s a tough commercial act to follow. But in other respects, I think our country is in desperate need of something big, something positive in the sporting environment. There’s a strong sentimental (argument) in our favour, obviously... we will always struggle to compete in currency terms to the Euro, pound and dollar, but by 2023, we would not have had a World Cup in Africa for almost 30 years. And we are the biggest rugby-playing country in Africa, the natural selection for a tournament. We need to spread the game. If we can take it to Asia, with an already reduced commercial outlook (for 2019) – perhaps there will be 20 to 30 percent less value out of the Japan World Cup – then if that argument holds, it should hold for Africa as well. Rugby is developing at a high pace in countries north of South Africa and it would be great to bring it back to the continent.
Just how much of an impediment is our currency weakness? A few years ago on a visit here, Bernard Lapasset (chairman of World Rugby) seemed very bullish to the media about South Africa getting 2023, but the rand was a fair bit more competitive then...
Well, I think on delivering the guarantee and getting the agreements in place in terms of your broadcasting and sponsorship, it is not such a major issue – you are still selling value. Whether that value is sold in London, Tokyo, Johannesburg or Cape Town doesn’t really matter. There’s a certain value; it gets broadcasted all over the world, the same amount of eyes will see it, we’re in a favourable place from a time-zone point of view. So that (currency) value is perhaps not the real issue. The real issue is in your ticketing, and the affordability of it, and the amount of money that would come out of that. In England the amount that came out in that respect in was ridiculous; it was great value. That would be our biggest challenge. But in the process and roll-out, the new commercial model of the next World Cup has completely changed, and in actual fact in the tender you hand in, you have to provide your preferred commercial model – there is no finite model. So all of your candidates can come forward with one, and World Rugby will take that into consideration along with all of the other factors. Yes, the currency plays a big role, but it is also more than that.
When will we know who banks 2023?
The process has been brought a little bit forward in terms of when the decision will be made, so hopefully we will know by the end of 2017. We all had to give our intentions of interest as the first step, then we all took part in an observer programme for a full week in the latest World Cup, where we had representatives of SA Rugby and also SASCOC present. The tender documentation will come out in the first or second quarter of next year; you will have to give your intention to tender by the third quarter. All of your documentation must be in by mid-2017 and the decision comes at Council level in November that year. That is basically the process. It leaves you a fair amount of time in making the decision of whether you finally will tender, and then jump through the other hoops in getting SASCOC, Department of Sport and Recreation and ultimately Government support.
What about the effect of the Commonwealth Games in Durban, only a year earlier than RWC 2023?
It is obviously something to consider, and the effect that will have on Government, and funding that has to flow from that. I think personally that the events should actually enhance each other and not be a stumbling block. But we need to talk to Government, the stakeholders, all of the unions and the cities you would like to see hosting RWC matches, to get everyone on board. That’s the key: get everyone on board from the word go, rather than further down the line. Sell it once you have complete buy-in.
Does the traditional north-south (hemispheres) rotation from one World Cup to another work in our favour, especially considering that the northern hemisphere will for the first time have had two in a row after England 2015 and Japan 2019?
There might have been an unwritten rule like that at some stage, but it doesn’t actually (apply). There will be four bidders, I think... initially there were six indicating interest but only four went onto the observer programme recently, plus Japan who had to be there for 2019. The others are France, Italy and Ireland. In the end everybody mentioned will go for it... they all want it, for various reasons. Italy has never had it, France had it in 2007, and Ireland, who have never had it, boast a strong commercial case. Their bid will be competitive. But as for that rotation theory... let’s just say that these days nothing is guaranteed. It will come to some bidding, and probably some politics as well, unfortunately.
We have seen on the cricket front, with India, that their major muscle in several respects seems to be earning them a greater portion these days of ICC tournaments...
I have to tell you I don’t see that kind of strong-arming happening in World Rugby at this moment. I mean, we do have the traditional north-south split in terms of allegiance, but there is no one, single (country) that is that powerful. Yes, the All Blacks are overpowering everyone on the field at present, and yes, the RFU is financially very strong in England but in the end we’ve got an abundance of new regions that are opening. We have just changed our governance model in terms of voting to make us more compliant in terms of the Olympic Charter, and being more accessible and everybody getting a better vote and a better system. Oregan (Hoskins, the SARU president) was chairman of that sub-committee. So I think we are going in the other direction, and it very much driven by the fact that we are now an Olympic sport.
The 2003 Cricket World Cup in these parts was an “African” one despite South Africa being main hosts: Kenya and Zimbabwe were also drawn in. Could you see 2023 perhaps being a “southern African” RWC if we get it, with Namibia and others getting some involvement?
I wouldn’t have said “World Cup coming back to Africa” if we weren’t thinking along those lines. But it would more our closer neighbours, perhaps... Namibia, Zimbabwe, even possibly Botswana. Perhaps they might get a match, or a venue. Once again, it’s cost versus commercial value. But no, you don’t claim an African World Cup and then host it solely in South Africa.
*Follow our chief writer on Twitter: @RobHouwingFor a long time, I thought I was going crazy.
I’d convinced myself that something horribly wrong was about to happen. I thought I would be stabbed, shot, or arrested every time I left my apartment.
I dreaded being around more than one person at a time. I eyed everyone like they were judging me, pitying me, or attempting to manipulate me.
My attention was divided in every interaction: one half of me would pretend to be normal, while the other half would be trying to keep it together.
I could feel various parts of my face twitching, like I was about to crack. My hands shook constantly.
It got so bad that when a friend came to visit me, I couldn’t drink a glass of water because it kept spilling just from me holding it.
I tried to behave like nothing was wrong, when all I wanted to do was lock myself in a room and curl up in a ball.
If someone had tapped me in the chest, my body would have shattered. If someone had ordered me to cry, my face would have flooded. I felt fragile, weak, and hollow.
I was sure that there was an impending disaster that would melt the social contract and pit my neighbors against me. I saw criminals and undercover cops everywhere I went. All that “world is coming to an end” talk — I bought into it.
I didn’t want drugs, but I was ready to take them. My doctor prescribed me anti-anxiety meds.
When I looked up the side effects, I felt like giving up.
Anxiety…
Insomnia…
Seizures…
Psychosis…
I reluctantly threw the pills in the garbage. I was terrified of making things worse.
I felt ashamed. I didn’t want to be around anyone – not because I stopped liking people, but because I didn’t want them to catch my weird energy. I wearily watched my girlfriend cry when I confided that I felt dead inside, all the time, and I didn’t know how to fix it. I felt jealous that she could cry, and I couldn’t.
I laid on the ground for 20 minutes one night, wondering whether I should call an ambulance. My heart was beating so hard and fast that I could actually hear it, and my left hand was going numb. It was my first panic attack.
My anxiety lasted for more than a year. It affected how I breathed, how I thought, how I ate, how I slept, and how I talked. I was serious and tired and afraid, all the time. I wanted so badly to return to my normal, lively, care-free, confident self. But I didn’t know how to shake it.
I didn’t want to kill myself, but I was ready for life to be over.
I tried everything to fix myself:
Meditation
Yoga
Deep breathing
Exercise
Therapy
CBT
Spiritual healers
Journaling
Super clean diets
Supplements
Fasting
Prayer
Volunteering
Psychedelics
I even took a six-week online course, made specifically for men who wanted to overcome anxiety.
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A few of these things helped, a lot of them didn’t. Some of them made things worse.
Then one day, I discovered the cure for my anxiety.
When my mind processed it and recognized it was the solution, I started laughing. The answer had been so obvious all along. In less than one month, I was back to my old self. The cure for my anxiety was free, fun, painless, and immediately effective.
I found the cure for my anxiety four years ago. Since then, a lot has changed for the better:
This post hit #1 on Google for the search “how to cure anxiety”
I created a free email course that’s helped over 20,000 anxiety sufferers
I published a bestselling book on anxiety management
I was invited to speak at TEDx, the Pentagon, and Mental Health America about overcoming mental illness
On a personal note, I married the woman of my dreams, and I had a baby daughter. None of that would’ve happened if I was still fear-stricken, hiding in my bedroom. I have zero fear that those feelings will ever return. If they do, I’ll be able to wipe them out right away.
My hope is that — by sharing my story — YOU will be able to overcome your anxiety, once and for all.
It’s not nearly as hard as you’d think.
“Adults are just obsolete children.” – Dr. Seuss
Have you ever witnessed a little kid working out on a treadmill?
Or meeting up with a friend to chat over coffee?
Or wearing a suit and making cold-calls?
Or attending a networking conference to hand out their business cards?
HELL NO.
Overly serious adults choose to be lame and boring.
If you saw a kid doing any of those things, you would laugh and wonder what the hell was wrong with them.
Kids don’t run to get in shape; they run to feel the grass beneath their feet and the wind on their face.
Kids don’t have a chat over coffee; they pretend and make jokes and explore the outdoors.
Kids don’t go to work; they play their favorite games.
Kids don’t network; they bond with other fun kids while playing.
There is no ego. There is no guilt. There is no past to regret, and no future to worry about.
They just play.
And that’s what I’d forgotten, what I’d been missing, all along.
Get my bestselling anxiety management book, Play It Away, on Amazon.
Giving myself permission to PLAY was the cure for my anxiety.
It was a subtle but powerful shift in how I viewed the world.
For two years, I had unknowingly prevented myself from playing. I am a workaholic, which can be pretty horrible when you work alone. No one tells you to stop or take a break, or that you’re burning yourself out. I’d find myself tethered to the internet all day, sitting in a chair for 10 hours and staring at a bright screen.
Even when I was “finished,” I’d impulsively check email several times between midnight and 2 a.m. I know it’s dumb and unnecessary and “What could be so important?” and “You need your sleep,” but I did it anyways.
I was oblivious to the fact that my nerves were being frayed for hours on end, and that I desperately needed fun face-to-face time with real human beings.
What made matters worse were the idiotic rituals I’d fallen into…
Drinking coffee all day, then drinking alcohol with friends on the weekend.
I didn’t get outside, I didn’t move enough, I didn’t sleep enough.
My weeks were a cycle of over-stimulation and numbing.
I’d completely deprived myself of play for years!
Even when I was “playing” (doing fun activities with friends), I would still feel guilty or self-conscious. My mind was elsewhere: what I’d done wrong in the past, how I was compromising my future, and how I was wasting the present. I was so critical of how I was living my life that I couldn’t be in the moment.
“A lack of play should be treated like malnutrition: it’s a health risk to your body and mind.” – Stuart Brown
The real problem was my state of mind. I’d become increasingly adept at rejecting any form of “non-productivity.” I couldn’t allow any form of play if it didn’t contribute to earning money or doing something “meaningful.”
Even when I was with friends or doing something that was supposed to be fun, I couldn’t stop thinking about all the time I was wasting. I wasn’t being productive; I was losing valuable time. I had to get back to work!
What would the world do without me and my important work?!
Without realizing it, I became very serious, even though I’d never been serious in my entire life. I couldn’t play because that meant I wasn’t working, and I couldn’t really work because I always felt tired and jaded (because I never let myself play!)
This resulted in me convincing myself that life was a miserable grind for adults, and that I needed to be very serious if I wanted to get through it. I approached everything this way, and treated my work as a form of self-imposed slavery.
Little did I know how limiting that mindset was, and how much it was hurting my work… and my life.
When I moved down to Austin, a friend introduced me to his buddy David via email, and suggested we should meet. David replied to me with the usual request: he asked if I wanted to grab coffee. I paused a moment, then wrote back:
“Hey David, good to meet you. This is an irregular request, but you want to meet up at a park and play |
it to anything, it would have to be some of the newer residential buildings in Lugnica. Only, this building looked much, much fancier.
"A scheming Merchant? Hmm, scheming, maybe, but a Merchant? I am far from that, Subaru." Ozpin responded, giving a light chuckle. "At best, you could describe me as a trustworthy fox, giving hints but never telling the full truth."
"I'm not sure you're helping your case, Headmaster." Subaru forced a chuckle, years of practice paying off as the laugh came out as genuine. The laugh came to a crawl, as a realization dawned on him. Reaching into his coat, he pulled out his Gospel. Flipping to the last page, he checked, and hoped for a new entry. Alas, the same cryptic verse for Ruby rang out, annoying Subaru a great deal. It had been four days since the last message, and it was starting to grow on his nerves. He had found the Silver Eyed girl, so what now? Was he supposed to befriend her? Kill her? Manipulate her? It said it would lead him to what he desired most, so she couldn't be the goal, but a stepping stone. If she was a stepping stone, then what would lay beyond that measly step?
Better question, why was Ruby the catalyst for his desire? Why did this girl, who knew naught of Magic and Knights, have to be the stepping stone? What role did she have to play in the grand scheme of things? It didn't matter if she ended up dead to Subaru, as she was insignificant to him, but why her? What made her so special?
"We have arrived at our destination, Subaru." Ozpin spoke up, shaking Subaru out of his trance. Looking up, Subaru took in his surroundings. Most of it was concrete, bricks and all. Grass sat directly behind them as a Building, similar to the ones before, sat in front of them. The only difference was that they were gazing at it from the front. Stone stairs leading to a walkway that went to two glass panels greeted Subaru in an ordinary way. Ozpin smiled, the gentle expression reaching his eyes. "If you'll just follow me, I will show you to your room."
Subaru wordlessly nodded, walking alongside Ozpin as they followed the stone path. The sound of a tapping cane was all they heard as the continued to the glass panels. Subaru looked at Ozpin, confused as to what he was thinking. Were they going to walk into the Panels without any care? A sudden sliding sound caught Subaru off guard, but what he saw caused his mouth to drop. The Windows, which stood in front of him, slid to the side, greeting him to the inside of the building.
"I see that the Sliding Glass Doors caught you by surprise, Subaru." Ozpin noted, standing in front of Subaru, his body turned to the side. Subaru's head went back and forth between Ozpin and the doors, shock and amazement clear on his face.
"Of course that caught me by surprise!" Subaru said, his voice raised slightly as he walked in and out of the building, watching in excitement as the doors opened and closed. "This… this is revolutionary! I no longer need to open a door with my hands! All I need is my mind!"
Ozpin gave a chuckle at this, unwilling to spoil Subaru's fun. This just proved to the aging man that somewhere, deep inside the body of that Archbishop, was a child willing to see the light of the world. All Subaru would need was a more flammable, contagious light. That's where he hoped Ruby would step in. If all fails though… Ozpin vowed to end Subaru himself.
"Now, enough with the doors. Time is of the essence, and I need to show you to your dorm before classes begin." Ozpin said, walking ahead of Subaru, the younger boy following with earnest. Subaru took this chance to look at the inside of the building, it's tiles sparkling clean, the smell of chemicals in the air.
For Subaru, the first area could be categorized as a giant lobby. Couches and tables lined the area, sitting on a sewn carpet of black and peach. Rectangular boxes hung from the sides of the walls, some displaying some form of moving pictures. Subaru could only assume that they were A form of two way mirrors, similar to that of Lugnica's. Mechanical machines lined a counter in what Subaru had to presume was a kitchen. Students lined the area, some getting food, others just mindlessly chit Chatting
Ozpin moved past those however, ignoring the appliances that seemed rather ordinary to him, but miraculous to Subaru. Walking up to sliding doors made of Iron, Ozpin tapped a button right next to it, an arrow indicating upwards. Subaru had but a second to think of it as the Iron doors slid open, revealing a set of students in various Attire.
"Ah! Headmaster Ozpin! Good morning!" One of the more casual students spoke up, giving a slight bow to her head. Ozpin returned the greetings, the students leaving the metal box and continuing with their business. Without a moment's notice, Ozpin stepped into the metal box, Subaru hesitating slightly before following the older man.
With another press of a button, the Iron doors closed, a barely audible click resounding within the box. With a shake, one that startled Subaru, the box started moving. Subaru felt a little motion sickness as the box continued to move in a direction that was unknown by the Archbishop.
"Hey, Headmaster, what is this thing?" Subaru asked as he leaned on the wall, his face paling as he covered his mouth. This was a new sensation for Subaru, as he normally enjoyed riding in carriages. However, in carriages he was always able to see where it was going.
"This, Subaru, is a elevator. It's an instrument created by humans and Faunus to replace stairs. Both go up and down, leading you to higher or lower elevation depending on your destination." Ozpin said, watching as the numbers counted down until it hit the desired floor. With another, barely audible click, the door opened up to another hallway. Doors upon doors lead to a maze of twist and turns Subaru was sure to be lost in.
"I would be amazed, if it didn't mess with my head so much." Subaru said as he stepped out of the elevator, taking a breather to calm himself. Ozpin walked past Subaru, leading the way through the hall of doors.
"Of course, there are stairs if you so wish to take them." Ozpin responded, Subaru making a note to find them later. Subaru followed Ozpin in silence, the occasional student greeting the Headmaster in either surprise or delight. It soon became apparent that most, if not all, of the school held some form of respect for the Graying Headmaster.
"Ah, here we are." Ozpin said, turning to one of the many doors within the hallway. Subaru couldn't help but notice that all of the doors looked exactly the same, except for the numbers on the wall. 4-M. Subaru copied the sight into his head. Ozpin, taking out a white rectangle, slid it through a black box next to the door knob. It flashed a bright green, as another clicking sound was heard, before Ozpin reached and opened the door, allowing them both to enter the room. "This is where you will be staying for the next four years, Subaru."
Taking the initiative, Subaru walked inside. Four beds made up the majority of the room, red blankets covering the white sheets underneath. Books lined the shelf on the side, various novels and textbooks leaning on one another, but none falling. A window overlooking the courtyard hung between the four beds, shining light into the room. A door leading to a restroom sat on the right of the room, it's marble floor glistening wet, as either someone just cleaned or used it.
"Hmm, it appears your roommate is absent. No matter, for now, get dressed. There is a uniform that all students must wear during school hours. I have taken the liberty of designing you one, as you'll find on one of the beds." Ozpin said, closing the door slowly. Subaru watched this, before his eyes darted around the room, scanning for the uniform that Ozpin mentioned.
As Ozpin had said, a pile of black and red cloths sat on one of the beds. Making his way to it, Subaru picked up the clothing, the size appearing to fit him perfectly. From the texture, it felt of fine silk, yet Subaru could tell it was just an ordinary pair of cloth. A suit, tie, pants and socks. Looking down, Subaru noticed a pair of leather shoes placed specifically at the edge of the bed.
It didn't take long for Subaru to get dressed. After a series of events during the beginning years of his life, he had been taken in by a family friend, who appointed him as a Butler. While Subaru wasn't proficient at most of the work, he at least knew how to put a suit on and tie a tie. It was really the only thing he was ever truly good at; that and sewing.
A mirror sat next to the front door, a desk pushed in the corner without any care. Walking over, Subaru couldn't help but take in his visage. A view he hadn't seen in a very, very long time.
The view reflected his own. A black suit, red tie with a white colored shirt. Black slacks, leather boots with white socks underneath. Gold lined the zipper and shoulders, somehow fitting with the black, red and white color scheme. His necklace hung underneath, out of sight for any who tried to view.
It had been years since Subaru had worn anything other than the Cults uniform, given to him by the ever detestable Betelgeuse. At first Subaru hated it, as it was a symbol of what he used to hate, but it had grown on him. It had become something that could be described as… precious? No, that's not the right word. Something similar, but not to that extent.
Yet for some reason, it felt wrong. While the Uniform fit his body perfectly, and he was able to move around without restraint, something just felt… wrong. Like he had been stripped of his clothing, being revealed to the world without restraint. Like he was forgetting something. Looking to his discarded outfit, Subaru realized the issue. He had discarded his cloak. Reaching down, he grabbed the torn fabric, gently lifting it to his eyes. His iris glazed over, as he remembered the person who made this for him. A neat freak, monstrous, and although strict, kindhearted gentleman. A butler who made him nervous just thinking about him. Clind.
Without hesitating, he donned the cloak over his shoulders once more. Clasping the lock tight, to make sure it wouldn't sway with his movements. Subaru looked back into the mirror, the cloak covering his shoulders, falling to just above his knees. The edges were torn, something he would need to remedy soon… no matter how many times he kept reminding himself. In all honesty, the cloak didn't match the suit, slightly bugging him. With a huff, he removed it. Subaru wasn't willing to part with it though. With a snap of his fingers, he wrapped it around his waist, the fabric barely touching the ground. Spinning, Subaru gave a nod. This fit much better.
Steadily, Subaru made his way to the door, opening it to a patiently waiting Ozpin, who looked Subaru up and down.
"I see you decided to keep the cloak and necklace." Ozpin noted, motioning for Subaru to follow. Subaru, for his part, couldn't help his eyes widened as he spoke of the necklace. He swore that it was hidden extremely well. "While it isn't against regulations to change your attire as you wish, it isn't recommended. Most teachers are okay with the changes, while some of the more stricter ones will more than likely point out your changes."
"I'll deal with that when the time comes." Subaru said, not really caring. If a teacher tried to remove his attire, he would personally deal with them, even if it meant a reset. Subaru followed Ozpin in silence, before the older man seemed to stop, snapping his fingers. Reaching in his coat, he pulled out a white rectangle, similar to the one earlier, and held it out for Subaru.
"Here, this is yours."
"What is it?" Subaru asked, gently grabbing the device, the texture of the object feeling foreign to him. He held it up to his face, it swinging back and forth. Ozpin watching him for a second, before pushing up his optical lenses.
"That, Subaru, is a Scroll. To put it in simple terms, it's a device that'll allow you to communicate with others at long distances, and record how much health you have." Ozpin explained, Subaru looking confused at the word 'health'. "You will learn more on how to use it as time goes on. I'm sure you will find it most useful in your ventures."
"If you say so." Subaru said, pocketing it for later. He had witnessed Ozpin use it to open the door earlier, so it must've been some kind of key. If what Ozpin said was true, then it could also communicate long distances with others. This suspiciously sounded a lot like the Metia's The Cult made use of. "So, what's next?"
"I originally planned to have been gone by now, having your roommate escort you around. However, seeing as he isn't around right now, I will have to ask another student to do his task." Ozpin said, not sounding bothered with it in the least. Subaru nodded, following Ozpin without a word. There was not much to talk about, and Subaru didn't see a reason to mingle with the Headmaster. From what little he knew of schools in The World Above, Headmasters weren't that close to the students which they ruled. No doubt, the same rule applied to those within Remnant.
Although, the students greeted the Headmaster nonchalantly made him doubt that very much.
A sudden scream and crash caught both Ozpin's and Subaru's attention. Glancing at each other, they both picked up their pace, Ozpin in worry and Subaru in curiosity. Subaru couldn't bring himself to care if someone were to die, as long as it didn't interfere with his goal. Turning a corner, they were greeted with a mirage of students, all in different, but entertaining, positions. Some Subaru recognized as Team RWBY, some were less recognizable.
The room was large, large enough to hold multiple couches and three tables, two in what appeared to be a kitchen, the other in what could be described as a lobby of sorts. A wide array of food was laid across one of the tables, a dark haired boy flipping a pan, food flying up and down. A Blonde and muscular Brunette sat at an empty table, hands locked together as visible strain marred their face, the arm wrestle being intense. A scarlet haired girl watched, sat outside of the bounds of the kitchen alongside another blond, who seemed all too excited with the match unfolding. A Black haired girl sat, uncaring as she continued to flip through her book. A white haired girl sat in the corner, going through a device in her hands. Ruby, the only one Subaru truly recognized, seemed to be intensely watching the match unfold with a sparkle in her eyes. Same with a orange haired juggernaut of a woman.
Truly, a weird sight for one Natsuki Subaru.
"I'm not gonna let you win, Cardin!" Yang grunted, her breath hitching as she felt herself budge under his strength. Closing her eyes, she focused solely on her right hand, unable to tell if that was helping or not.
"Same here, blondie!" Cardin responded, unable to think up of a good comeback. Gritting his teeth, he did his best not to budge under the strength of Yang Xiao Long, his pride unwilling to take a hit like that. Cardin didn't mind losing to a girl, but if it was Yang, he wouldn't allow it. Couldn't allow it.
Yang and Cardin, huntsmen in training, were unwilling to budge an inch. A long standing rivalry between strength being put on the line. Sweat poured off their red faces, Cardin gritting his teeth while Yang taking a deep breath, trying not to lose her cool. The sound of Ren making his pancakes echoed through the room, no one willing to break the concentration of either participants. Yang could feel her strength leaving her though, Cardin's endurance being more than what she could handle on her own. She couldn't help but think she was finally going to lose. To cave in under the pressure of the Mace Wielder.
A quick glance at her sister changed that though. Images of her sister, on her knees, doing dirty work giving her strength to fight back against Cardin. With a grunt, and a puff, she gritted her teeth as she made her comeback. Cardin's eyes widened in surprise as he felt his arm budge, slowly drawing closer to the table. Frantically, he did his best to push back, but no matter what he did, nothing would work.
With one final heave, the back of his hand slammed against the table.
"YEAH!" Yang cheered, throwing her arms up in the air in victory, Ruby jumping in excitement as Nora flipped the table, her excitement being uncontainable. Yang pointed at Cardin, who was leaned back against the chair, looking up at the ceiling as his arms hung uselessly next to him. "Cardin! You lost! You know what that means!"
"Yeah, yeah, it's Team CRDL's turn on cleaning duty. Next week." Cardin said, waving Yang off. With a sigh, he stood up, smirking at Yang, holding out a arm. "But that was a good match, Yang! Same time next week?"
"You know it! And prepared to get your butt kicked again!" Yang said, grabbing Cardin's arm. While it couldn't be said that CRDL were friends with RWBY and JNPR, both could respect the others strength. That was really the only language Cardin Winchester spoke, and one Nora and Yang spoke fluently. It was only after the trip to Forever Fall that CRDL was willing to even talk though.
"Ha! You wish, Blondie!" Cardin said, letting go of Yang, who in turn did as him. Turning, Cardin aimed for the entrance of the lobby, only to stop in surprise. Sweat poured down his face, his eyes widening, and his muscles stiffening. Curious, Yang followed his line of sight, only to mimic Cardin's exact expression.
For what was standing there, his smile calm and amused, was the Headmaster of Beacon Academy; Ozpin.
"H-Headmaster!" Cardin said, straightening his back, standing at attention for the older man, Jaune mimicking his movements. Yang looked at them weirdly, trying to play the sudden appearance off, while Nora and Ruby went about fixing the table Nora had flipped.
"Headmaster! What a pleasure to have you here!" Weiss greeted, taking over for the shell shocked group. Apparently years of being a princess paid off, as she saw those in higher authority as just that, people of higher authority. Ozpin gave her a smile, unperturbed by the two girls distressing over the table.
"The pleasure is all mine, Ms. Schnee." Ozpin courteously responded, motioning for Jaune and Cardin to ease their posture, which they did. Cardin, instead of sticking around, made for the entrance, brushing past Ozpin in his haste. "I see that you are finally getting along with Team CRDL. That's good."
"I wouldn't say that." Ren spoke up, his back still facing the aged man, flipping the pancakes he worked so hard to make. "We have come to an agreement. Nothing more, nothing less. Hostilities as that between Cardin and Jaune won't disappear over night, and they still pick on the weak, which we do not condone. We just merely have an understanding of strength." Rem stopped flipping the pancake, laying it on a plate before turning to Ozpin, a smile on his face. "Do you want a pancake?"
Silence flowed through the room. Everyone looked at Ren with a mixture of shock and admiration. What he said wasn't wrong, but no one expected him of all people to say, well, any of that. He usually stuck to short sentences, not bothering to waste as much breath as he just did. Ozpin smiled, shaking his head.
"No, I am quite fine, thank you. It appears that I still need to have a talk with CRDL then." Ozpin sighed, dreading the future that was to come. "That is not the reason I came here though."
"I don't mean to sound rude, Headmaster, but why are you here?" Weiss asked, the question being on everyone's mind. "I mean, in this dormitory specifically. I don't think Team RWBY has warranted a visit by the Headmaster himself, have we?"
"We haven't!" Ruby yelled, drawing everyone's attention to her. Her eyes darted left and right, sweat trickling down her face. "I-I mean, there's no way I snuck into the cafeteria and ate all the cookies!"
"Yeah!" Nora agreed, her face mimicking Ruby's perfectly. "I definitely didn't go in the kitchen and steal all the pancake batter! Pfft! Who would do such a thing!?"
"So that's where all the batter came from." Ren said, still flipping the pancake like it was the most normal thing in the world. Ozpin looked between all of them, judging and evaluating each and everyone of them.
"Ignoring young Roses and Valkyries midnight escapades, that is not the reason I have came to visit." Ozpin said, causing both Ruby and Nora to sigh in relief. "The reason I came to visit, is to ask a request of one of you."
"A request?" Pyrrha asked, causing Ozpin to nod, a smile still marking his face.
"Indeed. I suppose you still remember the Initiation that was held yesterday?" A chorus of nods and affirmatives made their way through the gathered crowd. "Well, to make a long story short, he has been accepted into the school. Not only that, I originally planned to have his roommate escort him around, but seeing as he isn't available at the moment, I have to ask one of you."
"I don't know, Ozpin." Yang said, scratching the back of her head. "That guy, forgot his name, he's a little… I don't know, creepy?"
A elbow made its way to her gut, Ruby looking panicked. Yang let out a breath, glaring at her younger sister. "Yang!"
"What!? It's true! Not only that, he lied to you about his powers! It's not Magic, it's his Semblance!" Yang yelled, irritated by the way her sister was acting. "He's just a filthy conman, trying to trick you into making you believe what isn't real!"
"I wouldn't be so sure of that, if I were you." A voice said, startling Yang. Turning to Ozpin, she watched as the boy in question stepped out around him, his eyes narrowed, glaring in distaste. "I don't mind you not believing in Magic, but I cannot stand being called a cheat."
"Really!?" Yang asked, her tone unbelieving as she marched up to the boy. "You lied to my sister about Magic, and when you're caught, you can't even admit you're wrong!"
"I am not a liar!"
"Then prove it!"
"Now, now children, there is no need to fight." Ozpin said, stepping in between Yang and Subaru, one showing their teeth while the other calmly glaring. "Yang Xiao Long, I can understand your doubts of young Subaru's abilities, but I won't permit you to provoke a new member of the school. I can also assure you that he does wield a power that is… out of this world."
"With all due respect, Headmaster, I can't believe that." Yang responded, crossing her arms over her chest. "Magic isn't real, but Aura and Semblance is. This guy could be someone who claims to use Magic, but in reality is just part of his Aura!"
"It is Magic!"
"Then where's the proof!?"
"You want proof?" Subaru asked, gaining the attention of Yang. For a split second, Yang considered backing down, but her Pride wouldn't allow it. This guy had lied to her sister about who he was, and that was something Yang couldn't take lying down.
"Prove it." Yang said, her voice as cold as her eyes. To any normal being, the look in her eyes would have caused a chill to run down their spine. For Subaru, it was comparable to a kid throwing a fit. Subaru would have spit in her direction if they weren't inside, instead he walked up to her, glaring her in the eyes.
"Fine, then hold out your hand." Subaru said, causing Yang to raise an eyebrow.
"Why?"
"Just do it." Subaru grounded out, Yang finally budging and doing as he asked. Subaru, grabbing her wrist, closed his eyes and gave a deep breath. Seconds passed in silence as everyone watched, wordlessly confused at what was going on. Yang raised an eyebrow, a smirk making its way to her lips.
"What? Is that a-"
"Shamak."
With that, it was like the lights had been flipped off. Instead of panic like Yang expected to hear, all she heard was nothing. Silence. She pulled back her arm, her eyes widening as she looked around the dark void she resided in. She waved her hands in front of her, the sound of cloth moving being absent as she watched the shadow of her arms move back and forth. Fear gripped her heart as she tried to feel around, yet no matter what she did, her touch felt nonexistent.
"-!" She tried to say, instead coming out as a nonexistent gasp. She grabbed her head, her ears ringing due to the overflowing silence of the world. She tried to breath, yet couldn't as she choked on her own breath. She couldn't tell what was going on anymore. If she was standing, laying down, or even moving. Yang couldn't even tell that her eyes were open.
"I think that's enough of that." Ozpin said, being the first sound she was able to hear. With a gasp, Yang opened her eyes, the light of the sun that filtered in through the Windows blinding her. Sitting up, she could feel the sweat across her body, her eyes darting around in panic. The worried faces of her friends greeted her, all not saying a word as she took in deep gulps of air.
"Yang? Are you alright?" Ruby asked, making her way to her frightened sister. As she reached out a hand to the prime Blonde, Yang slapped it away, startling Ruby. From the looks of it, Yang hadn't meant to do that, as she reached out to Ruby, before drawing back. Getting up, she hugged herself, not wanting to look Ruby in the eyes.
"I-I'm fine." Yang said, her words carrying no reassurances to the Teams gathered. She ignored that, and headed for one of the entrance of the lobby, avoiding the gazes of all gathered. "I just… need a breather. I'll see you guys in class."
"Ah, Yang, wait!" Ruby said, trailing after her sister worriedly. As the sisters left the group's field of vision, all looked to each other worriedly. No words were exchanged, but all knew what was on the others mind.
"What the hell was that?" Weiss asked, eyes narrowed towards Subaru, who was uncaring of what had just happened. "What did you do to Yang, you jerk."
"Jerk?" Subaru repeated, not really caring what he was called, but annoyed nonetheless. "How am I the jerk here? I merely showed her Magic, and she freaked out over it."
"Even so, I think you went too far."
"I don't care how far you think I went. I showed her exactly what she wanted, so she has no right to complain."
"I believe that's enough." Ozpin said, his tone taking on a dangerous edge. Everyone, including Subaru, froze as the temperature took a dangerous dip. Ozpin waited a second before speaking up, locking eyes with Subaru. "Subaru, as I said with Yang Xiao Long, I understand your situation, but I will not condone provoking other students."
"Y-yes Headmaster." Subaru stuttered, doing his best to remain calm. Again, Ozpin was able to make Subaru visibly nervous. Again, Subaru was angered by the reaction caused by such few words. Ozpin looked around, sighing before pinching the bridge of his nose. This was not how he wanted this meet up to go down. It may even put a dent in his plans.
"I am sorry, Team RWBY, JNPR, but I understand if you reject my request, but would one of you kindly escort Subaru around later? And show him to his classes?" Ozpin asked, hoping that maybe, with some slight pleading, they would ignore what they just saw in favor of listening to him. However, as he looked upon the expressions of both the Teams, he gained his answer.
"I will!" A over excited voice spoke up, startling Ozpin. Turning around, the familiar face of one Sun Wukong, followed by a Blue Haired boy, walked into the lobby.
"No!" Subaru said, waving his hand to the side, as if rejecting the idea physically. "I am not going to hang out with you again! How many freaking bars do we have to go to until you realize that you can't help starting fights!?"
"Hey! Hey! Don't say that!" Sun said, wrapping his arm around Subaru, who glared venomously at the blonde Faunus. Sun leaned in, his eyes half-lidded, "Subaru, dude, you need to be quiet about that! The bars didn't care how old we were, but the Headmaster and some of the others here might!"
"Like I care! You tricked me into walking through a Forrest!" Subaru whisper-yelled back, anger over the last series of loops coming into play. "Do you know how painful that was!? I had to walk for hours, then fight in a stupid initiation! I have never fought so many days in a row!"
"Haha… wait, you actually fell for that!?" Sun asked, pulling back so all could hear, JNPR and Weiss not understanding what was going on. Blake nodded, remembering the story Sun had told her, finally coming to believe such tales. Subaru shrugged off Sun, glaring at the Faunus.
"Of course I fell for that!? What did you think I would do, assume I could take an airship here!?"
"Well, yeah! Airships come and go, like, four times a day! It's like a freaking bus here!" Sun laughed, scratching the back of his head as Subaru felt like stomping on the ground, going on a rant. He stopped himself however, as that was something Regulus would do, not him.
"Ah! Sun Wukong, would you mind escorting Subaru around the campus, and showing him to his classes?" Ozpin asked, a last ditch effort to ensure Subaru had a partner for the rest of the day. Sun looked up at Ozpin, unflinching under the older man's gaze. Sun had a look of confusion, before giving a thoughtless shrug.
"Eh, sure, why not?" Sun said, causing Ozpin to sigh in relief.
"Oh, great. Here, this file contains the classes for Subaru. Be sure to show guide him there." Ozpin said, taking out his scroll, as did Sun. Subaru curiously watched as they tapped the two devices together, both flashing red before being overtaken by a bright green. With that, Ozpin withdrew his scroll, yielding his device to his pocket. Sun, instead, opened it, images flashing through.
"Woah! Subaru, almost all of our classes are together!" Sun said, causing Subaru to internally groan. It wasn't like he disliked Sun, but his hyperactive personality was just… troublesome to deal with.
"Now that that's settle with, I must take my leave." Ozpin announced, nodding his head to his students. "Subaru, I welcome you to Beacon Academy, and I hope you enjoy your stay. I expect a great many things from you."
With that, Ozpin disappeared from sight.
An uncomfortable silence overtook the room; Subaru, Weiss, Blake and JNPR all looking between each other, none willing to break the ice that had formed between them with what happened to Yang. Suns eyes darted around, confused as the usually cheery group silenced themselves. Almost a full minute passed before Sun groaned, sparking a flame in the icy atmosphere.
"Why the heck are you guys all silent!? It's really killing the mood!" Sun complained, causing Blake to look up at him, her eyebrow raised in amusement.
"Says the guy ruining the mood. Can't you tell we're all brooding here?"
"Why the heck would you do that!? Lobbies are meant to fun! Where everyone can chat and let loose!"
"Also, Why're you here?" Jaune spoke up, wondering why an exchange student was in a Beacon students dormitory. That, and his complex against Neptune taking hold.
"Cause I couldn't find Blake in her room, so I came here! Went through the window and everything!"
"Wait, what!? You went through our window!" Weiss all but screeched, Sun realizing too late what he said. Sweat dribbled down his cheek as both Weiss and Blake's eyes narrowed, a dark aura overtaking them.
"W-Wait! What I meant to say was-"
With that, Subaru's mind faded out, uncaring for the fate of Sun Wukong. While it was true he may have found some enjoyment in Suns demise, his prank having angered him, Subaru was unwilling to partake in Wrath. Until the day she died and he gained her powers, Subaru was unwilling to act in such a way. Even then, he didn't have any desire to become the insane woman that she was. Even if he did have a plan to kill her and the rest of the Cult.
Pride was tactful, not impulsive. Pride was observant, not intelligent. Pride was loyal, not to the Witch, but to himself. Even then, Pride couldn't help but think, with all the things that have went on these past few days. What now? Where was this heading? Why hadn't the Gospel updated? What is the meaning of Ruby Rose and who was the one he was destined to find? Was their even a destined one, or is she just a catalyst for his desire?
What exactly was his desire?
Beacon Academy
Classroom
First Period
In the short life of Natsuki Subaru, he had been witness to many spectacular things. Magic that would make gods tremble, powers that would make the most humblest of men jealous, and sights that would cause adventurers mouths to water. Of course, not all of these were as grand as they seemed. Families torn asunder, villages raised from the ground up, and a revolution that would put ordinary war to shame. Subaru been witness to what most would hope to do in a full life, in his seventeen years of existence.
However, he had never heard of dust.
Dust. A material made of rock and dirt, both lightweight, yet extremely dangerous. A stone that, although small, could produce a multitude of effects ranging from burning the air itself, to freezing the ground as if it had experienced a blizzard. To the residents of Remnant, Dust was the key to most of their technology. Lightning powering their airships. Fire lighting their streets. Ice keeping their food cold. Earth forming their dams. Wind cutting their trees. Without Dust, Remnant would have fallen eons ago.
In fact, without Dust, Humanity wouldn't have existed.
The legends go, that from Dust, Man was born. Wielding its power to fight their undying enemy, the Creatures of Grimm. That from the first days of their existence, Dust had been the source of all preservation. Take that away, and humanity would fall.
"That's about how it goes, right?" Subaru asked, turning to Sun and Neptune, both wearing rather weird expressions on their face.
"Uh, yeah, but…" Neptune said, twirling a pencil in his hand, looking kind of off put. With a sigh, he motioned a hand at Subaru. "Subaru, why did you word it like that?"
"Huh?" Subaru hummed, confused. At the astonished look by Sun, Subaru decided to dig deeper. There was no way he said something wrong, right? "What? Did I say something wrong?"
"Well, not really, no." Sun said, scratching the back of his head while looking to the side. "It's just, you worded it really weirdly. Like you were speaking to an audience, or giving a lecture. Even did the 'Without Dust, Humanity would Fall' thing."
"What? Aren't I speaking to an audience?" Subaru said, motioning towards Sun and Neptune, who looked away. "I think you're just being picky on how I word things. That's pretty petty of you."
"What!? What're you talking about!" Sun scoffed, looking to the side. A glint caught his eyes as he spotted a familiar set of Green and Red hair, which he frantically stood up at, waving his hand back and forth. "Scarlet! Sage! Where have you two been!? We've been here for like, thirty minutes!"
"Sorry, we were cleaning up the mess you and Neptune left in our dorm." Scarlet responded, not really caring much that he had to clean. Sage sneered, flashing his teeth at Sun.
"You need to start picking up after yourself, Sun." Sage said, taking his seat next to the two Vacuo students. Sun didn't pay Sage much mind, laughing off his words as if they were in jest.
"I get you dude, and thank you! But anyways! Look who I brought with me today!" Sun said, wrapping a arm around Subaru, who looked mildly disgruntled. "This, my fabulous Team SSSN, is my pal, Natsuki Subaru!"
"Wait, you mean the Faunus hater?" Scarlet asked, causing Sun to nervously chuckle, Subaru glaring at the taller individual. Suns eyes widened as he wordlessly made a 'be quiet' motion. It didn't work however, as Subaru used his Claws to remove Suns arm from himself.
"I am not a Faunus hater, I hate Half-Breeds and the White Fang. I don't trust the Faunus, but I don't trust anybody I don't |
destroy-children! container) (dom/append! container (str "<p>" new-value "</p>"))))
The main function:
(defn ^:export main [] (let [app (app/build count-app) render-fn (push/renderer "content" [[:value [:route] route-changed]])] (render/consume-app-model app render-fn) (configure-router (:input app) "first") (app/begin app)))
This solution is hardly reusable, but it’s also very flexible. At any point we can decide to do something specific when switching the location – change something in data or application model, make a server request, etc.
I wouldn’t recommend it, it’s just the very first attempt at the problem.
Attempt 2: Generic
It’s quite obvious that the above solution can be generalized. One way to do it is to generalize the renderer. We can initialize it with some configuration telling it what action to execute for each path. For instance, something like this:
(defn render-route [msg] (let [container (dom/by-id "view-container")] (dom/destroy-children! container) (dom/append! container (str "<p>" msg "</p>")))) (defn route-first [] (render-route "This is the first route")) (defn route-second [] (render-route "This is the second route")) (def router-config {:routes {"first" route-first "second" route-second} :default-route "first" :listener (fn [old-value new-value] (.log js/console "Routing from" old-value "to" new-value))})
There isn’t too much interesting stuff happening here, but it clearly is more reusable.
The renderer is now initialized with this config like:
(defn route-renderer [cfg] (fn [_ [_ _ old-value new-value] input-queue] (when-let [listener (:listener cfg)] (listener old-value new-value)) (if-let [dispatcher (get-in cfg [:routes new-value])] (dispatcher) (.log js/console "Unknown route:" new-value))))
I’ll omit the history listener and main for clarity, but I hope the point is clear. Again, code is at Github under the generic tag.
All this solution does is bind a function call to each path. I could easily extract it to a tiny generic library. I could also make it more powerful – for instance, use higher order “constructor functions” that let each action access state or push to the input queue. I could use templating. And so on.
Attempt 3: Generic – light
As I was wrapping that up, I figured out one more way to do it. Remember, both solutions above use the entire Pedestal stack – the history listener pushes a message to input queue, and we need a transform and emitter to pass it up to renderer. Maybe I don’t need to involve the “lower layers” with navigation and rendering?
I realized I can just plug the rendering in the history listener itself:
(defn route-first [input-queue] (render-route "This is the first route")) (defn route-second [input-queue] (render-route "This is the second route")) (def router-config {:routes {"first" route-first "second" route-second} :default-route "first" :listener (fn [new-value] (.log js/console "Routing to" new-value))}) (defn route-changed [{:keys [input]} route-config] (fn [e] (let [token (.-token e) token (if (= "" token) (:default-route route-config) token)] (when-let [listener (:listener cfg)] (listener token)) (if-let [dispatcher (get-in route-config [:routes token])] (dispatcher input) (.log js/console "Unknown route:" token))))) (defn configure-router ([app route-config] (doto (goog.History.) (goog.events/listen (goog.object/getValues goog.history/EventType) (route-changed app route-config)) (.setEnabled true)))) (defn ^:export main [] (let [app (app/build)] (configure-router app router-config) (app/begin app)))
That’s it. It doesn’t even need Pedestal. The router is a generic little thing based only on Google Closure. However, in this case each action also has access to the input queue and it’s pretty obvious how you could expose any other things from Pedestal. You can still push messages to Pedestal, install renderers etc. – but that’s no longer required for routing itself.
Wrapping Up
In the end, I’m fairly satisfied with the last solution. Well, in a way – it still requires me to do a ton of manual work! Not for the routing itself, but for DOM rendering. It feels a lot like jQuery, with tons and tons of tedious, manual DOM manipulation.
I guess I became a little spoilt by Angular, and I’m already experimenting with marrying the two.
All the time I’m facing friction though – if I let Angular do too much, I don’t really have any use for Pedestal. On the other hand, there is quite some impedance mismatch between the Angular “pull-oriented model” and Pedestal’s differential pushes. If I ever come to any sane conclusions on this front I’ll write that up. But that’s another story.Breaking News Emails Get breaking news alerts and special reports. The news and stories that matter, delivered weekday mornings.
March 28, 2017, 11:24 AM GMT / Updated March 28, 2017, 12:26 PM GMT By Alexander Smith and Carolin Sri-Narayana
STONEHENGE, England — King Arthur rallied his band of warrior-druids at one of the most sacred sites of the ancient world.
He was readying them for battle.
Dressed in white robes, carrying swords and staffs, and occasionally checking their iPhones, his religious order gathered under the towering megaliths of Stonehenge, a monument constructed more than 4,000 years ago in the English countryside.
"If you're going to stand up for truth, honor and justice, you've got to fight in any arena — and I fight in every arena," Arthur said, his silver mane fluttering under his pagan crown.
This was not 1,500 years ago — when the King Arthur of legend is said to have lived — but a blustery, drizzly morning last week.
And leading the ceremony was not the King Arthur, but a 62-year-old man who was born John Timothy Rothwell. Thirty years ago, Rothwell became convinced he was the reincarnation of King Arthur and legally changed his name to King Arthur Uther Pendragon.
It even says so on his passport.
Before this transformation, he was a British Army soldier and a member of a biker gang. Now he is a pagan priest, a sword-bearer and the chieftain druid of this anachronistic creed.
"Every day, I wake up Arthur, I go to sleep Arthur. I wake up a druid, I go to sleep a druid," he said.
NBC News visited him and a few dozen of his followers as they gathered at Stonehenge for the spring equinox last week. Halfway between the shortest and longest days of the year, this was one of the most important events in the druid calendar.
Arthur is one of some 4,000 people who identify themselves as druids in the U.K., according to government figures. But the origins of this faith and its connection to Stonehenge are hard to pin down.
A druid prays in the inner circle of Stonehenge as a visitor checks her cellphone during the spring equinox at Stonehenge. Carolina Reid / NBC News
The first druids were Iron Age priests who lived thousands of years ago among the Celtic tribes of Britain. But hardly anything is known about these people, their beliefs or practices. Modern druidism is largely based on the works of 17th and 18th-century writers who revived and romanticized the concept.
The religion has no sacred texts or set rituals, so its costume-wearing acolytes follow a loose ideology of worshiping deities that share a connection to the Sun, Earth, plants and animals.
These themes were at the center of last week's ceremony, attended by more than 100 people, including druids, hippies and tourists.
"We were chanting, and we were honoring the union of the Earth and the Sun. Without them you wouldn't have a spring, and without a spring you wouldn't have a summer," Arthur explained afterward. "It's how life is formed and made, so anything that is making life is divine to all."
King Arthur Uther Pendragon Carolina Reid / NBC News
No one knows for sure who built Stonehenge, nor how or why they transported the 30-foot, 40-ton stones to this patch of land.
Nevertheless, it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site that the organization calls "the most architecturally sophisticated prehistoric stone circle in the world."
The link between Stonehenge and the druids is tenuous. It was John Aubrey, a 17th-century writer and philosopher, who first claimed the site was a druid temple, but this has never been confirmed.
Last week's ceremony wasn't all peaceful worship however — Arthur was also there to declare war. Not on some mob of marauding knights, but against the government-backed charity that manages the site — a dispute over the price for parking.
"My order is the political-warrior arm of the druid movement, so we take on court cases and fight the government when we feel the government is wrong," he said.
King Arthur Uther Pendragon knights a fellow druid. Carolina Reid / NBC News
As an eco-warrior, he has been arrested dozens of times in relation to various alleged missteps committed by officialdom around Stonehenge. He has also run for election to the British Parliament several times — polling in last place with 729 votes at the last attempt in 2015.
His current fight is against the charity English Heritage, which runs Stonehenge, for its decision to charge £15 (about $18) for parking during the wildly popular summer solstice. This is a hike from the regular price of £5 (around $6).
With around 40,000 people flocking to the monument on June 21 each year, the charity says the increased fee is to encourage carpooling. But Arthur claims that charging worshipers more on their sacred day amounts to discrimination against their faith.
He accuses English Heritage — or "English Heretics," as he calls them — of enforcing a "pay-to-pray" policy.
"They are charging us more to turn up for our holy days than they would charge us to turn up as a tourist," he said.
English Heritage disagrees.
"A wide range of people enjoy coming to Stonehenge for summer solstice," it said in a statement last year after the first parking charge was imposed. "All of those who drive there are charged a parking fee — just as they might be if visiting other sites, whether religious or not."
A line of RVs and trailers parked outside the entrance of Stonehenge. Carolina Reid / NBC News
Arthur, who has no income and lives solely off donations, has a court date with English Heritage on May 24 and plans to argue his case under the European Convention of Human Rights. He made reference to the dispute during his ceremony last week, a jarringly administrative passage in an otherwise rousing homily.
"I have taken them to court under Articles 9, 10, 11 and 14 of the European Convention and I've got a full day's hearing on the 24th of May," he informed the crowd, his tone shifting momentarily from high-priest to one reminiscent of a local government official.
"They make a fortune out of this and they still want to charge us to come here and worship. It's obscene," Arthur added. "It's ridiculously lucrative. It's the biggest cash cow they've got."
This slip into the mundane adds to the sense that, despite the attempts at creating a sacred ambiance, the outside world is always creeping into the periphery at Stonehenge.
Surprisingly close to the monument runs the A303 highway and its constant hum of busy traffic. A handful of police officers in fluorescent jackets patrol the perimeter. And, like any pop concert, the pagan ceremony is accompanied by a sea of cellphone screens, raised aloft to capture the ritual for social-media posterity.
Druids and tourists participate in a ceremony at Stonehenge on March 20. Carolina Reid / NBC News
Arthur's personal story also blurs the boundary between the holy and the everyday.
The son of a sergeant in the British Army, he joined the military but left after he was injured in a skydiving accident. He then fell into the world of biker gangs, forming a motorcycle club called the Gravediggers in the early 1980s.
He was first drawn to the occult after a "near-death experience" aged 14. He said the incident sparked "the beginning of his druidic training."
But it wasn't until he read a book on King Arthur in the 1980s that he began to draw comparisons between the mythical leader's life and his own, eventually leading him to believe he was the king incarnate.
"There ain't much difference between a bike club and this — think about it!" he told NBC News, pointing at the medieval scenes around him. "The only difference is I'm now on an iron horse. So it's exactly the same."
A druid participates in a ceremony at Stonehenge. Carolina Reid / NBC News
He seemed reluctant to offer any more explanation for the link other than to say that he was carrying on King Arthur's work of fighting injustice.
Beyond the folktales that have now been co-opted into Hollywood, historians have been unable to find any evidence that King Arthur actually existed at all.
The modern-day version said he has always felt a connection to something.
"Most children walking through the woods pick up a stick and pretend it's a rifle. I picked one up and pretended it's a sword," he said. "I've always had a knowledge that I was from a different time."
But fragments of his old life live on. After the ceremony, he packed away his robes and tin crown, put on his helmet, and rode away on his bright yellow motorcycle.
King Arthur Uther Pendragon, left, and Merlin speak beside his motorcycle at Stonehenge on March 20. Carolina Reid / NBC News
Among his followers is Merlin, a 44-year-old from west London who gave up his life as a construction worker to follow the religious order.
Formally known as Jason, he's swapped his hard hat and overalls for a white robe, wizard's beard and a ceremonial staff topped with a large quartz crystal.
"I've been coming here since 1981," he said in almost hushed tones. "It's very different to the city, much more peaceful."
Despite the pre-dawn calm, Arthur seems to relish his adversarial relationship with the authorities. And he said he has no plans to yield this battle any time soon.
"Stonehenge is always under threat from something or other," he added. "And there's hopefully someone who's going to fight to keep it right."
Until Arthur's next incarnation, that someone is him.Eighteen years ago, a WORLD cover pictured President Bill Clinton next to the headline, “Time to Resign.” Clinton had denied having a sexual relationship with Monica Lewinsky, but her stained blue dress bearing Clinton’s DNA was proof that he had used his power for adulterous purposes, and then lied about it.
This month a videotape showed Donald Trump making lewd remarks about groping women’s genitals. While many opponents over the past year have criticized Trump’s character, the video gave us new information about how Trump views power as a means to gratify himself. It raised further questions about how Trump would act if elected to the most powerful office in the world.
Although WORLD over its 30 years has been more critical of Democrats than Republicans, particularly because of the abortion issue, we are not partisan. The standards we applied to Bill Clinton in 1998 are relevant to Donald Trump in 2016. A Clinton resignation would have been good for America’s moral standards in 1998. A Trump step-aside would be good for America’s moral standards in 2016. It’s still not too late to turn the current race between two unfit major party candidates into a contest fit for a great country.
WE KNOW OUR SUGGESTION that Trump step aside will dismay many of his evangelical supporters, for whom we have high regard. We know they are not the “deplorables” Hillary Clinton despises. They are courageous Americans who realize the desperate situation we’re in because of judges and executive branch appointees who legislate, and a Congress that lets them get away with it.
For many, Hillary Clinton’s platform is reason enough to support Trump. They and we see big media dumping on him and minimizing her offenses. Some conservative anti-Trumpism looks suspiciously like intellectual snobbery. Nor is Trump unique: John F. Kennedy was also a frequent adulterer. (Kennedy—sadly—made sin look like sophistication.)
The prime reason evangelicals tend to support Trump is pragmatic. A White House Clinton-to-Gore transition 18 years ago would have made little difference in worldview—but if Hillary Clinton wins next month, her judicial appointments will turn federal courts much more aggressively to the left.
Our regular surveys of evangelical leaders during the primary season showed almost no support for Donald Trump. Only when Clinton became the alternative did Trump gain majority evangelical support in public opinion polls. Joel Belz early on had called Trump “an arrogant blowhard” (Sept. 19, 2015), and we did not hop on the pro-Trump bandwagon, but continued to report the good and the bad.
Besides, WORLD is a product of God’s World Publications, which as a nonprofit organization cannot endorse candidates. That’s not our job, anyway. Journalistically, our goal is to inform our readers, whom we trust to make wise decisions. Theologically, a deacon told me when I professed faith in Christ 40 years ago, “People often will disappoint you, but Jesus never will.” That’s been true over the decades, and our editorial staff members have learned to put no trust in princes even when they show good character, let alone when they do not.
As individuals, though, our editorial staff members have taken positions. We’ve tended to be #NeverHillary. A few of us were #NeverTrump. Several of us wanted to give Trump every opportunity to represent well an uprising much needed in American politics.We know that few Democrats and only some Republicans abide by the Constitution. They make up rules as they go along, put into practice cranky ideas marinated at leading universities, and demonize opponents.
We’ve seen how the problems go beyond politics. Many corporations profit not by producing better products but by influencing regulators. Equality of law and opportunity disappears as protected groups have their way. Two-thirds of Americans have come to believe that our leaders are corrupt. Democrats may have chosen Bernie Sanders if their party leaders had played fair. A plurality of Republicans voted for Trump’s combination of anti-establishment noise with claims that bringing back good old days would be easy.
After the July Republican and Democratic conventions, I noted that “Trump is generally reckless and Clinton generally ruthless. … Trump is a proud adulterer. Clinton is a proud pro-abortionist. Since character counts, both will almost certainly be presidential failures. … Let’s not rush the process. We have three more months (and three presidential debates) in which to see how these two candidates operate under extreme pressure. We should consider third party candidates as well. This is not a year for early voting.”
We’ve been reluctant to applaud those who call for a definitive no on Trump because, as our republic has turned imperial, it needs the vigorous shaking that Trump supporters would provide, even as their candidate has faltered. Scholar Angelo Codevilla put it graphically concerning both Trump and Sanders voters: “Because this majority sees no one in the political mainstream who shares their concerns, because it lacks confidence that the system can be fixed, it is eager to empower whoever might flush the system and its denizens with something like an ungentle enema.”
WHAT’S CHANGED NOW? Ken Rizer, a military man serving in the Iowa House of Representatives, summarized the videotape’s impact: “Given this recent release, I have decided I can't in good conscience vote for [Trump]. As a base commander, I aggressively prosecuted Airmen who sexually assaulted women. As the father of two college-aged women, I know too well the challenges they're facing daily in regards to groping, lewd conduct, etc. Trump’s comments reveal an arrogant lack of character.”
Didn’t Trump’s earlier comments also reveal that? Sure. We value WORLD readers who concluded earlier that the honor of Christ made it necessary for Christians not to vote for Trump. We also value those who still plan to vote for Trump so as to vote for the Supreme Court. (We’re not sure we should trust Trump to come through on nominations: If a person is unfaithful to his spouse, he’s also likely to be unfaithful to his country.)
The new video pushed theologian Wayne Grudem to withdraw his endorsement of Trump and urge him to drop out of the presidential race. The videotape, in the words of Albert Mohler, president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, “revealed a sexual predator, not merely a playboy.”
In suggesting that Trump drop out and let someone else carry the campaign for the remaining weeks, we at WORLD are not endorsing any other Republican and certainly not Hillary Clinton. We also realize Trump is unlikely to heed our call. We’re aware of the practical difficulties in making a change at this point.
Yet, even with ballots printed and early voting already underway in many states, the Electoral College chooses the president. Despite some confusion, a Republican other than Trump still could triumph, given Clinton's unpopularity. We have repeatedly provided information about her malfeasance: See, for example, our June 11 and Sept. 17 cover stories.
Improbable that a new Republican candidate could win this election: yes. Impossible, no. In any event, to quote Mohler, we should not “allow a national disgrace to become the Great Evangelical Embarrassment.” We should not abandon our witness to the world that God is real: Glorifying God by honoring His standards is worth more than political gain.
WE KNOW THAT MANY CHRISTIANS, including some of our readers, will say that given the judicial stakes it’s wrong this year to draw a line in the sand. Our call for a different Republican candidate will lose us some readers and donors. But, standing before God, we cannot say that what WORLD argued concerning a Democrat in 1998 should not apply to a Republican in 2016.
As the Clinton precedent shows, we set the stage for even worse behavior when we ignore blatant offenses. Our journalistic task is to call powerful people to account, regardless of their party, regardless of the politics of the moment.
We don’t know if God will rescue our nation from the pit into which our politics have fallen. We don’t know if He will rescue WORLD from the ire some Trump supporters will feel. We hope and pray that He will—but if He doesn’t, He is still God, holding the future of individuals and nations in His hands. May His name be praised forever and ever.Getting turned on overrides women's natural disgust response, a study suggests, making them more willing to do things they otherwise wouldn't
Dimitri Vervitsiotis / Getty Images
If you think about it, sex is actually sort of disgusting, what with all the sweat, saliva, fluids and smells. So much so that a group of researchers from the Netherlands got to thinking, How do people enjoy sex at all?
According to their small new study, people — at least women — may be able to get over the “ick” factor associated with sex by getting turned on. Sexual arousal overrides the natural disgust response, the researchers found, and allows women to willingly engage in behaviors that they might normally find repugnant.
The study, conducted by scientists at the University of Groningen, involved 90 women who were randomly assigned to one of three groups. One group watched a “female friendly” erotic video; another watched a video of high-adrenaline sports like skydiving or rafting, designed to be arousing but not sexually so; and the third group watched a neutral video clip of a train.
Afterward, all the women were asked to perform 16 tasks, most of them icky, like drinking from a cup with a bug in it (the bug was fake), wiping their hands with a used tissue, eating a cookie that was next to a live worm or putting their finger in a tray of used condoms.
(MORE: The Ancient Sexual Revolution that May Have Spurred Human Monogamy)
The researchers found that the women who watched the sexually arousing video rated the unpleasant tasks as less disgusting than did their counterparts who were not sexually aroused. They were also more likely to complete more of the tasks, suggesting that sexual arousal not only dampens the disgust response but also influences how much women are willing to do.
That helps explain why so many people keep having sex, despite the inherent messiness of it, the researchers said. “The findings indicate that both the impact of heightened sexual arousal on subjective disgust and also on disgust-induced avoidance will act in a way to facilitate the engagement in pleasurable sex,” the authors wrote. Previous studies suggest that sexual arousal has the same effect on men.
“I think this study is interesting in that it helps support the idea that sexual arousal lowers inhibitions and often enables one to participate in activities that they might normally find disgusting or off-putting,” Dr. Ian Kerner, a sexuality counselor and author based in New York City who was uninvolved with the study, told ABC News.
(MORE: Penis Size: It May Be Written in the Length of His Fingers)
The findings may also shed light on conditions involving sexual dysfunction. Lack of sexual arousal may interfere with healthy sex by failing to dampen the disgust factor, the authors said. Essentially, if women are not appropriately aroused before sex, they may find it even more repulsive and increasingly start to avoid it. Low arousal can also render women physically unable to enjoy sex, the authors said:
As a result, this could lead to problems with sexual engagement, and lack of vaginal lubrication, which in turn could increase friction and cause problems such as pain with intercourse. It is thus possible that in extreme cases the woman might acquire negative associations with sex and might start to avoid sexual intercourse altogether.
The authors call for further research among larger groups, including participants suffering from sexual dysfunctions.
The study was published in the journal PLoS ONE.
MORE: What the U.S. Can Learn from the Dutch About Teen SexEconomists and veteran journalists slammed Fox News Channel and Fox Business Network anchor and senior vice president Neil Cavuto for framing a question in the January 14 Republican presidential debate in a way that implied President Obama was to blame for the financial crisis he inherited from the Bush administration. American financial markets peaked on October 9-10, 2007 before steadily declining as the economy slipped into recession, more than 16 months before President Obama's inauguration.
Fox Debate Moderator Shifts Blame For Financial Crisis Onto President Obama
Fox's Neil Cavuto Suggests Obama, Not Bush, Responsible For 2008 Financial Crisis. During the January 14 Fox Business Republican Presidential Debate, co-moderator Neil Cavuto asked Gov. John Kasich (R-OH) how he would handle recent stock market fluctuations should he become president. Cavuto framed his question by wondering what needs to happen if American stock market declines continue to escalate "like it did back when Barack Obama first assumed the presidency," failing to mention that the Obama administration actually inherited a recession and financial crisis from President George W. Bush:
NEIL CAVUTO (MODERATOR): Gov. Kasich, we are not even two weeks into this stock-trading year but think about it: Investors have already lost $1.6 trillion in market value. That makes it the worst start to a new year ever. Many worry that things could get even worse, and that banks and financial stocks are particularly vulnerable. And, if this escalates like it did back when Barack Obama first assumed the presidency, what actions would you take, if the same thing happens all over again just as in this example you are taking over the presidency? [Fox Business, Republican Presidential Debate, 1/14/16]
Economists, Journalists Slam Fox For Ignoring Stock Market Resurgence Under President Obama
Talking Points Memo: Cavuto "Has A Curious Way Of Glossing Over" The Facts. On January 14, Talking Points Memo reporter Tierney Sneed posted a rebuttal to Cavuto's framing of the question within minutes. Sneed demonstrated that Cavuto is "glossing over the fact that the 2008 financial crisis came under President George W. Bush," and pointed out that University of Michigan economist Justin Wolfer had taken to Twitter to show "the stock market has more than doubled since President Obama came into office":
Fact: Performance of the U.S. stock market under Obama. pic.twitter.com/SHQA4lwMnK -- Justin Wolfers (@JustinWolfers) January 15, 2016
[TalkingPointsMemo.com,1/14/16]
The Washington Post: "A Doctorate In Recent History Isn't Necessary" To See Cavuto's Bias. On January 14, The Washington Post's Erik Wemple reported that the "tilt and bias" in Cavuto's question was obvious, noting that "the roots of the financial crisis extend back years before 'Barack Obama first assumed the presidency'":
A doctorate in recent history isn't necessary to discern the tilt and bias in this question from Fox Business host Neil Cavuto in tonight's Republican presidential debate [...] Take it from USA Today or from CNBC or from The Economist or from your own memory: The roots of the financial crisis extend back years before "Barack Obama first assumed the presidency." In a debate question before a national audience, the proper way to contextualize President Obama and the financial crisis is to say that he inherited it. [The Washington Post, 1/14/16]
The New Republic: Cavuto Suggested That Obama "Was Responsible For Exacerbating" The Financial Crisis. On January 14, The New Republic's Suzy Khimm argued that "Cavuto took out the knives" during the Fox Business debate by "suggesting that another financial crisis could be just around the corner":
The Fox Business Network moderators started out Tuesday's Republican debate by asking Ted Cruz to respond to President Obama's sunny assessment of the economy. The senator from Texas was more than happy to bring on the doom and gloom, pointing to the stagnant wages and low labor force participation during his presidency. But then Cavuto took out the knives himself, suggesting that another financial crisis could be just around the corner--and that Obama himself was responsible for exacerbating it. [The New Republic, 1/14/16]
Paul Krugman: Cavuto's Selective Memory "Part Of A Larger Pattern" Of Misinformation. In a January 15 blog post for The New York Times, Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman informed readers that Cavuto "seemed to imply that the financial crisis happened on Obama's watch without saying anything explicitly false," but this kind of "selective reporting" is "part of a larger pattern" among right-wing outlets. Krugman argued that the financial crisis distortion fits the same pattern right-wing media used against Obamacare when "every suggestion of bad news gets highlighted... but when it turns out that the news wasn't really that bad, these sources just move on":April 2, 2013 1:00 AM | Staff
Jamie Cheng, founder of Klei Entertainment, creator of the XBLA games Shank and Mark of the Ninja had strong words for any game maker who might claim that working extensive overtime is an intrinsic part of making 'art'.
Speaking at a GDC talk in San Fransisco today, Cheng said: "I find it disingenuous when game developers claim that the reason they work a whole load of overtime is because they are trying to do something new. To hide behind 'art' as a shield for poor process is wrong. You will screw with future developments by taking this approach."
Indeed, while producing mediocre games is a quick way to sink a company, "employing an unsustainable development style will suffocate one over the long term," said Cheng.
He explained that, following a difficult development process during the creation of one of the company's earlier titles, Shank, he made a promise to himself that he would never put himself or his team through crunch again. "I realised that not only do we need to build great games but we also need to find a way to do this without ruining our lives in the process," he said.
Klei's founder said that, "while there is no template to making games, there are theories we can use." He argued that the greatest waste of time in game development is when teams expend energy on building the wrong thing. He likened the process to a team chopping down trees in a forest. Teams need someone to climb to the top of a tree and check whether you're in the right forest. "Often we don't want to cut work we've already done, even if it's wrong, due to the sunk cost."
Cheng encouraged developers to focus their energy on figuring out whether they are in the wrong forest as soon as possible, else risk building upon bad assumptions. "The key to this is to create a theory, test the theory, learn from failure, make adjustments and repeat," he said. "Many talks examine how you need to be able to cut features from your game to make the development more manageable. The way in which you know what to cut is through a solid theory that you've tested your assumptions on."
This process proved successful for Klei, who built Mark of the Ninja in 16 months with minimal overtime for the team. "Creating processes that allow us to create art is the key to successful game development," he concluded. "When you have good processes you are more free to think about new things because you are not just flailing around not knowing where you are headed."
[Simon Parkin wrote this article originally for sister site Gamasutra]Donald Trump meant he was willing to speak with Robert Mueller about conversations he had with James Comey, Sean Spicer said, not testify under oath before lawmakers.
“I think that he was actually specifically asked whether or not he would talk to Director Mueller, and he made it very clear what his position was,” the press secretary told reporters at the daily briefing Monday.
When asked if the president would also be willing to testify before Congress about those conversations, Spicer said, “I have not had a further discussion with him on that.”
“I know exactly what he said on Friday in the Rose Garden is exactly what he believes,” he added.
One day after the ousted FBI director testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee Thursday, Trump held a press conference with the leader of Romania in the Rose Garden. Trump said he never asked Comey for his loyalty, nor did he encourage him to drop the investigation into former national security adviser Mike Flynn.
A reporter asked Trump if he was willing to speak under oath to give his version of what happened between him and Comey.
“One hundred percent,” Trump said. “I didn’t say under oath — I hardly know the man. I’m not going to say, I want you to pledge allegiance. Who would do that? Who would ask a man to pledge allegiance under oath? I mean, think of it. I hardly know the man. It doesn’t make sense. No, I didn’t say that, and I didn’t say the other.”
“I would be glad to tell him exactly what I just told you,” he added, referencing Mueller, who was recently appointed as special counsel to oversee the investigation into Russian meddling in the election.
Asked if he’d be willing to testify under oath to Robert Mueller, Trump says: “100 percent” pic.twitter.com/ejgcl8SBiQ — POLITICO (@politico) June 9, 2017
“James Comey confirmed a lot of what I said, and some of the things he said just weren’t true,” Trump said.
Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact [email protected].SAN JOSE, CA—The blockbuster Apple-Samsung verdict ended last summer with a $1.05 billion jury verdict against Samsung. The panel found that the Korean electronics company infringed Apple patents and copyrights.
However, after hearing post-trial arguments, US District Judge Lucy Koh threw out a big part of Apple's win, slashing the damages figure by $450 million. Today, a retrial will begin in San Jose, focused solely on the issue of how much money Apple should get from Samsung.
More than 90 prospective jurors were just seated in the federal courtroom and sworn in. Koh just explained that the jurors are banned from reading about the case or communicating about the case until they are excused or until the trial ends.
After that, Koh asked the jurors if it would be a hardship for them to consider the case, which will last about one week and could have deliberations approaching the Thanksgiving holiday. About a dozen jurors raised their hands to ask to be excused for hardship.
The trial starting today affects older Samsung phones like the Fascinate, Galaxy S 4G, Galaxy S II Showcase, Mesmerize, and Vibrant. Another patent trial, based on Apple's and Samsung's newer products like the iPhone 5 and the Galaxy 4, is scheduled for March 2014.
In hearings leading up to the retrial, Koh said lawyers' arguments will be sharply limited and that new evidence can't be introduced. At one point, Koh referred to the retrial as "Groundhog Day."
Before the jurors came in, Koh made a final plea for the parties to talk settlement. "I would like to ask if there could be an additional attempt to resolve these cases," she said, telling attorneys it could be done on their time frame.
The lawyers agreed to set a mediation date. But for today, the worldwide patent war continues between these two companies dominating the smartphone market.Sen. Jeff Sessions is sworn in at a Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing to become U.S. attorney general on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday. Kevin Lamarque/Reuters
WASHINGTON, D.C.—At his confirmation hearing on Tuesday, Sen. Jeff Sessions did a commendable job keeping up a steady and smooth defense of his nomination to be President elect Donald Trump’s attorney general. Sessions disavowed the most egregious elements of Trump’s attacks on the Constitution, including rejecting the idea of a Muslim registry or surveillance of mosques. He also affirmed that Roe v. Wade is established—although “colossally erroneous”—law, and he offered that he would recuse himself from any investigation involving Hillary Clinton, based on comments he made during the campaign. That promised investigation, Trump has already said, will not happen.
For hours on end, Sessions rebuffed, usually extremely deftly, forceful questioning |
for the night.
Almost a full day of traveling didn’t make me feel like boarding another bus, but just a few kilometers up the road in Siddharthanagar, or Bhairawa, were more hotel options.
The choice of lodgings mostly came in the form of utilitarian, cinder-block buildings with steel-and-concrete balcony railings that doubled as clotheslines for my hastily hand-washed laundry — the equivalent of a Motel 6 or Super 8 Motel back in the States.
Without any discernible nightlife in the area surrounding my hotel on Siddhartha Highway, Siddharthanagar did have a few restaurants. I was surprised to see Tuborg, the Danish beer brand that seems to be locally brewed.
Not that it made a difference: It was good to have my feet on solid ground and a cold one in front of me.EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- This was a fitting way to say for us to say goodbye to Marshawn Lynch.
The Seattle Seahawks running back's quirky demeanor and strict code of silence around (most) humans with microphones made him a media fascination during Super Bowl week.
Now, with a shiny new Lombardi Trophy being passed around the locker room, Lynch was again making a scene without saying a word. Wearing a red hoodie sweatshirt, matching red track pants, black cap and gold headphones, Lynch plugged his iPhone into a set of speakers and turned up the volume on "Ready 2 Ride," by Oakland rapper Philthy Rich.
Then he started dancing. He didn't say a word. He didn't make eye contact. He didn't call to teammates to join him. He just danced. As you can imagine, this made quite a scene. When the song ended, Lynch returned to his iPhone and started the song over. And then he danced some more.
Check the video above to watch Lynch in action. We'd prefer you try to ignore the fact that we've replaced "Ready 2 Ride" with some awful stock music in an effort to avoid a Super Litigious Sunday.
The "Around The League Podcast" taped our Super Bowl XLVIII recap from MetLife Stadium right after the game.One of the most talked about stories over the past few days is definitely the return of Ilya Kovalchuk and since Devils general manager Ray Shearo confirmed that the prolific Russian scorer is talking to NHL teams, it only added more fuel to the fire.
However, the question that is on everyone's lips is: how much will Kovalchuk ask for?
The answer might have been mentioned this morning on the air of 91.9 Sports while Pierre Houde revealed the figures requested by the 34-year-old forward.
According to him, Kovy would seek a contract of four seasons that would bring him a salary between 5 and 5.5 million.
Remember that Kovlachuk said he wanted to stay near New York or Florida for family reasons. However, some insiders like Elliotte Frideman believes that the left winger could end up with the Canadiens.
Would you be willing to offer such a contract to Kovalchuk, and with most teams tight against the cap will he be able to play for a contender?
To hear Pierre Houde's comments, click here.By Jim Genia
Former UFC heavyweight champ Frank Mir has done us all a great service by agreeing to meet Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand-Prix winner Daniel Cormier in the Strikeforce cage this fall. After all, the other opponents rumored to have been under consideration — Tim Sylvia, Josh Barnett (again), KJ Noons sitting on Ryan Couture’s shoulders — weren’t really options at all, and who else is there on the Strikeforce roster to challenge Cormier? The answer is no one, and with Mir shucking the bonds of the UFC for a one-time-only crossover bout, we get to have a match-up that’s compelling on paper and will likely be very fun to watch.
However, the move doesn’t address the other glaring holes that need to be filled in the roster of the House That Scott Coker Built. Strikeforce lightweight champ Gilbert Melendez has beaten everyone that matters in his division, middleweight champ Luke Rockhold is without a worthy foe, and gosh darn it, you can only spread Keith Jardine so thin. So who else should the UFC send over to fill Strikeforce’s ranks? Sure, the dough and exposure is nowhere near as great compared to what you get for fighting in the Octagon, but look at Nate Marquardt. The ex-UFC welterweight waltzed in, put up a heck of a fight against Tyron Woodley, and is now the owner of a shiny new belt. For the fighters, there is certainly value in crossing over. Here, then, is a list of fighters on the UFC roster who could be prime candidates for taking the Strikeforce fieldtrip. It is by no means complete — please, feel free to add to them in the comments. And if you disagree with my suggestions… picture me sad. So very sad.
Evan Dunham giving Shamar Bailey the business. (Getty)
Evan Dunham — At one time, the word on the street was that the brass wanted B.J. Penn to take on Melendez in Strikeforce. But Penn is too much of a viable pay-per-view commodity, and it would’ve been senseless to waste him on the subscription-based channel Showtime. Evan Dunham, though, is another story entirely. The jiu-jitsu specialist had a pretty good win streak going before he was outpointed by Sean Sherk at UFC 119 and smashed by Melvin Guillard at UFC: Fight for the Troops 2, and his well-rounded skills could conceivably give Melendez fits no matter where the fight goes.
Clay Guida — Fast, frenetic, and fun when he wants to be (i.e., when he’s not running away for five rounds), Clay Guida could definitely make Melendez miserable in the cage. Besides, what’s left for him in the UFC? It would take Ben Henderson, Frankie Edgar, Gray Maynard and Nate Diaz all slipping on banana peels and breaking their legs before Guida could come close to tasting championship glory.
Gray Maynard (L) and Clay Guida about to fight. Or something. (Getty)
Gray Maynard — As a former “wrestling man-blanket” turned “dangerous slugger”, Gray Maynard could stuff Melendez’s takedowns, squash his jiu-jitsu, and hit “El Nino” so hard his pet parrot dies. Also, what else is the UFC going to do with Maynard? If Edgar reclaims the lightweight championship from Henderson, watching Maynard and Edgar go at it once more is about as palatable as a plate of dirt.
Thiago Alves — Once upon a time, Thiago Alves was in contention for the UFC welterweight title. Those days are gone now, but that doesn’t mean that Alves isn’t skilled and dangerous enough to make waves among Strikeforce’s welterweights. Maybe, maybe Woodley could hold Alves down for three rounds. Maybe not, though, and Alves is just capable enough to beat him and beat Marquardt and take the belt.
Jon Fitch — UFC welterweight king Georges St. Pierre mauled him, Johny Hendricks KO’d him, and he drew with Penn. However, other than that, Jon Fitch’s run in the Octagon has been flawless. Boring, but flawless. Do you think Marquardt can prevent Fitch from hugging him to death? I don’t. And I’d wager that once Fitch stepped into the cage to face Woodley, the two would stare at each other for a full fifteen minutes, unsure of what to do.
Chris Leben excited about something. (Getty)
Chris Leben — UFC middleweight stud Chris Leben is good for about two or three fights a year before his annual steroid suspension forces him to sit on the sidelines, so why not let him do those bouts in Strikeforce? In terms of skill set, he’s got enough grappling to keep Rockhold from really hurting him. As for his striking… yeah, no way could Rockhold eat one of those concrete fists and survive.
Vladimir Matyushenko — Look, it’s not like any of the Strikeforce light-heavyweights can hold onto the belt for any length of time, but it’s boring watching the same three guys fight for it over and over again. Put Vladimir Matyushenko in there against Mike Kyle, Gegard Mousasi and Rafael Cavalcante and let’s see where it goes.
http://fightmuseumlv.comWhen Matt Lauer asked Charlie Sheen in Monday’s Today interview whether he felt the stigma of his HIV diagnosis, the actor responded, “Not anymore, I don’t.” It was a brave reply but also a painfully ironic one, as Sheen’s interview displaced that same stigma onto the sex workers he has hired over the past few years.
In a letter to Lauer, which was read on air, Sheen wrote: “I dazedly chose or hired the companionship of unsavory and insipid types. Regardless of their saltless reputations, I always led with condoms and honesty when it came to my condition.”
Lauer himself later adopted Sheen’s old-fashioned and pejorative language, referring to sex workers as “unsavory types” that the actor “kept bringing” to his house.
The underlying imagery of the interview was straight out of a morality play, with Sheen holding himself up as a weak but honest man, besieged by seedy prostitutes who preyed on his vices and betrayed him. It’s a compelling narrative that plays well with a crowd, but it’s also deeply insulting to those sex workers, who have now been reduced to stepping stones in his emerging redemption narrative.
Sheen coming out as HIV-positive will likely prove to be monumental in terms of raising public awareness and challenging the shame that often accompanies a positive diagnosis. In the interview, Sheen himself acknowledged that he now feels a responsibility to start “kicking the door open” for others to come out behind him. That should be celebrated.
But sex workers shouldn’t have to bear the stigma that Sheen no longer wants on his shoulders. There’s room in the world for HIV advocacy that respects the humanity of everyone who contracts the virus, whether they make a living on a sitcom or in between the sheets. And, in fact, there’s a compelling argument to be made that so-called insipid and unsavory types deserve special attention in that effort.
For one, sex workers already feel more of the effects of HIV criminalization laws than Sheen likely ever will, although one of his exes, Bree Olson, has left open the possibility of taking action against him for an alleged failure to disclose his status.
As a report from the Center for HIV Law and Policy (PDF) notes, HIV-specific statutes in several states exact additional penalties on sex workers for being HIV-positive, even if no sexual activity takes place before their arrest. In many states, like Sheen’s home state of California, HIV-related penalties apply to solicitation as well as to prostitution itself, but, in practice, these laws disproportionately affect those who offer services rather than those who attempt to purchase them.
Of the 213 prosecutions and arrests for HIV exposure from 2008 to 2014 listed in the CHLP report, at least 19 applied to sex workers, only three to prospective clients of sex workers, and zero to wealthy Hollywood actors. Several sex workers listed in the report were arrested as part of undercover sting operations, and had their charges elevated to felonies due to an HIV-positive status.
One example: In 2007, an HIV-positive sex worker in California was hit with a felony charge after an undercover officer solicited her, even though she had condoms on her person and had not yet engaged in sexual activity.
Both Sheen and any given HIV-positive sex worker have had multiple sexual partners. Both face the same manageable virus, albeit with dramatically different levels of access to advanced medical care. But one is far more likely to see the inside of a jail cell than the other. Sex workers aren’t inherently “unsavory,” but they are unfairly targeted.
Sheen’s reference to the sex workers he solicited as “insipid” types, then, serves only to insert a useful rhetorical distance between himself and them. Sex workers become shadowy others in his narrative of a drug-driven descent into immorality. And as Mic’s EJ Dickson has already argued, this is a narrative that appeals to people who already stigmatize sex workers.
“Indeed, it’s Sheen’s former sex worker girlfriends who are currently being smeared on social media—despite the fact that Sheen himself told Matt Lauer he’s not certain how he contracted the virus,” she wrote.
One need only run a Twitter search for Sheen’s name along with derogatory terms like “hookers” or “whores” to see the sort of ugly anti-sex worker animus that erupts on social media in moments like these.
Sheen may not have blamed a sex worker for his acquisition of HIV but, based on the social media response, he didn’t have to. The letter to Lauer was enough to underline pre-existing stigma around sex work, and the public did the math for him. Now, there’s a hellish new wave of Internet and tabloid discourse about prostitution and sexually transmitted infections. This would have happened anyway, but Sheen didn’t have to stoke the flames with his poor phrasing.
In truth, the relationship between sex work and HIV is immensely complicated from a public health perspective, and it can’t be explained away through character denigration. It’s easy to deride sex workers as being “dirty”—or “unsavory,” as Sheen would put it—but it takes work to learn about the structural factors that cause this perception.
As the CDC notes, sex workers are indeed at risk for higher rates of HIV and STIs. But this risk is attributable to a wide range of socioeconomic factors specific to their work, and not to some sort of moral deficiency.
“Many sex workers face discrimination, poverty, and lack of access to health care and other social services—all of which pose obstacles to receiving HIV prevention efforts,” the CDC’s resource states.
In his Today interview, Sheen asked for sympathy because of the amount of money he’s had to spend—“millions” by his estimation—to keep his alleged extorters silent about his status.
“What people forget is that’s money they’re taking from my children,” he told Lauer. “You know, they think it’s just me but I’ve got five kids and a granddaughter.” If Sheen, whose net worth is estimated to be over $100 million, can ask for sympathy based on his financial position, surely he—and the public—should be able to understand that sex workers may contract HIV at higher rates because of structural obstacles, and not because of sexual immorality.
Indeed, the rigid association of sex with morality is the key ingredient of HIV stigma, and by reinforcing this tie, Sheen only stands to harm his own case. If Sheen wants to “kick the door open” and shake off this stigma, he should. But he shouldn’t shut the door behind him, either, and that means recognizing the humanity of the “unsavory and insipid types” he was so quick to judge.So you want to build your own cell phone, but maybe you’re not keen on making one out of cardboard. Why not build one with a Raspberry Pi instead?
It’s actually a bit cheaper to make, which is pretty amazing when you consider that the PiPhone has a touchscreen. Creator David Hunt’s total bill of materials came in at $158 — that includes the Raspberry Pi, PiTFT display, 2500mAh lithium-polymer battery, GSM/GPRS radio module and antenna, DC-DC voltage convertor, and all the other bits required to make it work. Even the awesome black toggle switch that turns the Pi Phone on and off.
Sure, it’s a bit chunky and Hunt freely admits that “it gets a bit hot.” He actually says that it’s probably not the best idea to put the Pi Phone in any sort of any enclosure without first integrating some kind of a heatsink. And no, the 320 x 240 resolution of the screen isn’t great.
Still, this is a smartphone that you can build yourself for $158 — possibly even less if you source a 5V battery and drop the convertor. It’s also probably the only smartphone you’re ever going to see that has an Ethernet jack, RCA output, and a full-sized HDMI port.
Hunt hasn’t posted the code for his project yet, but he’s willing to share. If requests come in — and you can be sure that they will — he’s promised to upload it to GitHub. He notes that the code’s a little messy, but that seems just fine when you’re working with an unenclosed device that’s partially held together with zip ties.
It certainly doesn’t make the PiPhone any less awesome. It’s yet another amazing Raspberry Pi hack, proudly joining greats like the pool table that accepts Bitcoin payments and that crazy, playable GameBoy cosplay.A Westminster man was convicted of murder for fatally shooting his uncle at a birthday party, officials said Friday.
Daniel Duvall, 40, was sentenced to 75 years to life in prison, according to a news release from the Orange County District Attorney.
On March 8, 2015, Duvall was at his girlfriend’s birthday party in Westminster.
At about 10 p.m., Duvall got into a verbal argument with his uncle, 56-year-old Frank Duvall. Daniel Duvall then followed his uncle out of the party and shot him once in the torso while Frank Duvall sat in the driver’s seat of his van, prosecutors said.
The victim was pronounced dead at the scene, according to the release.
Immediately after the shooting, Daniel Duvall’s girlfriend, 49-year-old Tina Arbogast, allegedly asked for the gun and fled the scene to Riverside County in her own vehicle. Daniel Duvall fled on a motorcycle, according to the release.
They were arrested two days later by the Westminster Police in a gated community in Canyon Lake. Arbogast was charged with one felony count of accessory after the fact.[Warning: This story contains spoilers from Sunday's midseason premiere "Nebraska."]
On Sunday's The Walking Dead's midseason premiere, Rick and Hershel's respective camps begin to pick up the pieces from the "Barnmageddon" that ended the lives of people close to them who had been turned into the undead.
As Rick and Glen head out to retrieve Hershel, who's drowning his sorrows at a nearby bar, Lori ventures out to find her husband but has an altercation with a walker that flips her car into an embankment. Meanwhile, Rick defends Hershel -- and his farm -- from a pair of threatening survivors as they realize that the farm needs to be protected from the living as well as the dead.
The Hollywood Reporter caught up with executive producer Robert Kirkman, who created the comic book series on which the AMC drama is based, to discuss Sunday's "Nebraska" episode, early glimpses at a darker Carl and whether Lori ultimately could follow in the comics' trajectory and die an early death.
STORY: 'The Walking Dead': Where We Left Off and What's Next
The Hollywood Reporter: Shane (Jon Bernthal) accuses Rick (Andrew Lincoln) of being just as deluded as Hershel (Scott Wilson). Will Rick start to believe that?
Robert Kirkman: The end of this episode proves to Rick that that's not the case. This entire season has been leading up to the moment where he shot those two men. Shane has been beating it into his head that he isn't fit for this world and needs to be a harder man and be able to make the hard decisions. Over the last two episodes, we've seen Rick be the one that has to step up and shoot Sophia when no one else can. We've seen him in the blink of an eye take out two guys who are a very clear threat to him and everyone else that's with him. This is really the beginning of Rick emerging as a clear leader and answering that thing that Shane's been saying all this time.
THR: Carl (Chandler Riggs) really supports Rick in this episode in a very chilling scene in which he says he would have shot Sophia, too. How will her death really change Carl? Is he heading toward following in Rick or Shane's path?
Kirkman: One of my favorite things about The Walking Dead -- and it's something I've been doing in the comic for nearly a decade -- is dealing with what this world would be like for children. That is one of the most compelling things about the show: The idea of growing up not knowing society and not knowing the rules and learning by watching the people around you who are adults who you look up to constantly make crazy decisions about how to handle certain situations and do things that would be considered morally wrong and how that would affect you growing up. We're finally starting to see this in the show. Carl is a character to watch for the rest of this season and moving into the third season -- assuming he survives. I'm not going to say that anyone is guaranteed to make it through the end of the season but he is going to be making strange decisions and growing and twisting over time into something that is very much unchildlike for his age.
PHOTOS: Behind-the-Scenes of 'The Walking Dead' Season 2
THR: He has that ability to pull the trigger in the comics -- having shot and killed Shane while defending Rick. Is that something you're leading up to on the show?
Kirkman: I don't know that we're necessarily leading up to him pulling the trigger. He will definitely be more and more involved in things you wouldn't expect him to be involved in.
THR: Hershel's daughter, Beth, is now in shock after watching her mom-turned-zombie be gunned down during "Barnmageddon." Could we see how the living possibly could transition into the undead?
Kirkman: She's definitely distraught over the loss of her mother and seeing those walkers gunned down and having to deal with that. But whether or not that's actually going to lead to her death remains to be seen.
STORY: 'The Walking Dead' Dissection: Robert Kirkman Talks Death and What's Ahead
THR: Lori (Sarah Wayne Callies) learns Dale's theory about Otis' death. What will it take for her to read the writing on the wall about Shane's nature?
Kirkman: The cool thing about Lori is that we don't really quite know where her allegiances lie. We know she had relationship with Shane while she was married to Rick. On surface at least, she's pushing Shane away and trying to maintain her relationship with Rick. But we also know that in the world before she was clearly having a bad marriage and going through some difficulties with Rick and has genuine affection for Shane. Whether or not she's actually fooling herself into thinking that she doesn't want to be with Shane anymore or if she is committed to Rick, that's something she's going to be struggling with as she sees Shane do these harsher things, it could push her away from Shane or it could pull her away from Rick depending on where her opinions fall on these things.
THR: That's if she survives the car crash. Is there a possibility we could see Lori follow the comics trajectory and be killed off sooner rather than latter?
Kirkman: Any character can go at any moment. That's a really compelling story. If the viewers get to a point where they sit down to watch The Walking Dead and they truly believe that anyone could go at any moment, we've done our jobs. I don't know that we're quite there yet but we'll get there eventually. No one is safe in this show. You might start to see that soon.
THR: How will the group deal with the ramifications of Lori's accident? Will there be another search?
Kirkman: If there were to be a search for Lori, and I don't want this to be read as any spoilers as to what Lori's fate is, but any kind of search for Lori would be hugely repetitious over the search for Sophia. There will be no search for Lori. We will definitely see the direct outcome of this car crash very early on in the next episode but it will not lead to a search.
STORY: 'The Walking Dead' Dissection: Robert Kirkman on Rick, Lori, Shane and Andrea's 'Secrets'
THR: Was casting a known actor (Michael Raymond-James, Terriers, True Blood) as Dave a way to tease viewers that he might be The Governor?
Kirkman: I was always hoping that people would think he was potentially The Governor. We were definitely casting him because we wanted people to believe that that role was very important because we knew how the episode ended.
THR: Rick shoots Tony twice for good measure but it's unclear if Dave is really dead. Is there a chance he survived?
Kirkman: You'll get the answer to that very early on in Episode 9. Maybe he got him on the first pass, maybe he didn't.
THR: How will Dave and Tony's arrival change how welcome everyone is on Hershel's farm? How will they adjust to this new outside threat?
Kirkman: What we're seeing emerge right now is a very different Hershel than we've seen thus far in the show. Him witnessing the barn massacre and seeing these two men who are very threatening gunned down is definitely going to change his outlook on this world and is going to change his behavior a great deal. We're going to see a bad-ass Hershel.
THR: We've heard the casting reports that Bernthal could be heading to Frank Darabont's TNT pilot, with speculation that Shane won't survive the season. Care to dispel that?
Kirkman: Last year Lenny James was on The Walking Dead, Human Target and Hung as well as doing a show in the U.K. for the BBC. It's not unusual these days for people to be on multiple shows at the same time. The way shooting schedules work for cable, it really does open doors for that. The Walking Dead stopped shooting in early November and doesn't resume until almost summer, so there's a huge gap in there for people to do other projects. I wouldn't let any casting rumors make you think that it's spoiled any show, especially this one. In the case of Jon Bernthal, who's to say he survives that first pilot? Maybe he dies in the first episode.
What did you think of "Nebraska"? Do want to see Lori survive the crash? Sound off in the comments below. The Walking Dead airs Sundays at 9 p.m. on AMC.
Email: Lesley.Goldberg@thr.com; Twitter: @SnooditOn one of the busiest online shopping days of the year, Black Friday, thousands of Amazon employees decided it was also a good day to walk off the job. Warehouse workers in several distribution centers in Germany and Italy took the day off to demand higher wages and better treatment. In sharp contrast, on the same day, the net worth of Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos hovered around $100 billion, easily making him the wealthiest person on the planet.
According to a report from the New York Daily News, approximately 2,500 German workers demonstrated outside Amazon facilities in the cities of Bad Hersfeld, Leipzig, Rheinberg, Werne, Graben, and Koblenz. In addition to asking for a pay raise, the German union Ver.di says Amazon needs to vastly improve the “work culture” and stop pushing employees too hard.
The Italian Amazon workers that participated in the Black Friday strike said they want “dignified salaries” more in line with their jobs. They gathered outside one distribution center located in Piacenza.
“Work is not a commodity,” said Annamaria Furlan, the secretary general of the union CISL, which represents Amazon employees in Italy, as cited by a TechCrunch report. “The dignity of workers must not be trampled on.”
Even with numerous Amazon employees outside, the distribution centers in both Germany and Italy were running business as usual. An Amazon representative told TechCrunch that holiday orders will be shipped out without any notice of delay, adding that a significant number of employees did not participate in the strike and showed up for work.
Amazon employees walk off the job on Black Friday to demand higher wages and improved working conditions. [Image by
The Amazon spokesperson was quick to point out that the online retailer is a “good employer” and has been instrumental in creating jobs in areas, like Italy, where the unemployment rate remains high. In addition, Amazon argues that its employees already earn significantly higher wages when compared to others in the industry. It is unclear if the retail giant is negotiating with the unions as striking employees have since gone back to work.
Currently, Germany is Amazon’s second largest market with $14.2 billion in sales, notably less than the $90 billion in sales generated by U.S. customers. By comparison, Italy is the fourth largest market, behind the UK and France.
Black Friday helped push the world's richest person, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, to a net worth of $100 billion. [Image by Drew Angerer/Getty Images]
While Amazon employees went on strike for more money, CEO Jeff Bezos enjoyed an estimated net worth of $100 billion as Black Friday sales pushed the company’s stock price up. As reported by Fortune, this 12-figure net worth makes Bezos the world’s richest person. He previously earned the prestigious title in October after passing Bill Gates.
[Featured Image by Sebastian Willnow/AP Images]Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) is still supporting GOP nominee Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) is still supporting GOP nominee Donald Trump, despite the emergence of a 2005 audio recording in which the real estate mogul boasts about predatory sexual behavior toward women.
“I ran against Donald Trump. And while I respect that voters chose him as the GOP nominee, I have never hesitated to oppose his policies I disagree with. And I have consistently rejected his offensive rhetoric and behavior,” Rubio “I ran against Donald Trump. And while I respect that voters chose him as the GOP nominee, I have never hesitated to oppose his policies I disagree with. And I have consistently rejected his offensive rhetoric and behavior,” Rubio said in a statement released by his office on Tuesday.
“I disagree with him on many things, but I disagree with his opponent on virtually everything. I wish we had better choices for President,” the senator added. “But I do not want Hillary Clinton to be our next President. And therefore my position has not changed.”
On the 2005 On the 2005 recording ― which was reported by The Washington Post ― Trump claimed he tried to have sex with a married woman and said he could grab women “by the pussy” because he is a celebrity. The tape sparked a wave of GOP defections over the weekend, and some lawmakers even called on Trump to drop out of the race entirely.
On Monday, House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) essentially conceded the White House a month before votes had even been counted when he told the GOP conference he could no longer defend the nominee, instructing members to handle the fallout as they saw fit.
Rubio’s decision to stand behind Trump comes amid a competitive re-election fight against Rep. Patrick Murphy (D-Fla.). The Democratic congressman over the weekend called Rubio a “ Rubio’s decision to stand behind Trump comes amid a competitive re-election fight against Rep. Patrick Murphy (D-Fla.). The Democratic congressman over the weekend called Rubio a “ coward ” for not withdrawing his endorsement of the GOP nominee.
But Rubio faces challenges on his right flank as well. Trump carried the Sunshine State primary earlier this year by an overwhelming margin ― beating out its home state senator by 23 percentage points. If he rescinds his endorsement, Rubio risks angering Florida voters who supported Trump, a person he once called a “con man” who shouldn’t have access to the nuclear codes.
The move could also hurt him beyond November’s election. The senator is widely expected to run for the GOP presidential nomination again in 2020.
HUFFPOST READERS: What’s happening in your state or district? The Huffington Post wants to know about all the campaign ads, mailers, robocalls, candidate appearances and other interesting campaign news happening by you. Email any tips, videos, audio files or photos to scoops@huffingtonpost.com. What’s happening in your state or district? The Huffington Post wants to know about all the campaign ads, mailers, robocalls, candidate appearances and other interesting campaign news happening by you. Email any tips, videos, audio files or photos toLouis C.K. is taking a big break from Louie.
FX just announced the show is going on “extended hiatus.”
The network’s CEO John Landgraf told reporters at the Television Critics Association’s press tour on Friday that creator, star, writer, producer Louis C.K. wanted to take a break from working on the show after making 61 episodes since 2010.
Landgraf agreed with one critic’s suggestion that the situation was similar to HBO’s Curb Your Enthusiasm, which is on indefinite hiatus until creator Larry David wants to do another season.
“Louis’ anxious to take a break and work on other things,” Landgraf said. “I think Curb is the right analogy. So, the truth is, I really don’t know [when the show will return]. He’s made 61 magnificent episodes of television, and we did an overall deal with him a couple of years ago and that has proven incredibly productive. There’s actually a third [C.K.-produced] series in the hopper that’ll get announced pretty soon that I think is also equally compelling. It’s really going ot be his choice. He could decide to take as long as a six-month hiatus … he could decide to take a two-year hiatus and we could be where HBO is with Larry David, announcing periodically that subsequent seasons will air.”
C.K. will still have a presence on the network. FX just ordered a potential companion series to Louie produced and directed by C.K. called Better Things, which is co-created and stars Pamela Adlon — who plays a fictional version of herself on Louie (and is up for an Emmy nomination for the role). Her character on Better Things is ”a working actor with no filter trying to earn a living, navigate her daughters’ lives, have fun with a friend or two, and also — just maybe — squeeze in some private time once in a while.” FX has ordered 10 episodes.
FX made several big announcements at TCA on Friday, including a renewal for The Strain, and premiere dates for several shows including AHS.Russian visa issued in 1916
Tourist visa for John F. Kennedy to travel to Brazil, issued by the Brazilian government in 1941
Brazilian multiple entry visa in a United States passport, with immigration stamps from Brazil, France, and the United States
Algeria visa
A visa (from the Latin charta visa, meaning "paper that has been seen")[1] is a conditional authorization granted by a country to a foreigner, allowing them to enter, remain within, or to leave that country. Visas typically include limits on the duration of the foreigner's stay, territory within the country they may enter, the dates they may enter, the number of permitted visits or an individual's right to work in the country in question. Visas are associated with the request for permission to enter a country and thus are, in some countries, distinct from actual formal permission for an alien to enter and remain in the country. In each instance, a visa is subject to entry permission by an immigration official at the time of actual entry, and can be revoked at any time. A visa most commonly takes the form of a sticker endorsed in the applicant's passport or other travel document.
Historically, immigration officials were empowered to permit or reject entry of visitors on arrival at the frontiers. If permitted entry, the official would issue a visa, when required, which would be a stamp in a passport. Today, travellers wishing to enter another country must generally apply in advance for what is also called a visa, sometimes in person at a consular office, by mail or over the internet. The modern visa may be a sticker or a stamp in the passport, or may take the form of a separate document or an electronic record of the authorization, which the applicant can print before leaving home and produce on entry to the host country. Some countries do not require visitors to apply for a visa in advance for short visits.
Some countries require that their citizens, as well as foreign travellers, obtain an "exit visa" to be allowed to leave the country.[2] Uniquely, the Norwegian special territory of Svalbard is an entirely visa-free zone under the terms of the Svalbard Treaty.
Some countries—such as those in the Schengen Area—have agreements with other countries allowing each other's citizens to travel between them without visas. The World Tourism Organization announced that the number of tourists requiring a visa before travelling was at its lowest level ever in 2015.[3][4]
Overview [ edit ]
A visa generally gives non-citizens permission to appear at a foreign port of entry to apply for admission to a foreign country and to remain there within specified constraints, such as a time frame for entry, a limit on the time spent in the country, and a prohibition against employment. Many countries do not require a visa in some situations; this may be the result of treaties specifying reciprocal arrangements. The possession of a visa is not in itself a guarantee of entry into the country that issued it, and a visa can be revoked at any time.
A visa application in advance of arrival gives the country a chance to consider the applicant's circumstances, such as financial security, reason for travelling, and details of previous visits to the country. A visitor may also be required to undergo and pass security or health checks upon arrival at the port of entry.
History [ edit ]
In Western Europe in the late 19th century and early 20th century, passports and visas were not generally necessary for moving from one country to another. The relatively high speed and large movements of people traveling by train would have caused bottlenecks if regular passport controls had been used.[5] Passports and visas became usually necessary as travel documents only after World War I.[6]
Long before that, in ancient times, passports and visas were usually the same type of travel documents. In the modern world, visas have become separate secondary travel documents, with passports acting as the primary travel documents.
Conditions of issue [ edit ]
Some visas can be granted on arrival or by prior application at the country's embassy or consulate, or through a private visa service specialist who is specialized in the issuance of international travel documents. These agencies are authorized by the foreign authority, embassy, or consulate to represent international travellers who are unable or unwilling to travel to the embassy and apply in person. Private visa and passport services collect an additional fee for verifying customer applications, supporting documents, and submitting them to the appropriate authority. If there is no embassy or consulate in one's home country, then one would |
to send e-mails for years, but some Internet service providers recently began blocking it because they were concerned that it was dominated by spammers. Still, the system is popular among some tech experts, who use it to operate their own mail servers.
Cricket allowed customers to send and receive e-mails through Port 25 software, according to Golden Frog, but stripped the traffic of the encryption request, known as STARTTLS.
It is unclear whether the lack of encryption was limited to this system or how many Cricket customers were affected.
In its FCC filing, Golden Frog said it was concerned that Cricket's practices violated the spirit of net neutrality, or the idea that Internet service providers should allow Internet traffic to move freely across their networks.
"Any time an Internet service provider is interfering with a user's ability to protect their privacy it's very concerning to us, and to all Internet users," said Sunday Yokubaitis, Golden Frog's president. "If ISPs can force users' choices about encryption, where does that put us?"
Despite law enforcement complaints, consumers are relying more on digital encryption. Apple and Google recently moved to encrypt by default more of the services built into the iOS and Android operating systems. Those moves, the FBI has argued, will make it difficult, if not impossible, for law enforcement to do its job.
According to Google -- which has called unencrypted e-mail "as open to snoopers as a postcard in the mail" -- about half of the e-mails received through Gmail in October have been encrypted, up from about 30 percent in January.
Tom Lowenthal is the staff technologist at the Committee to Protect Journalists. "It is poor practice and obsolete to send and receive mail without using robust encryption," Lowenthal said. "Journalists who rely upon secure communications, and anyone else who doesn't want their personal messages to become public, should expect their e-mail providers to offer encrypted connections by default."
Cricket was founded in 1999, and its parent company Leap Wireless was acquired by AT&T earlier this year. (AT&T's network, according to Golden Frog, allowed the sending of encrypted e-mails.) The Golden Frog engineer first noticed the behavior in September 2013 on a network used by AT&T prepaid phone provider Aio. Cricket replaced Aio as AT&T's pre-paid service after the acquisition was completed in March, and Golden Frog said the encryption practices continued for prepaid customers. Cricket's data plans start at $35 a month and do not require a contract.
John Levine is a senior technical adviser to the Messaging, Malware and Mobile Anti-Abuse Working Group, an organization with member companies including Apple, Google and Verizon. While it is unclear whether Cricket intentionally prevented its customers from encrypting e-mails, Levine said, "the result is exactly the same."
More and more people are taking steps to protect themselves from spying eyes, Levine said, "and if you're going to interfere with that, you need a really good reason."Hey Dice Masters fans!
As part of our efforts to improve Dice Masters and communicate with our player base, we wanted to give some insight into how we have processed feedback from the community and are addressing a growing concern. Most importantly, we wanted to highlight a change to the way the game is played.
New Rule: The player who goes first in a game of Dice Masters, on their first turn, only draws 3 dice from their bag during their Clear and Draw Step, and places 1 die from their bag out of play.
How did we get here?
Many Dice Masters players felt that going first was a big advantage. The fact that going first in a heads-up game is an advantage isn’t a surprise, but many players felt the magnitude was too severe. They felt like losing the random chance of going first put them at such a severe disadvantage, with all other things being equal, that they would still lose to a less skilled player. Were they right? That was our first step to investigate.
We had a small number of playtest groups focus on trying to determine how likely the first player was to win when two aggressive teams faced off in a mirror match? Depending on the particular mirror match in question, we were seeing the first player won somewhere between 72% and 76% of games. In total, our playtest groups logged over 100 games just trying to determine the current state of the first turn advantage.
Across many, but not all of those games, we collected notes about what was creating games where the second player would win in an upset. Between those notes and the rate at which the first player was winning the game, we were confident that going first was actually, and not just anecdotally, too much of an advantage. This led to an important question: how can we fix this?
There were a few different options that were available to us, some of which are below:
The first player only draws 3 dice on their first turn The first player only draws 3 dice on their first turn, and places a die from their bag out of play The second player rolls 5 dice on their first turn The second player gains an extra energy on their first turn
There are tradeoffs in each of these approaches. Some options emphasize giving the first player less, and others emphasize giving the second player more. One of our goals was to change the probability of winning to be as close to 50/50 as possible.
Problem: Changing the flow of bag refills
Experienced players understand that timing their purchases to when their bag is going to refill is a fundamental skill of Dice Masters. Option 1 and 3 both have a big impact on how your Sidekicks and purchased dice flow through your Used Pile and bag. Normally, rolling an extra die in a future turn will cost you an energy now. Part of the advantage of such an effect is that, when used early, the quality of the dice you’d be drawing from your bag greatly increases. Changing the flow of bag refills with options 1 or 3 would restrict future card designs.
A subset of this problem happens when the second player rolls 5 dice on their first turn. This means that player 2 would potentially have access to a 5 cost character on their 2nd turn, which at that point in the game might mean dropping a huge bomb on their opponent. While certain strategies may exist to combat this, players shouldn’t feel obligated to pack those into every single team or risk getting run over by an incredibly quick 5 cost character.
Problem: Memory effect
Option 4 captures part of the idea of option 3 by giving the second player more energy to spend, but it creates the need to remember you have an energy you can’t see, as well as having an inelegant feel to it. Experienced players may be used to extra energy from what’s often called “bag burn” but by the time they first experience or capitalize on that rule, they’ve probably played dozens of hours’ worth of Dice Masters. Someone experiencing the game fresh is significantly more likely to forget they had that invisible energy to spend. Perhaps they remember after it’s too late to spend the energy – in that case they were not just more likely to lose, but they’d also feel bad about a mistake they made.
As for elegance, having the second player do something different from a normal turn instead of the first player doing something different creates a full turn of the game for each player to forget about that difference.
The winning option from our internal testing and theories was Option 2, to have the player who goes first start with a single die out of play and only draw 3 dice from their bag. We found that there was a marked improvement for the second player’s chance of winning, but we wanted to make sure that it was still true for players out in the wild, not just in the Dice Masters Lab. WizKids selected some stores, and set experimental tournaments into motion.
We found that across all the games at those tournaments, the first player won only 59% of the time out of over 250 games. We believe this average to be representative.
When will this change take place?
For official tournaments, the new rule for going first should be applied as of Friday November 11th, 2016.
For tournaments, other than WizKids Open events, stores may choose to implement the new rule by either unanimous player consent at the beginning of the event, or by including the “New Rule” text from the beginning of the article in their WIN event listing at least 1 full week prior to hosting the event.
This new rule supersedes existing rulebooks. Due to the rapid pace we work at, the Marvel Dice Masters: Iron Man and War Machine Starter Set and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Dice Masters: Heroes in a Half Shell Box Set do not include this update to the rules. Our upcoming DC Comics Dice Masters: Superman and Wonder Woman Starter Set will include the new rule for going first as part of its text.Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson combined for only 20 points on 8-for-27 shooting in Game 1 of the NBA Finals on Thursday, and yet the Golden State Warriors rolled the Cleveland Cavaliers 104-89 just the same. When something like that happens, there are obvious reasons: Golden State’s bench played out of its mind, and Cleveland’s offense fell in a hole. Those things will probably even out as the series goes on, but the Cavs should be more concerned that, on a night when the Warriors’ biggest guns went quiet, the holes in their defense were already glaring.
Coming into the series, the basic bargain of this season’s Cavaliers compared to last year’s was an improved offense producing enough to cover for an inferior defense. The Cavs’ shots didn’t fall in Game 1 as often as they normally do, and a lot of the shots that went in for the Warriors’ bench were absurdities — Leandro Barbosa fading away to his weak-hand baseline isn’t on the scouting report. But Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving, the two Cleveland stars playing in this series who combined to miss all but one game of last season’s Finals, were worked over exactly as expected.
On 18 shot attempts in which Irving was the nearest defender, the Warriors had an effective field goal percentage (eFG%) of 66.7, according to data from the NBA’s player-tracking cameras. On the 13 shots in which Love was the nearest defender, the Warriors had an eFG% of 61.5. Both of those numbers are very bad. There’s some margin for error on these plays — for instance, the cameras will sometimes assign a “nearest defender” who is guarding a different offensive player because the shooter’s defender was so badly lost — but the underlying plays looked just as terrible.
During the regular season, Love gave up 90.3 points per 100 chances as a pick-and-roll defender, which isn’t good; in the playoffs, he’s given up 102.9, which is a calamity. On Thursday night, his screen-and-roll defense came out to 94.1 points per 100 chances, and that’s in the context of Curry and Thompson playing awfully — it’s a bad sign of things to come. The Cavs’ plan for Love defending the pick-and-roll — a big concern before the series — seemed to be having him double-team the ballhandler. But traps only work if you can actually trap the player, and Love’s attempts at doing so led to plays that looked like this:
Or this:
The Cavs might need to rethink this strategy.
Meanwhile, Irving was taken down to the block when he switched onto one of the Warriors’ bigger wings, was back-cut when he lost his man while watching the ball, and was run through screens away from the ball to free up shooters — all stuff we figured would happen this series, but again, a bad sign when it happens with Curry and Thompson out of the picture.
This has been a playoff-long swoon for Irving, as well: In the regular season, he allowed shooters an eFG% of 50.5; that’s ballooned to 59.2 in the playoffs.
Cleveland’s offense had its own problems — in 22 possessions, Andre Iguodala held LeBron James to 1-for-2 shooting — but it’s still a good bet that it’ll course-correct. The bigger concern for the Cavs is that any gains they make from improved shooting will drain out of the holes in their defense.Broadcaster Sony Pictures Networks India (SPN) has mopped up Rs 1,200 crore in advertising revenue from Indian Premier League's ninth season, a growth of 20 percent over last year.
It had clocked an advertising revenue of Rs 1,000 crore from IPL 8.
"We have had a 20 percent growth in revenue. This was largely based on the change in (advertising) rates," SPN India President Rohit Gupta told PTI.
SPN had hiked its advertisement rate by 15 percent for IPL this year.
The spot rate for sponsors was Rs 5.25 lakh. The spot buy rate was Rs 5.75 lakh for standard definition channels, while for HD, price was between Rs 1.50 lakh to Rs 1.80 lakh for 10-seconds.
Gupta had earlier said that there was an unprecedented interest from advertisers for this year's IPL and it was for the first time that two months prior to the start of the tournament, they had sold out all their inventory.
The broadcaster had aired the IPL on Sony Max in Hindi.
Sony Six carried the Tamil, Telugu and Bengali language feeds, besides Hindi. Sony Six HD and Sony ESPN channels carried the English feed.
SPN, which has the exclusive television broadcast rights for IPL till 2017, had three presenting sponsors on board this year from two in the previous season.
Chinese handset maker Oppo, which signed up as one of the presenting sponsors this year, had taken 240 seconds per match, the highest in IPL.
The other presenting sponsors --Vodafone and Amazon - bought 210 seconds per match.
Oppo, Maruti, Coca-Cola, Tata Sky were some of the new brands that came on board this year, Gupta said.
"This year, handset category and the e-commerce categories were the two big ones. Handset contributed about 23-24 percent, and e-commerce was about 17-18 percent of our advertising revenues," he said.
SPN also has the rights for the UEFA Euro 2016 football championship which will be held in France from June 10 to July 10. The broadcaster has sold about 70 percent of its inventory for this event.
"Football is the next big thing. We have been able to establish a rate of over Rs 2 lakh for 10 seconds for Euro. We have got Gionee as the title sponsor.
"Football is starting to see a lot of traction now amongst advertisers, especially brands which are targeting the youth," Gupta said.fullscreen continue view fullscreen close
They came from around the country. They packed onto the PATH train, into cars and buses, and even some in a NYC yellow cab. They wore red, yellow, and sometimes purple jerseys, almost all with scarves despite the hot, humid weather. They frequently joined each other in gleeful reflection that what they thought of Tottenham was "shit", and what they thought of shit was "Tottenham."
For American Arsenal FC supporters, it was their first chance in 25 years to watch their beloved club lose on American soil, suffering a largely meaningless 1-0 preseason friendly loss to the New York Red Bulls.
Red Bull Arena, usually moderately full of Red Bulls fans, felt like North London for a few hours, with local jerseys being scattered in a sea of Arsenal supporters. (Many RBNY season ticket holders were seen thanking Arsenal fans on social media, as it was not difficult to flip tickets to the match for the full cost of their season ticket packages.) The only real display from home supporters: a large tifo display honoring Thierry Henry, showing the Arsenal and Red Bulls legend in a jersey that reflected both clubs.
"Oh, [the display] was amazing," said the usually unflappable Henry after the game. "I didn’t know about it and I was actually surprised. It was pretty cool, to be honest."
The first half saw both teams trot out full-strength sides, albeit with Arsenal missing a number of stars due to post-World Cup vacations. Some good attacking from both teams saw the goalkeepers called into action, and plenty of eyes were on Gedion Zelalem, a 17-year-old German midfielder who is rumored to be contemplating a switch to the USMNT. Zelalem's only real contribution to the match was a nice one-two to put Jack Wilshire in on goal, but Luis Robles made a point blank save to keep the Gunners off the scoreboard.
The lone goal came in the 32nd minute, as a Thierry Henry corner met the head of NY defender Ibrahim Sekagya. Sekagya's header found an unmarked Bradley Wright-Phillips at close range, who easily turned the ball past Wojciech Szczesny.
As is traditional in friendlies, the second half saw both teams make wholesale changes to their squads to give the youth and reserves some minutes. Typically, this is where MLS teams break down against foreign opposition, but the Red Bulls kept it together with calm defending and none of those characteristic mental mistakes. Arsenal looked to have a goal from Abou Diaby, which sent the stadium into ecstasy for 4.6 seconds. Then Arsenal fans saw that the offside flag was up, and cheers shifted to jeers.
The result may not mean anything: as Thierry Henry put it after the match, with the Gunners in early pre-season, this was not "the real Arsenal". But it could be argued that the performance does mean something. As inconsistent as the Red Bulls have looked in 2014, they put together a strong team performance against Arsenal. Roy Miller returned to the lineup after his injury at the World Cup, and Ambroise Oyongo put in a strong performance at midfield to help cement his place in the lineup. If the Red Bulls can carry that form forwardan admittedly huge "if"they might just get the kickstart their playoff push sorely needs.
"This really means nothing more than a good victory, a good thing for the supporters because it’s not three points, it doesn’t mean anything in our standings," said coach Mike Petke after the match. "There was some very good play for us, especially in the first half on our counter. This is one of the best passing teams in the world and we were patient and sat back and looked to counter and exploit and we did some good things. It was good to see some things that we need to improve on that we did well today. For me, it’s a positive for the players, now it’s onto Salt Lake City Wednesday."
As the Gooners emptied out of the stadium, and as the Red Bulls turned their focus to Wednesday's game, Bradley Wright-Phillips summed up a lingering frustration about the atmosphere perfectly:
"I was surprised [at the number of Arsenal fans] in the beginning and I was a bit upset, I want these guys to be coming every week. Thierry plays every week and if they love Arsenal that much they should try and come more."
POST MATCH REACTIONS
Mike Petke on Arsenal: "Obviously they’re early in preseason. Are we a better team than Arsenal? When they’re in their peak and we’re at our peak, I’d like to think it would be a good game, but obviously what kind of club they are and the level of talent, the money they put into that, they’re a world-class club. We knew they were going to have bulks of possession and we were fine with that. I enjoy watching them play. The biggest thing that I enjoy watching out of Arsenal, no matter if it’s a preseason game or regular season game, is their off ball movement and their ability to create space to possess that ball is something that I would love to climb into Mr. Wenger’s head and figure out exactly how he does it. It’s impressive."
Tim Cahill on "friendlies": "He knows what I’m all about. I went into the changing room with all the boys and straight away the manager, Arsene Wenger, said don’t ever change. Never change because that’s what I like about you. He’s one of the best managers in the world and for me just shaking his hand was great, but speaking and sharing a few words was special. It felt good and really happy to come out on top because it means a lot to the New York Red Bull fans, regardless if it was a friendly. For me there are no friendlies and there never will be. You can see that in the way I play. Overall, it’s nice for our fans because they deserve a bit of praise for sticking by us all season."
Arsene Wenger on Thierry Henry: "Thierry can be dangerous from everywhere. He understands very quickly what he can take advantage from. He was sharp today as well in the one-on-ones and you could see why he was a great player because when played in midfield, his passing was excellent and his vision as well. You could see that he can play everywhere."
Gedion Zalelem on his U.S. experience so far: "Yeah, Eli Manning was really nice. Seeing the Giants play was really nice as well."This month sees the release of the World of Illfrost, a new world for 4e D&D. Its icy grip is perfectly timed as winter descends our own frozen north. I worked with the guys at Illusionary Press to create the world map and the maps for the first adventure.
To give you a taster, Illusionary Press are giving away a primer for free over on RPGNow. Download it and learn more about this land locked in winter. Once you’ve got a taste, you can pick up the first adventure which introduces both players and DMs to the themes of the setting. The adventurers start off locked in slavery, and must escape. It’s a classic opening to any adventure harking right back to In The Dungeons of the Slavelords, and Don Pritchett carries it off with pace and panache.
As cartographer for the second adventure, I can guarantee that you won’t have to wait long for the next installment. It’s great to see more third party publishers supporting 4th Edition with material of this quality. You should certainly check it out.
You can also pick up the maps from the first adventure as map packs, but I’ll be going into more detail about them next week.Some of Hwang and Binx’s lenticular card-versions of art GIFs. (Hwang and Binx)
We live in an age of great GIF ubiquity. The animated images, receptacles of small, silent feeling, news, or art, are everywhere and here to stay. GIFs are malleable yet sharable, concise yet context-free.
They’re also trapped online: Introduced in 1987, the Graphic Interchange Format is a product and prisoner of the digital world.
Or are they? A new project is trying to liberate GIFs from the digital world with the help of one old, weird, 20th-century technology.
Two programmer-designers, Sha Hwang and Rachel Binx, debuted a Kickstarter campaign today—and saw it funded, in the same day—to print animated GIFs onto lenticular-printed cards. Now that it’s funded, their project, GIFPop, could turn your favorite GIF into a little card you can hold in your hand.
You’re likely familiar with lenticular film: It’s the pitted, prismatic plastic pictures often on postcards or packaging. A lenticular image appears to move as the viewer moves, its animation looping within a short number of frames. Lenticular film has been around for generations: According to a 1999 New York Times story, the technology dates back to World War II, “when developments in plastics made it possible to create the ribbed sheet that sits on top of every motion-image card and autostereo image.”
The thaumatrope, a disk with two images on both sides, was popular during the 19th century and is a precursor of cinema. (This is a GIF of a thaumatrope, from Wikimedia Commons.)
Lenticular images, in other words, constitute a short, tradable, malleable form that can display, in a loop, a series of images or a moving image. Like many other early, material precursors to animation (the thaumotrope, for example!), it shares many attributes with GIFs. The power of both GIFs and lenticular film springs from their constraints—even if, for the lenticular plastic, the constraints are material (they can only store about 10 frames) or, for GIFs, attentional (make a GIF too large and it won’t download speedily).The 1932 Winter Olympics, officially known as the III Olympic Winter Games, were a winter multi-sport event in the United States, held in Lake Placid, New York. The games opened on February 4 and closed on February 15. It was the first of four Winter Olympics held in the United States; Lake Placid hosted again in 1980.
The games were awarded to Lake Placid in part by the efforts of Godfrey Dewey, head of the Lake Placid Club and son of Melvil Dewey, inventor of the Dewey Decimal System.[1] California also had a bid for the 1932 Winter Games. William May Garland, president of the California X Olympiad Association, wanted the games to take place in Wrightwood and Big Pines, California. The world's largest ski jump at the time was constructed in Big Pines for the event,[2] but the games were ultimately awarded to Lake Placid.
Highlights [ edit ]
Events [ edit ]
advertising the bobsled run WPA poster,advertising the bobsled run
Medals were awarded in 14 events contested in 4 sports (7 disciplines).
Demonstration sports [ edit ]
The Games also included events in three demonstration sports.
These were the last Winter Olympics without alpine skiing, which was added in 1936. Alpine skiing held its 1932 World Championships during the Olympics, February 4–6 in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy.
Venues [ edit ]
Participating nations [ edit ]
The Olympic Bobsled run from the air
Athletes from 17 nations competed in these Games, down from 25 nations at the previous Games in 1928. Argentina, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Mexico, the Netherlands, and Yugoslavia did not send athletes to Lake Placid.
Number of athletes by National Olympic Committees [ edit ]
IOC Country Athletes AUT Austria 7 USA United States 64 CAN Canada 42 GER Germany 20 NOR Norway 19 JPN Japan 16 POL Poland 15 ITA Italy 12 SWE Sweden 12 FRA France 8 FIN Finland 7 SUI Switzerland 7 TCH Czechoslovakia 6 GBR Great Britain 4 HUN Hungary 4 ROM Romania 4 BEL Belgium 5 Total 252
Medal count [ edit ]
III Olympic Winter Games U.S. commemorative stamp (1932)
Host country
Rank Nation Gold Silver Bronze Total 1 United States* 6 4 2 12 2 Norway 3 4 3 10 3 Sweden 1 2 0 3 4 Canada 1 1 5 7 5 Finland 1 1 1 3 6 Austria 1 1 0 2 7 France 1 0 0 1 8 Switzerland 0 1 0 1 9 Germany 0 0 2 2 10 Hungary 0 0 1 1 Totals (10 nations) 14 14 14 42
See also [ edit ]
References [ edit ]
Coordinates:Story highlights Mitt Romney said after losing 2012 presidential race that he was done
Recent poll shows that he would top 2016 GOP candidates, at least in New Hampshire
Romney has consistently said no -- in different ways -- to questions about another run
Guys, I think he means it.
With no clear frontrunner or obvious "next-in-line" candidate in the field of potential 2016 GOP presidential contenders, Mitt Romney keeps getting asked if he's thinking about throwing his hat in the ring one more time.
But it's not entirely a far-fetched question.
A poll of New Hampshire Republicans and independents who lean that way found that Romney would be the 2016 frontrunner if he decided to run.
The 2012 GOP nominee has done little to stay out of the limelight, especially this year, as he gets involved in numerous races — including GOP primaries — and keeps up a fairly regular routine of media appearances.
He has assumed a sort of party elder role, and just finished hosting close to 300 major donors and politicians at his third annual Park City retreat.
He was asked as recently as last week on "Meet the Press" if he would still turn down another presidential bid -- even if drafted.
JUST WATCHED Getting over Mitt Replay More Videos... MUST WATCH Getting over Mitt 00:34
JUST WATCHED Cupp & Jones same outrage over Romney Replay More Videos... MUST WATCH Cupp & Jones same outrage over Romney 02:24
JUST WATCHED Romney's private guest list Replay More Videos... MUST WATCH Romney's private guest list 01:52
The former Massachusetts governor has been accused of flip-flopping in the past, but he's been pretty consistent on his future: He's a "no."
1. "I'm not running, and talk of a draft is kind of silly."
-- June 15, 2014, on NBC's "Meet the Press"
2. "I'm far from a kingmaker. I'm just one of those that wants to keep the conversation going and fighting for things I think will make a difference for my 22 grandkids...I'm not running."
-- June 13, 2014, on Fox "Your World with Neil Cavuto"
3. "The unavailable is always the most attractive, right? That goes in dating as well."
-- June 13, 2014, to The Associated Press
4. "I'm thinking about the people who I want to see running for president.... I fully anticipate that I'll be supporting one of them very vigorously."
-- March 23, 2014, on CBS' "Face the Nation"
5. "I'm not running for president. We've got some very good people who are considering the race. And I'm looking forward to supporting someone who I think will have the best shot of defeating whoever it is the Democrats put up."
-- February 16, 2014, on NBC's "Meet the Press"
6. "The answer is no, I'm not running for president in 2016. It's time for someone else to take that responsibility and I'll be supporting our nominee."
-- February 5, 2014, on CNN's "The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer"
7. "I've had my turn, I gave it two good shots, didn't win and now it's time for someone else to do it. I'm not running for president. I made that clear the morning after the last loss."
-- February 5, 2014, on CNN's "The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer"
8. "Oh, no, no, no. No, no, no, no, no. No, no, no."
-- January 18, 2014, to the New York Times
9. "I loved it. But look, I want to make sure that we take the country in a different direction. I think that Chris Christie and Paul Ryan and Jeb Bush and Scott Walker, and the list goes on, have a much better chance of doing that, and so I will support one of them as they become the nominee."
-- January 18, 2014, to the New York Times
10. "You know it was a fabulous experience, I loved it. But we're not doing that again."
-- November 15, 2013, on CBS' "This Morning"
11. "I'm optimistic a Republican is going to win in 2016. But I'm not going to be that guy. It will be somebody else that takes... that mantle. And more power to them. I hope I can help them in some way."
-- June 2013, to CNN Chief Political Analyst Gloria Borger
12. "I won't get a third chance. I'm not doing it again.... I'm not running for office. I don't have a big organization that's out speaking in my behalf."
-- March 3, 2013, on "Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace"
Oh, and Ann Romney is done, too.
"I think I'm over it. Life is good. Life moves on. There's woulda-coulda-shouldas, of course, that you feel all the time. But no, our life is wonderful and I'm very happy right now, in a good place."
-- January 31, 2014, on Fox News with Bill HemmerPosted by Nicolas53401
We tried the mode with health packs originally and it caused a lot of fleeing behavior that felt contrary to what elimination is all about. We tried having them on fast respawn, slow respawn as well as no respawn but it always felt like the health packs were too much of a primary gameplay driver rather than the pure combat which feels like what the mode should be focused on.With that said, we plan to add health pack options to Custom Game so that you can enable them for elimination modes. If we see that the community is playing a high amount of elimination Custom Games with those health packs enabled, we'll reconsider our stance.Also, coming soon... we are redoing the "sudden death" mechanic in elimination to prevent fleeing and turtling and reduce the number of draws. More info on that will be revealed soon.In Posthumous Riposte, Editor Of 'Charlie Hebdo' Targets 'Islamophobia'
Enlarge this image toggle caption Michel Euler/AP Michel Euler/AP
Stephane Charbonnier, the editor of Charlie Hebdo who was killed in the Jan. 7 attack by two radical Islamists on the satirical magazine, is having the last word.
In a new book completed just two days before the attack that killed 12 people, Charbonnier, who was commonly known as "Charb," says the fight against Islamophobia protects Islam more than it does Muslims. The title of the 88-page book, published Thursday, translates to Letters to the Swindlers of Islamophobia who play into the Hands of Racists.
The Associated Press adds:
"In an opening poem that targets preconceived notions, Charb writes that his intended audience includes those who 'think it's written in the Quran that drawing the Prophet Muhammad is forbidden... think caricaturing a jihadist in a ridiculous position insults Islam... think a drawing is more dangerous than an American drone.' "
Charb also asks why the term "Islamophobia" is used to describe racism against Muslims when it could be taken to mean "fear of Islam." He attributes it to lazy journalists because "any scandal that contains the word 'Islam' in its title sells."
"A terrorist is scary, but if you add that he's an Islamist, everyone wets themselves," he writes.
He says a better word would be "Muslim-o-phobia" — an irrational fear of a people. Charb also criticizes anti-Muslim attitudes in France.
"If one day all Muslims in France converted to Catholicism... these foreigners or French of foreign origin would still be seen as responsible for all ills," he writes.
He uses the book to defend Charlie Hebdo, long criticized by Muslims, Christians and Jews for its depiction of figures the religions consider sacred. It was the paper's depiction of Islam's Prophet Muhammad that apparently angered the gunmen who attacked the magazine. Many Muslims regard any depiction of their prophet — even positive ones — as offensive.
"One day, for a laugh, I will have to publish all the threats I received at Charlie Hebdo, from Catholic fascists and Muslim fascists" alike, Charb writes in the book, excerpts of which were published in French media.
France 24 adds:
"He defended Charlie Hebdo's controversial depictions of the prophet over the years, which have been criticized as Islamophobic. " 'By what twisted logic is humor less compatible with Islam than with any other religion?... If we let it be understood that we can laugh at everything except certain aspects of Islam because Muslims are much more susceptible than the rest of the population, isn't that discrimination? " 'It's time to end this disgusting paternalism of the white, bourgeois, intellectual "left" who seek to exist among the "unfortunate, under-educated poor,"'he wrote."
And, he writes: "To be afraid of Islam is without a doubt moronic, absurd and many other things as well, but it's not an offense. The problem isn't the Quran, nor the Bible, [two] badly written, incoherent and soporific novels, but the believer who reads the Quran or the Bible like one reads an instruction manual on how to assemble an Ikea shelf."The repetition of bloody attacks such as those in London of these last months, is bringing some companies operating in the field of virtual reality and increased to develop counterterrorism applications.
An example is given by the US multinational Eon Reality, founded in 1999 by Dan Lejerskar, Mikael Jacobsson and Mats Johansson in Irvine, California, which has grown throughout the world over the years (with offices, among others, in Paris, Manchester, Moscow, Doha, Singapore, Seul and Melbourne).
Eon Reality develops counterterrorism apps
Precisely thanks to a new counterterrorism application Eon Reality won, for the second year, the InnovPlus Award promoted by Singapore’s Ial (Institute for adult learning). The project used virtual reality platform AVR to create an improvised explosive device recognition and defusal application for anti-terrorism training and VIP protection.
The goal of the project is to create a realistic simulation for security personnel to give them a realistic training experience without the danger. This is just an example how virtual reality and aumented reality could help security forces to raise the alert level against further terroristic attacks quickly and with relatively small investments.
Europe is developing Auggmed
Europe is developing Auggmed (Automated serious game scenario generator for mixed reality training), a three-year project of 5.5 million euros developed under the Horizon 2020 program which has already produced the first prototypes, with good feedbacks from the end-users.
Even in this case, the goal is to enable single and team-based training with different levels of experience so that all end-users involved can respond in the most efficient way to terrorist and criminal threats.
Auggmed, a completely mobile platform with an operating system simply involves downloading the software to a touchscreen or laptop that runs on a Windows operating system and has a reasonable processor and graphics card, automatically create scenarios tailored to the needs of individual users in training and offers new ways to learn decision-making skills, emotional management techniques and analytical thinking while under pressure.
Develops even for augmented reality
A more immersive experience requires a VR headset such as Htc Vive (that in |
, or paradigm because it explains the evidence better, is simpler, or has fewer inconsistencies or covers more data
accept new priorities in response to a reevaluation of the evidence or reassessment of our real interests, and
do not reject unpopular views out of hand. Discipline We are thinking critically when we are precise, meticulous, comprehensive, and exhaustive
resist manipulation and irrational appeals, and
avoid snap judgments. Judgment We are thinking critically when we recognize the relevance and/or merit of alternative assumptions and perspectives
recognize the extent and weight of evidence In sum, Critical thinkers are by nature skeptical. They approach texts with the same skepticism and suspicion as they approach spoken remarks.
. They approach texts with the same skepticism and suspicion as they approach spoken remarks. Critical thinkers are active, not passive. They ask questions and analyze. They consciously apply tactics and strategies to uncover meaning or assure their understanding.
, not passive. They ask questions and analyze. They consciously apply tactics and strategies to uncover meaning or assure their understanding. Critical thinkers do not take an egotistical view of the world. They are open to new ideas and perspectives. They are willing to challenge their beliefs and investigate competing evidence. Critical thinking enables us to recognize a wide range of subjective analyses of otherwise objective data, and to evaluate how well each analysis might meet our needs. Facts may be facts, but how we interpret them may vary. By contrast, passive, non-critical thinkers take a simplistic view of the world. They see things in black and white, as either-or, rather than recognizing a variety of possible understanding.
They see questions as yes or no with no subtleties.
They fail to see linkages and complexities.
They fail to recognize related elements. Non-critical thinkers take an egotistical view of the world They take their facts as the only relevant ones.
facts as the only relevant ones. They take their own perspective as the only sensible one.
perspective as the only sensible one. They take their goal as the only valid one.A look at how the Bears have reached a crossroads with quarterback Mike Glennon:
Why the Bears signed him
Moving on from Jay Cutler meant drafting a quarterback in April but also signing one in free agency in March. General manager Ryan Pace was determined to take multiple swings at the most important position in sports.
The Bears had high opinions of Mitch Trubisky and others, but they wanted to give whomever they selected time to develop, so they needed a veteran. Glennon and Brian Hoyer were their top options.
Bears quarterback Mike Glennon doesn't like what he sees from the sidelines during his team's 29-7 loss to the Buccaneers on Sunday.(Photo by Brian Blanco/Getty Images)
Hoyer was OK with being a tutor, but his price increased after starting five games for the Bears in 2016. He went 1-4 but completed 67 percent of his passes for 1,445 yards with six touchdowns and no interceptions before breaking his left (non-throwing) arm.
Hoyer was attractive to new 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan, who was Hoyer’s offensive coordinator with the Browns in 2014. While the 49ers aggressively courted Hoyer, the Bears eyed Glennon, thinking he had more upside because he was four years younger.
The Buccaneers and Jets were the competition. The Bucs offered to make Glennon the NFL’s highest-paid backup, surpassing Chase Daniel’s then-average of $7 million. In other words, Glennon’s market value was above that.
Free agency also raised Hoyer’s price. He signed a two-year, $12 million contract with the 49ers after playing for $2 million last season with the Bears.
The Bears wouldn’t be outbid for Glennon. They needed him to make their plan for their rookie — whomever he was — work. Glennon signed a three-year, $45 million contract but was guaranteed only one year and $18.5 million.
His $15 million annual average ranks 21st among quarterbacks. Trubisky is 23rd at approximately $7.3 million.
Why they had hope
The Bears’ research told them Glennon was an exemplary teammate through tough situations with North Carolina State and the Bucs. He also was determined to prove himself.
That gave the Bears confidence he would be able to handle the arrival of a rookie, though that’s now extremely debatable.
On the field, the Bears surely saw shortcomings in Glennon. The hope, though, was that Glennon’s determination and experience would help compensate for those deficiencies.
The Bears also had faith in their offensive situation. They thought stability at quarterback would make them markedly better after using Cutler, Hoyer and Matt Barkley last season and going 3-13.
Glennon was sacked at a high rate with the Bucs, but the Bears allowed the seventh-fewest sacks in the league in 2016. Jordan Howard also was the NFL’s second-leading rusher.
Why things broke down
The early signs were positive. Glennon was the leader the Bears hoped he would be. He organized throwing sessions at Deerfield High School and in Florida, which Trubisky attended. Teammates legitimately bought into him as a leader.
But Glennon struggled to stack good practices together during training camp, and the situation for him deteriorated. Guard Kyle Long’s surgically repaired right ankle required more time, and an emergency appendectomy and a broken pinkie sidelined receiver Markus Wheaton.
The situation worsened during the preseason. Losing receiver Cam Meredith (torn anterior cruciate ligament in left knee) was a devastating blow. He was the one receiver Glennon had developed a real rapport with before the regular season. Without Meredith, the offense changed two weeks before the regular season opened.
Losing receiver Kevin White (broken left shoulder blade) in Week 1 only made matters worse. Certain plays were scrapped from the offense because of their injuries.
Why change is needed
It’s simple: Glennon has committed eight turnovers and is the No. 1 reason the Bears are 1-3.
The Bears signed him with the best intentions, but he hasn’t been able to overcome the parts around him. His limitations are obvious when the situation — in general or on any given play — isn’t ideal.
Maintaining a message of accountability in the locker room starts with benching Glennon.
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MORRISSEY: Did Ryan Pace think or drink before signing Mike Glennon?
Film Study: Bears’ defense had no answers for Packers’ play callsThey were also advised to swap showers for baths, use sponges instead of hoses to clean cars and to plant plants such as geraniums, marigolds, alyssum and petunias, which resist droughts.
Providers including Southern, Affinity and Thames Water said they were monitoring the situation.
In Seathwaite, villagers have not been given any specific advice but say they are concerned about the unusual situation.
Peter Edmondson, who runs Seathwaite Farm Camping, told The Telegraph the river had been “bone dry” for more than a month.
“It is very unusual for this to happen in springtime,” he said. “Everything is usually under water. It has been wall-to-wall sunshine here. Over the years, I have seen times when it has rained for three weeks solid but in the last year or two it has just got drier.”On their second day in Capitol Hill, lawyers from Facebook, Twitter, and Google took a bipartisan beating as they faced tough questions about the role their platforms played in Russian attempts to divide the American electorate. Members of the Senate Intelligence Committee grilled the tech executives about their responses to Russian interference in the 2016 election, arguing that the companies are not taking seriously what Congress considers a kind of cyberwarfare. Moreover, some members said the companies’ business models are built to enable the kind of disinformation campaigns Russians used to sow discord.
"Russians have been conducting information warfare for decades," said Democratic Sen. Mark Warner in his opening remarks. "But what is new is the advent of social-media tools with the power to magnify propaganda and fake news on a scale that was unimaginable back in the days of the Berlin Wall. Today’s tools seem almost purpose-built for Russian disinformation techniques."
The hearing revealed new and startling insight into the ways in which Russians pitted Americans against each other, and reinforced the notion that social-media ads are only a portion of the threat from foreign actors. Senators also forced the tech execs to explain how they police content on their platforms in different parts of the world.
Here were the most revealing exchanges.
"It's hard to attend an event in Houston, Texas when you're trolling from St. Petersburg, Russia." - Republican Sen. Richard Burr
Burr, the committee chair, highlighted two Facebook posts from a Russian propaganda group called Internet Research Agency that created a conflict on the streets of Houston by drawing two groups of protestors to fake “rallies” at the same place and time. One post, shared by the fake Facebook page Heart of Texas, promoted a purported protest against the "Islamization of Texas." The second post, uploaded by the fake page United Muslims of America, promoted an event aimed at saving "Islamic knowledge." Both groups bought ads to publicize their events, spending about $200 in total.
Burr then showed images of the resulting clash outside the Islamic Center in Houston, dramatizing how fake accounts can produce real conflict. Skeptics of the impact of Russian meddling in the US election have argued that just because Russia endeavored to influence American voters doesn't mean they did. But the fact that people showed up for these protests, designed to foment anger on both sides, demonstrates that influence.
"Do you believe that any of your companies have identified the full scope of Russian active measures?" - Warner
"I have to say no." – Facebook General Counsel Colin Stretch
In September, Facebook acknowledged that it had discovered 3,000 ads from 470 accounts connected to Internet Research Agency. It's since revealed that those accounts collectively created 80,000 pieces of content that may have been shared, both organically and through ads, with 126 million people. It shared that information with Twitter and Google. Now Twitter says it has identified 2,752 accounts linked to Internet Research Agency, while Google says it has identified 18 YouTube channels connected to the group.
But Warner said he’s concerned that much of what we know about Russian actions on these platforms is "derivative" of Facebook's initial findings. In response to his question, executives of Twitter and Google also said they did not believe their companies had yet uncovered the full extent of Russian activities.
The dialogue illustrates an important point: The companies have been slow to investigate and respond to Russian meddling, which started in 2015, more than two years ago. "Many of us on this committee have been raising these issues since the beginning of this year," Warner said. "Our claims were frankly blown off by the leadership of your companies."
"Is a foreign influence campaign a violation of the terms of service of any of the three companies represented here today?" - Republican Sen. Marco Rubio.
Facebook says it deleted the accounts connected to the Internet Research Agency because the accounts were fake, a violation of its terms of service. Twitter says it deleted another 36,746 Russian bot accounts because its terms of service prohibit the use of automated accounts to spread spam on the service. And YouTube argues it allows the Russian propaganda media company RT to continue publishing videos because RT hasn't explicitly violated the company's rules around inciting hate speech or violence.
In response to Rubio’s question, Twitter’s general counsel Sean Edgett said foreign influence did not directly violate Twitter’s terms of service. "We don't have state-sponsored manipulation of elections as one of our rules," he said. "The other rules like inflammatory ads content would take down most of these posts, but we don't outright ban it."
Federal law bars foreign nationals from interfering in US elections. But the emphasis on fake accounts raises the question of whether the companies would act against foreign agencies that deployed trolls using real names and faces to spread the same messages. Guided by Rubio’s questions, Facebook's Stretch said the company complies with laws in other countries that restrict speech, such as a German law that makes it a crime to deny the Holocaust. The implication of Rubio’s remarks: Why aren’t the companies enforcing the US law banning foreign interference in elections?
"Do any of you have any information that registered voter data was uploaded and used to customize advertising or messaging to individual voters?" - Rubio
"We haven't seen evidence of that." - Twitter's Edgett
"The same is true for Facebook." - Facebook's Stretch
Facebook’s revelation that Russians had purchased ads prompted speculation about whether the Russians had help targeting the ads, potentially from the Trump campaign or its allies. The companies made clear Wednesday that they have no evidence that voter lists were used. Facebook and Twitter offered Internet Research Agency all of the targeting capabilities they needed.
Burr also noted that the Russians targeted ads at both “safe” states politically and “swing” states. He said nearly five times as many ads were targeted at Maryland, which Hillary Clinton won comfortably, as at Wisconsin, a key swing state that Trump won unexpectedly. He urged listeners not to consider Russian interference as an effort to prop up one candidate over another. "It is short-sighted and dangerous to selectively focus on one piece of information and think that somehow tells the whole story," he said.
"Their strategy is to take a crack in our society and turn it into a chasm." - Independent Sen. Angus King
As details of the Russian ad campaign have leaked to the public, questions have grown about what, exactly, the Internet Research Agency sought to accomplish. The content simultaneously supported conservative and liberal viewpoints. It attacked immigrants and welcomed them. It denounced white supremacism and denied its existence. Conservatives have used this as a defense of President Trump, arguing that Russians had no influence on the election outcome.
But Wednesday’s hearing made clear that the Russians achieved another outcome—stoking divisions and anger among Americans. Setting aside who won the race, anger and distrust in the American electoral system was the central outcome of the 2016 election. In clearly demonstrable ways, it was Russians who generated that anger.
Some, including the platforms themselves, have tried to frame the question of shutting down this content as a free-speech issue. Republican Sen. James Lankford challenged that view. "This is not an opposition of free speech battle. This is actually a battle to try to protect free speech," he said. "If two Americans have a disagreement. Let's have at it. If an outsider wants to come to it, we do have a problem with that."
"You’ve created these platforms, and now, they’re being misused, and you have to be the ones to do something about it. Or we will." - Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein
Feinstein’s remark, from a California senator generally viewed as friendly to tech, underscored how members of both parties are exploring regulatory fixes to the problems revealed during the campaign.
Burr noted that the companies are not exempt from federal laws requiring political advertisers to publicly disclose their funding. "I hope if there’s a takeaway from this, it's that everybody’s going to adhere to FEC law," he said.
Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin, meanwhile, pushed all three companies to support recently introduced legislation called the Honest Ads Act, which would require tech platforms to publish disclosures on political and issue-based ads and retain databases with additional information about who's behind the ad, as TV and radio stations do now. Twitter and Facebook recently announced similar features, though it’s not clear if the disclosures will match those of broadcasters.
Both Facebook and Twitter said they would work with regulators on a legislative solution. Sen. Feinstein suggested they'd better act fast, saying, "We are not going to go away gentlemen."
”Are you also intending to turn over to the committee any kind of direct messages that went on among the different accounts?” – Democratic Rep. Joaquin Castro
This question, referring to direct messages on Twitter and private chats on Facebook that phony Russian social-media accounts may have sent individual users, came during a House Intelligence Committee hearing Wednesday afternoon. So far, neither company has shared that content with Congress, and judging by their responses, they don’t seem poised to do so any time soon.
“Direct messages are the private communications of our users. We take that privacy right and responsibility very seriously,” said Twitter’s Edgett. Facebook’s Stretch said the question raised “thorny issues,” adding, “We’re happy to take a look at it and do what we can.”
The exchange demonstrates that despite gestures of transparency, these companies are generally responding to requests rather than volunteering information. It also underscores the many additional corners of Russia’s online influence campaign that have yet to be explored.
”Have your investigations looked at whether the Trump campaign was sharing Russian content? Have they looked at whether the Russians were sharing Trump campaign content?” – Democratic Rep. Jackie Speier
Perhaps the most cryptic back and forth of the day came toward the end of the House hearing. Speier noted two tweets that appeared around the same time during the campaign—one from the Trump campaign and one from RT—that both dealt with the subject of Hillary Clinton’s health. Speier asked the companies if they noted similarities in the content generated by Russian entities and by the Trump campaign.
Twitter and Facebook had both earlier said they had no evidence that the Russians and the Trump campaign targeted the same users. But this was a different question, relating to the similarity of content. And executives of both companies ducked. Facebook’s Stretch said, “We provided all relevant information to the committee, and we do think it’s an important function of this committee, because you have access to broader set of information than any single company will.”
The answer was puzzling not only because it was inconclusive, but also because the companies themselves are in the best position to know whether a post or tweet was repurposed and used by another account. Even if content from one account turned up elsewhere, that doesn’t necessarily imply collusion. Such retweets and repostings happen all the time. Viral content by its very nature has a way of being coopted.
UPDATE, 8PM: This article and headline have been updated to include comments from the afternoon hearing of the House Intelligence Committee.You are invited to participate in a research study aimed to explore the current knowledge of and attitude towards sport related concussions in current Taekwondo athletes. Previous Taekwondo research has shown that there is a high incidence of concussions and the current study will provide valuable information regarding how Taekwondo athletes understand sport related concussions. The outcomes from this study may lay the groundwork for the development of education materials, regarding injury risks, symptomology, and the consequences of mismanaging a concussion, for Taekwondo competitors.
Participation will be approximately 15 minutes and will involve completing a brief, anonymous survey. After the conclusion of the survey, you will have the opportunity to participate further in a brief confidential follow-up interview (approximately 20 - 30 minutes at length) conducted at a convenient time if selected. If you choose to provide contact information such as your phone number or email address, your survey responses will no longer be anonymous to the researcher. However, no names or identifying information would be included in any publications or presentations based on these data, and your responses to this survey will remain confidential. Interviews will be digitally recorded and transcribed verbatim. You will be given the opportunity to review transcriptions, verify for authenticity, and delete any portion. The information provided from the interview will remain confidential and reported in aggregate (group fashion) with no identifying information linking you to your responses. If selected, compensation for participating in both, the survey and interview, will receive a $25.00 Amazon® gift card. Although there are no direct benefits to you, the information gathered in this study will be used to develop educational material for Taekwondo athletes regarding the signs, symptoms, and risk of concussions.
The survey is being conducted with the help of Survey Monkey®, a company not affiliated with RMUoHP or local institution and with its own privacy and security policies that you can find at its website (www.surveymonkey.com). I anticipate that your participation in this survey presents no greater risk than everyday use of the Internet.
It is important to note that your participation in this study is completely voluntary. Your choice of whether or not to participate will not influence your future relations with the Rocky Mountain University of Health Professions or will have adverse effects on your Taekwondo participation, and/or status. There are no foreseeable risks associated with this study. However, if you feel uncomfortable answering any questions, you may skip them or you may withdraw from the survey or interview at any time without giving a reason. This will not affect any relationship you may have with me personally.When it comes to San Diego Comic-Con exclusives, it doesn’t get bigger than Hasbro. With license to manufacture toys that are consistently at the top of the pop culture want list, this booth is always one of the craziest and has broken the spirits of more SDCC attendees than the Hall H line ever has. That said, if you want the best in Marvel, Star Wars, Transformers, My Little Pony, or the rest of these lines, you must commit to the Hasbro exclusive war.
Take a look at what will be bringing many tears of joy and frustration to this year’s Comic-Con:
[UPDATE July 10 #2]
Hasbro is bringing their annual Magic the Gathering exclusive back to Comic-Con – and this year is set to include a Magic: The Gathering 2017 Planeswalker Pack, which includes a 24″36″ screen print of Nicol Bolas as illustrated by Brandon Holt. The print, a collaboration with Mondo, is printed on card stock. The actual Magic the Gathering set includes six Planeswalker cards with artwork from illustrator Vincent Proce, and includes cards for Gideon Jura, Jace Beleren, Liliana Vess, Chandra Nalaar, Nissa Revane, and Nicol Bolas.
The set will retail for $180.
Here’s a look at the set:
[UPDATE July 10]
Hasbro is celebrating a multitude of properties in one of their exclusives this year, as Entertainment Weekly has unveiled a first look at their Revolution Comic Crossover Mega-Set, which features 16 characters from Micronauts, Visionaries, Action Man, G.I. Joe, MASK, ROM the Space Knight, and more.
Based on the IDW Comics series Revolution, Hasbro has created new toys based on the work in this Mega Set, which will retail for $99.99 (and be available at SDCC and Fan Expo Canada). The full set includes Jetfire from Transformers, Roadblock from G.I. Joe, Action Man, a team of Micronauts, Matt Trakker from M.A.S.K. Mobile Armored Strike Command, Leoric from Visionaries, and ROM and Dire Wraight from ROM the Spaceknight.
Here’s a look:
[UPDATE June 20]
Hasbro’s latest San Diego Comic-Con exclusive is ready to shred: a Transformers Primitive Optimus Prime. The design (which was in part created by Primitive Skateboarding founder Paul Rodriguez) feature Primitive Skate’s classic black and gold colors for a more sophisticated and on-brand look, and comes packaged in packaging to mimic a “skate shoe” box with grip-tape inspired texture. He comes quipped with a ramp, rail, and hoverboard – and retails for just $49.99.
The pack includes a Leader Class Optimus Prime figure and a Titan Master Shreddicus Maximus figure, and converts from robot to tractor trailer in 23 steps and from tractor trailer to battle station in 10 steps.
[UPDATE June 15]
One of the rarest G.I. Joe playsets, the 1982 G.I. Joe Cobra Missile Command Headquarters, is being reborn as a San Diego Comic-Con exclusive this year. The original set was only available as a Sears exclusive in 1982-1983, but Hasbro’s 2017 version will be available at their booth (and in limited quantity at HasCon). The recreated set still uses cardboard similar to the original 1982 version, with recreated graphics and a weathered look for the box. It comes equipped with reproductions of the three figures sold in the original 1982 playset, including a Cobra Officer, a Cobra Trooper, and a Cobra Commander. The set includes file cards for the figures, as well as a file card holder for the cards. You can snag the G.I. Joe Cobra Missile Command Headquarters for $49.99.
Here’s a look:
[UPDATE June 6]
It wouldn’t be San Diego Comic-Con without as Hasbro Transformers exclusive, and that’s exactly what was revealed today. Hasbro will be bringing along an exclusive Transformers: The Last Knight Voyager Class Oprimus Prime figure to the con, which is based on both Optimus’ robot mode and Western Star truck mode featured in the upcoming summer film. Optimus comes in collectible display-style packaging, and includes a sword and shield accessory – as well as a free gift with purchase: an authentic piece of truck tire used in the film accompanied by a certificate of authenticity from Western Star.
The figure will retail for $49.99, and here’s a look.
[UPDATE May 18]
Just two days later, we have a look at the second Marvel San Diego Comic-Con exclusive, and it’s amazing. Hasbro will be bringing a Marvel Legends Series Battle for Asgard 5-Pack to the convention, which features Jane Foster Thor, Malekith, Ulik the troll, Original Thor as Odinson, and Bor.
Each figure is equipped with a weapon, and features 30 points of articulation. The set will retail for $99.99.
Here’s a look (click for larger):
[UPDATE May 16]
It’s not Hasbro without a Marvel San Diego Comic-Con exclusive or two, and this year’s first look is a 12 inch Marvel Legends Daredevil figure, based on the classic Marvel comic character. The figure features more than 30 points of articulation, and comes with 12 interchangeable parts and accessories, including an alternate head, alternate hands, and a baton – as well as two posters.
The packaging features original artwork by Marvel’s chief creative officer Joe Quesada, and includes braille on the back in a nice added touch to the character. The figure will retail for $59.99.
Here’s a look (click for larger):
[UPDATE April 15]
The first two Hasbro San Diego Comic-Con 2017 exclusives were unveiled today at Star Wars Celebration in Orlando, and much like in years past, this year’s Star Wars SDCC exclusive Black Series figures both will be improved upon versions of wide retail releases, with exclusive packaging, accessories, and more.
The first, the Star Wars: The Black Series X-34 Landspeeder & 6-Inch Luke Skywalker, will retail for $89.99. Compared to the regular retail release (which will retail for $59.99 and be available in the fall), the Landspeeder has a more detailed weathered deco, as well as a pop-up hood and engine, and Luke comes equipped with a poncho. Here’s a look:
The second exclusive, Star Wars: The Black Series 6-Inch Grand Admiral Thrawn, will retail for $49.99 (compared to the regular retail release, which will retail for $19.99 and be available in the fall), and comes with very cool SDCC exclusive packaging and extra accessories, including all of his trophies in a special trophy room diorama box. Here’s a look:
You can read more on StarWars.com.
Which Hasbro San Diego Comic-Con exclusives are on your must-buy list? Let us know in the comments.Patent reform advocates have long argued that "patent trolls"—companies that do nothing but sue over patents—are harmful to innovation, not just a plague on big companies. A new study attempted to find out if there's any real data behind that accusation or if it's just a few sad anecdotes.
Turns out there is a very real, and very negative, correlation between patent troll lawsuits and the venture capital funding that startups rely on. A just-released study [PDF] by Catherine Tucker, a professor of marketing at MIT's Sloan School of Business, finds that over the last five years, VC investment "would have likely been $21.772 billion higher... but for litigation brought by frequent litigators."
The study defines "frequent litigators" as companies that file 20 or more patent lawsuits, which limits the definition to true-blue "patent trolls," or Patent Assertion Entities (PAEs), the term used by the paper. The study covers the period from 1995 to 2012.
Tucker's paper estimates a 95 percent confidence interval for the amount of lost investment to be between $8.1 billion and $41.8 billion. Those numbers are relative to a baseline of just under $131 billion of investment that actually occurred during that five-year period of time.
Negative correlation
The study looked at the correlation between patent litigation generally and VC investment, and then looked specifically at frequent litigators.
When she looked at patent litigation generally, Tucker found that there is a positive correlation between some litigation and VC funding. More lawsuits go along with more investment—to a point.
"In the beginning, in general, patent litigation is good," said Tucker in an interview with Ars. "It suggests a well-functioning patent system and has a positive effect. However, when you get to a certain point, that's no longer the case. Then, the more patent litigation you have, the worse it is for venture capital investment."
When the study limited the question to patent assertion entities, the effect was entirely negative. There's no amount of activity by the frequent litigators that correlates with increased VC investment.
The study uses a complex mathematical technique called regression analysis to determine the correlation. Tucker and her assistants also ran the numbers with alternate scenarios, such as excluding areas known to have heavy patent litigation but limited VC investment, like the Eastern District of Texas and the District of Delaware. It didn't change the results.
Beyond anecdotes
Tucker says she was surprised by how strong the correlation was found to be.
"You hear these anecdotes, of VCs being a little nervous [because of patent lawsuits]," she said. "But I didn't think it would necessarily be strong enough to have an empirical effect."
A few mentions of those anecdotes are included in the first section of her paper. First, there's X-Plane, a South Carolina company sued over using copy protection software provided by Google, which "was forced to abandon product upgrades and new products that were in development." There's also California eyewear startup Ditto, which was sued last year by a troll called Lennon Imaging Technology. The case against Ditto was ultimately dismissed, but the company was still being valued at $3 to $4 million less than it would be otherwise, and it was forced to lay off four of its 15 employees to pay legal expenses. (Lennon Imaging also sued Condé Nast, the parent company of Ars Technica).
The study comes, not coincidentally, at a time when groups pushing for patent reform lost a big debate over a patent reform bill, which stalled in the US Senate last month. The work was funded by the Computer and Communications Industry Association, one of the tech industry groups pushing for an anti-patent-troll bill to be passed.
During the debate, critics of the proposed legislation often asserted that there was a lack of hard data on the pro-reform side. The figure reformers cited most often is the study by James Bessen and Michael Meurer, finding that trolls cost the US economy $29 billion in direct legal costs each year. That study is sometimes attacked by patent reform opponents because it's based in part on secret data provided by RPX, a defensive patent aggregator.
Tucker's study has the advantage of being based entirely on public information: the amount of patent litigation and the amount of VC funding are numbers that are known with certainty.
It remains to be seen if the study can influence the debate in Washington. For this year, reform has been killed, but lawmakers are continuing to discuss smaller measures, like kicking patent trolls out of the International Trade Commission.
"We already know startups are in danger because we didn't pass patent troll legislation," said Julie Samuels, a former EFF attorney who now lobbies for patent reform for Engine, a group representing startups. "This study is another layer, showing why the problem hurts startups more than big companies."(CNN) -- The Holy See's press office Saturday urged the public to read the latest Vatican-related diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks with "great prudence," claiming the allegations cited in the documents reflect only the view of their writers.
Without going into specifics on a number of allegations that emerged with the U.S. cables, the Holy See Press Office said that the reports "reflect the perceptions and opinions of the people who wrote them and cannot be considered as expressions of the Holy See itself."
"Their reliability must, then, be evaluated carefully and with great prudence, bearing this circumstance in mind," the statement said.
Among the documents were cables showing that relations between the Vatican and Ireland deteriorated sharply as the Holy See appeared to ignore a commission looking into complaints of physical and sexual abuse of children by Irish priests.
One cable from earlier this year says the Vatican was angered by the way the Murphy Commission -- which was looking into the how complaints of abuse had been handled by the Church and Irish government -- sidestepped normal diplomatic channels.
The commission had written directly to the Vatican to seek information and requested a meeting with the Vatican's representative in Ireland. The Vatican envoy did not respond, according to the cable.
The cable was one of several published Friday by the Guardian newspaper in London.
The Murphy Commission was appointed after another inquiry issued a report in May 2009 detailing horrific abuses, including 325 alleged cases of abuse by priests, and concluding that the problem was endemic.
"The Vatican believes the Irish government failed to respect and protect Vatican sovereignty during the investigations," the charge d'affaires at the U.S. Embassy to the Holy See, wrote in February 2010.
"Adding insult to injury, Vatican officials also believed some Irish opposition politicians were making political hay with the situation by calling publicly on the government to demand that the Vatican reply."
But the cable added: "Much of the Irish public views the Vatican protests as pettily procedural and failing to confront the real issue of horrific abuse and cover-up by Church officials."
"Resentment toward the Church in Rome remains very high, particularly because of the institutionalized cover-up of abuse by the Catholic Church hierarchy."
But U.S. diplomats credit the Vatican with responding to the unfolding crisis in Ireland "with uncharacteristic speed."
"The Vatican's relatively swift response to this crisis showed it learned key lessons from the U.S. sex abuse scandals in 2002 but still left some Catholics -- in Ireland and beyond -- feeling disaffected," the U.S. charge d'affaires wrote.
Victims' associations were complaining at the time that Pope Benedict XVI had not issued an apology for the abuses and had not ordered the removal of the remaining bishop accused of the cover-up, even though he said he shared the "outrage, betrayal, and shame" of Irish Catholics.
The following month the pope did offer an apology to the victims. "You have suffered grievously and I am truly sorry. I know that nothing can undo the wrong you have endured," he said.
Looking to the longer-term, the U.S. diplomat wrote that the prestige and power of the Irish Catholic Church had been falling ever since its peak with the 1979 visit of Pope John Paul II. The abuse scandals had come amid increasing secularization of society and might further reduce the influence of the Catholic Church, she wrote.
"Our contacts at the Vatican and in Ireland expect the crisis in the Irish Catholic Church to be protracted over several years, as only allegations from the Dublin Archdiocese have been investigated to date," the cable says.Ky Bowman scores 30 points and grabs 10 rebounds as Boston College defeats No. 1 Duke 89-84, handing the Blue Devils their first loss of the season. (1:14)
BOSTON -- Outside the Boston College basketball office, on the way to the practice gym, the walls are decorated with giant pictures from the Eagles' biggest wins.
The Sweet 16 appearance in 2006. Upsets over No. 1 North Carolina and No. 6 Duke in 2009. A victory over top-ranked Syracuse four years ago.
Make room for an addition: Boston College 89, Duke 84, an upset that sent the No. 1 Blue Devils to their first loss.
"We're putting one up for this one," coach Jim Christian said. "That's where I would put it. If you get a poster up on that wall, that's a big thing because of the proud history of this place."
Ky Bowman scored 30 points, adding 10 rebounds and nine assists to help Boston College (7-3, 1-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) win its third straight game against the No. 1 team in The Associated Press Top 25. Jordan Chatman scored 22, hitting four straight free throws in the final 16 seconds to ice it.
"I think this is probably going to be one of the top ones," Bowman said.
Gary Trent Jr. scored 25 and Marvin Bagley III had 15 points and 12 rebounds for Duke (11-1, 0-1 ACC).
The Blue Devils erased a 10-point deficit in the second half and led 79-75 with 3:30 to play. Boston College scored 12 of the next 14 points, getting a pair of 3-pointers from Robinson. Duke's Trevon Duval drove to the basket to make it 83-81 with 31 seconds left, but then he was called for an intentional foul on Chatman as BC tried to dribble out the clock.
Chatman made both foul shots, and then with BC retaining possession he was fouled again and made two more. A 3-pointer by Trent made it 87-84, but then Jerome Robinson was sent to the line and hit his free throws with 6 seconds left to ice it.
"This isn't about us being horrible. This is about how great they were. They were terrific. Not good, terrific," Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "We've got to get better. But I knew that. If we won, I would tell you we have to get better."
Despite the first snowstorm of the winter in Boston, a full house of 8,606 filled the Conte Forum -- the first sellout in Chestnut Hill since a game against ninth-ranked North Carolina last Jan. 21.
The fans poured onto the court after Trent's mostly meaningless 3-pointer in the final seconds bounced off the rim, celebrating Christian's biggest win yet. The Eagles finished last in the ACC in each of the past two seasons.
"I told these guys how fortunate they were because there's a lot of guys playing college basketball who are in great programs that will never get a chance to play the No. 1 team in the nation at home," Christian said. "For them, individually, (it's a) lifetime memory and a great step for our program."
Duke led 36-35 with four minutes left in the half before BC scored 13 of the next 16 points, getting back-to-back 3-point |
and cultural area from the North and South.
Within those regions are five distinct areas, based upon natural geography and population concentration. Northeastern New Jersey lies closest to Manhattan in New York City, and up to 1 million residents commute daily into the city for work, often via public transportation.[55] Northwestern New Jersey, is more wooded, rural, and mountainous. The Jersey shore, along the Atlantic Coast in Central and South Jersey, has its own unique natural, residential, and cultural characteristics owing to its location by the ocean. The Delaware Valley includes the southwestern counties of the state, which reside within the Philadelphia Metropolitan Area. The Pine Barrens region is in the southern interior of New Jersey. Covered rather extensively by mixed pine and oak forest, it has a much lower population density than much of the rest of the state.
The federal Office of Management and Budget divides New Jersey's counties into seven Metropolitan Statistical Areas, with 16 counties included in either the New York City or Philadelphia metro areas. Four counties have independent metro areas, and Warren County is part of the Pennsylvania-based Lehigh Valley metro area. New Jersey is also at the center of the Northeast megalopolis.
High Point, in Montague Township, Sussex County, is the state's highest elevation, at 1,803 feet (550 m) above sea level. The state's highest prominence is Kitty Ann Mountain in Morris County, rising 892 feet. The Palisades are a line of steep cliffs on the west side of the Hudson River, in Bergen and Hudson Counties. Major New Jersey rivers include the Hudson, Delaware, Raritan, Passaic, Hackensack, Rahway, Musconetcong, Mullica, Rancocas, Manasquan, Maurice, and Toms rivers. Due to New Jersey's peninsular geography, both sunrise and sunset are visible over water from different points on the Jersey Shore.
National parks, monuments, and historic landmarks
Prominent geographic features
Climate
There are two climatic conditions in the state. The south, central, and northeast parts of the state have a humid subtropical climate, while the northwest has a humid continental climate (microthermal), with much cooler temperatures due to higher elevation. New Jersey receives between 2,400 and 2,800 hours of sunshine annually.[56]
Summers are typically hot and humid, with statewide average high temperatures of 82–87 °F (28–31 °C) and lows of 60–69 °F (16–21 °C); however, temperatures exceed 90 °F (32 °C) on average 25 days each summer, exceeding 100 °F (38 °C) in some years. Winters are usually cold, with average high temperatures of 34–43 °F (1–6 °C) and lows of 16 to 28 °F (−9 to −2 °C) for most of the state, but temperatures can, for brief periods, fall below 10 °F (−12 °C) and sometimes rise above 50 °F (10 °C). Northwestern parts of the state have significantly colder winters with sub-0 °F (−18 °C) being an almost annual occurrence. Spring and autumn may feature wide temperature variations, with lower humidity than summer. The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone classification ranges from 6 in the northwest of the state, to 7B near Cape May.[57] All-time temperature extremes recorded in New Jersey include 110 °F (43 °C) on July 10, 1936 in Runyon, Middlesex County and −34 °F (−37 °C) on January 5, 1904 in River Vale, Bergen County.[58]
Average annual precipitation ranges from 43 to 51 inches (1,100 to 1,300 mm), uniformly spread through the year. Average snowfall per winter season ranges from 10–15 inches (25–38 cm) in the south and near the seacoast, 15–30 inches (38–76 cm) in the northeast and central part of the state, to about 40–50 inches (1.0–1.3 m) in the northwestern highlands, but this often varies considerably from year to year. Precipitation falls on an average of 120 days a year, with 25 to 30 thunderstorms, most of which occur during the summer.
During winter and early spring, New Jersey can experience "nor'easters," which are capable of causing blizzards or flooding throughout the northeastern United States. Hurricanes and tropical storms (such as Tropical Storm Floyd in 1999[59]), tornadoes, and earthquakes are rare, although New Jersey was severely impacted by Hurricane Sandy on October 29, 2012 with the storm making landfall in the state at 90 mph.
Average high and low temperatures in various cities of New Jersey °C (°F)[1] [2] [3] City Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Sussex 1/−9 (34/16) 3/−8 (38/18) 8/−4 (47/26) 15/2 (59/36) 21/7 (70/45) 25/12 (78/55) 28/16 (82/60) 27/14 (81/58) 23/10 (73/50) 17/4 (62/38) 11/−1 (51/31) 4/−6 (39/22) Newark 4/−4 (39/24) 6/−3 (42/27) 10/1 (51/34) 17/7 (62/44) 22/12 (72/53) 28/17 (82/63) 30/20 (86/69) 29/20 (84/68) 25/15 (77/60) 18/9 (65/48) 13/4 (55/39) 6/−1 (44/30) Kinnelon 0/−8 (35/15) 2/−8 (37/18) 7/-4 (46/26) 16/2 (60/36) 21/7 (69/45) 24/12 (76/66) 28/16 (83/60) 27/14 (81/58) 23/10 (73/50) 16/4 (60/38) 11/-2 (51/29) 4/−6 (39/22) Atlantic City 5/−2 (42/29) 6/−1 (44/31) 10/3 (50/37) 14/8 (58/46) 19/13 (67/55) 24/18 (76/64) 27/21 (81/70) 27/21 (80/70) 24/18 (75/64) 18/11 (65/53) 13/6 (56/43) 8/1 (46/34) Cape May 6/−2 (42/28) 7/−2 (44/29) 11/2 (51/35) 16/7 (61/44) 21/12 (70/53) 26/17 (79/63) 29/20 (85/68) 29/19 (83/67) 25/16 (78/61) 19/9 (67/50) 14/4 (57/41) 8/0 (47/32)
Demographics
Historical population Census Pop. %± 1790 184,139 — 1800 211,149 14.7% 1810 245,562 16.3% 1820 277,575 13.0% 1830 320,823 15.6% 1840 373,306 16.4% 1850 489,555 31.1% 1860 672,035 37.3% 1870 906,096 34.8% 1880 1,131,116 24.8% 1890 1,444,933 27.7% 1900 1,883,669 30.4% 1910 2,537,167 34.7% 1920 3,155,900 24.4% 1930 4,041,334 28.1% 1940 4,160,165 2.9% 1950 4,835,329 16.2% 1960 6,066,782 25.5% 1970 7,168,164 18.2% 1980 7,364,823 2.7% 1990 7,730,188 5.0% 2000 8,414,350 8.9% 2010 8,791,894 4.5% Est. 2018 8,908,520 1.3% Source: 1910–2010[60]
2018 Estimate[61]
New Jersey population distribution
State population
The United States Census Bureau estimates that the population of New Jersey was 8,908,520 on July 1, 2018, a 1.33% increase since the 2010 United States Census.[61] Residents of New Jersey are most commonly referred to as "New Jerseyans" or, less commonly, as "New Jerseyites". As of the 2010 census, there were 8,791,894 people residing in the state. The racial makeup of the state was:
17.7% of the population were Hispanic or Latino (of any race).
Non-Hispanic Whites were 58.9% of the population in 2011,[6] down from 85% in 1970.[65]
In 2010, unauthorized immigrants constituted an estimated 6.2% of the population. This was the fourth-highest percentage of any state in the country.[66] There were an estimated 550,000 illegal immigrants in the state in 2010.[67]
The United States Census Bureau, as of July 1, 2017, estimated New Jersey's population at 9,005,644,[68] which represents an increase of 213,750, or 2.4%, since the last census in 2010. As of 2010, New Jersey was the eleventh-most populous state in the United States, and the most densely populated, at 1,185 residents per square mile (458 per km2), with most of the population residing in the counties surrounding New York City, Philadelphia, and along the eastern Jersey Shore, while the extreme southern and northwestern counties are relatively less dense overall. It is also the second wealthiest state according to the U.S. Census Bureau.[21]
The center of population for New Jersey is located in Middlesex County, in the town of Milltown, just east of the New Jersey Turnpike.[69]
New Jersey is home to more scientists and engineers per square mile than anywhere else in the world.[70][71][72]
On October 21, 2013, same-sex marriages commenced in New Jersey.[73]
Race and ethnicity
New Jersey is one of the most ethnically and religiously diverse states in the country. As of 2011, 56.4% of New Jersey's children under the age of one belonged to racial or ethnic minority groups, meaning that they had at least one parent who was not non-Hispanic white.[74] It has the second largest Jewish population by percentage (after New York);[75] the second largest Muslim population by percentage (after Michigan); the largest population of Peruvian Americans in the United States; the largest population of Cubans outside of Florida; the third highest Asian population by percentage; and the third highest Italian population by percentage, according to the 2000 Census. African Americans, Hispanics (Puerto Ricans and Dominicans), West Indians, Arabs, and Brazilian and Portuguese Americans are also high in number. New Jersey has the third highest Asian Indian population of any state by absolute numbers and the highest by percentage,[76][77][78][79] with Bergen County home to America's largest Malayali community.[80] Overall, New Jersey has the third largest Korean population, with Bergen County home to the highest Korean concentration per capita of any U.S. county[81] (6.9% in 2011). New Jersey also has the fourth largest Filipino population, and fourth largest Chinese population, per the 2010 U.S. Census. The five largest ethnic groups in 2000 were: Italian (17.9%), Irish (15.9%), African (13.6%), German (12.6%), Polish (6.9%).
Newark was the fourth poorest of U.S. cities with over 250,000 residents in 2008,[82] but New Jersey as a whole had the second-highest median household income as of 2014.[21] This is largely because so much of New Jersey consists of suburbs, most of them affluent, of New York City and Philadelphia. New Jersey is also the most densely populated state, and the only state that has had every one of its counties deemed "urban" as defined by the Census Bureau's Combined Statistical Area.[83]
In 2010, 6.2% of its population was reported as under age 5, 23.5% under 18, and 13.5% were 65 or older; and females made up approximately 51.3% of the population.[89]
A study by the Pew Research Center found that in 2013, New Jersey was the only U.S. state in which immigrants born in India constituted the largest foreign-born nationality, representing roughly 10% of all foreign-born residents in the state.[88]
For further information on various ethnic groups and neighborhoods prominently featured within New Jersey, see the following articles:
Birth data
As of 2011, 56.4% of New Jersey's population younger than age 1 were minorities (meaning that they had at least one parent who was not non-Hispanic white).[90]
Note: Births in table don't add up, because Hispanics are counted both by their ethnicity and by their race, giving a higher overall number.
Since 2016, data for births of White Hispanic origin are not collected, but included in one Hispanic group; persons of Hispanic origin may be of any race.
Languages
Top 10 Non-English Languages Spoken in New Jersey Language Percentage of population
(as of 2010) [96] Spanish 14.59% Chinese (including Cantonese and Mandarin) 1.23% Italian 1.06% Portuguese 1.06% Filipino 0.96% Korean 0.89% Gujarati 0.83% Polish 0.79% Hindi 0.71% Arabic 0.62% Russian 0.56%
As of 2010, 71.31% (5,830,812) of New Jersey residents age 5 and older spoke English at home as a primary language, while 14.59% (1,193,261) spoke Spanish, 1.23% (100,217) Chinese (which includes Cantonese and Mandarin), 1.06% (86,849) Italian, 1.06% (86,486) Portuguese, 0.96% (78,627) Tagalog, and Korean was spoken as a main language by 0.89% (73,057) of the population over the age of five. In total, 28.69% (2,345,644) of New Jersey's population age 5 and older spoke a mother language other than English.[96]
A diverse collection of languages has since evolved amongst the state's population, given that New Jersey has become cosmopolitan and is home to ethnic enclaves of non-English-speaking communities:[97][98][99][100]
Religion
By number of adherents, the largest denominations in New Jersey, according to the Association of Religion Data Archives in 2010, were the Roman Catholic Church with 3,235,290; Islam with 160,666; and the United Methodist Church with 138,052.[108] The world's largest Hindu temple was inaugurated in Robbinsville, Mercer County, in central New Jersey during 2014, a BAPS temple.[109]
Settlements
For its overall population and nation-leading population density, New Jersey has a relative paucity of classic large cities. This paradox is most pronounced in Bergen County, New Jersey's most populous county, whose more than 930,000 residents in 2014 inhabited 70 municipalities, the most populous being Hackensack, with 44,519 residents estimated in 2014. Many urban areas extend far beyond the limits of a single large city, as New Jersey cities (and indeed municipalities in general) tend to be geographically small; three of the four largest cities in New Jersey by population have under 20 square miles of land area, and eight of the top ten, including all of the top five have land area under 30 square miles. As of the 2010 United States Census, only four municipalities had populations in excess of 100,000, although Edison and Woodbridge came very close.
Wealth
Economy
Employment by industries
The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis estimates that New Jersey's gross state product in 2016 was $575 billion.[114] New Jersey's estimated taxpayer burden in 2015 was $59,400 per taxpayer.[115]
Affluence
New Jersey's per capita gross state product in 2008 was $54,699, second in the U.S. and above the national per capita gross domestic product of $46,588.[116] Its per capita income was the third highest in the nation with $51,358.[116] In 2013, the state had the second-largest number of millionaires per capita in the United States (ratio of 7.49%), according to a study by Phoenix Marketing International.[117] It is ranked second in the nation by the number of places with per capita incomes above national average with 76.4%. Nine of New Jersey's counties are in the wealthiest 100 of the country.
A heat map showing median income distribution by county in New Jersey.
Fiscal policy
New Jersey has seven tax brackets that determine state income tax rates, which range from 1.4% (for income below $20,000) to 8.97% (for income above $500,000).[118]
The standard sales tax rate as of January 1, 2018, is 6.625%, applicable to all retail sales unless specifically exempt by law. This rate, which is comparably lower than that of New York City, often attracts numerous shoppers from New York City, often to suburban Paramus, New Jersey, which has five malls, one of which (the Garden State Plaza) has over two million square feet of retail space. Tax exemptions include most food items for at-home preparation, medications, most clothing, footwear and disposable paper products for use in the home.[119] There are 27 Urban Enterprise Zone statewide, including sections of Paterson, Elizabeth, and Jersey City. In addition to other benefits to encourage employment within the zone, shoppers can take advantage of a reduced 3.3125% sales tax rate (half the rate rate charged statewide) at eligible merchants.[120][121][122]
New Jersey has the highest cumulative tax rate of all 50 states with residents paying a total of $68 billion in state and local taxes annually with a per capita burden of $7,816 at a rate of 12.9% of income.[123] All real property located in the state is subject to property tax unless specifically exempted by statute. New Jersey does not assess an intangible personal property tax, but it does impose an inheritance tax.
Federal taxation disparity
New Jersey consistently ranks as having one of the highest proportional levels of disparity of any state in the United States, based upon what it receives from the federal government relative to what it gives. In 2015, WalletHub ranked New Jersey the state least dependent upon federal government aid overall and having the fourth lowest return on taxpayer investment from the federal government, at 48 cents per dollar.[124]
New Jersey has one of the highest tax burdens in the nation.[125] Factors for this include the large federal tax liability which is not adjusted for New Jersey's higher cost of living and Medicaid funding formulas. As shown by the study, incomes tend to be higher in New Jersey, which puts those in higher tax brackets especially vulnerable to the alternative minimum tax.
Industries
New Jersey's economy is multifaceted, but is centered on the pharmaceutical industry, the financial industry, chemical development, telecommunications, food processing, electric equipment, printing, publishing, and tourism. New Jersey's agricultural outputs are nursery stock, horses, vegetables, fruits and nuts, seafood, and dairy products.[126] New Jersey ranks second among states in blueberry production, third in cranberries and spinach, and fourth in bell peppers, peaches, and head lettuce.[127] The state harvests the fourth-largest number of acres planted with asparagus.[128]
Although New Jersey is home to many energy-intensive industries, its energy consumption is only 2.7% of the U.S. total, and its carbon dioxide emissions are 0.8% of the U.S. total. Its comparatively low greenhouse gas emissions can be attributed to the state's use of nuclear power. According to the Energy Information Administration, nuclear power dominates New Jersey's electricity market, typically supplying more than one-half of state generation. New Jersey has three nuclear power plants, including the Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station, which came online in 1969 and is the oldest operating nuclear plant in the country.[129]
New Jersey has a strong scientific economy and is home to major pharmaceutical and telecommunications firms, drawing on the state's large and well-educated labor pool. There is also a strong service economy in retail sales, education, and real estate, serving residents who work in New York City or Philadelphia.
Shipping is a key industry in New Jersey because of the state's strategic geographic location, the Port of New York and New Jersey being the busiest port on the East Coast. The Port Newark-Elizabeth Marine Terminal was the world's first container port and today is one of the world's largest.
New Jersey hosts several business headquarters, including twenty-four Fortune 500 companies.[130] Paramus in Bergen County has become the top retail zip code (07652) in the United States, with the municipality generating over $5 billion annually in retail sales.[131][132] Several New Jersey counties, such as Somerset (7), Morris (10), Hunterdon (13), Bergen (21), Monmouth (42) are ranked among the highest-income counties in the United States.
Tourism
New Jersey's location at the center of the Northeast megalopolis and its extensive transportation system have put over one-third of all United States residents and many Canadian residents within overnight distance by land. This accessibility to consumer revenue has enabled seaside resorts such as Atlantic City and the remainder of the Jersey Shore, as well as the state's other natural and cultural attractions, to contribute significantly to New Jersey's tourism revenue of $43.4 billion and 95 million tourist visits in 2015, directly supporting 318,330 jobs and sustaining more than 512,000 jobs including peripheral impacts.[133]
Gambling
In 1976, a referendum of New Jersey voters approved casino gambling in Atlantic City, where the first legalized casino opened in 1978.[134] At that time, Las Vegas was the only other casino resort in the country.[135] Today, several casinos lie along the Atlantic City Boardwalk,[136] the first and longest boardwalk in the world.[137] Atlantic City experienced a dramatic contraction in its stature as a gambling destination after 2010, including the closure of multiple casinos since 2014, spurred by competition from the advent of legalized gambling in other northeastern U.S. states.[138][139] On February 26, 2013, Governor Chris Christie signed online gambling into law.[140]
Natural resources
Forests cover 45%, or approximately 2.1 million acres, of New Jersey's land area.[141] The chief tree of the northern forests is the oak. The Pine Barrens, consisting of pine forests, is in the southern part of the state.
Some mining activity of zinc, iron, and manganese still takes place in the area in and around the Franklin Furnace.
New Jersey is second in the nation in solar power installations,[142] enabled by one of the country's most favorable net metering policies, and the renewable energy certificates program. The state has more than 10,000 solar installations.[143]
Education
In 2010, there were 605 school districts in the state.[145]
Secretary of Education Rick Rosenberg, appointed by Governor Jon Corzine, created the Education Advancement Initiative (EAI) to increase college admission rates by 10% for New Jersey's high school students, decrease dropout rates by 15%, and increase the amount of money devoted to schools by 10%. Rosenberg retracted this plan when criticized for taking the money out of healthcare to fund this initiative.
In 2010, the state government paid all of the teachers' premiums for health insurance,[145] but currently all NJ public teachers pay a portion of their own health insurance premiums.
In 2015, New Jersey spent more per each public school student than any other U.S. state except New York, Alaska, and Connecticut, amounting to $18,235 spent per pupil. Over 50% of the expenditure was allocated to student instruction.[146]
According to 2011 Newsweek statistics, students of High Technology High School in Lincroft, Monmouth County and Bergen County Academies in Hackensack, Bergen County registered average SAT scores of 2145 and 2100, respectively,[147] representing the second- and third-highest scores, respectively, of all listed U.S. high schools.[147]
Princeton University in Princeton, Mercer County, one of the world's most prominent research universities, is often featured at or near the top of various national and global university rankings, topping the 2019 list of U.S. News & World Report.[148] In 2013, Rutgers University, headquartered in New Brunswick, Middlesex County as the flagship institution of higher education in New Jersey, gained medical and dental schools, augmenting its profile as a national research university as well.[149]
In 2014, New Jersey's school systems were ranked at the top of all fifty U.S. states by financial website Wallethub.com.[150] In 2018, New Jersey's overall educational system was ranked second among all states to Massachusetts by U.S. News & World Report.[151]
Nine New Jersey high schools were ranked among the top 25 in the U.S. on the Newsweek "America's Top High Schools 2016" list, more than from any other state.[152] A 2017 UCLA Civil Rights project found that New Jersey has the sixth-most segregated classrooms in the United States.[153]
Culture
General
New Jersey has continued to play a prominent role as a U.S. cultural nexus. Like every state, New Jersey has its own cuisine, religious communities, museums, and halls of fame.
New Jersey is the birthplace of modern inventions such as: FM radio, the motion picture camera, the lithium battery, the light bulb, transistors, and the electric train. Other New Jersey creations include: the drive-in movie, the cultivated blueberry, cranberry sauce, the postcard, the boardwalk, the zipper, the phonograph, saltwater taffy, the dirigible, the seedless watermelon,[154] the first use of a submarine in warfare, and the ice cream cone.[155]
Diners are iconic to New Jersey. The state is home to many diner manufacturers and has over 600 diners, more than any other place in the world.[156]
New Jersey is the only state without a state song. I'm From New Jersey is incorrectly listed on many websites as being the New Jersey state song, but it was not even a contender when in 1996 the New Jersey Arts Council submitted their suggestions to the New Jersey Legislature.[157]
New Jersey is frequently the target of jokes in American culture,[158] especially from New York City-based television shows, such as Saturday Night Live. Academic Michael Aaron Rockland attributes this to New Yorkers' view that New Jersey is the beginning of Middle America. The New Jersey Turnpike, which runs between two major East Coast cities, New York City and Philadelphia, is also cited as a reason, as people who traverse through the state may only see its industrial zones.[159] Reality television shows like Jersey Shore and The Real Housewives of New Jersey have reinforced stereotypical views of New Jersey culture,[160] but Rockland cited The Sopranos and the music of Bruce Springsteen as exporting a more positive image.[159]
Cuisine
New Jersey is known for several foods developed within the region, including Taylor Ham (also known as pork roll), cheesesteaks, and scrapple.
Several states with substantial Italian American populations take credit for the development of submarine sandwiches, including New Jersey.[161]
Music
New Jersey has long been an important origin for both rock and rap music. Prominent musicians from or with significant connections to New Jersey include:
In comics and video games
Media
New Jersey's area codes
Newspapers
Major New Jersey newspapers including the following:
Radio stations
Television and film
Motion picture technology was developed by Thomas Edison, with much of his early work done at his West Orange laboratory. Edison's Black Maria was the first motion picture studio. America's first motion picture industry started in 1907 in Fort Lee and the first studio was constructed there in 1909.[196] DuMont Laboratories in Passaic developed early sets and made the first broadcast to the private home.
A number of television shows and films have been filmed in New Jersey. Since 1978, the state has maintained a Motion Picture and Television Commission to encourage filming in-state.[197] New Jersey has long offered tax credits to television producers. Governor Chris Christie suspended the credits in 2010, but the New Jersey State Legislature in 2011 approved the restoration and expansion of the tax credit program. Under bills passed by both the state Senate and Assembly, the program offers 20 percent tax credits (22% in urban enterprise zones) to television and film productions that shoot in the state and meet set standards for hiring and local spending.[198]
Transportation
Roadways
Map of New Jersey showing major transportation networks and cities
The New Jersey Turnpike is one of the most prominent and heavily trafficked roadways in the United States. This toll road, which overlaps with Interstate 95 for much of its length, carries traffic between Delaware and New York, and up and down the East Coast in general. Commonly referred to as simply "the Turnpike," it is known for its numerous rest areas named after prominent New Jerseyans.
The Garden State Parkway, or simply "the Parkway," carries relatively more in-state traffic than interstate traffic and runs from New Jersey's northern border to its southernmost tip at Cape May. It is the main route that connects the New York metropolitan area to the Jersey Shore and is consistently one of the safest roads in the nation. With a total of 15 travel and 6 shoulder lanes, the Driscoll Bridge on the Parkway, spanning the Raritan River in Middlesex County, is the widest motor vehicle bridge in the world by number of lanes as well as one of the busiest.[201]
New Jersey is connected to New York City via various key bridges and tunnels. The double-decked George Washington Bridge carries the heaviest load of motor vehicle traffic of any bridge in the world, at 102 million vehicles per year, across fourteen lanes.[199][200] It connects Fort Lee, New Jersey to the Washington Heights neighborhood of Upper Manhattan, and carries Interstate 95 and U.S. Route 1/9 across the Hudson River. The Lincoln Tunnel connects to Midtown Manhattan carrying New Jersey Route 495, and the Holland Tunnel connects to Lower Manhattan carrying Interstate 78. New Jersey is also connected to Staten Island by three bridges – from north to south, the Bayonne Bridge, the Goethals Bridge, and the Outerbridge Crossing.
New Jersey has interstate compacts with all three of its neighboring states. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the Delaware River Port Authority (with Pennsylvania), the Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission (with Pennsylvania), and the Delaware River and Bay Authority (with Delaware) operate most of the major transportation routes in and out of the state. Bridge tolls are collected only from traffic exiting the state, with the exception of the private Dingman's Ferry Bridge over the Delaware River, which charges a toll in both directions.
It is unlawful for a customer to serve themselves gasoline in New Jersey. It became the last remaining U.S. state where all gas stations are required to sell full-service gasoline to customers at all times in 2016, after Oregon's introduction of restricted self-service gasoline availability took effect.[202]
Airports
Newark Liberty International Airport is one of the busiest airports in the United States. Operated by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, it is one of the three main airports serving the New York City area. United Airlines is the airport's largest tenant, operating an entire terminal there, which it uses as one of its primary hubs. FedEx Express operates a large cargo terminal at Newark as well. The adjacent Newark Airport railroad station provides access to Amtrak and NJ Transit trains along the Northeast Corridor Line.
Two smaller commercial airports, Atlantic City International Airport and Trenton-Mercer Airport, also operate in other parts of the state. Teterboro Airport in Bergen County, and Millville Municipal Airport in Cumberland County, are general aviation airports popular with private and corporate aircraft due to their proximity to New York City and the Jersey Shore, respectively.
Rail and bus
NJ Transit operates extensive rail and bus service throughout the state. A state-run corporation, it began with the consolidation of several private bus companies in North Jersey in 1979. In the early 1980s, it acquired Conrail's commuter train operations that connected suburban towns to New York City. Today, NJ Transit has eleven commuter rail lines that run through different parts of the state. Most of the lines end at either New York's Penn Station or Hoboken's Hoboken Terminal. One line provides service between Atlantic City and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
NJ Transit also operates three light rail systems in the state. The Hudson-Bergen Light Rail connects Bayonne to North Bergen, through Hoboken and Jersey City. The Newark Light Rail is partially underground, and connects downtown Newark with other parts of the city. The River Line connects Trenton and Camden.
The PATH is a rapid transit system consisting of four lines operated by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. It links Hoboken, Jersey City, Harrison and Newark with New York City. The PATCO Speedline is a rapid transit system that links Camden County to Philadelphia. Both the PATCO and the PATH are two of only six rapid transit systems in the United States to operate 24 hours a day.
Amtrak operates numerous long-distance passenger trains in New Jersey, both to and from neighboring states and around the country. In addition to the Newark Airport connection, other major Amtrak railway stations include Trenton Transit Center, Metropark, and the historic Newark Penn Station.
The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, or SEPTA, has two commuter rail lines that operate into New Jersey. The Trenton Line terminates at the Trenton Transit Center, and the West Trenton Line terminates at the West Trenton Rail Station in Ewing.
AirTrain Newark is a monorail connecting the Amtrak/NJ Transit station on the Northeast Corridor to the airport's terminals and parking lots.
Some private bus carriers still remain in New Jersey. Most of these carriers operate with state funding to offset losses and state owned buses are provided to these carriers, of which Coach USA companies make up the bulk. Other carriers include private charter and tour bus operators that take gamblers from other parts of New Jersey, New York City, Philadelphia, and Delaware to the casino resorts of Atlantic City.
Ferries
New York Waterway has ferry terminals at Belford, Jersey City, Hoboken, Weehawken, and Edgewater, with service to different parts of Manhattan. Liberty Water Taxi in Jersey City has ferries from Paulus Hook and Liberty State Park to Battery Park City in Manhattan. Statue Cruises offers service from Liberty State Park to the Statue of Liberty National Monument, including Ellis Island. SeaStreak offers services from the Raritan Bayshore to Manhattan, Martha's Vineyard, and Nantucket.
On the Delaware Bay, the Delaware River and Bay Authority operates the Cape May–Lewes Ferry, carrying both passengers and vehicles from New Jersey to Deleware. The agency also operates the Forts Ferry Crossing for passengers across the Delaware River. The Delaware River Port Authority operates the RiverLink Ferry between the Camden waterfront and Penn's Landing in Philadelphia.
Government and politics
Executive
The position of Governor of New Jersey has been considered one of the most powerful in the nation. Until 2010, the governor was the only statewide elected executive official in the state and appointed numerous government officials. Formerly, an acting governor was even more powerful as he simultaneously served as President of the New Jersey State Senate, thus directing half of the legislative and all of the executive process. In 2002 and 2007, President of the State Senate Richard Codey held the position of acting governor for a short time, and from 2004 to 2006 Codey became a long-term acting governor due to Jim McGreevey's resignation. A 2005 amendment to the state Constitution prevents the Senate President from becoming acting governor in the event of a permanent gubernatorial vacancy without giving up her or his seat in the state Senate. Phil Murphy (D) is the Governor. The governor's mansion is Drumthwacket, located in Princeton.
Before 2010, New Jersey was one of the few states without a lieutenant governor. Republican Kim Guadagno was elected the first Lieutenant Governor of New Jersey and took office on January 19, 2010. She was elected on the Republican ticket with Governor-Elect Chris Christie in the November 2009 NJ gubernatorial election. The position was created as the result of a Constitutional amendment to the New Jersey State Constitution passed by the voters on November 8, 2005 and effective as of January 17, 2006.
Legislative
The current version of the New Jersey State Constitution was adopted in 1947. It provides for a bicameral New Jersey Legislature, consisting of an upper house Senate of 40 members and a lower house General Assembly of 80 members. Each of the 40 legislative districts elects one State Senator and two Assembly members. Assembly members are elected for a two-year term in all odd-numbered years; State Senators are elected in the years ending in 1, |
% of British goods exports by value, according to the Confederation of British Industry. It reckons average tariffs would be 4.3% on exports and 5.7% on imports, with some industries like agriculture, cars and clothing hit much harder. And it says additional non-tariff barriers would cost the equivalent of 6.5% on exports. Food prices would also rise: by some 2.7% for affected goods, says a study by the Resolution Foundation, a think-tank, and Sussex University—and the poor would suffer the most. A falling pound after a no-deal Brexit could push inflation up more.
Customs would create huge problems. A new computer system is unlikely to be ready before early 2019 and could anyway not cope with a quintupling of customs declarations to 250m a year. An extra two minutes’ delay for lorries at Dover, a conservative guess, would mean long queues. Even if the British were prepared, others might not be. Tailbacks on motorways in Kent in 2015 were caused by problems in Calais, not Dover. Brexit with no deal would also necessarily impose a hard customs border in Ireland, causing much grief.
Emergency stop
Certain industries could suffer gravely. Britain exports 80% of the cars it makes, over half of them to the EU. They could lose their EU certification as well as facing 10% tariffs, plus 2.5-4.5% tariffs on car components, which move a lot in both directions. Honda has said that it maintains only half a day’s supply of EU-made components, so any delays would be highly costly. Aston Martin has said that losing EU certification could mean it might have to stop production altogether.
The pharmaceutical and chemicals industries are also vulnerable. Between them they account for 10% of value added in British manufacturing. Falling out of the EMA and the REACH chemicals directive could make it impossible for firms in these industries to export to the EU. The CBI cites a cosmetics-maker which would have to relocate to the continent. Outside Euratom, not only would nuclear power stations be unable to import plutonium, but imports of radioactive isotopes that are vital for cancer treatment and are not made in Britain might have to cease.
British-based airlines are subject to EU rules through the European Aviation Safety Agency, which like all such agencies comes under the ECJ. A no-deal Brexit would mean that they could no longer fly legally between Britain and the EU. Britain would also fall out of the EU’s bilateral air-services agreement with America. Banks would lose the passport that entitles them to do business within the EU out of London. There would be long legal arguments over the status of many derivatives contracts. The Bank of England has at least declared that no British bank would go under after a no-deal Brexit.
And then there is security co-operation. A no-deal Brexit would knock Britain out of both Europol and the European Arrest Warrant (EAW), and also deprive it of access to many EU databases of suspected criminals and terrorists, including the passenger-names record that Britain did much to promote. Intelligence-sharing might continue bilaterally. But being outside the EAW, even if only temporarily, could quickly turn Britain into the preferred haven for any EU criminal, rather like Spain in the 1960s and 1970s.
What all these examples suggest is that a no-deal Brexit would be risky and costly. And that undermines the credibility of a no-deal threat. Yet it could still happen by accident or poor timing. Brexiteers may claim that, like forecasts before the referendum, the risks are exaggerated. They should heed Anand Menon, director of UK in a Changing Europe, an academic network: “This time, Project Fear would not be scaremongering.”Welp, Apple’s gone and done it again. They’ve moved forward with a smartphone design change or an innovation that they like, and the rest of the industry is in ‘me, too’ mode.
Such is the case with the iPhone X’s decision to drop the fingerprint sensor in favor of an all-screen design and the use of 3D depth-sensing cameras for biometric security. It really is cool tech and, if Apple’s claims are genuine, could be infinitely more secure than fingerprint tech.
Read More: iPhone X vs Android
So we shouldn’t be surprised to hear that industry interest for the tech has skyrocketed. KGI reports that interest for the tech has at least tripled since the iPhone X’s unveiling, and is expected to outpace under-display fingerprint sensors by as much as 3:1. There are a couple of different factors at play making that happen:
The Apple effect, duh. Everyone wants to be like Apple and wait until the Cupertino company embraces new tech before it truly goes mainstream.
There’s also the matter that under-display tech requires the use of OLED panels, which are still more costly than LCD. While much of the industry — including Apple — is beginning to shift toward OLED, LCD is still the tech of choice for the budget market.
For what it’s worth, it sounds like Samsung is in no rush to match wits with Apple in the advanced imaging front, and they supposedly still have plans to introduce under-display tech as early as the Samsung Galaxy Note 9. Of course, Samsung’s facial recognition and iris scanning tech can still be pushed with savvy marketing as a fine Apple alternative, so we’ll have to see if it pays off to offer the best of both worlds.
via MacRumorsEarly years and Italy
Rubens was a remarkable individual. Not only was he an enormously successful painter whose workshop produced a staggering number of works; but he also played an important diplomatic role in 17th-century European politics. He was clearly a charming and attractive companion, described as having 'a tall stature, a stately bearing, with a regularly shaped face, rosy cheeks, chestnut brown hair, sparkling eyes but with passion restrained, a laughing air, gentle and courteous'.
Peter Paul Rubens was born in Siegen in Germany, but from the age of 10 he lived and went to school in Antwerp. His first job, at the age of 13, was as court page to a countess. It was a prestigious position for a young man, but Rubens found it stifling and began training as an artist.
As soon as he had completed his training, he set out for Italy in order to see for himself the great Renaissance and classical works that he knew from copies. For eight years, he travelled and worked in Spain, copying and incorporating the techniques of Renaissance and classical art.
Antwerp
In 1608 news came that Rubens's mother was dying. He left immediately for Antwerp, but by the time he arrived she had died. Once home, Rubens decided to stay in the city. His reputation had preceded him, and in 1609 at the age of 33 he was appointed court painter to the rulers of the Netherlands, the Archduke Albert and his wife Isabella.The following year, he married his own Isabella - Isabella Brandt.
Rubens could now afford to buy a grand house in a fashionable part of Antwerp. He built a large studio to accommodate his pupils and assistants (he received far too many commissions to complete them all single-handedly). He designed it himself in an Italian style. He also added a circular sculpture hall, based on the Pantheon, to the house.
Rubens's major business was altarpieces, particularly suitable for an artist who enjoyed working on a grand scale. A diligent and disciplined man, he rose at 4am each day and worked until 5 in the evening before going out riding to keep himself physically fit. While painting, he would have someone read to him from a work of classical literature. An enthusiastic collector of gems, ancient sculpture and coins, and other curiosities (including an Egyptian mummy), Rubens's collection became a well-known attraction for visiting dignitaries.
The diplomat
In 1622 Rubens was commissioned to carry out a huge project in Paris for the notoriously difficult Maria de Medici, widow of King Henry IV of France. Two entire galleries were to be decorated with scenes from the lives of the queen and her late husband. The commission was a fraught one. Maria was awkward and changeable; and her favourite, Cardinal Richelieu, saw Rubens as a political threat. After years of wrangling, the project was abandoned half completed when Maria was banished from court.
In 1625 the plague reached Antwerp. Rubens moved his family to Brussels until the worst of it had passed. They then moved back to Antwerp where, to Rubens's horror, his wife became ill and died, probably of plague. Usually a man who prided himself on his stoicism, Rubens was devastated by the loss of 'one whom I must love and cherish as long as I live'.
Rubens threw himself into his diplomatic work in order to distract himself. He spent several months in England where he carried out several commissions for Charles I who was a passionate collector of art. One of the commissions that Rubens was to carry out for Charles was the decoration of the roof of his new Banqueting House at Whitehall.
Court artist
From the mid-1620s Rubens become increasingly busy with diplomatic duties. Antwerp, in the southern Netherlands, was part of an empire ruled by Catholic Spain. The Protestant northern Netherlands were united under Dutch rule. Both sides hoped to unite the Netherlands under their own regime.
In 1610, a 12 year truce between the Dutch and the Spanish had allowed the Archdukes Albert and Isabella to continue their Catholic rule in peace and stability. In 1621 the truce came to an end and just at this crucial time, the sovereign Archduke Albert died. His consort, Isabella, continued as governor but her situation was a precarious one as Spain, France and England tried to decide who they should ally themselves with, and against whom.
Rubens was called upon to negotiate in France and England on behalf of Isabella as the representative of the Spanish Netherlands. Because painters often had reason to travel to foreign courts, he was well placed to carry out secret or delicate visits without his presence arousing suspicion. He became a close confidante of Isabella and she valued his advice.
In 1624 Rubens was granted a patent of nobility by Isabella's nephew Philip IV and in 1627 she moved him even further up the social scale by making him a 'gentleman of the household'.
Last years
After 18 months abroad, Rubens had had enough of the thankless task of politicking. He returned to Antwerp to see his children and to look after his domestic affairs. He could also dedicate himself entirely to painting. One of his most important patrons in the 1630s was King Philip IV of Spain who commissioned over 80 paintings.In 1630, at the age of 53, Rubens married again. To everyone's surprise he did not marry into the nobility, but chose Hélène Fourment, the 16 year-old daughter of a respectable merchant family. Rubens was clearly bowled over by his new wife with whom he had five children, and she figures in numerous portraits, including a version of 'The Judgement of Paris' in which she appears as Venus.During his last years Rubens spent increasing amounts of time with his new young family in his country house, the Chateau de Steen. He began to paint more landscapes, often for his own enjoyment, rather than for sale.Having suffered painfully from gout for several years, in 1639 a particularly bad attack left Rubens unable to paint and he died a few months later in May 1640.It was bound to end in disaster: two ideologues, one a communist and the other a neo-conservative, "do battle" over a skype link from a house in England where Assange is held under house arrest.
"You are a supporter of the closest thing we have to Nazism, which was a utopian idea, in the Middle-East! You support the Palestinians!" rails Horowitz in his opening statement. "I don't see anything to distinguish the Palestinians, who want to kill the Jews, from the Nazis." It becomes clear almost immediately that, perhaps, this debate will generate more heat than light. But Žižek is in no mood to get burned, at one point needing to be physically restrained by Assange. Both sides accuse the other of being Nazis, and further accusations flung at public figures. Horowitz doesn't hold his tongue:
"Europe is a cultural theme park. It is insignificant. That's what the welfare state did — it took Europe out of the picture... The Swedes have no morals"
His choicest morsels of opprobrium are reserved for Obama, however: "You've got a leftist in the White House, a guy who was brought up and trained by communists, whose whole political career was in the communist left". This point is the most contested by Žižek: "In what meaningful sense is [Obama] a communist?"
Horowitz: "The United States is crippled in part because the Commander-in-Chief is a leftist!"
Žižek: "Here I respectfully disagree... if the United States still have a certain attraction and so on to the world, it is because of people like Obama!"
The circus continues, but perhaps the sanest moment lies in Žižek's last words, as the credits roll: "This was madness".Hands-on Functional Programming
You've heard about Functional Programming but you haven't had the chance to dig into it? Or maybe you know FP but you would like to practice Scala?
This meetup is about learning Scala and Functional Programming.
The meetup will be divided into two parts:
- A short presentation to introduce Functional Programming (motivation and definition - 30 mins)
- A hands-on part where you will solve bioinformatic problems from taken from ROSALIND (http://rosalind.info/problems/list-view/) using FP techniques.
Bring you laptop with git, sbt (http://www.scala-sbt.org/) and your favourite editor installed.
There will be plenty of pizza, beers and experienced Scala programmers to support you :)
***
Exercices de programmation fonctionnelle
Vous avez déjà entendu parler de programmation fonctionnelle (PF), mais vous n'avez jamais eu le temps de creuser davantage? Vous avez des connaissances en PF et vous voulez essayer Scala?
Cette rencontre sera divisée en deux parties:
- Une courte présentation (30 min) d'introduction à la programmation fonctionnelle (motivations, définitions).
- Des exercices pratiques de résolution de problèmes bio-informatiques tirés de ROSALIND ( http://rosalind.info/problems/list-view/ ) à l'aide de la PF.
Apportez votre ordinateur portable avec git, sbt ( http://www.scala-sbt.org/ ) et votre éditeur préféré.
Nous offrons la pizza, la bière et l'aide de programmeurs Scala expérimentés.An Ace on the Shelf Pioneering Science Fiction from Ace Books
Solar Lottery
by Philip K. Dick
by Philip K. Dick
Fans of science fiction owe a great debt of gratitude to Ace Books. This pioneering publisher helped shape the genre by promoting influential authors and numerous important titles during the 1950s and 1960s.
Ace Books was founded in New York by Aaron Wyn in 1952. The company began as a publisher of mysteries and western novels but quickly branched into science fiction, where it would find great success, including multiple wins at the Hugo and Nebula awards. Ace helped to launch the careers of several noted authors and published the debut novels of Philip K. Dick, Ursula K. Le Guin and R.A. Lafferty.
One of Ace’s biggest coups was the Ace Doubles series. These paperbacks contained two different novels that were bound together in the dos-a-dos style. Their strategy was to pair a famous writer with a lesser known one and constantly introduce readers to new literary talent. While Ace did not invent this concept, they did popularize it, and it became a fantastic marketing tool that benefited both the publisher and readers for many years. Ace published several hundred Ace Doubles in the dos-a-dos format between 1952 and 1973, and many science fiction fans have built collections around these eye-catching paperbacks.
Ace Books was acquired in 1972 by Grosset & Dunlap, who were in turn bought by G.P. Putnam’s Sons in 1982. As a subsidiary of Grosset & Dunlap, Ace became a science fiction imprint and continued to find success with William Gibson’s Neuromancer, Kim Stanley Robinson’s The Wild Shore, Lucius Shepard’s Green Eyes, and Michael Swanwick’s In the Drift all in 1984 alone. Today Ace Books is an imprint of Penguin and once again acts as the science fiction arm for a larger company.
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More to DiscoverMay 11, 2014; Washington, DC, USA; A general view of the court prior to game four of the second round between the Indiana Pacers and Washington Wizards of the 2014 NBA Playoffs at Verizon Center. Mandatory Credit: Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports
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There aren’t many people out there who complained when the Washington Wizards changed their team colors back to red-white-blue in 2012. Now that the team has experienced some success, including a series win in the NBA Playoffs, it looks like the Washington Wizards will spruce up their court design for this upcoming NBA season.
According to Zach Lowe of Grantland, here’s a brief description of their new court design, including an image:
The Wiz jump a few spots with a redesign on track for this season that dispenses with the simplistic “Wizards” scrawled across half court in favor of the classic “DC” logo, with a hand popping out of the “D” and reaching high for a basketball.
As Zach Lowe pointed out, the Washington Wizards have added the secondary “DC” logo in the center of the court, and added some more red design on the court.
Here’s an image of the old design, via the Washington Wizards’ official website (h/t SB Nation)
There obviously isn’t a drastic change to the court’s design, but the tweaks that were made did improve the look, in my opinion. The addition of the “DC” logo in the center makes the court look a lot more sleek.
We’re just a month away from the start of training camp and just like all of you, I can’t wait until the Washington Wizards get a chance to play on the new court. It’s been a long off-season, y’all.Lars Ulrich is being very cagey about the release date, though
The new Metallica album will be finished “this summer”, according to drummer Lars Ulrich, though it might not be released in 2016.
The veteran metallers were keen to hedge their bets on when the album would eventually be available to the public in a recent interview.
“If the record doesn’t come out this year, then it won’t be because it’s not done,” Ulrich told Metal Forces. “It will be because there’s some sort of cosmic reason that it would be smarter to hold onto it until next year. But the record will be done this summer.”
Twitter/Lars Ulrich
June seems to be the crunch time for fans of the band, because that’s when they’ll meet to decide on the logistics for an album which they’ve been recording since at least November, Ulrich revealed.
He said: “We’re now coming towards the end of the musical creative process and we’re starting to look ahead and the process of how we’re gonna share this record with the universe. The month of June is basically when we’re gonna sit down and figure what we’re gonna do with it all; what we’re gonna call it and what’s gonna be on it.
“Greg Fidelman is 24/7 on this record and has been since last summer. He’s doing an insanely great job and has been putting his heart and soul in it pretty much every waking moment of his life in helping us engineer and produce this record.”Close
In his final days as the President of the U.S., Barack Obama has permitted the National Security Agency (NSA) to share data on raw surveillance with all the 16 government intelligence and security groups.
Some of the 16 government agencies are the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Department of Homeland Security and Drug Enforcement Administration, amongst others.
How Would The Process Work?
The agencies will be required to submit a request for the data pertaining to a case and the NSA will permit or deny a request on several grounds such as the facts, legitimacy and risk level of divulging the information.
Earlier, the NSA used to search and filter the requested information and hide the identity of innocent people. The FBI and other security agencies currently follow the regulations laid by The FISA Amendments Act and Executive Order 12333.
The "warrantless" surveillance enabled by the FISA allows FBI operatives to search the database when working on ordinary criminal cases. The 12333 database is accessible to operatives working only on foreign or counterintelligence operations.
However, this will not be the case going forward as there will be complete transparency in data sharing.
The order from the Obama government makes it easier for other security agencies to access the heavy database and information archive of the NSA and makes life much easier for the agents working on tough cases.
Is Privacy At Risk?
As reported by The New York Times, American activist groups like the American Civil Liberties Union believe that this new provision puts the identity and privacy of the U.S. citizens at risk. This order by the Obama administration has been under wraps for quite a while now.
The NSA's surveillance system consists of a sweeping method which collects and saves satellite transmissions, e-mails, phone calls, messages and other communication data. This tapping is done in accordance with the regulations formed after the terror attacks on the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001.
The Foreign Intelligence Survey Act of 2002 (FISA) secretly allowed the NSA to share raw domestically garnered data with other security agencies. The 2008 amendment on the FISA provided for the domestic surveillance of a foreign target abroad. The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court also gave a green signal to the sharing of e-mail data uncovered.
President Bush, in 2008 had modified the Executive Order 12333, which regulates surveillance systems not covered by wiretapping laws. This enabled the NSA to make available the data to the agencies. The Defense Secretary, Attorney General and the Director of National Intelligence all had to agree on the procedure beforehand.
On Jan. 3, 2017, Loretta Lynch, the Attorney General, signed the new rules and Obama's administration passed the changes during his final few days in office.
Obama's successor Donald Trump takes office on Jan. 20, 2017 and it would be interesting to see if he attempts to alter the new order.
The government is empowering its security agencies in a bid to search and locate perpetrators easily, without leaving any footprints behind. While deemed a risk, this move may ultimately benefit the citizens, as the government will have a much stronger hold over law and order.
Photo: David Martyn Hunt | Flickr
ⓒ 2018 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.Former Tiger Jack Morris is up for election into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in his 15th and final year. Morris has made a surge in popularity among voters in the Baseball Writers Association of America, and as a result, has become a proxy in the ongoing debates between fans of traditional baseball statistics and fans of Sabermetrics.
Lou Whitaker, who played second base behind Morris on the Tigers from 1977 to 1990 (and is not a known Saberist), doesn’t think the right-hander is Hall of Fame-worthy, at least not ahead of himself and shortstop Alan Trammell, per Tony Paul of The Detroit News.
“Jack Morris was no better than Alan Trammell-Lou Whitaker,” Whitaker said during the interview, audio of which was posted on DetroitSportsRag.com and confirmed by MLB Network Radio co-host Jim Bowden. “If we didn’t make the plays, and we didn’t come up with the big hits, Jack Morris wouldn’t be where he was, or where he is.” […] “If Jack deserves to be in the Hall of Fame, Alan Trammell deserves to be in the Hall of Fame,” said Whitaker […]
Whitaker received only 2.9 percent of the vote in 2001, knocking him off the ballot for good after just one year. Trammell is in his 13th year on the ballot, but has never exceeded 36.8 percent. Morris got 67.7 percent last year, just shy of the 75 percent threshold.
According to Baseball Reference, Whitaker’s career 74.8 WAR would be the fifth-highest among Hall of Fame second basemen (min. 75% games at 2B), behind Eddie Collins, Joe Morgan, Nap Lajoie, and Charlie Gehringer.
Trammell’s 70.3 career WAR would tie for the sixth-most among Hall of Fame shortstops (min. 75% games at SS), behind Honus Wagner, Cal Ripken Jr., Ozzie Smith, Luke Appling, and Arky Vaughan, and tied with Barry Larkin.
Morris, at 43.8 career WAR, would rank 37th among 46 Hall of Fame starting pitchers (min.75% games started). The only pitchers he would best that did not pitch in the Dead Ball Era are Lefty Gomez, Bob Lemon, and Catfish Hunter.
Whitaker has a point.
Follow @CrashburnAlleyKD Perdana allegedly ran out of fuel and suffered communication equipment failure. — Picture via Facebook/Navy The Best
KUANTAN, May 23 — The Royal Malaysian Navy’s KD Perdana patrol boat became adrift because it ran out of fuel and suffered communication equipment failure, thus disabling it from contacting its mother ship.
RMN chief Tan Sri Ahmad Kamarulzaman Ahmad Badaruddin said these were the preliminary findings on why the boat went missing but it was still too early to arrive at conclusions as to what really happened.
“They lost contact while conducting operations to chase away encroaching foreign fishing vessels...we are as yet unable to to detail what went wrong and have set up an inquiry board to investigate this matter.
“This includes finding out how and why the communication equipment broke down. A senior officer will head the board who will be assisted by several others to get to the bottom of this case to ensure there is no recurrence.
He was speaking at a media conference at RMN’s Tanjung Gelang base here today after welcoming the stricken crew of KD Perdana which went missing off Tanjung Sedili, Johor on Saturday.
The nine crew members of the boat were Lt Mohd Hidir Yusof, Leading Rate (LR) Communication (KOM) Mohd Zaidi Rahim, LR PAP Mohd Rabidzi Rodzian, LR PAP Mohd Nurul Shahriran Salwi, LR KOM Mohd Akmalnizam Amdan, LR KOM Suhaimi Shamsudin, LR Faisal Iskandar, LR1 TMK Mohd Fitri Ab Malek and LR 1 TMK Zulhusni Sherhutdin.
Also present to welcome the crew were RMN’S Maritime Region 1 (MAWILLA 1) Commander Rear Admiral Datuk Mohd Redza Mohd Sany as well as their family members.
Ahmad Kamarulzaman said the KD Perdana patrol boat was found at 5.40pm yesterday, 51 hours after it was reported missing from Sedili waters.
It was located 87 nautical miles east of Tanjung Gelang by a merchant ship based in Kemaman, Terengganu, drifting 108 nautical miles from its final detected location.
“After the discovery, the MAWILLA 1 operations room sought help from a B200T aircraft belonging to the Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) to conduct an areal survey at the location concerned to confirm the location.
“Once the survey was done, the boat found was confirmed to from KD Perdana which had lost contact with it, and it was found together with two local fishing boats,” he said.
Ahmad Kamarulzaman said the navy then deployed surface assets to the location and directed KD Perdana to bring the crew to the Tanjung Gelang Base.
“When met, all nine crew members of KD Perdana were in good condition, save for some fatigue and sun burn.
“We found all crew members had good physical endurance despite being at sea for almost 51 hours, and this is the result of the training provided,” he said.
At the same time, he thanked all Malaysians for praying for the safety of the crew members and appreciated the role played by parties involved in the search and rescue operation, including the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA).
He said a total of 14 assets from various agencies had been deployed during the operation, including RMN vessels KD Perkasa, KD Handalan, KD Terengganu, KD Kelantan, KD Pendekar, KM Tatau, KM Pekan, as well as the Super LYNX and FENNEC aircraft.
“The navy also wishes to express gratitude to the navies of the Republic of Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam and Thailand, who also deployed their assets as soon as the news broke out.
“This shows that we in Asean have close cooperation and are ready to help at any time without any bureaucracy,” he said.
The boat from KD Perdana was reported to have lost contact at 1pm on Saturday while conducting a routine maritime patrol operation to expel 10 foreign fishing boats detected off the coast of the country.
Subsequently, the KD Perdana mother ship carried out a search for the boat carrying the nine crew members including an officer around the waters of Pulau Aur, Pulau Pemanggil and Pulau Sibu but after failing to find it, the navy launched the search and rescue operation. — BernamaHuman Rights Watch has accused Israel of “abusive arrests” of Palestinian children as young as 11 and of using threats to force them to sign confessions.
Israel rejected the accusations, saying that no complaints were filed against the army in the cases listed in the watchdog report and maintaining the interrogations were done in accordance with Israeli law.
The New York-based group on Monday said Israeli authorities failed to inform parents of their children’s arrest or whereabouts, drawing on accounts of several children detained during intense unrest in East Jerusalem and the West Bank late last year.
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HRW’s Middle East director Sarah Leah Whitson urged the United States to pressure its Israeli ally to end what it said were long-standing “abusive practices.”
“Israeli security forces have used unnecessary force to arrest or detain Palestinian children,” it said in a report giving details of the “abusive arrests” of six children.
“Forces have choked children, thrown stun grenades at them, beaten them in custody, threatened and interrogated them without the presence of parents or lawyers, and failed to let their parents know their whereabouts.”
The Israeli army said it thoroughly investigates complaints of misconduct by interrogators, but no such complaints were filed in the cases listed in the watchdog’s report.
“It should be stressed, that whilst the minors and their parents spoke extensively with the press regarding the claims of alleged ill treatment by IDF forces, no formal complaint was ever submitted,” it said.
In one case listed in the report, 11-year-old Rashid S., who was arrested in East Jerusalem in November, said officers put a bag over his head, kicked him and verbally abused him in Arabic, according to the rights group.
Rashid was accused of throwing stones during the months of unrest that rocked Jerusalem before and after a deadly July-August war in the Gaza Strip.
In the West Bank, 14-year-old girl Malak al-Khatib was arrested on suspicion of throwing stones at a road used by Jewish settlers, HRW quoted her mother as saying.
“Four soldiers beat her with something like a baton” during Malak’s arrest until she lost consciousness, mother Khoula said. “While on the ground, they kicked her and one soldier stepped on her neck.”
In every case HRW documented, the Palestinian families said Israeli authorities “did not inform parents of the child’s arrest and interrogated the children without permitting them to speak to a parent or lawyer prior to the interrogation.”
The IDF said that under Israeli law, the children had a right to consult with a lawyer before an interrogation, but that the army did not require a lawyer to be present during questioning. As for parents, it said “whilst the law provides that a minor suspect has the right to have his parent present during an interrogation, this right does not apply to minors interrogated whilst under arrest or, in certain circumstances, minors who are not under arrest but suspected of committing security offenses.”
The HRW report said three children “said they signed confessions written in Hebrew, a language they do not understand, after interrogators threatened them.”
In response, the army said “it is important to point out that in many cases, these statements are also audio or audio-visually recorded. The suspects themselves may not be aware of the recording, and thus when interviewed by yourselves may tell only a partial part of the picture. Such is the case in Judea and Samaria. At the very least, for the years 2013, 2014, and to date, no suspect has been indicted based solely on a confession given by him which was documented in Hebrew.”The mother of a Briton who died fighting for Islamist terror group Al Shabaab has said she fears "no one is immune" to radicalisation.
The mother of a Briton who died fighting for Islamist terror group Al Shabaab has said she fears "no one is immune" to radicalisation.
Mother of British man who died fighting for Islamist terror group fears 'no one is immune' to radicalisation
Sally Evans, whose son Thomas Evans, 25, was among suspected extremists killed in an attack on an army camp in northern Kenya in June, said families should speak out against extremist ideology.
Mr Evans's younger brother Michael recently said he "hates" his sibling for the pain he put their mother through, while David Cameron has announced new measures to prevent extremism.
Mrs Evans, writing in The Times, said: "If a young man from High Wycombe who was raised in a secular household can be turned into a terrorist, then perhaps no one is immune. Radicalisation is not just a threat to the Muslim community but to all of us. And that is why we must fight against the Islamist ideology, even though at times it may seem as though we are losing the battle."
She said she did not oppose her son's conversion to Islam and hoped religion would "help settle his wayward teenage behaviour", but he became more hardline.
"I would come to learn, but unfortunately too late, that Thomas was not practising Islam; he was practising an ideology that hijacks an otherwise peaceful religion for its own jihadist ends," she said.
She added she would not "suffer in silence" and urged other families to speak out about the impact of radicalisation on their lives.
Thomas Evans contacted his family to say he had travelled to Somalia to join Al Shabaab in 2012 after leaving their home in Buckinghamshire. He had previously converted to Islam.
His mother and brother told earlier this year how they confirmed his death after finding a picture of his body online.
Al Shabaab, which is banned in the UK, is a Somalia-based group with links to al Qaida which has waged a violent campaign against the Somali transitional federal government for several years.
Up to 50 Britons are believed to have joined the organisation.
Online EditorsThe celebrity shopping expert Mary Portas has admitted she was paid £500,000 by Channel 4 while making her series on reviving town centres, after denying it during a combative session with MPs this month.
In evidence to the communities and local government select committee about her work producing a plan for David Cameron to revive moribund shopping centres, Portas scoffed at suggestions that Channel 4 had paid her the sum for producing shows based on the two dozen towns selected to receive state support and advice.
During the session she was asked whether she had "received cash for producing TV programmes that are based on some of the Portas pilots". Portas responded: "If I was getting £500,000 for Channel 4, let me tell you, I would be a happy woman. I am not."
But in a letter to MPs she now says she "misinterpreted" the question and admits that it covered her series featuring the pilots. "My contract with Channel 4 covers two years with a requirement to make 20 episodes in total and amounts to £500,000," she wrote.
This year the Guardian obtained documents from a freedom of information request that revealed that film-makers working with Portas on her reality TV show lobbied government officials to direct taxpayer funds to certain high streets because they would be popular with television audiences.
Portas told the Labour MP Simon Danczuk during the select committee session that she had not been "aware that we were trying to influence what should be the pilots". The two dozen towns selected for £100,000 of state support were whittled down from almost 400 entries.
She said she investigated the issue after the Guardian contacted her, and was "satisfied by what I found".
Portas said the lobbying was a result of a "former employee's enthusiastic response to the hundreds of inspirational video pilot applications", but it remained "categorically untrue" to suggest she had influenced the selection of towns.
A spokeswoman for Portas said the letter to the select committee had been written to "clear up any misunderstanding and [because] she wanted to be honest and open with parliament".
Danczuk said: "There are not many people I know who could forget about a half-a-million-pound payment. It's very disappointing that Mary Portas wasn't straight with parliament when asked about this.
"I am concerned about the idea that who should get government money was based on the desire to be visually interesting for television rather than the need to revive the high street. Concerns have been raised previously in parliament about this and the government should have realised problems like this would occur when they develop policy based around reality TV personalities."Posted by Summerspeaker in Feminism
Read it here. Ey also links to a charming older piece entitled Technology Is Making Queers of Us All. I think I’m in love with the Dale Carrico of 2006. The reference to the SCUM Manifesto |
the sport of mountain biking—a pioneer bike builder and designer, he founded Mantis Bicycle Co. in the early '80s, and was instrumental in bringing the dual-suspension trail bike into reality.RC was inducted into the MTB Hall of Fame in 1995 for technical achievement. He then made the transition into journalism, taking the helm as editor of Mountain Bike Action Magazine where his technical insight helped foster innovations that poured into the market during the industry's most prolific period of invention.Cunningham is based in Southern California. When he’s not writing, riding and testing, he can be found on his SoCal ranch. RC is often seen flying his WWI Fokker Eindecker-inspired airplane, a machine hand-built by the man himself.He can be reached at rc@pinkbike.com. Click here to check out RC’s first Tech Tuesday, and here to view his profile.For Release: Thursday - November 12, 2015
real campaign finance reform
If you are in or near Madison on Friday morning
CONTACT:
Jay Heck
608/256-2686 (office)
608/512-9363 (cell)
Common Cause in Wisconsin
152 W. Johnson St., Suite 212
Madison, WI 53703
608/256-2686
Want Good Government?
Join Common Cause in Wisconsin!
www.CommonCauseWisconsin.org
Common Cause in Wisconsin152 W. Johnson St., Suite 212Madison, WI 53703608/256-2686Want Good Government?Join Common Cause in Wisconsin!www.CommonCauseWisconsin.org
We know this is incredibly short notice, but it's important.On Monday, November 16th, the Wisconsin Assembly will vote on the Campaign Finance Deform () and GAB Destruction () legislation. As you know, both measures passed in the State Senate in the dark of night last weekend.Tomorrow, Friday – at 10 AM in the Assembly Parlor (just off the Assembly Chamber in the State Capitol) – Common Cause in Wisconsin and other reformers will gather with State Representativeof Madison and former State Representativeof Appleton to briefly discuss whatought to look like, instead of what passage and enactment of Assembly Bill 387 will cause: the unleashing of a tsunami of secret, special interest money in our elections and public policy-making; the legalization of formerly illegal coordination of candidate campaigns with "outside" special interest groups; and the unlimited corporate and wealthy donor money that will flood the Capitol and promote political corruption., we need you to come to the Assembly Parlor and stand with us against political corruption and in support of disclosure, transparency, and sensible limits on special interest money in our politics and elections. It won't take much time, but legislators and the media need to know thatWisconsinites are opposed to the sale of our state to out-of-state (and some in-state) wealthy donors and interest groups.So help us "Pack the Parlor" on Friday morning at 10:00 AM inState Capitol Building.Read or re-read; and/orif you require any further inspiration.Hope to see you Friday morning in the Assembly Parlor in the Capitol!How The White Establishment Waged A 'War' On Chinese Restaurants In The U.S.
Enlarge this image toggle caption Transcendental Graphics/Getty Images Transcendental Graphics/Getty Images
In most American cities these days, it seems like there's a Chinese restaurant on every other street corner.
But in the late 1800s, that ubiquity was exactly what certain white establishment figures feared, according to a new study co-written by Gabriel "Jack" Chin, a law professor at the University of California, Davis.
Chin examined how white union workers and lawmakers waged a nationwide "war" on Chinese restaurants in America from 1890 to 1920. "It shows this tradition of an expectation on the part of some white Americans that public policy should be organized for the benefit of their employment," says Chin, who adds that he sees parallels with anti-immigrant policies being put forth today.
In 1882, Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act, which barred Chinese immigrants from entering the U.S. for decades. Some white Americans worried that Chinese laborers would steal their jobs and hijack their opportunity.
And this xenophobic fear carried over to the restaurant industry. Chinese restaurants — known by some at the time as "chop suey houses" — were understood to be a good value, offering inexpensive meals in an exotic setting.
"The economic menace [of Chinese restaurants] was twofold," says Chin. "First, if Chinese people had the opportunity to earn a living, then they might stay. And their communities would continue to exist, and the Chinese presence, which many objected to, would continue."
The second thing, says Chin, is that "if Chinese restaurants made Chinese food available at a relatively low price and then American restaurants wouldn't be able to compete, either the wage scales for American restaurants would have to go down or they would close."
And then, there was the pervasive idea that Chinese men were lecherous threats to white women. Chinese restaurants were considered "dens of vice," Chin says, where white women were at risk of moral corruption by way of sex, opium and alcohol.
I talked with Chin about his research and how anti-immigrant sentiment can manifest itself in even the most "creative" of methods. He told me about six different ways that Chinese restaurants were targeted:
1. Race riots
There were Chinese communities expelled from Western and Mountain States through race riots, Chin says, where Chinese restaurateurs or miners were beaten or quite literally burned from their homes.
2. Boycotts
Unions representing cooks, waiters and bartenders organized largely unsuccessful boycotts against Chinese restaurants in many places, including Massachusetts, Arizona, California, Montana, Minnesota and Ohio. The unions imposed fines on union members who ate at Chinese restaurants, Chin says, but couldn't keep their members from eating there: "Individual members of the public had incentives to cheat because the food was understood to be a good value at the time."
And, Chin points out, for the most part, these unions weren't trying to enlist Chinese restaurant workers to join their ranks. Instead, they were vying for Chinese employees to be replaced by white workers.
3. A peculiar law
When boycotts were largely unsuccessful, the unions turned to the legal system. At the American Federation of Labor's 1913 convention, organizers proposed that all states should pass laws that barred white women from working or patronizing Chinese or Japanese restaurants for both moral and economic reasons, Chin says. (A similar law had been enacted in Saskatchewan, Canada, and upheld by Canada's Supreme Court.)
States including Montana, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Washington and Oregon saw versions of the bill, which were ultimately unsuccessful. In Massachusetts, for example, the state Supreme Judicial Court struck down the law on the grounds that it was discriminatory.
4. Government agencies and licenses
Chin points to old newspaper reports that show that government agencies refused to issue business or restaurant licenses to Chinese restaurateurs, citing various reasons: Some officials claimed they had already issued enough licenses. Others said they would not issue licenses to people who were not citizens. And since Chinese people couldn't naturalize, this targeted them.
5. Policing
While the proposed white women's labor law was never officially enacted, some police officers began patrolling the restaurants of their own volition, Chin says. "We see newspaper reports," he explains, "where the police in the first decades of the 20th century believed they had the authority, and exercised it, simply to issue orders in the public interest." For example, he adds, "when there were concerns about white women patronizing Chinese restaurants and when the police thought this was prejudicial to the safety of white women, they would simply order white women out."
In 1909, the murder of a prominent white union leader's daughter by a Chinese restaurant worker inflamed tensions. In June of that year, Leon Ling reportedly strangled Elsie Sigel in a jealous rage and stuffed her body into a trunk in his bedroom. Sigel had met Ling when she worked in Manhattan's Chinatown as a missionary, and her death and the subsequent manhunt for her killer sparked a wave of racial profiling across the country.
Newspapers hyped the story, with headlines like "Was Strangled By Her Chinese Lover: Granddaughter of General Sigel Slain in the Slums of New York." The case seemed to justify the fears that union workers had of all the misfortunes that would spring from Chinese restaurants. "To be a Chinaman these days," one Connecticut newspaper wrote, "is to be at least a suspect in the murder of Elsie Sigel."
6. Banning private booths
Private booths were little rooms where customers could dine; they were often found in Chinese restaurants. But in 1917, the United States Public Health Service published a model ordinance that prohibited private booths, Chin says. Some people campaigned to get rid of them, "because in chop suey restaurants and other restaurants, nefarious things could happen behind the curtain." This was a way to specifically target Chinese restaurants.
While Chinese restaurants were able to weather these affronts from the unions — Chinese restaurants even surged in New York City during this time because of a loophole that allowed small-business owners visas into the U.S. — Chin argues that enough damage had been done. The anti-Chinese viewpoints of white labor unionists helped solidify the notion that Chinese people were both economic and moral threats to white Americans and paved the way for the passage of the Immigration Acts of 1917 and 1924, which more broadly restricted the immigration of people from all Asian countries.
It wasn't until there was a dramatic drop in Chinese immigrants in the U.S. that union organizers began to ease up on their targeting of Chinese restaurants.
"The issue wasn't Chinese restaurants per se," Chin says. "It was: What if Chinese restaurants grow and grow and drive out American restaurants — then what?"Get the biggest daily stories by email Subscribe Thank you for subscribing See our privacy notice Could not subscribe, try again later Invalid Email
They have been captured countless times.
But a Northern Ireland photographer’s unique take on the iconic Harland and Wolff cranes has received global acclaim.
Norman Quinn’s epic shot was picked from 86,000 entries from across the globe in the prestigious 2015 Sony World Photography Awards.
The 28-year-old architect from Ballyroney near Banbridge was one of three British winners, taking top spot in the Open Panoramic category for the picture, named ‘Perfect Symmetry’.
Norman said he took the picture at 5am and had to lie in a puddle to get the ideal angle.
Astrid Merget Motsenigos, Creative Director of the World Photography Organisation and organiser of the awards said: “Every year we are astounded by the quality of images we receive to the Open and Youth competitions.
“These talented photographers capture in a single shot moments of great drama, passion, intrigue and humour, but above all each photograph displays wonderful artistry and skill.
“We are proud to be able to give recognition to these photographers and provide a platform on which their work can be seen by the world. Congratulations to all our winners.”
The winning photographs were chosen from a record 177,444 submissions from photographers around the world.
The overall winning Open and Youth photographer will be announced at a gala ceremony in London on 23 April.
The images will go on show at Somerset House in London from April 24 until May 10.
See more of Norman’s brilliant work at: www.naquinnphotography.comHamad I Mohammed / Reuters Pearl Square lies in ruins after the government of Bahrain ordered its destruction.
The 45 helmeted men, armed with rifles, their faces masked, came for Ibrahim Sharif at 2 a.m. on Friday. They hopped the fence and entered his home, carted him off to jail or Saudi Arabia no one's really sure. "They were ringing the bell and shouting 'open, open, open,'" the dissident's wife, Fareeda, told TIME later that day. "Ibrahim told them to lower their guns, to calm down. They took him anyway. It took less than 10 minutes." The vans outside, she said, sported the insignia of Bahrain's national security forces.
Sharif, the leader of the Bahrain's opposition Waad party, was among several key anti-government activists arrested in a wave of pre-dawn raids on Thursday and Friday. At 4 a.m., on Friday, shortly after the raid at Sharif's home, the Waad headquarters was set on fire. All that remains of the two-story office building are charred walls and office furniture, gutted meeting rooms, giant shards of glass littering the floor. In a subsequent press conference, Foreign Minister Sheikh Khalid bin Ahmed al-Khalifa, dismissed the blaze as a random act of arson. But it comes as the regime of his cousin, King Hamad bin Isa al Khalifa, stages an increasing ferocious crackdown against the Shi'ite majority, a campaign abetted by the unprecedented prescence of Saudi Arabian troops sent in to preserve the Sunni monarchy. (See pictures of the protests in Pearl Square.)
Until the end of last week, the political opposition had been rapidly been gaining steam, and support. Then, on March 11, the government let lose with the first of a series of increasingly ferocious responses. Now, Waad party leaders and even younger activists fear for their safety. On Friday morning, TIME received a text message from a protest organizer who said he had been warned that a crackdown on youth was underway. He said he had not left his for more than a day. "The streets are not safe," he texted, adding that his bank accounts had been frozen, phone tapped and every move monitored by police.
The government said it had offered numerous opportunities to begin negotiating with opposition leaders, and that the leaders had "hindered the dialogue." They had been arrested, the foreign minister said during his press conference, for inciting agitation against the regime. But a separate press conference was set up at the burned-out Waad offices to counter those claims. Dissident spokesman Abdullah Al Derazi denied that the opposition had been intransigent. He said that they had "given our issues and points for dialogue. We presented our vision and views, but suddenly [there are these] attacks. it looks like a military solution is the one the government has taken in order to stop us from demanding democratic reform."
Elsewhere in the capital of the island nation, gangs of masked pro-government thugs wielding chain batons, bats, guns and even swords were stopping cars and ordering drivers to open trunks. The Foreign Minister said they were likely neighborhood vigilantes, not in any way related to the police force. But the government's forces aren't making any effort to stop them. At one checkpoint, TIME saw a police car idling nearby while masked teenagers searched passersby. (See "Bahrain: Caught Between Saudi Arabia and Iran.")
The government denies that there is a strategic plan to escalate violence, which this week included repeated tear gassings and live ammunition air strikes from Cobra helicopters against protesters across the capital Manama. "It's a very volatile situation," Foreign Minister Ahmed Al-Khalifa said. "In volatile situations, you do expect violence to happen. There is no systematic violence against the people... we're not waging war, we're restoring law and order."
Apparently as part of the effort, the government has torn down Pearl Monument, which dominated the roundabout that was epicenter of the protests. It also demolished the tents set up there and ripped up the very asphalt lanes of that made up the square, obliterating the protesters' main encampment, the site of bloody clashes between riot police and protesters. It had been the geographic emblem of the movement. "They kill us there, now they take it down," one protester said. Ahmed Al-Khalifa responded that the tear-down was merely the "removal of a bad memory."
Meanwhile, the Pearl Monument a tribute to Bahrain's historic pearl gatherers is being replaced by something Bahrain Television calls "the GCC Monument." Those would be the initials of the Gulf Cooperation Council, the umbrella group under which Saudi Arabia sent 100 tanks into Manama on March 13. In Manama, a political scientist, speaking in confidence, said the Bahraini government was shifting more and more power to the Saudi military, even though Bahrain's regime maintains the forces are only there to help protect the island nation's physical assets. (See pictures of the crackdown in Bahrain.)
Saudi intervention in Bahrain is seen as a way for the government in Riyadh to warn its own people away from protests. "Dear brave men in all military sectors," Saudi King Abdullah said in a speech on Friday, "especially your brothers the security personnel at the interior ministry, you are the shield of this homeland and the fist which strikes down anyone who dares threaten its security and stability. God bless you and all your good work." Predominantly Sunni Saudi Arabia is particularly worried that its Eastern province, which has a substantial number of Shi'ites, may be infected by Shi'a unrest in Bahrain.
With the Pearl roundabout literally plowed under, the new locus of the protest movent is in the impoverished Shi'ite town of Sitra. Late Thursday, residents here climbed to their rooftops, chanting "God is great" in protest of the government crackdown. And on friday, thousands of mourners came out for the funeral procession of Ahmad Farhan, a protester who had been killed Wednesday in Sitra. The procession moved down the road without incident even as exit points were blocked by hundreds of riot police and the roofs of surrounding buildings occupied by sniers. Despite the security presence, a few protesters began chanting "Down with the King." Then the chants became louder: "Death to the regime," they said in Arabic. "Death to the King."
Nabeel Rajab, director of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights, said that he "waits every night for them to come and arrest me." But despite the crackdown, opposition factions are determined to continue their protests. Asked if she thought she would eversee her husband again, Sharif's wife did not hesitate. "Of course," she said. "But first they'll cook up things like fake confessions. We know the drill."
See TIME's complete coverage, "The Middle East in Revolt."Envoys of Tibet's Dalai Lama in new China talks
By Michael Bristow
BBC News, Beijing
Analysts say the Dalai Lama may be China's best chance of compromise Envoys of the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, are in Beijing to resume talks with China's government after a break of 15 months. Discussions broke down in acrimony in 2008, with Beijing saying that no progress had been made. One of the Dalai Lama's representatives told the BBC he thought the resumption of talks may signal a change in approach from China. But concrete evidence for this is so far unclear. Relations between the two sides, which were never good, were strained further due to unrest in Tibetan areas in 2008. Real autonomy? This will be the ninth round of discussions between China and the Tibetan government-in-exile since 2002. CHINA-TIBET RELATIONS 1950: China enforces a long-held claim to Tibet 1959: Full-scale uprising breaks out in Lhasa. Thousands are said to have died. The Dalai Lama and most of his ministers flee to northern India 1989: The Dalai Lama is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize 2002: Contacts between the Dalai Lama and Beijing resume March 2008: Anti-China protests escalate into the worst violence Tibet has seen in 20 years, five months before Beijing hosts the Olympics Nov 2008: China-Tibetan talks end without progress Jan 2010: China-Tibetan talks resume
The Tibet issue: China's view The Tibet issue: Tibetan view News of the resumption of talks was released by the exiled Tibetan leadership, based in Dharamsala in India. A statement on the website of the Dalai Lama, the spiritual head of Tibetan Buddhism, said the five-person group would return to India at the beginning of February. Speaking to the BBC's China Editor Shirong Chen, the Dalai Lama's representative for northern Europe, Thubten Samdup, suggested China could now be more willing to negotiate than it had been in the past. "Within the Chinese citizens there's a re-awakening, so to speak, that perhaps the Dalai Lama is the best chance that Beijing has," he said. But there is little evidence to suggest that China is willing to make definite concessions to the Tibetan government-in-exile. Last week senior Chinese leaders held a major meeting about Tibet - the first in nine years - in which they indicated they would continue their hard-line approach. Chinese President Hu Jintao told those at the meeting that China would maintain efforts to prevent "penetration and sabotage" by supporters of Tibetan independence. He added that Beijing would ensure the "normal order of Tibetan Buddhism". A report on the three-day meeting was carried by the state-run news agency Xinhua, which said: "The Communist Party of China's policies towards Tibet in the new era were totally correct." Following the last round of talks between the Chinese and Tibetans, Zhu Weiqun, of the Chinese Communist Party's United Front Work Department, blamed the Tibetans for lack of progress. He said they had not given up their dream of an independent Tibet. The Tibetans say they do not want independence, only real autonomy to help protect Tibet's unique culture.
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StumbleUpon What are these? E-mail this to a friend Printable versionA few weeks ago Amazon excited the tech press by announcing two new devices that are a cross between Apple’s Siri voice-controlled assistant and an Internet-connected speaker. Both will join the Amazon Echo in working with its Alexa Voice Service, the “brains” behind Amazon’s speech recognition.
The Dot is a smaller version of the Echo, that plugs in and is always-listening, while the Tap is smaller, and battery powered. That makes it portable, but it also means that a user has to press the Tap to make it listen to voice commands.
The Amazon Dot arrived at my home today, and after running it through the basics, I can say that Amazon has delivered all of the Echo functionality at half the price. And since the Echo is a hit, I’m betting a half-price Echo will be an even bigger win. That’s good for Amazon, but the real question is whether or not the Echo is the type of device that leads people to buy other devices in the family.
Because the Amazon Echo and Dot both act as voice controllers for a variety of Internet-connected home products like lights and ceiling fans in addition to providing all sorts of other useful features such as offering news, calendars, and answering your questions like an audio search engine. If people who buy the Echo also tend to use it for the connected home, it could be a gateway device that drives adoption for a variety of products, from light bulbs to thermostats. That means Amazon has done what Apple has not: Build a user-friendly brain for the smart home.
The Amazon Echo (left) and Dot (right). S. Higginbotham for Fortune
And at $90 the Dot is nearly the same price as a smart home hub from rival SmartThings and slightly more than another from Wink, which costs $70 on Amazon.
So let’s talk about what the Dot can do. Since much of the functionality of the Dot and the Echo are delivered from Amazon via a broadband connection, they are remarkably similar. Set up is the same for both. You plug the Dot in and press the button on top. After an orange light appears, you can connect it to your Wi-Fi network.
The Amazon Dot works with a Sonos Play 5 speaker. S. Higginbotham for Fortune
It was a pleasant surprise to find that all of my connected home devices and services that were available on the Echo were available on the Dot without me making any kind of an effort. A few moments after I plugged in the Dot, I used it to turn on lights and adjust my thermostat.
The Dot is a smaller version of the original Echo and contains the same seven microphones that let you tell the Dot what to do from across a room. The biggest compromise appears to be the speaker. The Dot has a smaller one that has less bass, while the Echo has one that can fill up a larger amount of space and doesn’t sound as tinny.
The Dot connected to my home audio system. S. Higginbotham for Fortune.
As tiny speakers go, the Dot doesn’t sound as good as the Mini Jambox made by Jawbone, but it is totally tolerable, especially if you don’t plan to listen to much music through the device. But if you are a big music fan, the Dot has a secret weapon the Echo doesn’t. You can plug the Dot into a speaker so any music you listen to plays over your existing sound system rather than the Dot’s tinny, little speaker.
I plugged the Dot in through my receiver to play music over my home entertainment setup downstairs, and it sounded amazing. I also plugged it into a Sonos Play 5 speaker, which sounded a bit muddy. The music hissed a bit.
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For the last 20 months my Echo has been in my kitchen, which is open to my living and dining room. My family talks to “Alexa,” which is what we say to wake up the Echo, multiple times daily to check schedules, set timers, play music, and control our lights. It is also an essential tool for settling arguments over the dinner table such as whether or not a sweet potato is a vegetable. (Alexa says no, it is not.)
Now that the Dot has arrived, my plan is to put it downstairs in the living room about 20 feet away from the Echo’s old location, where the Dot can perform those basic functions (you have to speak a little louder to set the kitchen timer, but it’s still not a scream).
The Echo will move to our bedroom, or even the master bathroom, where I hope to use it as an alarm clock or as a way to get information like my calendar or news while I shower in the morning.
I can also use it to control my bedroom lights from bed. Considering it only costs $90, I may see if my daughter wants a Dot for her room to plug into her Sonos speaker so she can control her lights and music with her voice instead of her Kindle screen.
It’s an open question still if I want to change the word to wake up the Dot. Right now the Dot and Echo are both named Alexa, and my two other choices would be Amazon or Echo, neither of which are thrilling. Amazon has not enabled users to sync music playing over multiple Echoes, Dots, or the newly-launched Tap which means I can’t use them to replicate some kind of surround sound.
And frankly, that indicates to me that for Amazon this is clearly about building a platform for bringing the connected home and web services to life using voice control, as opposed to making some kind of big consumer electronics move against a company like Sonos. The Echo was a game-changing device, and at half the cost with no big loss of functionality, the Dot seems poised to be even bigger.
Buy here: Amazon Echo $179, Amazon Echo Dot $49.99
We’ve included affiliate links in this article. Click here to learn what those are.Earlier this year, Valiant courted a great deal of publicity with the revelation that Russian leader Vladimir Putin would be a central antagonist of Divinity II – Matt Kindt and Trevor Hairsine’s follow-up to the publisher’s much acclaimed, repeatedly sold-out and much speculated-upon aftermarket smash from 2015.
Well, stand back Russia watchers, because it doesn’t look like they’re stopping there. Last month’s Divinity II #2 saw Myshka, the god-like new villain introduced for the second series and fellow survivor of the Soviet Union’s mission into deep space, traveling from her encounter with Putin back in time for a bedside chat with none other than Joseph Stalin himself…
And, coming soon in Divinity II #3 – on sale next week – we have Myshka making yet another trip through time… To visit none of other than Mikhail Gorbachev on the eve of the glasnost reforms and implore him to reaffirm Soviet strength…
Given that the subtitle of the forthcoming Divinity III series is Stalinverse – as announced at the Valiant Summit live event in New York City several weeks ago – could be in store for a radical Russian reinvention of Valiant’s universe? A world where the Cold War never ended? Where the Berlin Wall never fell?
And could it all be starting right here?
Only time will tell… Divinity II #3 is in stores next week.
About Rich Johnston Chief writer and founder of Bleeding Cool. Father of two. Comic book clairvoyant. Political cartoonist.
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None foundAryan Mishra is a 15-year-old student in Delhi, India, who has a passion for astronomy. In 2014, he and Keerti Vardhan, another student, discovered a near-Earth asteroid during a nationwide asteroid search campaign. The search was conducted globally by the International Astronomical Search Collaboration (IASC) and in India by SPACE, which works towards popularization of science and astronomy in India and provides training to students and amateur astronomers for asteroid hunting. Now Aryan has more to say to teens around the world about the beauty and joys of astronomy.
By Aryan Mishra
Hello, my name is Aryan Mishra, I’m a 15-year-old high school student in Chinmaya Vidyalaya, Delhi, India. I started my journey of astronomy when I was 11 years old when, for the first time, I saw the rings of Saturn through a telescope. I decided … yes! I should go for astronomy.
In the hustle and bustle of school life, I see my friends are playing and having
fun, but I gave up many things and started learning astronomy. At the age of 11, I watched the sky every night. Soon, I got a planisphere which helped me a lot to explore the sky. At first, my parents did not support this interest, and my relatives discouraged me. But soon parents saw my real deep passion towards astronomy, and, in 2013, they decided to give me a small telescope. I started looking at the sky with that, and, from that telescope, for the first time I saw our own moon closely, and after that the planets in our solar system.
I spent nights and nights in searching the keys of the Cosmos. My classmates frequently asked me about outer space, or what was the brighter star in the sky the night before? This inspired me to put on astronomy demonstrations for both junior high and high school students at my school. The kids were completely mesmerized, and their young eyes opened wide at the beautiful and amazing possibilities that the cosmos had in store.
They were hooked, and wanted more. Soon, I put on many lectures at schools all around that included video from world-renowned astrophotographers and expert astronomers. I also use social media like Facebook and in that way was able to educate young student across the globe.
In 2014 in the month of July, Keerti Vardhan and I were nominated from my school for a nationwide campaign for searching asteroids known as All India Asteroid Search Campaign. Students chosen for the program get to access images of the sky taken by 0.6-meter (24-inch) and 0.9-meter (34-inch) telescopes at the Astronomical Research Institute (ARI) Observatory in the U.S. Students search for asteroids after downloading and analyzing data with specialized software. According to an article at dnaindia.com in 2014:
There are about 75 teams registered from around the country. Once the program starts, the IASC [which organizes the competition globally] releases real-time data of space from which the students make their observations through a software, and send daily reports to the IASC.
Keerti Vardhan and I successfully discovered an asteroid, which is currently designated as 2014 00372. The discovery is now waiting to be placed in the world’s official minor body catalogue maintained by the International Astronomical Union in Paris.
My aim is to inspire millions of kids all around the world to look up. Really, the sky has no limit.
You can go up and up.
Bottom line: In 2014, Aryan Mishra and Keerti Vardhan discovered an asteroid – currently designed 2014 00372. Their discovery was part of the International Astronomical Search Collaboration (IASC), organized in India by SPACE, which works towards popularization of science and astronomy in India and provides training to students and amateur astronomers for asteroid hunting. All observations contribute to the Near Earth Object (NEO) data compiled by NASA and Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL). The project has provided opportunities to more than 500 students and amateurs in India to discover asteroids and near-Earth objects.When Selection Sunday concluded and only Fresno State’s name was called, the Mountain West teams on the bubble had a feeling that a weak non-conference resume was a deciding factor. The 2015-16 season was a down year for the conference, and was the first time it didn’t place multiple teams in the NCAA Tournament since the 2000-01 season.
This year, teams are going to have to prove they can win tough games outside the confines of their league schedule. Here’s a look at each team’s biggest game in non-conference play.
Air Force: vs. Colorado, Dec. 19
The Falcons’ lone game against a Power 5 school will come before Christmas against the Buffaloes. Colorado is coming off an NCAA Tournament bid and has a chance to make another trip this year. This is a good opportunity for Air Force to get a quality win on its home court, and would provide some momentum going into conference play.
Boise State: at Oregon, Nov. 28
Want to know the best way to see how your team stacks up early in the season? Go on the road to face one of the best teams in the country. Boise State will have its hands full facing a loaded Oregon Ducks team that should contend for the national title. Oh, and they get to follow it up two days later against SMU.
Colorado State: vs. Wichita State, Dec. 3
Mid-major on mid-major action! The Rams will face a few Power 5 foes, but none of them has the recent track record of Wichita State. Fred VanVleet and Ron Baker may be gone, but Gregg Marshall will still have a team capable of making noise in March. Plus, the opportunity to watch Gian Clavell get buckets against a vaunted defense is too good to pass up.
Fresno State: at Marquette, Dec. 6
Yes, the Bulldogs play Oregon this year, but a likely blowout doesn’t teach us anything about a team. Fresno State will learn more about itself playing against a fringe NCAA Tournament team like Marquette.
Marquette returns a talented team that won 20 games last year, and should compete in the Big East. Although a win against the Ducks would do wonders for the Bulldogs’ hopes of getting back to the Big Dance, a win over a solid Marquette team on the road is more plausible.
Nevada: at Washington, Dec. 11
This is one of the more intriguing matchups on this list. Washington has received some hype thanks to incoming freshman star Markelle Fultz, but the Huskies have fallen short of expectations in the past few years under Lorenzo Romar.
Nevada boasts a deep team in Eric Musselman’s second year, and is more than capable of winning on the road against a Power 5 opponent. This game could have major implications on Nevada’s hopes of making the NCAA Tournament.
UNLV: vs Duke, Dec. 10
Even though UNLV is going to struggle this year, the Rebels sure didn’t shy away from scheduling tough teams. In a two-week stretch, they will face three top-five teams in Duke, Oregon, and Kansas. That could get, well, messy.
Given the history between UNLV and Duke, and that Duke is generating the inevitable, insane buzz of an undefeated season, this game could provide a moral victory for Marvin Menzies if UNLV can compete.
New Mexico: vs. Arizona, Dec. 20
Finally, the renewal of a rivalry that will be sure to provide some great games for years to come. For the first time since the controversial game in 1999, New Mexico and Arizona will face off in The Pit.
Sean Miller has established Arizona as the premier program in the West, but the Lobos have a talented team that will be up the task. It’s the final game before conference play begins, and pulling the upset could propel the Lobos to even bigger things down the road.
San Diego State: at Gonzaga, Nov. 16
Gonzaga and San Diego State have been two of the best mid-major programs of the last 10 years and this year, both teams have the talent to make it to the second weekend in March.
The contrast of styles should make this chess match between Mark Few and Steve Fisher that much more intriguing. It’s a late tip, so if you’re on the east coast, be sure to get a pot of coffee going, because this one will be worth staying up for.
San Jose State: at Washington State, Nov. 16
Fun fact: both of these teams won nine games last year. Another fun fact: both of these teams may struggle to reach that amount this year. San Jose State, understandably, doesn’t play a difficult schedule, but its lone Power 5 matchup comes against the Pac-12’s cellar-dwellers. A win here could be a huge confidence boost for a program.
Utah State: vs. Purdue, Nov. 22
The Aggies should fall somewhere in the middle of the pack in the Mountain West. Their non-conference schedule is fairly light, but it does include a shot at a Big Ten foe as part of the Cancun Challenge.
Jalen Moore might be the best player on the floor, and should be able to get buckets on Caleb Swanigan. This is Utah State’s best chance for a marquee non-conference win, so expect the Aggies to give Purdue all it can handle.
Wyoming: vs. Northern Iowa, Dec. 3
More mid-major action! The Panthers provided a rollercoaster of emotions in the NCAA Tournament, and have been one of the most prominent names in the mid-major world. Wyoming is going to struggle again this year, especially without Josh Adams. Look for Jason McManamen to get up plenty of shots in this one to try to get the Cowboys a solid non-conference win.Issue 11
0. Introduction
Welcome to issue 11 of the Chicken Gazette, live from the Netherlands!
1. The Hatching Farm
Kon Lovett released a few new versions of his eggs this week:
srfi-27 version 3.2.1 fixes a Windows compatibility problem;
srfi-19 version 3.1.1 fixes a few locale bundles and adds |
nant to their feelings – and uttered, too, by the depraved of their own sex.[3]
The Arctic House was one of the largest and most extravagant restaurants in that region of the Klondike, offering fresh fruit and ptarmigan in addition to the staple of horsemeat.[10] The Arctic was open 24 hours a day and advertised "Rooms for ladies", which included beds and scales for measuring gold dust. The local Canadian Mounties were known to tolerate vice so long as it was conducted discreetly.[3]:86
In 1900, the one-hundred-and-eleven-mile (179 km) White Pass and Yukon Route, a railroad between Skagway, Alaska and Whitehorse, Yukon, was completed. Trump founded the White Horse Restaurant and Inn in White Horse.[3]:87–88[11] They moved the building by barge, relocated on Front Street, and were operational by June.[3]:88–89
The new restaurant, which included one of the largest steel ranges in the area, prepared 3,000 meals per day and had space for gambling. Despite the enormous financial success, Trump and Levin began fighting due to Levin's drinking. They broke up their business relationship in February 1901, but reconciled in April. Around that time, the local government announced suppression on prostitution, gambling and liquor, though the crackdown was delayed by businessmen until later that year. In light of this impending threat to his business operation, Trump sold his share of the restaurant to Levin and left the Yukon.[2][3]:90–91 In the months that followed, Levin was arrested for public drunkenness and sent to jail, and the Arctic was taken over by the Mounties.[3]:92 The restaurant burned down in the White Horse fire of 1905.[12] Blair wrote that "once again, in a situation that created many losers, [Frederick Trump] managed to emerge a winner."[3]:93By Margaret Robertson
Games consultant
Can games make the office a more stimulating place I'm insufferably lucky: for the last few years I've made my living playing. First as a games journalist and now as a consultant, my work is - partially at least - a game. Yesterday, alongside e-mails and reports and statistics, my work included playing five games - one old Dos (Disk operating system) game, one Wii, and three Flash games. For now, I'm in a minority, but within a few years, many - if not all of us - will be able to say the same. Soon we'll all be playing at work. The first signs of the shift may come when you apply for a job. Already, the rising reputation of gaming has changed how people handle it on their CVs. Once a taboo amongst all those impressively fraudulent hobbies listed at the bottom of the page ("Orienteering, wetlands conservation, daguerreotyping and blow-fish preparation" it says on mine) gaming now takes pride of place. It's becoming increasingly common for gamers to list things like running World Of Warcraft guilds in their applications, and increasingly common for employers to recognise the organisational, managerial and inter-personal skills such experience brings. Employers are already looking at Facebook profiles And, just as employers are now routinely checking applicants' FaceBook pages to gauge their characters, there's no reason for them not to check their online gaming identities. A seemingly innocent Xbox 360 GamerCard widget on a personal blog will give a future employer a great deal of information on how much time someone spends gaming, how skilled they are, how obsessive, how collaborative, how determined. High scores How long before you find yourself proudly appending your Brain Training data or your Hexic high scores to an online application form? And even once you're in the interview, the games won't necessarily stop. Psychometric tests - widely used, but also widely criticised for being too formulaic and too easy to cheat - seem a poor and clumsy tool compared to the kind of insight a well designed game can give you into someone's ability and character. Should your GamerCard be scrutinised to assess your skills? Any online gaming veteran knows how quickly games reveal whether someone's a risk-taker or a banker, impetuous or strategic, obedient or rebellious - and how hard it is to fake your responses in the heat of the moment. And, as the population becomes ever more game literate, there's less and less reason to rely on the old-fashioned, inert interfaces that so many psychometric tests require. So say your CV and your performance in Battlefield: Office Combat pass muster. In the future there's no reason that what's waiting for you at your desk on your first day won't be a game. More and more we're finding that game mechanics, and game presentation, can make otherwise difficult or tedious tasks more palatable. The pioneer in this field was The ESP Game, which uses an online game mechanic to coax human players into labelling pictures for image-based search engines. Great success Its great success has produced a stream of similar projects, not least the cluster of word and image based games now housed at Carnegie Mellon's Gawp. Projects like the Firefox plug-in PMOG show how the application of tried and tested gaming incentives - experience points, levels, medals - can change how people interact with software they use for work every day. Similar projects to make e-mail management more playful are also underway. FoldIt uses a graphical gloss and high-score hunger to lure ignorant oafs like me into spending an hour on some cutting-edge bio-chemical research we wouldn't otherwise be qualified for. So are we heading towards a utopia? And an end to boring spreadsheets, and a new dawn where the ugly repetitiveness of much of the work we do can be masked with adventure, achievement, and excitement? Not entirely. A hallmark of all of the projects listed above is that they use the entertainment inherent in play to convince people to work for free. For now, all of them are running for fun or for research or charity purposes, but that trend won't last. Google has already adapted The ESP Game to help up its commercial advantage, and has enlisted an army of unpaid players in the process. PMOG's user-created missions currently award medals for visiting much-loved sites a particular number of times a week, but there's no reason a commercial equivalent couldn't use a similar tactic to encourage traffic to advertiser's sites. And while the idea of call-centre work being enlivened by a gaming ethos is an appealing prospect, the notion of employers offering lower wages to those being enabled to play at working is all too easy to imagine. Will we be so comfortable with the idea once it's all play, no pay? We may be some years off play becoming that closely integrated into our working lives, but make no mistake that gaming has already had an enormous impact on many of our jobs. How enormous? The inspiration behind the ESP game came from creator Luis von Ahn's calculation that we spend nine billion hours a year playing Window's Solitaire - and most of it, I'd wager, while at work. Couple that with recent estimations that the entirety of Wikipedia took only 100 million hours to create, and that means we could be making around a 100 Wikipedias a year if only Solitaire was a shell for something worthwhile, rather than a deliciously infuriating waste of time. How long do you think employers will keep ignoring stats like that?
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StumbleUpon What are these? E-mail this to a friend Printable versionOn, the first-ever Atheist Film Festival will be held at the Roxie Theater in San Francisco's Mission District from 12pm to midnight. Feature-length films will be shown in the 240-seat theater, short films in the small 46-seat screening room. The free festival is sponsored by San Francisco Atheists.Films shown will include: "Pledge of Allegiance Blues", a documentary that follows the Rev. Dr. Michael Newdow, the blues-singing California physician, as he battles to protect the separation between church and state; "Root of all Evil?" in which where professor Richard Dawkins examines how religious faith is gaining ground in the face of rational, scientific truth; "Evolution: The Musical" is a comical journey into the debate between creationism and the scientific model of evolution; "Submission" (by Theo van Gogh and Ayaan Hirsi Ali), "Audience of One," "Heathen Wind," and many others, including atheist youtube videos San Francisco Atheists is one of the most active Atheist-related organizations in the Bay Area. The group's website states: "Atheists do not believe in gods, devils, angels, ghosts, or other imaginary creatures. Atheists accept reality. We want to live natural, religion-free lives. We respect science and learning, knowing that only human thought, effort and courage will bring individual freedom and cultural progress."SUCKS, IT DOES: Renee Lee has a tattoo of Princess Leia.
The force is not with us and nor is the Flying Spaghetti Monster.
Census figures released last week have shone fresh light on Kiwis' religious faith but tens of thousands of responses were rejected because they were not deemed legitimate.
Among those considered "out of scope" are Jedi and Pastafarians, who profess to be worshippers of the Flying Spaghetti Monster.
After a public campaign in 2001, 53,715 people declared themselves as Jedi in the census, and 20,262 did so in 2006.
Wellington Jedi Renee Lee said it "sucked" that Jedi were not recorded as followers of a legitimate religion, particularly given it had more devotees than some more accepted faiths.
"Jedi is definitely a valid thing," she said.
"The idea started from a story, but you could say a lot of religions started that way."
Lee has always been a Star Wars movie fan and converted to Jedi a few years ago.
She has tattoos that include Jedi master Yoda and Princess Leia.
As a faith, it was mostly about being peaceful, kind and fighting the dark side, she said.
She and several friends all put Jedi as their religion on the census, although most did not take it as seriously as she.
"I just think they are cool principles to live by."
Craig Thomas, formerly of Auckland, ran unsuccessfully for council on a Jedi platform in 2010, promising to bring "wisdom and balance".
He now lives in Australia, and continues to follow the Jedi way.
He was disappointed Jedi did not make the census list of religions. He said the Church of Scientology managed to get on the list with 315 devotees, and was similarly based on science fiction.
"Jedi is just aslegitimate, if not more so."
Statistics New Zealand last did a full review what religions it deems within scope in 1999. Several appeals to include Jedi were received in 2005 but were unsuccessful.
Broadly, Statistics NZ counts a religion as any set of beliefs and practices, usually involving a higher divine power, that people use to guide their lives, practically and morally.
Political beliefs, such as Marxism, or lifestyle choices, such as vegetarianism, do not make the cut.
Census manager Gareth Meech said many of the 28,300 "out of scope" religions - including beer and rugby - were clearly people being silly.
There were no plans to review the classification in the short term but there was no reason why Jedi, or even Pastafarianism, could not eventually qualify.
But Victoria University Professor Paul Morris, who specialises in religious studies, said Jedi and Pastafarianism still had a long way to go.
While some devotees might be genuine, many treated the notions almost as religious satire rather than a set of beliefs about the real world.
"Star Wars, for all its glory - and I am a fan - is still in a galaxy far, far away."
On the other hand, Scientologists were generally genuine believers in a complex mythology and their church was an established institution.The writer LP Hartley wrote: “The past is a foreign country, they do things differently there.” Hartley was not wrong because, at 93, my foot rests more in that far-off land called history than today. But if I were to rely upon how television drama has interpreted the story of my generation, I would not be able to recognise it. Sadly, dramas about events that occurred in my youth deal almost exclusively with the pageant of nobility.
'As dazzling and disparaging as the Queen herself': Jennie Bond fact-checks The Crown Read more
It concerns me that the history of my generation may be lost to my grandchildren because television producers would rather anaesthetise viewers from the unpleasantness of our past with idolatry for the aristocracy and the monarchy.
It’s why I am angry that Netflix has spent $130m (£105m) on the 10-part series The Crown. This is a biopic concerning the marriage of Queen Elizabeth when she was still a princess in 1947, followed by her coronation in 1953. Unfortunately, The Crown views postwar Britain from the perspective of our sovereign and all who inhabited her world. This does an enormous disservice to the epoch, because it was a time when a socialist tide raised all boats. History was literally being made from the bottom up because, while Princess Elizabeth was being fitted for her wedding dress, ordinary Britons were dismantling a thousand years of feudal mentality through the creation of the welfare state.
We’ve seen this approach before. Nothing better illustrates TV’s lush treacle homage to the landed gentry than Downton Abbey, a drama that ran for six series as a parlour-room interpretation of historical moments that shaped Britain at the turn of the 20th century. But Downton has not been the exception to the rule, rather a template used by TV and movie producers to crush the truth from history and make the entitled the heroes of narratives about our nation’s collective past.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest ‘The Crown depicts moments in history as a pageant in which the wealthy, the entitled and the nobility oversee the lives of millions with benevolence, wisdom and grace.’ Photograph: Alex Bailey/Netflix
The Crown, like Downton Abbey, Victoria or even Indian Summers, depicts moments in history as a pageant in which the wealthy, the entitled and the nobility oversee the lives of millions with benevolence, wisdom and grace. As I have been both a witness to and participant in history since 1923, I can tell you that was not the case. Millions lived lives of abject misery during the 1930s while the 1% of that time enjoyed an obscene opulence. Despite the vast wealth of 19th-century history a TV dramatist can draw upon, our nation’s rich heritage too often becomes an infomercial for monarchy and empire.
The Crown is like an expensive painting in which the only subjects in focus are the rich and privileged. Everyone else, people like me or your grandparents if they came from the working class and even the middle class, are considered no more than background scenery. We are the undefined face in the crowd waving religiously at our so-called betters.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest ‘We need now more than ever our great film-makers and television producers to tell the stories from our collective past that reflect all its pathos and wonder.’ Stoke on Trent in the 1950s. Photograph: Dave Bagnall Collection/Alamy
To my mind, The Crown is an insult to the struggles my generation overcame and the triumphs we earned from our sacrifices in both war and in peace. But what is most frightening is that the tableau of our past shown on Netflix and other TV networks will be most people’s window on my generation’s history. Too many in the 19th and early 20th century lived thwarted lives because of the exploitation they endured in the mines and mills. Yet no one tells the tale of these workers unionising, fighting for their rights or trying to find and maintain love in the harsh conditions of the slums they called home.
Too many of my generation died young because they lacked the money to pay for a doctor, but in The Crown our sympathies are directed to a king dying of lung cancer rather than the thousands of miners who died painfully of black lung because that monarch and his society didn’t believe the average citizen deserved medicine if they couldn’t afford to pay for it.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Londoners in 1953 celebrating the Queen’s coronation. Photograph: Paul Springett A/Alamy
Our Queen, no matter how much we should respect her service to the state, doesn’t deserve to be turned into a cinematic icon. In the great sweep of events our monarch is like a garden ornament sitting immutably on the field of history because she is not the author of our nation’s destiny.
Because of austerity and Brexit, Britain has become a house divided. We need now more than ever our great film-makers and television producers to tell the stories from our collective past that reflect all its pathos and wonder. And they need to tell it from the perspective of those ordinary, brilliant and profound men and women who, a lifetime ago, helped shape the way we live today through their deeds.In a day and age in which corporations rule the world, the brutal Al-Qaeda spin off known as ISIS is learning from the best, and as part of its credentialising and image-building has done something only major corporations do at the end of every year: it has issued annual reports for the past 2 years (unaudited, unless Ernst & Young has quietly upgraded from "massaging" the books for Lehman's Repo 105 and, of course, the New York Fed, without our knowledge).
That's right: as the FT reported earlier, "Since 2012 the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, (known as Isis) has issued annual reports, outlining in numerical and geographical detail its operations – the number of bombings, assassinations, checkpoints, suicide missions, cities taken over and even “apostates” converted to the Isis cause."
But while publicly traded corporations focus more on revenues, margins, and profits, ISIS has other key considerations:
In 2013 alone, the group’s report claimed nearly 10,000 operations in Iraq: 1,000 assassinations, 4,000 improvised explosive devices planted and hundreds of radical prisoners freed. In the same year it claimed hundreds of “apostates” had been turned.
Wait... are you serious?
Why yes: below are the "investment highlights" pages from ISIS' 2012 and 2013 annual reports:
And to think how many more assassinations and bombings ISIS would have achieved if only it wasn't for the damn "polar vortex"...
But why is ISIS not only documenting its every single act, but boasting about all of its terrorist achievements? According to the FT the purpose of releasing 410 pages full to the brim with the terrorist group's exploits, is simple: "Isis’s aim appears to be to demonstrate its record to potential donors." Which means that the glossy excerpted pages shown above are indeed nothing more than investment highlights!
The reports paint a picture of an organisation that analysts say is not so much the ragtag terrorist band depicted by Iraqi officials but more of an organised military structure with a clear political strategy to set up a Sunni sectarian state – and one with several of the hallmarks of a corporate entity. “The reports provide measures of performance in the way you roll out details for donors,” said Jessica Lewis, director of research at the Institute for the Study of War. “They affirm that the organisation operates like an army and that it has state-building ambitions.”
Virtually every aspect of a conventional annual review is included: Nigel Inkster, former assistant chief of UK intelligence service MI6, and now director of transnational threats at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, said: "They produce [them] almost like a company, with details of martyrdom operations and targets. You have a clear overlay of structure, planning and strategy to the organisation."
One wonders: how does one differentiate between suicide missions and successful assassiantion attempts on a GAAP vs non-GAAP basis? The answer is unclear, but what is clear is that the modus operandi of terrorist organizations has changed drastically from the days of Osama bin Laden living in caves in Afghanistan.
Isis is the successor to the group that was known as al-Qaeda in Iraq and was so brutal in its methods that it drove Sunni tribes, with help and financial incentives from the US military, to turn against it in 2006. Isis learnt a lesson. “Isis decided the solution was better military power and that it should be a harder version of al-Qaeda,” said Ms Lewis. And yet the group has adapted to new modern methods of spreading its message. Deft use of social media has been at the forefront of its campaigning tactics in Syria and Iraq. When it comes to using platforms such as Twitter, Isis is “probably more sophisticated than most US companies,” says Aaron Zelin, an expert on jihadis and fellow at the Washington Institute....
Isis’s use of social media has been one of the main reasons why it has become the single most popular organisation for fighters from foreign countries – including an estimated 2,000 from Europe, according to estimates from western intelligence agencies.
So ISIS is great at creating real (and probably fake, purchased in Bangladesh) Twitter followers, but what really matters at the end of the day, just like with every self-respecting corporation, is whether ISIS has the funds and can generate the income the sustain its terrorist operation.
And it is here that ISIS truly excels. As we reported last week, ISIS is now the richest terror group ever after it looted over $400 million from the central bank of the Iraqi city of Mosul - the first town it overran with virtually no resistance as part of its Blitz offensive.
"In financial terms, 2014 has been dramatically successful for the group, after fighters looted hundreds of millions of dollars from Mosul banks. According to the Council on Foreign Relations, Isis was already extorting taxes from businesses in Mosul before its takeover, netting perhaps as much as $8m a month.
While these achievements will be revealed in the upcoming ISIS' 2014 anual report, we wonder: will they be classified as recurring, or as all those GM recalls and JPM lawsuits, be deemed "One-time", "non-recurring."
In conclusion: ISIS has the balance sheet, it also has the cash flow, it has the weapons inventory, the property, refinery plants and bomb equipment, and the terrorist churn. It also has a glossy 410 page annual report for the Terrorist Fiscal Year Ended 2013 (which at more than double the pages of the 2012 report means business has never been better).
All that is missing is an IPO and a Conviction Buy rating from Goldman Sachs.
The full 2013 report can be found below (pdf)New research suggests that women are better at maintaining their pace then men, though both genders tend to fade across 26.2 miles. But are the differences physiological, psychological – or a mixture of both?
Women are better at running marathons than men. That’s the conclusion of a comprehensive study of marathon results that appears to confirm what previous research had suggested.
But before Dennis Kimetto and Wilson Kipsang disagree, what the results of the huge survey actually show is that women are simply better - 18.61% better, to be precise – at maintaining a consistent pace across the duration of the 26.2 miles. Whether that is because men overestimate their abilities, women underestimate theirs – or because there are physical differences that affect performance, is open to speculation – and requires more research.
The survey was conducted by Jens Jakob Andersen, a former competitive runner and statistician from Copenhagen Business School (he also runs runrepeat.com), and supported by Polish statistician Wojciech Fedyszyn. They looked at 1,815,091 results from a total of 131 marathons from around the world, between 2008 and 2014. Each runner was then categorized by sex, age, country, rank, split results, final results and the date of the performance – with outliers excluded.
Of the 1,815,091 results, excluding those with no gender information available, 974,599 (68.48%) were from men and 448,561 (31,52%) from women. “Slow-down” was measured as the percentage difference between speeds in the first and second halves of the race.
These splits showed that men were slowing down between 16.96 and 27.27% more than women. The evidence does also show that, unsurprisingly, on average both genders do slow down. But for men, that slowing was, on average, significantly greater.
Within different age groups, those most likely to burn out were the youngest and the oldest, while those in the 35-39 and 40-44 age groups were the best pacers (those in the under-19 age group faded 55.91% more than those groups).
So, why? The researchers suggest it all might reflect differences in psychology and decision making – and of course age. A previous study, looking solely at the Chicago marathon, suggested some other possible factors. First, that when running at the “submaximal intensity” required to complete a marathon, women might burn a higher percentage of fat than men. This would mean they are less likely to hit “the wall’ – the point when glycogen is depleted. Second, and this applies specifically to marathons in warmer weather, “women tend to have a larger surface area-to-mass ratio than men, allowing them to dissipate a larger percentage of heat produced by running”.
Another interesting finding of the new study was that of the growth in participation. Male participation in marathons grew 21.61% in the period studied, while women’s participation increased by 33.35%. The biggest age-group growth was, interestingly, in the 50-plus range, where there was an increase in 89.70% for women (54.56% for men).
Perhaps the least surprising finding for anyone who has run a big race, is that the first 5km are typically completed slower than the next 5km. Congestion, or “race traffic”, is likely to account for this.
So what can runners, particularly men, learn from this? Lead researcher Jens Jakob Andersen suggests a few sensible tips – starting out slower than feels natural, not getting carried away by excitement, sticking to your own race plan and not competing with others, and to slow down immediately if you feel you cannot keep to your planned pace. Whether such common sense will prevail when the adrenaline of race day hits is another matter.
Other stats from the research
• Men are 7% faster than women.
• For men, the fastest age is 38, while for women it is 24.
• Average finishing times were 4h 21m 36sec for men, and 4h 41m 27sec for women.Chelsea Ladies won the Super League but know Wolfsburg, the Champions League holders, present a major threat in the last 16
It has been a year of firsts for Chelsea Ladies but their new-found domination of the domestic game is not quite enough for Emma Hayes’s players. Another, European, box remains to be ticked before women’s football shuts up shop for its winter hibernation.
Despite a first FA Cup final triumph and then winning England’s Super League title for the first time, Chelsea will be content only if yet another daunting hurdle has been surmounted by the end of next week.
Hayes hopes her team’s debut season in Europe will see them overcome Wolfsburg over two legs to reach the quarter-finals of the Women’s Champions League.
Chelsea beat Sunderland to confirm Women’s Super League title Read more
It has made Wednesday night’s first leg at Wheatsheaf Park, Staines – the return is seven days later at Wolfsburg’s superbly appointed, purpose-built 5,200 capacity home – one of the biggest games in Chelsea’s history.
Victory would represent the latest achievement of an extraordinary season. Wolfsburg were Champions League winners in 2013 and 2014 and stand second, behind Bayern Munich, in the female Bundesliga.
As if that pedigree were not sufficient, the Germans have an extra incentive to progress to next spring’s latter stages. Wolfsburg’s owner and main sponsor, Volkswagen, the predominant employer in a town housing the world’s biggest car manufacturing plant, is mired in the diesel emissions scandal and senior company executives have warned of “painful cuts” to come during a period of unexpected austerity in this bastion of paternalistic capitalism.
Wolfsburg’s women, acutely aware that, when VW sneezes, they are prone to catching a cold, hope that further European pre-eminence can help them build a compelling case for continued high-level investment. Losing semi-finalists to Paris Saint-Germain in a tournament won by Frankfurt last year, the team have, at least until now, been regarded as an important marketing vehicle by the car maker.
“They’re definitely going to be on a different level,” says Gemma Davison, the England winger and the Chelsea supporters’ player of the year. “When you play against any German side you know, straight away, their organisation will be top drawer. All Wolfsburg’s players will be on the same page. Their expectation is to win. They’re born and bred winners and they won’t settle for anything less.”
Davison has met these particular opponents before – as part of the Arsenal team who lost the 2013 semi-final to Wolfsburg and missed out on meeting Lyon in that season’s final at Stamford Bridge.
“Alexandra Popp’s still there; she’s one of Germany’s best players,” the 28-year-old says. “She played left-back when I came up against her and she was top class. They’ve also got Ramona Bachmann now, so we’ll have to take care of her.” Bachmann, a dangerous striker, partners the versatile Popp up front.
Winning a tie broadcast live on Chelsea TV and British Eurosport would be more about glory than hard cash. Although whoever prevails in the final – to be held in Reggio Emilia, Italy, in late May – will earn €250,000 (£177,000) of prize money, involvement in the earlier stages can leave participants out of pocket.
Each club receives €20,000 per round to underwrite expenses but this does not always cover the cost of visiting more far-flung destinations – as Arsenal discovered when they flew to Kazakhstan in 2007.
If a competition that struggles to command high-value sponsorships and sizeable television audiences remains light years away from its male equivalent (the Champions League holders, Barcelona, received €61m, of which €36.4m was prize money, last season) Hayes’s team are taking their status as England’s sole survivors seriously. With Liverpool having bowed out to Brescia in the last round, Davison knows Chelsea’s presence in the quarter-finals would offer the domestic game an appreciable fillip.
“We don’t just want to be in Europe,” says Davison, who narrowly missed the cut for Canada 2015, where an England side studded with Hayes’s players beat Germany in the World Cup’s third-place play-off. “We want to progress as far as we can. We have high expectations. But Wolfsburg will be no pushovers. They’re a top quality side with a lot of class. We won’t be taking them lightly.
“I think the home leg will be massive, it’s important we avoid defeat. We’ll be very organised and really keep our shape but the forward players have got to see if we can get a one- or two-goal lead to take into the second leg.
“We want a big crowd to cheer us on at Staines. We have to let Wolfsburg know what Chelsea’s all about. We’re going to cause them a lot of problems.”
Chelsea (4-2-3-1, probable): Lindahl; Blundell, Fahey, Flaherty, C Rafferty; Chapman, Bright; Davison, Ji, Aluko; Kirby.
Wolfsburg (4-4-2, probable): Schult; Fischer, Peter, Maritz, Simic; Bussaglia, Gössling, Blasse, Dickenmann; Bachmann, Popp.In South Korea, Old Law Leads To New Crackdown
toggle caption Courtesy Park Jong-kun
Park Jong-kun's Twitter profile picture shows him inspecting a bottle of Johnnie Walker whisky against a backdrop of the North Korean flag.
The 24-year-old South Korean photographer thought it would be funny, a visual parody of North Korea's news programs. But it turns out this profile picture could violate South Korea's strict six-decade-old National Security Law, which punishes those who "praise, disseminate or cooperate with anti-state groups" if such acts endanger democracy and national security.
The law was originally enforced in 1948 to protect the country from its wartime enemy, North Korea. But the Korean War has never formally ended, so the legislation remains on the books. And in today's Internet age, a government crackdown is leading to fears of a new wave of South Korean-style McCarthyism.
Freedom Of Expression At Issue
In Park's case, the content of his Twitter feed also caught the authorities' attention.
"I retweeted tweets from a North Korean Twitter account. My intention was to lampoon North Korea's leaders for a joke," he says. "But it looked like I was praising North Korean propaganda, so that caused big trouble. The police then raided my photography studio."
During the 10-hour search, police found a book issued by a North Korean publishing house. Owning this without having prior clearance could also violate the National Security Law.
The police interrogated Park on five occasions — for five hours at a time — about his political beliefs. The friend who lent him the North Korean book was also investigated.
Enlarge this image toggle caption Louisa Lim/NPR Louisa Lim/NPR
Park says the whole process has left him physically and mentally exhausted, and he is seeking treatment for stress. He is still waiting to hear whether he'll be prosecuted. Today he thinks the National Security Law is, in a word, evil.
"Even though I disagree with North Korean communism, I'm interested in North Korean culture," says Park. "I have a right to know about it, to express my freedom."
He has come to his own conclusions about the use of the National Security Law, saying, "The biggest problem regarding the National Security Law is that they are using it to try to restrict freedom of expression."
The North Korean government set up its own Twitter and YouTube accounts last year. In December, the South Korean Justice Ministry announced that those who forward Twitter postings from North Korea or even comment on these using "retweet" or "reply" functions could face punishment.
At the time, a Justice Ministry official was quoted as saying the measure was taken in response to North Korea's attacks on the South Korean navy ship Cheonan in March 2010 and on Yeonpyeong island in November 2010.
Last year, South Korea's top court found that even owning propaganda music whose titles praise the North Korean leadership is in violation of the law. It upheld a two-year jail term, suspended for four years, given to a woman simply for owning 14 North Korean songs on a USB stick.
Enforcement Of National Security Law
Unauthorized trips to the North are also forbidden. Last year, Han Sang-ryol, a South Korean pastor, was arrested shouting pro-unification slogans as he crossed over the DMZ, after spending two unauthorized months in the North.
Before 2008, the law wasn't used against people talking about North Korean issues. But afterwards many more people were investigated, and not just left-wingers, but also ordinary people talking about North Korea online. I think the government is using the National Security Law to restrict progressive political thought.
In that time, he also criticized South Korea's leadership and praised North Korea's leaders. He is now serving three years in a South Korean jail. His wife, the Rev. Lee Gang-sil, says he knew what would happen to him.
"My husband knew he would go to jail," she says. "So we weren't surprised."
But she says there are problems with the law.
"The problem of the National Security Law is that it's too broad and too flexible and totally depends on your interpretation," she says.
Recently, the number of National Security Law cases under investigation has soared. From 2005 through 2009, the prosecutor's office investigated an average of 58 cases a year.
In 2010, that figure jumped to 97. And this year it will be higher still, according to Yoon Ji-Hye from the Korean Alliance of Progressive Movements, which advises those who fall foul of these laws. She believes there have already been 150 cases investigated in the year to August. According to Yoon, the implementation of the law changed drastically after the conservative government of President Lee Myung-bak came to power in 2008.
"Before 2008, the law wasn't used against people talking about North Korean issues," says Yoon. "But afterwards many more people were investigated, and not just left-wingers, but also ordinary people talking about North Korea online. I think the government is using the National Security Law to restrict progressive political thought."
Despite being among the world's most wired countries, South Korea is increasing its censorship of the Internet. In 2008, the police filed 1,793 requests to block pro-North Korea websites. Last year, that figure was 80,449, according to the National Police Agency, as reported in the South Korean media.
"I think North Korea is clearly learning the ropes here in terms of their ability to use the Internet," says Hahm Chai-bong, the director of the Asan Institute for Policy Studies in Seoul. "On the other hand, clearly the conservative government has been given the mandate to be more conservative, especially on issues pertaining to North Korea. That's why it was elected in a landslide three years ago."
President: Law Still Necessary
In a recent interview with NPR, South Korean President Lee Myung-bak defended the government's use of the National Security Law, saying it was still necessary.
We have been facing for the last 60-plus years one of the world's most well-armed and most belligerent countries [North Korea]. And if you consider that fact, and if you are someone living in such a country every day, then you will understand the need to have such laws that will allow us to maintain our way of life.
"For any country that is divided like Korea, I'm sure that those people in such countries will understand the necessity of having such a law," he said. "You have to always remember the very special and unique circumstances in which Korea is in today. We have been facing for the last 60-plus years one of the world's most well-armed and most belligerent countries. And if you consider that fact, and if you are someone living in such a country every day, then you will understand the need to have such laws that will allow us to maintain our way of life."
"Of course, in the future, when our relationship between the two Koreas begins to improve fundamentally, then accordingly we will look into these laws and determine whether they are still needed |
sent by People’s World writer Rick Nagin to hundreds of his friends, family members and acquaintances in Ohio.
Brothers and Sisters –
I had the great pleasure of attending the 29th National Convention of the Communist Party USA this past weekend in New York. It was a very inspiring event and I want to share some highlights.
The convention reaffirmed the party’s basic position of working with labor and its allies to build a broad democratic coalition to defeat the ultra-right. The party sees this as necessary to defend the rights of working people at present as well as key in the long run to weaken corporate power and move towards working class power (socialism).
The immediate challenge is to defend and, if possible, extend the gains made in 2006 and 2008 by setting back the right-wing attempt to regain power in the November midterm elections.
In addition, the convention called for helping to build mass fight back against the economic crisis, especially on the issue of jobs as well as defending the gains won in the health care reform. There was an excellent PowerPoint presentation on the economic crisis and what needs to be done to overcome it.
Defeating the right-wing’s use of racism and anti-immigrant hysteria was seen as critical to success in both the electoral and economic arenas.
Workshops and plenary panels on were held on the elections, labor, African American equality, Latino equality, peace, youth, the environment, public education, women’s rights, gay rights, and work in the religious community and growing the party and Young Communist League. Detailed resolutions on six broad areas were adopted.
Like all conventions there was a lot of hoop-la and fanfare. Each session opened with a cultural presentation and there was a lot of singing. There was also an evening celebration and cultural event on the Party’s 90th anniversary with great live music and dancing.
The Democratic State Assemblyman representing the district where the convention was held gave a great speech welcoming the convention as did several local union presidents. We also heard from Communists holding local office in a number of states.
Leadership was elected including Sam Webb as national chairman, Jarvis Tyner as vice chairman and Roberta Wood as secretary-treasurer.
The convention was united and enthusiastic and delegates left with renewed confidence and determination to work to consolidate the defeat of the ultra-right and move forward to repair the damage they have caused to democracy and the rights of working people.
The main reports, resolutions the PowerPoint presentation will soon be available at the cpusa.org website where there is also a video of the opening session. Reports on the convention are on the peoplesworld.org website. Ohio delegates are anxious to meet with groups to discuss the convention and how to move ahead. Let me know if you would like to set up a meeting.
Photo: Delegate from Southern California, Rossana Cambron, shares her experiences on building the Communist Party and YCL at the grassroots. (Pepe Lozano/PW)Safety Meeting - All About Aircraft Maintenance! DFC's next safety meeting - open to all - will be Thursday, August 18th, at 7pm. It will be at our normal location:
3500 Executive Terminal Drive
1st floor board room
Henderson, NV 89052
TOPIC: Aircraft Maintenance! A very experienced mechanic will be presenting on a much misunderstood topic. You will learn about: What's involved in a 50hr / 100hr inspection
What to look for in aircraft pre-purchase inspections
General A/C maintenance Q&A
As a bonus: Stabilized Approaches
Traffic pattern & CTAF Operations (time permitting) NOTE: Bring your questions, and be ready to become a better pilot!
All are welcome at the meetings. Invite a friend who might be interested in aviation or some ground training, and we'll see you there!
-Board of Directors
Desert Flying Club
board@desertflying.club
www.desertflying.clubIn the war on rot, aging food is a tactical retreat. We can't beat nature at its own game, so we join it, and let microbes have their way with meat or cheese in the hopes of developing deeper, more complex flavors than the fresh versions can offer.
There's less rot involved when we age drinks like wine, beer, and whiskey, but it's still a testy alliance with nature—giving up the fresh, fiery tastes of youth for something deeper, layered, and more mature. Age, though it manifests in many forms, has a character all its own. You know it when you taste it; you're drinking time.
The Western world's long been keen on aging all kinds of drinks, but up until the last couple decades or so, the idea of applying the same principles to tea was largely unknown. Head over to China, though, and you quickly see that aged tea is as much a part of life as 21-year-old whiskey and prized vintages of Champagne.
Why age tea at all? Most tea doesn't so much age as turn stale and dead. But with the right environment, and the right tea, you get something utterly unique: a drink that slinks down your throat and hugs your belly, relaxes your muscles and calms your mind. The best aged tea is medicine you want to gulp, full of bitter chocolate or stonefruit or wet, sweet soil. And for the complexity of what you're drinking, it can cost way, way less per serving than that bottle of old Scotch.
While you can age many kinds of tea (I'm sitting on some lovely oolong almost as old as my parents), none is more lusted after than the pride of Yunnan Province, a tea hundreds—if not thousands—of years in the making: pu-erh.
Pu-erh, which is processed in a special way to encourage microbial fermentation after the leaves are dried, ages more dynamically than any tea out there. It does not have fans. It has junkies who buy kilos of the stuff at a time to bliss out on days-long brewing sessions, only dropping out of their highs long enough to argue over the best pu-erh blends, growing regions, and storage methods. There are grasping amateurs who buy, gift, and drink the tea to gain social status among Chinese elite. And there are pu-erh investors, too, gambling on a particular tea's aging potential, who build booming futures markets and, in the case of a major bust in 2007, crash them.
Over in the West, pu-erh is a niche market within a niche market. But its devotees are growing. And if there's a tea that's ready for the big time outside Asia, this is it.
A Tea Like No Other
For a tea to be called pu-erh, it must be made from the large-leaf subspecies Camellia sinensis var. assamica and grown in Yunnan Province in China's southwest, where Han Chinese as well as many ethnic minorities share borders with Burma and Laos. It's one of the few teas to be designated a protected origin product by the Chinese government, a rarity in an industry run wild with loose, unregulated terms and limited oversight.*
* Not that these regulations are all that effective; knock-off pu-erh is an enormous problem, just like in other famous tea-growing regions.
Those factors restrict the tea's general character and terroir to a set of parameters, but the real trick to pu-erh is what happens after it's picked. Fresh leaves get tossed by hand in giant woks long enough to halt the tea's oxidation, but not so long as to drive off all moisture and kill natural bacteria. The tea is then left to dry in the sun, but the bacteria live on, and over years and decades, they'll help completely transform the tea from a fresh, bitter green into something more dark, mellow, and rich.
Most tea farmers sell their dried tea directly to vendors or wholesalers, but with pu-erh there's usually a middle step. Farmers sell their finished loose leaves (called maocha) to processors who often blend leaves from several sources, steam them, then compress them under heavy weights into a variety of shapes, such as frisbee-like cakes, square bricks, and small concave nests. This Ming Dynasty-era practice was originally developed to make tea easier to transport over long distances, but these days is reserved for teas designed for aging; the compressed form makes for a more stable and portable aging environment as time does its thing.
A cake of pu-erh is in a constant state of change, and as you chip away leaves to drink over the months and years, no two brews will taste the same. Some pu-erh is delicious to drink when fresh: it's vegetal and fragrant with gentle bitterness and a tickling sun-dried pungency. Other pu-erh needs years of aging for profound bitterness or harsh, smoky flavors to mellow out into something smooth, sweet, and dignified. Half the fun of drinking the stuff is watching your tea grow and change as you do.
Drinking Time
Though pu-erh is one style of tea from one province, it's tricky to make generalizations about how it tastes. Regional variations in terroir, processing styles, and age all come into play, and the world of pu-erh is maddeningly complex, even by fine tea standards. As Jinghong Zhang puts it in her excellent Puer Tea: Ancient Caravans and Urban Chic, an elucidating academic treatment of the tea's socio-political-economic history, "Pu-erh tea has been packaged by multiple actors into a fashionable drink with multiple authenticities." But to paint with the broadest of all possible brushes, here's a very rough breakdown of the three major pu-erh categories:
Young 'Raw': This looks like green tea more than anything else, and it's either brand new or not old enough (under, say, two to three years) to develop any of the aged characteristics of more mature pu-erh. It can be floral and sweet or as bitter as amaro, but there's an undeniable youth and grassy freshness to the brew. Some pu-erh people hate the taste of bitter young sheng, but others specifically seek it out for those bitter qualities. And some of the best young sheng out there should be drank fast, like green tea; not all pu-erh ages well, and time can just flatten out its snappy, vegetal flavor without adding anything new.
Aged 'Raw': There are many schools on how to age pu-erh, but all involve controlled heat and humidity to smooth out the tea's rough edges and make for a darker, deeper brew that tends to register lower in your throat and body. Aged pu-erh raw usually has some woodsy, earthy qualities and camphor or dark fruit notes, but rather than specific flavors, the important thing here is the depth and body the tea develops. There's enormous range in how that character manifests; a seven-year-old pu-erh likely won't be as murky and moody as a 30-year-old one. So the only way to get a sense of how aging affects pu-erh is to drink a lot of it.
'Ripe': The deep, dark, basementy pu-erh favored by the likes of Hong Kong drinkers takes decades to mature, which is why in the 1970s, tea processors developed a shortcut: shou ('ripe,' as opposed to 'raw' sheng) pu-erh, in which dried pu-erh leaves are piled in rooms and left to effectively compost for months in the heat and humidity from their own biomass. The process cuts maturation time down from decades to months, though shou pu-erh usually winds up tasting less complex than good aged sheng, and it's typically made with lower grade leaves. But a good shou pu-erh can be thick and luscious as a latte with a rich, mushroomy sweetness that sinks to your belly, and it's usually cheaper than comparable quality aged sheng pu-erh. Note that you can age shou pu-erh just like sheng, but since it's already been 'pre-aged' in processing, its character will evolve far less over time.
Fortunately, no matter what kind of pu-erh you have, brewing it is relatively straightforward. Like other fine Chinese teas, it benefits from using a lot of leaf in small pots, brewing for short times (15 to 60 seconds) over a series of as many as two dozen infusions with boiling or near-boiling water, adjusting as you go. (More on this kind of brewing right this way.) More than most tea, pu-erh is built for change, not just over months and years, but over a single brew session.
You can use a scale to weigh out your leaves to the gram, but I usually break off a six- to 10-gram chunk with a butter knife for a 100-milliliter gaiwan or clay teapot.* Even relatively simple fresh, young sheng pu-erh will develop in your pot as you keep re-steeping, and more mature aged teas can travel from dank and mushroomy to spicy-sweet to grapey-floral.
* Here's a video on how to break apart a pu-erh cake. There are plenty of online resources on the subject, but this one has the best soundtrack.
Buy it With Care
Buying quality tea is always tricky business, but this is especially the case with pu-erh. The most challenging part of buying good pu-erh is knowing who to trust. Since it's such a trendy tea in tea circles, and vendors typically buy from other sellers or middlemen processors and factories rather than farmers directly (remember, those processors are the ones who press the tea into its final form), there's a lot of opportunity for someone to lie along the way and either upsell their goods or completely misrepresent what they're selling.
Do a little reading about pu-erh and you'll see some vaunted names come up again, such as famous teas like Menghai Factory's 7542 cakes or lusted-after antique 88 qingbings, or noteworthy growing regions like Yiwu and Laobanzhang. All justly celebrated, but without much regulation, there's no guarantee that the $300 aged cake you just bought is actually the tea being advertised. Even pu-erh experts can get fooled by fakes, a rampant problem in the industry.
Pu-erh can get expensive. Since the tea is formed into a compressed shape, you have to buy it in fixed amounts. Small nest-shaped tuo forms are usually 100 or 250 grams, and cakes, the most common form, are over three quarters of a pound. While many vendors offer smaller samples of their pu-erhs, those samples come with a substantial markup. Oh, and those big name teas? Some of them can command astronomical prices: four or five figures for less than a pound of tea.
The good news, though, is that quality pu-erh costs less per-gram than many other quality teas that a) can't age well, so you have to drink them fast, and b) don't last nearly as many re-steeps as pu-erh, so while you may pay a higher upfront cost, even pricey pu-erh can come out cheaper per cup than some other celebrated tea styles.
So it's worth buying your pu-erh with care, which is why I typically do so from vendors who specialize in it and who either press their own cakes or have long-established relationships that have a proven track record of quality. To get you started, here are five reliable sources to seek out. If you're brand new to pu-erh, don't get too hung up on the terminologies and labels you'll find as you start shopping. Instead, set a budget, order some samples and maybe a couple cheap cakes to start, and drink with an open mind. The addiction comes later.
Pu-Erh Sources to Seek Out
Crimson Lotus: Reasonably priced quality aged and fresh raw pu-erh as well as some good affordable ripe styles. The 2005 Changtai Top of the Clouds is a solid introduction to the complexities of aged pu-erh, as is the 2008 Bulang for deep, sweet ripe. Crimson Lotus also presses their own raw pu-erh for aging or drinking right now; the 2015 Hidden Song is a tasty fresh tea that will appeal to green tea fans, while the already enticing 2015 Slumbering Dragon will only get better with time.
White2Tea: Another boutique shop with a wide (but carefully selected) range of pu-erh: just-pressed and decades old, raw and ripe, budget-friendly and "second mortgage on the house" pricey. Many of the house pressings are great (the 2015 Tuhao as Fuck in particular; White2Tea also has the best pu-erh names in the business), and most interesting for pu-erh beginners will be the company's four-cake starter set, which at $40 for 400 grams of tea is an especially affordable way to get a sense of how picking season, age, and leaf grade all affect a tea.
Chawangshop: Wide, wide selection and some very friendly prices mean it's easy to go overboard at this China-based vendor, which also carries a good selection of other fermented aged tea to try beyond pu-erh. Not all the offerings are equally good—there's a $4 brick of tea that unsurprisingly brews up like horse food—but the house Chawangpu pressings are rather nice budget offerings to swig on a daily basis, such as the 2015 Hekai Gushu or the 2005 Bulang.
Yunnan Sourcing: With literally hundreds of pu-erhs available, Yunnan Sourcing sells more pu-erh than just about any Western-facing vendor. This is a good place to get a sense of just how varied the world of pu-erh is, from big factory pressings by Menghai and Xiaguan to more obscure regions to the company's own label. Learning about pu-erh means paying some tuition, and a comprehensive site like Yunnan Sourcing can help you see what's out there.
Tea Classico: On the more high-end side, with some 1980s and '90s pu-erh that's aged into remarkable maturity (and worth ordering samples of for a couple brews of deep tea education). The budget offerings, such as the 2013 Zhangjia, are worth looking into as well, good reminders that a pu-erh doesn't have to be expensive to be delicious.
Disclosure: Some vendors have provided samples for review.
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.There were a handful of protests, small groups of people handing out leaflets, reading aloud from the Constitution or wearing signs that riffed profanely on the abbreviations for the Transportation Security Administration and Department of Homeland Security. A man walked around a terminal in the Salt Lake City airport wearing only a swimsuit, boots and a cap.
According to a blog operated by the security agency, 39 people had opted out of the body scans in Atlanta by 5 p.m. In Los Angeles, 113 had. One had opted out in Charlotte, N.C. Boston seemed to have something of a mini-spike, with 300.
The blog said that even in Boston, the number of people opting out made up less than 1 percent of all travelers screened. It did not say, however, how many people had been selected for the scanners and how many had gone through traditional metal detectors and thus were not given a choice.
Some flyers did express concerns about the new security measures, but their objections were mixed.
Nicole Chardavoyne, a public relations professional making her way through Ronald Reagan National Airport in Washington, said she thought the full-body scanners were fine, but found the pat-downs to be embarrassing and invasive.
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Seetha Lath, a 71-year-old in Los Angeles on the way to visit grandchildren, said that she was not against the pat-downs, but that she worried about radiation in the scanners.
Even if protests did not materialize in any significant numbers, the fact that people were discussing the issue at all meant the campaign had succeeded, said Brian Sodergren, a pharmaceutical executive in Virginia who originated the idea of National Opt-Out Day.
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“For me, the outcome has probably been achieved,” he said on Monday. “There has been more attention given to this than I could ever imagine.”
Mr. Sodergren said that he had no intention of promoting chaos on one of the busiest travel days of the year, and that he just wanted to raise questions about the safety, effectiveness and invasiveness of the body scans and pat-downs.
But some fliers said the campaign was misguided, and defended the safety measures on the basis of national security.
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“We’ve got terrorists coming over wearing explosives in their clothing,” said Jason Moody, a 34-year-old X-ray technician in the Army, who was reading a novel during a layover in San Francisco. “The T.S.A. did not just dream this up.”
Officials from several airlines said they had seen no indication that people were canceling flights or had decided not to travel because of security concerns or worries about protests. The number of flights was typical for the day before Thanksgiving, they said, even though security lines appeared to be moving more smoothly than usual.
“It appears to be a nonissue from our vantage point,” said Ned Raynolds, the Northeast manager of corporate communications for American Airlines.
The extensive news coverage beforehand, and the promise of gatherings around the country organized through Web sites like We Won’t Fly, seemed to foretell a little more chaos than actually occurred.
The protesters were often outnumbered by journalists, in some airports by a ratio of more than three to one.
Joe Murphy, 76, a retired consultant who was flying to Washington, was not impressed.
“Protesters?” he asked. “There were more people selling tickets to my grandson’s high school football game.”Developers still hope that Millennials will help fill the slowly growing number of vacant apartments across the United States. They might be right.
More than a million Millennials still live at home—less than a few years ago, but still a substantial number, including some who are likely to eventually rent apartments. “There’s potential upside in demand there,” says Ron Witten, founder of Witten Advisors, an advisory firm that focuses on the apartment sector.
The strong demand for apartments continues to surprise, so that even though the vacancy level is rising, it has done so very slowly so far. Developers have started construction on a large number of new apartments, but they are restrained by banks that are not eager to lend on new construction projects.
The result is a rental market that may be roughly in balance, as the vacancy rate creeps higher. “We don’t see much in the way of downward pressure on rents, but right now it is hard to underwrite significant pops in rent,” says Ben Sayles, director in the Boston office of capital services provider HFF.
Rent surprise
Over the last few years, demand for apartments—especially from Millennials—has filled apartment units almost as quickly as developers have been able to build them. Rents increased quickly as a result. “Nobody—developers, brokers, lenders, investors—could have foreseen this tremendous run-up in rents,” says Sayles. “Today’s effective rents are generally well ahead of what was underwritten two years ago.”
Millions of Millennials finally started looking for rental units in recent years, after putting off starting their own households during the Great Recession and the slow economic recovery. Between 2008 and 2014, the slowdown resulted in 5.1 million fewer households forming than normal, according to data and analysis from Freddie Mac.
Even this far into the recovery, there are still about 1.5 million more young people living at home than usual, says Witten.
The current slow, steady job growth could draw more of these young people off the couch and into rental apartments. The economy added 2.2 million jobs in 2016. That’s less than the 3 million and 2.7 million jobs added in 2014 and 2015, respectively, but still above the historical average. The labor force participation rate was still just 62.7 percent as of December 2016, which is only marginally higher than a year prior and lower than the post-recession average of 63.6 percent. The difference could potentially represent millions of new workers—and new households.
Household formation could also see another bump as Millennials reach their next life milestone. There are roughly 10 million Millennials who are 26 to 27 years old right now—historically the average age when people get married.
“There is no telling how this current cohort will behave,” says HFF’s Sayles. “If they decide to marry around 26 or 27, then we’ll see an increase in household formation. If they delay marriage, household formation is likely to remain flat.”
The long-term outlook: two years from today
So far, the percentage of vacant apartments has stayed well below 5 percent on average nationwide, though it has crept upwards into the mid-4-percent range, according to leading data firms.
The long-term trends of demographics and supply may keep the apartment market roughly in balance as long as two years into the future, when apartment projects planned today are likely to finally open.
Witten Advisors continues to forecast a relatively healthy apartment market two years from now. “Our outlook has remained about the same—slower rent growth, but still above average in most markets, as more supply opens,” says Witten. “The markets generally don’t have an oversupply problem, but many do have a supply concentration problem, with many new projects in the same neighborhoods leasing up simultaneously and softening rents in the short term.”Moments before Amy Mather is due to give the closing presentation at the Raspberry Jamboree being held in Manchester, the creator of the computer which inspired her talk faces a fresh challenge.
Pete Lomas has created a credit-card-sized micro-controller that sells for £16, but his current problem can't be solved with a soldering iron: he needs to figure out where Mather should stand so she can use her computer while still visible to the audience.
Mather -- who goes by the Twitter handle @MiniGirlGeek -- is just 13 and not tall enough to be seen when standing behind the podium. "I'm here to talk to you about my game of life on a Pi -- a Raspberry Pi controls an Arduino which lights up the LED Matrix," says Mather. She is standing to the right of the podium holding the contraption she has made in front of the web camera in her laptop so it shows up on the screens either side of the stage. iPhones, iPads and Android devices are fine, she says, but what interests her about programming the open-source Raspberry Pi computer is the ability to get it to do what she wants it to do.
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Lomas, like nearly everyone else in the audience, sits transfixed. Creations such as Mather's are what he had hoped to see when he was designing an affordable computer to inspire a new generation to code. Mather's physics teacher, Steve Pearce, maintains that the Raspberry Pi is having a significant impact on the educational curriculum. "Lots of kids have access to technology at home but don't necessarily have it made small and cheaply enough to play with without fear of doing any harm," he explains.
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Mather says: "There's a lot you can do with technology but most people only see the user-friendly side of it. If you get people into coding and show them it's not scary, you'll find people who are good at it. And if they're good at it, you can code a better future."
Devised, designed and now built in the UK, the Raspberry Pi is a global success story. Envisaged as a niche educational product, its creators hoped it might reach sales of 10,000 units. In fact, it sold a million before its first anniversary in February. Though created to teach kids about coding, such is its openness that it has been used -- among other things -- to operate a tweeting toy chicken, create a cocktail-pouring robot, and send pictures of a mini Tardis from the edge of space.
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The Raspberry Pi may not be slick, but it has managed to stir something not seen in British computing for a generation: it has inspired a culture of making things -- not just experiencing things -- with computers.
It's a misty, grey Sunday in March as Wired arrives at Raspberry Pi's new headquarters in Cambridge. The office itself looks to be in mid-hack: wires hang from the ceiling and the detritus of inventive thought -- cables, a camera, chocolates, a wind-up robot -- cover the desks. Although it's the weekend, the office is teeming with activity: the head of hardware engineering is busy, as is the head of software. The latter, Gordon Hollingworth, who recently joined from chip-maker Broadcom, is making coffee.
The head of educational development, who has been part of the team for two weeks, walks in to the office, and executive director and founding trustee Eben Upton arrives, along with the head of communications, his wife Liz. Even Paul Beech, who designed the Raspberry Pi logo, is here -- and he lives in Sheffield. The team is together to mark the first anniversary of the launch of the Pi and to prepare for an important meeting with an unnamed international technology company the following day.
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Last to arrive is entrepreneur, angel investor and computer-science professor Jack Lang. Upton and Lang were both part of the team that came up with the idea for Raspberry Pi at Cambridge University. As the computer is open-source, nobody likes to take too much direct credit, but Lang's role is acknowledged as being formative. In person, he exudes a Jedi-like calm.
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The malleable nature of the Raspberry Pi has galvanised hackers and hobbyists. It is a starting point, imbued with possibility.
What to do with it is up to its owner. Its fans include Google's Eric Schmidt, who criticised the UK's education system for falling behind in computer science during his MacTaggart lecture at the 2011 Edinburgh TV Festival. In late January, Google announced it was giving the Raspberry Pi Foundation a grant worth an estimated £670,000 to put 15,000 of the devices into UK schools and help develop educational material to go with the technology.
At the moment, however, the heating in the office isn't working.
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Building services apparently don't cater to charitable foundations working all hours to change the world. To add to this, a technician from the telephone company mistakenly hooked up the office's broadband connection next door. Thanks to Hollingworth, though, the internet is up and running. This is, after all, a group that knows a little about achieving remarkable feats with the tools at hand.
Like most useful inventions, the Raspberry Pi was inspired by a problem in need of a solution. "We were worried that the number of people who wanted to read computer science at Cambridge [University] was dropping -- by 50 percent within the last ten years. And the quality of people we were getting wasn't as good as they used to be," Lang says.
Lang is chairman of the Raspberry Pi Foundation, and one of its six founding trustees. A generation earlier, he played a role in another unlikely success story, the development of the BBC Micro computer at Cambridge-based firm Acorn. The device came about because the BBC was planning a new TV series on computing and wanted something people could practise on at home or in schools.
Acorn and rival computer company Sinclair, also based in Cambridge, competed for the bid. The odds were stacked against Acorn, which had very little time to adapt its new "Proton" computer to meet BBC specifications, but it ultimately triumphed. "We estimated that we'd sell 12,000 machines to go with the programme. We sold 1.5 million," remembers Steve Furber, who led the hardware design. "Nobody saw how large this wave of interest was going to be. One of the key roles of the BBC Micro was that it introduced computers into most UK schools."
Unlike the Pi, the BBC Micro was encased in a unit that included a keyboard; like the Pi, it needed to be plugged into a television set. "The BBC Micro was pivotal for a lot of us growing up in the 80s," says Upton, the Raspberry Pi's energetic evangelist. "It was a typical 80s machine, it had a 32k RAM and a built-in copy of Basic. You'd turn it on and it goes 'b-beep' and then the very first thing you could do was program. So you could write that two-line program '10 I am the best 20 GO TO 10', and then type
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'run' and it would fill the screen up with 'I am the best'."
The success of that computer in UK schools meant that by the time Upton applied to study computer science at Cambridge in the mid-90s, the competition was intense.
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A decade later he was interviewing potential undergraduates as a director of studies in computer science. It was then that Upton, Lang and a number of others at Cambridge realised something needed to be done. "Kids these days download, they don't program," Lang says. "They need a toolkit and a curious grandmother -- someone to say, 'That's nice dear, show me more.'" "People are just using their computers as devices to consume stuff that a small and shrinking pool of other people have developed," agrees Upton. The idea was hatched to create a BBC Micro for this new era.
In 2006, Upton produced a conceptual prototype of a single-board computer (SBC). It looked a little like an Arduino, which was probably the best-known example of a programmable SBC prior to the Pi. Still, it was unwieldy and fell far short of the team's ambitions.
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In September 2008, a chance meeting in London would usher the plan into a new phase.
Cambridge computer-science professor Alan Mycroft had travelled down to the capital for Imperial College's Research Day. There he bumped into Pete Lomas, cofounder of Norcott Technologies, an electronics design consultancy based in Cheshire. Lomas, the son of an electrician from Salford, built his first computer in 1977.
Following the event, the academic and engineer had a chat as they strolled through Hyde Park. Mycroft mentioned Upton's effort to build a computer board to help educate the new crop of computer-science undergraduates on basic problem solving.
Lomas, who'd witnessed the impact of this same problem within industry, felt compelled to pitch in. "I thought, that's a really cool idea -- I tell you what, I'll help with the engineering," recalls Lomas. He had a workshop -- he could make the computer himself.
Lomas is the only one of Raspberry Pi Foundation's six trustees who does not live in Cambridge; although set apart geographically, philosophically he's of like mind. Lomas favours brain power over computer programs that create circuit-board layouts. Printed circuit boards, he says, are "a thing of beauty".
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The brief presented formidable challenges: the computer would only have the desired impact with students if it hit a price point in the region of £15 to £23, but nor could it skimp on functionality. "We couldn't do something like the BBC Micro. We needed much better graphics because all of these kids have got iPads, iPhones, Xboxes, and at some level you have to compete with that to get them interested," Lomas says. "It needed to have all the attributes of a computer. An input.
An output. [Connections for] your keyboard and your mouse. The Ethernet connection. Some storage," he explains. "The design of the board was just like a thousand little decisions."
At one point, Lomas suggested removing the Ethernet connection.
Sheepishly, he acknowledges that if he'd been successful in this, it would have pre-empted many of the projects Raspberry Pi is being used for today, impacting on its popularity. "We had several stumblings when we were trying to create a design that would give us any hope of getting to the price point," he says. "You took a processor chip. By the time you'd got a power-management unit, you'd got all the interface bits you needed.
You put the memory separately. It was just getting too complicated and the cost was going up and up and up."
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The original prototype, built in Lomas's shop in north-west England, would have cost somewhere around £75 to produce. So, a nonstarter for the project.
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"It wasn't until we got access to the BCM2835 (Broadcom microchip), which was sufficiently integrated, that we could build essentially a three-chip solution," he says.
The team that designed the chip included Eben Upton, who had left his post at Cambridge to join Broadcom.
The BCM2835 was designed for a Nokia smartphone, and also went into a Roku internet streaming device. It had everything needed to make the Raspberry Pi work, except the ability to port open-source software. Upton tweaked it accordingly, putting technology from the Cambridge firm ARM on to the chip. Now it would run Linux. Lomas had his software. Upton also convinced his employer that the fledgling Raspberry Pi charitable foundation should be able to purchase the BCM2835 at a discount despite initial sales expectations of 10,000.
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Getting the Raspberry Pi into production would take money. Upton says the foundation first tried to obtain a loan through the East of England Development Agency. "We did a proposal and it was bounced, as there is no market for this product," he recalls, now sitting in an Italian restaurant down the hill from the office. An attempt to win support from the government loan-guarantee scheme was |
new head coach. But as time passed under Rolston’s interim leadership, Regier recognized that his ideal candidate was the man already behind the bench.
“When we first brought Ron in as the interim coach, that was the intention - to interview other candidates,” Regier explained. “As it progressed, and seeing Ron’s interaction with the team – both as a teacher and motivator – as we moved through the season for me personally, it became more and more evident that he was a very good fit. Not only for the present, but for the future.”A student who alleges he was denied access to a Dublin city centre bar because he is black has raised the incident with the Immigrant Council of Ireland.
Anathi Thela (27), a South African and masters student at UCD, said he had not heard from management at the bar since the alleged incident on Sunday evening.
Details of the alleged incident emerged when Mr Thela and his friend Azile, also South African, contacted RTE’s Liveline on Tuesday to express their disbelief that such an incident could take place.
They said they had met in the city centre and attempted to enter the establishment when the doorman refused them.
“He stretched out his arm and said no black people allowed,” Azile said on the programme.
“It was unbelievable. We didn’t expect it so we wanted him to repeat [IT]. We thought maybe it was identification that they wanted but no he didn’t want that.”
The students said they then spoke to a manager who said they did not have to disclose reasons for refusing entry. He told them the doorman had worked there for 13 years and would not have said what they alleged, they said.
When contacted by the Irish Times, the establishment declined to comment.SAGE FRANCIS’ new album “COPPER GONE” is OUT NOW!
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“Copper Gone is a massive emotional outpouring in rap form. The grit, grime, and brutal reality of being an independent hip-hop artist for decades all has been mashed into a whirlwind survey of how brilliance, independence, and creative commitment are dealt with today—all from perhaps our greatest modern-day poet.” – ALARM MAGAZINE
——————————————————————————————–You can follow Sage Francis on Twitter + Facebook.Advertisement Sources say Amanda Blackburn was sexually assaulted Amanda Grace Blackburn shot in head on Nov, 10 Share Shares Copy Link Copy
The pregnant wife of a former Upstate youth pastor was sexually assaulted by her killer, according to WTHR, WYFF News 4's sister station in Indianapolis.WTHR sources confirmed that Amanda Grace Blackburn was sexually assaulted and police said they have DNA evidence.Amanda was the wife of former Upstate youth pastor, Davey Blackburn. She was shot in the head during a home invasion Nov. 10 in Indianapolis.To hear what Davey Blackburn said about the death of his wife, click here.Meanwhile, Indianapolis metropolitan police are questioning four persons of interest in connection with Amanda Blackburn's death, according to WTHR.Police released the first surveillance photo of a person of interest on Monday.In a statement Thursday, IMPD said, "Investigators continue to follow up on all investigative leads in the murder of Amanda Blackburn. We continue to talk with individuals who may have some knowledge of the case."WTHR said homicide detectives have surveillance video from two houses in the neighborhood.Detectives believe the person caught on camera could be the same burglar who broke into the Blackburns' neighbor's house the same morning. The picture shows the suspect's car and a man wearing a hooded sweatshirt.Indianapolis police Maj. Eric Hinch said Davey Blackburn left to go to the gym just after 6 a.m., and investigators believe the burglar saw him leave and recognized an opportunity to rob another home.One neighbor reported hearing what she thought were gunshots at about 6:45 a.m.Hinch said neighbors also saw a dark SUV leave the area quickly.He said televisions and other electronics were stolen in the burglaries, so investigators believe a vehicle was used.Neighbors told police they saw a man with a hooded sweatshirt pulled down around his face at about that time."We know the person caught on camera standing outside the home is the one who murdered Amanda.""I am angry about the Amanda Blackburn homicide," Hinch said.Indiana State Police Superintendent Doug Carter also spoke at the news conference.To watch raw video from the news conference. click here. "To those responsible for killing Amanda: We are coming. And I hope it's not long," he said.Indianapolis Police Chief Richard Hite said the slaying will be solved, but it takes more time than people expect, even in high-profile cases."We don't solve crimes in 45 minutes between three commercials," Hite said. "It takes time to solve crimes.""It doesn't matter what color uniform we wear," Marion County Sheriff John Layton said. "We're going to be in your face."More on the Blackburn's Upstate connectionDavey Blackburn was a NewSpring Church youth pastor for four years before moving to Indianapolis to start Resonate Church in January 2012.He is a graduate of Southern Wesleyan University in Central, South Carolina where he played baseball.To read Davey Blackburn's statement from Friday, click here.To read Davey Blackburn's statement regarding the death of his wife from Wednesday, click here.Amanda Blackburn’s father is the lead pastor at the First Baptist Church of Elkhart, Indiana. Davey Blackburn’s father is also a pastor.Perry Noble, senior pastor at NewSpring, released a statement Wednesday in which he said: “At this point, I am talking with Davey consistently and trying to determine how our church can best help him and his family in the coming days. Right now, I’m asking our church family to pray. Pray for Davey, his family, the investigation and that justice will be served. As we know more or if there is anything else we need to do as a church, we will let you know.”To read more about Amanda's Blackburn's memorial service, click here.Had Miami Heat forward LeBron James tweeted out guard Norris Cole's name instead of Shabazz Napier's, things could have been very different.
But he didn't. LeBron tweeted about Napier, and now he's a member of the Heat. Cole, on the other hand...
The Miami Heat are making Norris Cole "very available" in trade discussions, according to league sources. — Alex Kennedy (@AlexKennedyNBA) June 27, 2014
The Heat's draft selection of Napier was the not-so-subtle writing on the wall. Couple that with the Heat's need to create cap room this offseason, the news comes as no surprise.
In three seasons with the Heat, Cole has served exclusively as the back-up point guard to Mario Chalmers. He boasts career averages of 6.4 points, 1.7 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game. He's owed just over $2 million next season.Ameobi’s face feeling like all of ours at full time (Photo: Tony Lewis, tlfoto.ca)
Eddies Uninspired in Poor Home Opener Drop 2–0 decision to Minnesota in lethargic display FieldTurf of Dreams Blocked Unblock Follow Following Apr 12, 2016 Heading into the match the Eddies were hoping to build on the strong defensive performance last week, with the chance to finally show what this team can come up with offensively. Instead, the overall feeling of the match was that United dominated—with the Eddies seemingly pegged back—unable to foster many good chances of their own. The statistics demonstrate this. United orchestrated an efficient game, producing a greater number of offensive chances despite having less possession; and attempting less passes, even completing slightly less of them when compared to FCE.
Ultimately, the game was decided on mistakes and a moment of brilliance. Minnesota — Ben Speas in particular — was clinical in finishing, with the second goal one that Mallan Roberts is likely not wanting to see again. The frustration was apparent among the supporters, as miscommunication plagued the Eddies day resulting in giveaways or even the most simple of passes going wayward, in both halves of the field. The groans were audible and often in the new stand behind the South goal.
Visual frustration: Edmonton’s unsuccessful distribution on both sides of the half line. Of note: the number of failed short passes in their defensive end; and those in the offensive end that go out the touchline.Fig. 1: Ludwig Boltzmann (1844 - 1906), Austrian scientist
© The Dibner Library Portrait Collection - Smithsonian Institution Fig. 2: American mathematical physicist Josiah Willard Gibbs (1839 – 1903)
© Zeitschrift für Physikalische Chemie, Band 18, von 1895
Temperature quantifies our perception of 'hot' and 'cold'. Temperature is also fundamental for predicting the efficiencies of machines that convert heat into usable work. For decades, physics students have learned that temperature is always positive when measured on the Kelvin scale. An important consequence of this assumption is that the efficiency of a heat engine is always smaller than one, i.e. only a fraction of the energy put in as heat, e.g. by burning fuel in the engine of a car, can be harnessed to perform useful work, like propelling a car. However, there have been both theoretical and experimental claims over the past 60 years that there are certain systems with a negative absolute temperature. Even though these are very special systems - nuclear spin systems or ultracold atom gases – this would have profound conceptual and practical consequences. Such systems might not only facilitate the construction of hyper-efficient heat engines. They might also serve as a laboratory model for the mysterious Dark Energy, which was postulated by astrophysicists to explain the accelerated expansion of the Universe. “We actually have no idea what Dark Energy is on a very fundamental level,” says Stefan Hilbert from MPA. “So we wanted to find out if these results would indeed shed light on Dark Energy.” This, however, meant going back to the basics of thermodynamics. Most textbooks advocate the formalism introduced by Ludwig Boltzmann to relate the thermodynamic temperature of a system to its internal structure. For many systems, this formalism works just fine. However, "when we examined Boltzmann's definitions in detail, we found serious inconsistencies that lead to nonsense results for many systems," says Stefan Hilbert. Dunkel and Hilbert found that these inconsistencies can be avoided by using a slightly different formalism that was derived by Gibbs already more than 100 years ago, but has mostly been forgotten since then. A feature of Gibbs' formalism is that temperature never becomes negative. As Dunkel and Hilbert show, the number determined in recent experiments claiming negative temperatures in ultracold atom gases is not the actual thermodynamic temperature, but rather a complex function of temperature and another quantity, known as heat capacity. The thermodynamic temperature in fact remained positive in these experiments, which makes it less likely that these systems behave like Dark Energy. “In most cases, the difference between the Boltzmann temperature and the Gibbs temperature is negligible,” explains Stefan Hilbert. “But in extreme physical conditions, as is the case for these systems with allegedly negative temperature, only Gibbs provides the correct description.” To directly test this, Dunkel and Hilbert propose a straight-forward experiment: If there is a single atom in a trap that allows the atom to move only in one direction, then the pressure should be negative at both ends if the Boltzmann description is correct, while the pressure should be positive for the Gibbs case. Original publication: Jörn Dunkel & Stefan Hilbert, "Consistent thermostatistics forbids negative absolute temperatures", Nature Physics (2013) doi:10.1038/nphys2815 Published online, 8 December 2013
Contact: Dr. Stefan Hilbert
Max-Planck-Institut für Astrophysik
Tel: +49 (89) 30 000 2249
E-mail: shilbert mpa-garching.mpg.de
Dr. Hannelore Hämmerle
Presse- und Öffentlichkeitsarbeit
Max-Planck-Institut für Astrophysik
Tel: +49 (89) 30 000 3980
E-mail: pr mpa-garching.mpg.deEric Matzner tells me he takes 30 to 40 pills a day. He is 27 and perfectly healthy. Thanks to the pills, he says he hasn't had a cold in years. More importantly, the regimen is supposed to optimize the hell out of his brain, smoothing right over the ravages of aging, sleep deprivation, and hangovers.
Not that a guy so obsessed with health drinks much anyway.
Matzner is the founder of Nootroo, one of the many companies now purveying nootropics, or brain enhancement drugs. Depending on who you ask, nootropics could include everything from Adderall to caffeine, with an array of unregulated and largely untested chemicals like noopept in between. The idea of nootropics has been around since the 70s, but it's enjoyed a recent swell of popularity, especially among the Silicon Valley bodyhacking and Soylent-guzzling set.
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It's tempting to dismiss a lot of this stuff as pseudoscience and snake oil because c'mon, have you read anything about the supplements industry lately? But if you peer through the hype around nootropics, there is something interesting afoot, too. Online communities coalescing in forums like Longecity, Bluelight, and especially the subreddit /r/nootropics have become a massive crowdsourced science experiment.
Their DIY science is very imperfect, but these self-experimenters have found a legitimate gap in the drug industry: Brain enhancement drugs for healthy people don't fit neatly into an FDA category, giving little incentive for pharmaceutical companies to test these drugs. Self-experimenters are going where pharmaceutical companies don't dare go—yet.
But let's not get ahead of ourselves.
Productivity Drugs
Like all categories vague and ill-defined, exactly what counts as a nootropic can depend on who you ask. The most familiar substances are ones that have sparked the most handwringing media coverage about abuse: Adderall, Ritalin, and modafinil, the wakefulness drug given to Air Force pilots during long missions.
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Some nootropics enthusiasts contend that drugs like modafinil—with dramatic effects and potentially dramatic side effects—do not count as nootropics. Or at least, they misrepresent nootropics, which include drugs that have a small but cumulative effect over the long term by optimizing cognition. "The right analogy is compound interest. You're not going to make a million dollars in a day," says Michael Brandt, cofounder of the company Nootrobox. "If you can be 10 percent more productive over the course of your 20s, the amount of throughput you can achieve is phenomenal."
Other popular nootropics include the herb Bacopa Monnieri to enhance memory, the peptide noopept to combat cognitive decline, and L-theanine, an amino acid commonly found in tea. Nootropics could be plant-derived or synthesized in a lab. There are many, many more listed in /r/nootropics's truly impressive FAQ for beginners. But two cognitive enhancers it recommends the most are—ready for it?—caffeine and L-theanine. In other words, coffee and tea. Groundbreaking, right?
As Amy Arnsten, a neuroscientist at Yale who studies how neuromodulators affect higher cognition, puts another way: "I don't think there's any drug that makes you Einstein if you start out Homer Simpson."
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Science or Pseudoscience?
If the recommendation of caffeine and L-theanine is disappointing for seekers of Bradley Cooper in Limitless-type superpowers, they do reveal that the /r/nootropics is pretty sober in its assessments of the science.
Its beginners guide opens with a 12-paragraph warning about the risks of tampering with brain chemistry. Its scientific summaries of individual substances list studies with evidence both for and against their effectiveness. For example, the entry for piracetam includes:
In one longitudinal study piracetam use was actually found to be associated with increased cognitive decline over 20 years, though the authors caution drawing conclusions given the small sample size in the piracetam group.
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The individual threads themselves are more freewheeling, but ones dealing with unproven substances get a "high risk" label. The subreddit has actually become a source of accountability for a notoriously freewheeling industry.
Moderator MisterYouAreSoDumb told me that a program to test the drugs was organized, which would make sure they actually contain the ingredients listed on the labels. A couple of well-known vendors donated money to do the tests, which are usually done at a chemistry lab in Tennessee called Colmaric Analyticals.
"I made it known to all the vendors that I would be anonymously getting sample from them from time to time, and testing them for purity," MisterYouAreSoDumb said. "Now it is standard for vendors to have third party testing in place. We only list vendors that have testing programs in our reliable supplier list as well." Manufacturers that falsely label their products are publicly called out in the forum. Of course, this testing only determines whether the labels are accurate. Whether the drugs work as purported is another story.
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Given all the self-experimentation among its members, the group is making every effort to help its members use the nootropics responsibly. On /r/nootropics and its sister subreddit /r/StackAdvice ("stack" refers to the combo of pills), users dish out advice and reports on new drugs, combinations, and dosages. "Best Noots for Depression?," asks one user. "Does l-theanine cause dissociation?" asks another.
The Problem of Crowdsourcing Clinical Trials
Even if we accept that individuals are free to take whatever risks they want experimenting on themselves, there's still a glaring problem with using their results as data: the placebo effect. A patient given a sugar pill can almost miraculously improve their test scores. A college student given alcohol-free beer will act drunk.
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"Anything that isn't placebo-controlled, it's probably not worth anything," says Arnsten, the Yale neuroscientist. But that doesn't mean takers of nootropics aren't deriving real benefits from popping pills. "A lot of my work is on how stress is impairing higher cognition. If you're taking something and you think it is making you better and you relax, the placebo effect could be very powerful."
To be fair, Redditors sometimes do blind themselves in comparisons with placebos, and blind placebo-controlled trials and even been sporadically attempted. But a pseudoanonymous internet forum with participants flung all over the globe is not exactly the best place for trials that need to keep track of dozens, potentially even hundreds, of people.
Confounding factors, aka all the outside influences that can affect the outcome of a study, are also hard to weed out in single-person studies. For example, work can be incredibly stressful the week leading up to a big launch, and then easygoing the week later. Depending on which week you do a brain test, your results will be very different. Clinical trials, however, enroll as many people as logically feasible, so that these confounding factors are averaged out.
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And it's not as if these problems are endemic to crowdsourced research. Even science from prestigious researchers, published in legitimate journals, can be wrong. The scientific literature is littered with once-promising drugs that did not pan out. Take piracetam, for example, the drug for which "nootropics" was originally coined. Early studies beginning 1970s found possible benefits to piracetam, especially in the elderly, but this hasn't always panned out with further studies. There's no clear evidence it benefits healthy 20-somethings when taken over the long term.
At the same time, most of these substances are so new that there aren't many longterm studies, especially in healthy 20-somethings. Suppliers of nootropics are of course well poised to exploit this ambiguity.
To its credit, the community is self-aware about all these problems. In one thread asking, "Is this a dangerous subreddit filled with pseudoscience?," a user summed it up pretty succinctly:
I think thats worth keeping in mind while browsing here - this is a labrat sub. What we do has often just been done on guinea pigs before.We are human testers for non-medical reasons and everybody must know for himself how far he is willing to go.
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The Self-Experimenters
When it comes to clinical research and regulation, nootropics largely exist in a gray area. "In the US, we don't have categories for enhancement. Even if they have trials that exist, there is no FDA category for them," says Matzner. And he's right.
The FDA is set up to approve drugs for treating disorders. You have Adderall for treating ADHD or modafinil for narcolepsy. It does not, however, have any framework for regulating drugs optimizing the brains of the perfectly healthy. If drug companies who don't see a clear path for getting a new class of drugs approved, why risk all the money into developing one?
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Arnsten also points out that experiments usually begin in mice and rodents, whose higher cortexes are utterly distinct from ours. But no ethical review board is going to take kindly to jumping straight to human trials. Perhaps this is where large body of self-experimenters, who are willing to take the risk, comes in. At the very least, these communities demonstrate that the market for cognitive enhancers is very real.
Google Trends for "nootropics"
The current swelling of interest in nootropics might very well be a product of our time, an era obsessed with achievement and productivity. In 2008, an editorial by several top researchers in Nature advocated a responsible way to deal with what seemed like an inevitable future.
We should welcome new methods of improving our brain function" while noting that responsible. In a world in which human workspans and lifespans are increasing, cognitive enhancement tools — including the pharmacological — will be increasingly useful for improved quality of life and extended work productivity, as well as to stave off normal and pathological age-related cognitive declines."
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Cognitive enhancement drugs may make some of us nervous, but most of us accept caffeine as a perfectly legitimate perk-me-up. Millions of us will profess to being nonfunctional without coffee, and just a tad too much makes us jittery as hell. Nootropics may just be the next iteration of caffeine. If cognitive enhancement is the future, then nootropics users are the ones pushing it forward, DIY-style.RIO DE JANEIRO — Police investigating a gang rape possibly involving more than 30 men said Monday that they have no doubt the assault happened but that tests on the 16-year-old victim were done too late to provide conclusive evidence.
[np_storybar title=”Brazilians outraged as photos and videos of teen’s gang rape shared on Twitter” link=”http://news.nationalpost.com/news/world/brazilians-outraged-as-photos-and-videos-of-teens-gang-rape-shared-on-twitter”%5D
Police said Friday that they have identified and are searching for four of the more than 30 men suspected of gang raping a 16-year-old girl, a case that has rocked Latin America’s largest nation and highlighted its endemic problem of violence against women.
“It’s absurd that in the 21st century we have to live with barbarous crimes like this,” acting President Michel Temer said in a statement. He promised to create a federal police force unit tasked with tackling crimes against women.
Read more…[/np_storybar]
The attack has shocked Brazilians and put a spotlight on the endemic problem of violence against women in Latin America’s most populous nation.
Two men, including a man investigators have said may have been her boyfriend, have been arrested in connection with the crime and four others sought by police are still on the loose. The men arrested were identified as Rai de Souza, 22, and Lucas Perdomo Duarte Santos, 20.
The alleged attack happened in a slum in western Rio de Janeiro on May 21. It came to light because a video clip and images were shared on Twitter and WhatsApp.
Rio police chief Fernando Veloso said the rape kit tests were done five days after the incident, well beyond the recommended 72-hour window.
“We did not collect evidence of violence, but this does not mean that there was no violence,” said Veloso, who added that authorities did not learn of the incident until the social media posts appeared several days later. “Traces were lost because of time.”
Veloso said police believe the gang rape happened because at least three men were involved in the video. However, they were not able to determine how many people participated in total, he said. The girl has testified there were 33 men.
“The footage shows more than one voice, there is an account of the rape performed earlier. One of the men touches the teenager, who looks unconscious. That act alone is rape and it is in the footage. If the footage is true, and it looks to be true, there is no doubt it was rape,” Veloso said at a news conference.
Veloso also said the head of the investigation was replaced for allegedly not taking the victim’s account seriously. The male investigator was replaced by a female investigator, he said.
Cristiane Bento, police inspector in charge of the case, also said the video published on social media is enough for police to charge as an accessory a drug trafficker who controls the shantytown. Many of Brazil’s shantytowns, known as favelas, are controlled by armed drug traffickers.
Many victims of rape “don’t say anything because they are afraid of the traffickers,” Bento said.
The attack has struck a nerve in Brazil, a conservative, majority Roman Catholic nation of 200 million people.
A study by the Brazilian Center for Latin American Studies found that between 1980 and 2010, more than 92,000 women were killed in crimes related to gender, involving incidents from rape to domestic abuse.
Last year, Congress passed legislation to sharply increase the punishment for violent crimes against women.
Advocates say changes in the law need to go hand-in-hand with changes in mentality.
“Brazilian culture is very sexist and rape is part of that culture even if as a society we deny it,” said Luise Bello of the women’s advocacy group Think Olga. “Rape is not rare in Brazil, but what is really shocking is the fact that more than 30 men raped a minor, filmed it and then shared the images on the internet.”Hi, Neal Stephenson here. My career as an author of science and historical fiction has turned me into a swordsmanship geek. As such, I'm dissatisfied with how swordfighting is portrayed in existing video games. These could be so much more fun than they are. Time for a revolution.
In the last couple of years, affordable new gear has come on the market that makes it possible to move, and control a swordfighter's actions, in a much more intuitive way than pulling a plastic trigger or pounding a key on a keyboard. So it's time to step back, dump the tired conventions that have grown up around trigger-based sword games, and build something that will enable players to inhabit the mind, body, and world of a real swordfighter.
CLANG will begin with the Queen of Weapons: the two-handed longsword used in Europe during late medieval and early renaissance times. This is a well-documented style that has enjoyed a revival in recent years thanks to the efforts of scholars and martial artists worldwide.
At first, it'll be a PC arena game based on one-on-one multiplayer dueling (which is a relatively simple and attainable goal; we don't want to mess this up by overreaching). Dueling, however, is only the tip of the sword blade. During the past few years, we have been developing a rich world, brimming with all manner of adventure tales waiting to be written--and to be played. In conjunction with 47 North, Amazon.com's new science fiction publishing house, we've already begun publishing some of those stories, and we have plenty more in the hopper. Once we get CLANG off the ground we intend to weave game and story content together in a way that'll enhance both the playing and the reading experience.
"How will this be different than SoulCalibur?" you ask......
Low-latency, high-precision motion controller: Critical to a satisfying sword fight is fast, accurate response. This is especially important for CLANG given the depth and complexity of moves that are used in real sword arts. Initially, CLANG will make use of a commercial, third-party, off-the-shelf controller that anyone can buy today
Depth: Roundhouse swings and crude blocks just aren't enough. Real sword fighting involves multiple attacks delivered from different stances, pommel strikes, grappling, feints, and parries.
Expandability: Implementing the longsword style will oblige us to construct a toolkit that can then be used--by us, or by others--to create other examples of what we're calling MASEs (Martial Arts System Embodiments). If your thing is Japanese kenjutsu or Viking sword-and-board, then in principle CLANG should support it.
Raising an army (or, in this case, building an enormous story-driven video game) is an expensive proposition and can take a number of years. In keeping with the scrappy, ragtag band of adventurers model, we are building this larger vision one step at a time. The next step is to build a functional proof of concept in the form of an exciting prototype we can share with you and use to achieve our next level of funding--which will enable us to provide more character models, more environments, and more MASEs. Which is to say, other weapons and styles from other places and eras. We are building a framework that can be expanded as far and as deeply as possible. We have, after all, several thousand years of martial history to draw from.
In Which Neal goes into detail, as is his wont, regarding Clang:
Please read Technical Update #1 for details on CLANG design elements such as MASEs and In/Out of System movements.
Technical Update #2 covers our plans for the combat UI.
In Technical Update #3 Neal discusses timing, lag and tachypsychia.
Technical Update #4 goes more deeply into Sword Sync and Force Feedback.
Video update for reaching 50% of our goal. In this video, Neal takes you on a further tour of our secret facilities and introduces you to two very special characters.
Video update: It is all in the memo.
Thanks to:
Mike Yahn, Stunt and Fight Coordinator
Dan Mahon as Olaf
Kevin Joyce as Mr. Cartwright
Seattle Knights
Nanda
Dave Clay
Kevin Inouye
3ric Johanson, Nathan Pegram, and Hackerbot Labs
Rusty Oliver and Hazard Factory
Bungie
Valve
SANCA
Guy Windsor
Tony Wolf
John Lennox
Razer
Jack Mcfarland as The Hipster
And an extra special thanks to Brady Hall, video director and editor.
bradyhallstuff.com
Mr. Stephenson's Bartitsuit was tailored by Duchess, ClothierBaby Hawks at Christodora House View Full Caption
EAST VILLAGE — Three young red-tailed hawks born on an East Village air conditioner are preparing to leave their nest for the first time.
The baby hawks, hatched in early May, have recently been spotted testing their wings in their nest on a seventh-floor window at the Christodora House, at East Ninth Street and Avenue B. They could fly away any day now, said Dennis Edge, a nearby resident who has been birding for the past 10 years.
"They were jumping all over the place and the parents were coming with food," Edge said, describing the scene in the nest on Sunday.
Birders have been keeping a close eye on the nest since the parent hawks — nicknamed “Christo” and “Dora,” after the building — made their home on top of an air conditioning unit a few months ago.
"They've become community celebrities," Edge said.
Michael Natale, another hawk observer, recently stood next to the Christodora House by Tompkins Square Park, his camera mounted on a tripod and pointed up at the nest. He said he has been stopping by at least once a day over the past week, in the hopes of catching the birds take their first flight.
He hasn't spotted them leaving the nest yet, but he has been posting videos and photos of the chicks on his neighborhood nature blog, Tompkins Trees.
“They do a lot of flapping up and down with their wings and hopping up and down. They like to get a couple inches of air over the nest,” Natale said, adding that he’s also seen the young hawks peek over the edge of the nest, as if to plan out where they’ll land.
Curious passerby have also been stopping to look at the nest. On Friday afternoon, some pulled out their phones to take photos, while others borrowed Natale’s binoculars.
Jennifer Saftler, who has lived in the neighborhood since the early 1990s, was awed by the hawks.
“I think the hawk in the middle of the city is a pretty cool idea,” she said. “It’s nice that nature can take over wherever it is.”Manny Pacquiao’s failure to check a box that he was injured is creating a rain of class action litigation. Five lawsuits have already been filed. Perhaps the most unusual one comes in Illinois where the plaintiffs are not only suing Pacquiao’s promoter Top Rank and his adversary Floyd Mayweather, but also Showtime, HBO, AT&T, Comcast and DirecTV.
A judge will have to decide whether the plaintiffs really have standing to sue on allegations that Pacquiao’s shoulder injury was concealed, but in the meantime, those who paid between $89 to $100 to watch the fight on pay-per-view are now alleging their own injuries. The lawsuit seeks $300 million in damages over an event labeled as “Fight of the Century” with no disclosure about Pacquiao’s injury.
See the Top 10 Boxing Matches of All Time Rolls Press/Popperfoto/Getty Images AP Dirck Halstead—Getty Images Steve Miller—AP Joseph Costa—New York Daily News Archive/Getty Images Eric Jamison—AP AP Jed Jacobsohn—Getty Images Ken Levine—Getty Images Chris Smith—Popperfoto/Getty Images 1 of 10 Advertisement
According to the lawsuit, “If any of Defendants, between April 4, 2015 and May 2, 2015, had disclosed that Pacquiao, the underdog, had injured his right shoulder, or had suffered a torn right rotator cuff during training, or had been recommended to rest for 30 to 40 days beginning on and around April 6, 2015, or that his right arm was at an estimated 60% of full functioning, they would not have realized the number of pay-per-view purchases they were anticipating.”
Exactly what legal obligations do broadcast outlets with sports telecast rights have in advance of an event?
The lawsuit filed by attorneys Robert Duncan and Thomas Cronin makes the uphill case that those obligations are extensive.
HBO and Showtime are alleged to have committed negligent misrepresentation by failing “to determine and disclose, though it knew or should have known, that Pacquiao had injured his right shoulder” or by continuing to promote the fight as “The Fight of the Century” “even though it knew that Pacquiao was injured and likely unable to compete with boxer Mayweather.”
Here’s the complaint.
Showtime had no comment while Daniel Petrocelli, an attorney for Top Rank, has put out a statement, “The lawsuits are factually wrong and legally wrong, and we expect they will be dismissed in due course.”
Meanwhile, there’s still other class action lawyers who are swinging their fists in a different direction.
One lawsuit in Missouri targets Charter Communications over a cable outage that prevented customers in the St. Louis area from watching the fight. According to that lawsuit, these individuals “were outraged by their inability to watch the fight that they had paid for.”
This article originally appeared on The Hollywood Reporter.
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Contact us at editors@time.com.Gurl, Colin Powell is not the one.
He is Not. The. One.
Boris and Natasha, back at it again, hacked a bunch of the former Secretary of State's private e-mails and, it turns out, the 79-year-old retired general is shadier than the forest floor in Ferngully.
In personal e-mails to former staff members, colleagues and friends, Colin Powell calls the Republican Presidential candidate a "national disgrace," characterized Gen. Michael Flynn as a "right-wing nutty" and read former Vice President Dick Cheney's book, Exceptional: Why the World Needs a Powerful America, for absolute filth.
Bloomberg Getty Images
Honey, Powell needs to change his name to LeVar Burton because he is reading the rainbow.
Here's a personal favorite:
"One day when we both have had too many drinks we can discuss why [President George |
rationale to support that prescribing marijuana would be preferable to other approaches to pain management. Unfortunately, medical marijuana laws are passed as a means to bypass the illegality of marijuana. Medicine has often been an unwilling participant in this process.
Marijuana as an Addicting Drug It is an erroneous belief widely held by the general public, and among many physicians, that marijuana is not addicting. Marijuana is a powerful mind-altering drug which impacts the addiction circuitry in the brain in a manner similar to all other mind-altering addicting drugs.7–10 Our patients seeking help with marijuana addiction see it as an addicting drug that is harming their lives and they are unable to stop its use. Marijuana addiction has been difficult to treat in our experience. Patients can experience lengthy periods of withdrawal and describe withdrawal symptoms that can continue for months after cessation of use.7,10–15 Many have been using marijuana for decades and don't realize their degree of the dependence until they try to stop. Because their marijuana use played such an important part in maintaining homeostasis in their lives, a feeling of emptiness and alienation often accompanies cessation of the drug. Researchers have found that non-addicted volunteers who were administered high-dose marijuana over a several week period demonstrated significant drug withdrawal symptoms on abrupt cessation of the drug. The symptoms show striking similarities to the general sedative-hypnotic withdrawal syndrome. They describe anxiety, agitation, tremulousness, elevation of vital signs, insomnia, and irritability as various components of marijuana withdrawal.13,15,16 These are similar withdrawal symptoms seen with any of the sedative-hypnotic drugs, including alcohol, benzodiazepines, barbiturates, and most hypnotic agents. While it is not typical to observe such severe withdrawal in usual marijuana subjects, the severity of marijuana withdrawal matches dosage, use pattern, and length of addiction. By comparison, heavy alcohol users also may not experience severe withdrawal symptoms on cessation of the drug, but those who consume a liter of spirits per day or its equivalent in wine or beer can have severe withdrawal effects that include seizures and delirium tremens. Neither seizures nor delirium tremens have been described with marijuana withdrawal. We might argue over why our nation has chosen to legitimize the use of alcohol, nicotine, and caffeine, despite their well-known detrimental effects. I suspect it is more likely due to long-term social mores and customs than on research on potentially harmful effects. Nicotine addiction and the terrible consequences evidenced in the high death rate from cigarette smoking in the 20th century are well known and continue into the 21st century. The medical profession does not support or promote the heavy use of any legal or illegal drugs. Decriminalization and/or legalization of marijuana use is a state and federal issue. Legalization under the guise of medical necessity is wrong in my opinion and should not be supported by the medical profession. We don't have accurate studies on driving impairment caused by marijuana intoxication or chronic marijuana use.17 Marijuana card users may feel that their driving ability is not impaired, but I doubt that they are accurate observers of their level of impairment. Nor are drivers impaired by alcohol.
Summary Rigorous scientific research is needed before marijuana can be approved for the treatment of chronic pain or any other conditions. It would also be important for the government to remove marijuana from Schedule I to allow the research that would quickly follow. Until that research is done, stating that marijuana is useful for treating chronic pain, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, and other health conditions remains anecdotal and conjectural. Anecdotal findings in medicine are not usually accepted, though they may serve as the basis for more extensive research on a topic. The randomized trials cited also refer to smoked marijuana. The number of “hits” to achieve pain relief is also described. How would legitimate research determine any effects based on “number of hits” of smoked marijuana? The research from those countries without scheduling problems: United Kingdom, Germany, Canada, Australia, other European and Latin American countries.18–24 Self-serving claims by medical marijuana users should not be used to base medically unsound conclusions.25 If this is allowed, the medical profession loses creditability. The national debate on marijuana as well as other drugs must continue so that we can all examine the basis for our laws, if we are to support any needed changes in them. To date the “war on drugs” war has shown few visible results in stopping the promotion, distribution, or use of currently illegal drugs in the United States. Our drug control laws show the fallacy of crafting legislation for a poorly understood national problem. We tolerate laws that made little sense 300 years ago, when attempts at legislating drug use began, and make no real sense from a social or medical perspective in our world today.26 With appropriate changes in scheduling of banned drugs we may finally get answers to the legitimate question “What are the medical benefits of marijuana.”
Author's Biography Dr. McKenna graduated from Marist College in New York with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Biology in May 1962. He received his MD from the State University of New York — Upstate Health Sciences University, Syracuse, New York in May, 1966. He completed a rotating internship at San Francisco General Hospital, University of California, from July 1, 1966, to June 30, 1967. He completed a residency in Psychiatry at the Massachusetts Mental Health Center, Harvard Medical School, 1967 to 1970. He was a Chief Resident at the Cambridge Hospital Department of Psychiatry, at that time an integral part of the Massachusetts Mental Health Center, from 1969 to 1970. Following two years in the United States Air Force as a captain from 1970 to 1971 as Chief of Psychiatry at the 11th US Air Force Hospital, U-Tapao, Thailand, and then as a Major at the Pentagon, working with the Social Actions Assistance Team from August 1971 to August 1972. He was on the faculty of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School from 1972 to 1980 as an Instructor of Psychiatry. He was then on the faculty of the UCLA School of Medicine as an Adjunct Associate Professor of Psychiatry from 1980 to 1988. He was the Assistant Chief of Psychiatry at VAMC Brentwood from 1980 to 1984 and then Associate Chief of Psychiatry from 1984 to 1987. He relocated to the island of Kaua‘i where he has been in the practice of General Psychiatry and Addiction Medicine from March 1988 until the present time. He has held the academic rank of Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the John A. Burns School of Medicine, University of Hawai‘i. He has been the Medical Director of the McKenna Recovery Center, an outpatient addiction treatment program, from, 1989 to the present. He lives with his family on Kaua‘i.Washington (CNN) Donald Trump's pick for education secretary, Betsy DeVos, said at her confirmation hearing on Tuesday night that she would consider actions the President-elect described on a 2005 hot mic tape released during the 2016 campaign to be sexual assault.
Sen. Patty Murray, the top Democrat on the Senate committee considering DeVos' nomination, asked the Michigan Republican whether she would consider the actions described on the tape -- "kissing and touching women and girls without their consent," she said paraphrasing Trump -- to be sexual assault.
"Yes," DeVos answered simply.
The "Access Hollywood" tape rocked the race and led to days' worth of news coverage about Trump's comments.
"When you're a star, they let you do it. You can do anything," Trump said on the tape, after describing how he would kiss and grope women without their consent.
Read MoreOVERLAND PARK, Kan. (BUSINESS WIRE), November 02, 2015 - Sprint (NYSE: S) today became the first U.S. wireless carrier to sign a direct roaming agreement with Telecommunications Company of Cuba (ETECSA).
“As the commercial relationship between the U.S. and Cuba continues to progress, it is expected that the number of travelers to Cuba will increase exponentially,” said Sprint CEO Marcelo Claure. “We want to make sure any Sprint customer traveling to Cuba can use their phone the same way as they do in the United States.”
Claure made the announcement at a signing ceremony in Havana as part of the U.S.-Cuba Business Council (USCBC) delegation to Cuba.
As the only U.S. carrier with a direct roaming agreement and a direct long-distance interconnection agreement with Cuban provider ETECSA, Sprint is leading the way for U.S.-Cuba telecommunications.
More than 3 million people from around the world are expected to visit Cuba this year. Within 10 years, that number is projected to grow to more than 5 million.
The USCBC, an advocacy organization housed at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, is a formal commitment by the American business community to build a strong and strategic commercial relationship between Cuba and the United States.
Earlier this year, Sprint launched Sprint Global Roaming and in August launched Sprint Open World, an industry-leading plan for connectivity in Canada, Mexico and most other countries across Latin America. The agreement signed today with ETECSA makes it much more convenient for Sprint customers who plan to work, study or visit family in Cuba. Offer details and timing of availability will be announced soon.
About Sprint
Sprint (NYSE: S) is a communications services company that creates more and better ways to connect its customers to the things they care about most. Sprint served more than 57 million connections as of June 30, 2015, and is widely recognized for developing, engineering and deploying innovative technologies, including the first wireless 4G service from a national carrier in the United States; leading no-contract brands including Virgin Mobile USA, Boost Mobile, and Assurance Wireless; instant national and international push-to-talk capabilities; and a global Tier 1 Internet backbone. Sprint has been named to the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI) North America for the past five years. You can learn more and visit Sprint at www.sprint.com or www.facebook.com/sprint and www.twitter.com/sprint.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20151102006402/en/(Pablo Martinez Monsivais/Associated Press)
The White House is signaling that President Trump will not raise the issue of election meddling with Russian President Vladimir Putin when the pair meet in person for the first time at a Group of 20 summit in Germany on Friday. As CNN reports:
There is little expectation among Trump’s national security team that the President will bring up Russia’s meddling in last year’s presidential election during the meeting, according to administration officials and another person close to the White House. Instead, he’s likely to engage Putin in a conversation about Russia’s support for Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad and the increasingly tense military situation in the civil-war-torn nation. Trump is also likely to raise Russia’s actions in Ukraine, though Syria is at the top of his agenda, according to administration officials.
But if Trump meets his own national security team’s very low expectations and doesn’t discuss election interference with Putin at all, it will be akin to hand-delivering an open invitation to Russia to interfere in the 2018 midterms and beyond.
We know that Russia interfered in 2016 and intends to interfere in the future. By not taking the opportunity to make a public show of standing up to Putin, Trump risks reinforcing the very perception he has strained so vehemently to avert, one that lies at the heart of the federal investigation that has dogged his presidency: that he supported, or at least acquiesced to, Russian meddling in the 2016 campaign.
Worse, he will be signaling to Russia and other hostile foreign powers that he is unconcerned about foreign meddling in U.S. elections in the future and will do nothing to stop it.
By not raising the issue with Putin, Trump will be saying, essentially: Go ahead. Hack away.
Rather than assuaging public concern about Trump’s intentions with Putin, his own national security adviser, H.R. McMaster, is already lowering expectations for the meeting. As USA Today reports, on the one hand McMaster is claiming that Trump has a strong policy against Russian interference, telling reporters that the president intends “to confront Russia’s destabilizing behavior — whether it’s cyber threats, whether it’s political subversion here in Europe and elsewhere.” But McMaster also admitted that for the Trump-Putin meeting, “There’s no specific agenda. It’s really going to be whatever the president wants to talk about.”
Making it more likely that Trump won’t bring up election meddling, Trump has for months chosen to dismiss the conclusions of intelligence agencies, instead opting to create his own alternative reality about Russia. He has called the federal investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election “a taxpayer funded charade” and media coverage of it “FAKE NEWS” about “phony Russian stories.”
As the Russia investigation gathers steam, though, the facts and evidence are becoming too overwhelming to ignore.
The public has known since December that the CIA concluded that Russia interfered in the election in order to help Trump and undermine Hillary Clinton, including by providing hacked Democratic National Committee emails to WikiLeaks. Since January, the public has known that the FBI, CIA and Office of the Director of National Intelligence concluded with “high confidence” that Putin ordered a comprehensive assault on our democracy, including orchestrated disinformation campaigns, and that Russian entities hacked the DNC. And, as we’ve more recently discovered, Russian actors also made headway toward hacking computer election systems in 21 states, albeit — for now, at least — without altering vote totals or election outcomes.
As officials with the Department of Homeland Security and FBI and outside cybersecurity experts have warned, Russia’s designs did not end in 2016; they fully expect Russia to step up its efforts in future elections, including the midterms that are 16 months away. In a sane world, the federal government would be engaged in a full-court press to thwart all efforts to sabotage future elections.
Instead, Trump is focused on the nonissue of voter fraud — a politicized farce that will likely further undermine our democracy by violating citizens’ privacy and potentially making it harder for many citizens to vote. And he continues to try to confuse the public about what is known about Russian interference in our election — and the possibility of more to come.
On the one hand, Trump claims the Russia interference story is “fake news,” but on the other he seems to admit it happened — and seeks to blame former president Barack Obama for it. After The Post’s in-depth June 23 report on the Obama administration’s struggles to hold Russia accountable for the interference, Trump tweeted, “Since the Obama Administration was told way before the 2016 Election that the Russians were meddling, why no action? Focus on them, not T!” He seemed, then, to admit the meddling did indeed occur, but that he bears no culpability for it or for any future interference.
Trump has an opportunity this week to stand up to protect American democracy. When he meets Putin, he has a choice: He can continue to portray intelligence community assessments, federal investigations and news coverage of Russian election interference as a “hoax,” or he can act like the leader of the United States of America.
To meet Putin and not bring this up at all would demonstrate that despite his “make America great” sloganeering, Trump is either indifferent to the Russian attacks or too afraid to stand up to Putin to stop them. Can the American people trust their president to defend the basic infrastructure of our democracy, or will he cave to the Russian president who wants to attack and undermine it?The Goal Zero Torch 250 is way more than just a flashlight, and it has completely changed the way I look at flashlights. Here’s why….
Goal Zero supplied us with a review sample of their Torch 250 to test and I was expecting to find their usual, a quality product that holds up to the elements and does what it promises.
What I found was a completely new way of thinking….a complete mindset shift.
The Goal Zero Torch 250 is so innovative and so different from everything else out there that it forces you to think differently about a flashlight’s role in survival and prepping. Should a flashlight be just a simple way to see at night, or could a flashlight be more?
After all, the #1 rule of bug out bags, or packing for a camping trip in general, is that everything in your pack should have at least three uses.
And, once you think about it, a flashlight is the best portable power source you’ll have out in the bush. But no one has ever capitalized on this…
….Until now.
Our Goal Zero Torch 250 Review
Before I start this Goal Zero Torch 250 flashlight review, I should confess that I always thought a flashlight should be small and bright and last a long time… and that was about it.
If I ever needed a flashlight I would usually buy the cheapest one available. Sometimes I would splurge a little for features like zoom or a couple of different modes, but that was really about it.
Given that, I was honestly curious what would make me pay $67 for a flashlight. After playing with the Goal Zero Torch 250 for a couple of weeks I now understand EXACTLY what that is, and I don’t think I’m EVER going back.
Here’s why….
First Impressions
The green and black packaging is simple yet descriptive, and the only item in the box is the Goal Zero Torch 250.
When I opened the box I was staring at a completely different type of beast, something I honestly didn’t expect.
Was I even looking at a flashlight? Maybe, yes. Of course. It’s obviously a flashlight with its multiple light options. But I really felt like I was looking at so much more.
The Torch 250 is not only a flashlight, but also a portable solar power bank. And a powerful one too, one that I would come to learn is capable of charging nearly anything via USB, including your smartphone.
With two separate flashlight options and a flood light, I knew this would be a good flashlight too. There was no doubt there. But the built in female USB port and multiple charging options is what really intrigued me.
“If my calculations are correct, when this baby hits 88 miles per hour… you’re gonna see some serious sh*t.”
In short, I was looking at the future, or at least a small part of it. A technological marvel that felt as promising as Doc Brown’s pimped out Delorean.
Here in front of me was a mini solar panel that charges top-of-the-line lithium 18650 batteries in the body and shape of a flashlight, AND it has USB ports for unloading all of that energy into other devices on demand.
Why is this such a game changer, you ask? Simple. It turns your single use item (a normal flashlight) into an indispensable piece of multi-use gear.
One of the most basic rules of prepping, and especially when it comes to bug out bags, is that every piece of gear you own should have at least three uses. Anything less and you could find a better solution, because essentially you’re wasting space with mediocre gear.
With the Torch 250 by Goal Zero you get (at least) three pieces of gear forged into one, possibly many more depending on how you want to count it.
Out Of The Box
I was Immediately drawn to the massive solar panel along the top. My first though was, “Goodbye dead flashlight batteries! Nice knowing you, ya money sucking b*stards!”
You can also connect a portable solar panel, such as the Nomad 7 or Nomad 20 from Goal Zero, to supplement the built in solar panel to significantly reduce charging times.
You also have two other options to power this unique flashlight. On one side is a handle that lets you manually crank the Torch 250 and charge the batteries via a dynamo motor.
The handle is held into place by a magnet so it won’t flip down by accident, and is easy to flip open to hand crank. It came in the mail about 95% charged and after about 20-30 seconds of cranking it appeared to be fully charged based on the four blue LED indicator lights.
If you’re near a computer with a USB outlet, or if you’re like most people and own at a bare minimum about a half dozen or so cell phone outlet-to-USB chargers, you can also use the built in USB cable to charge the Torch.
Like the handle on the opposite side, the USB cable locks into place with a magnet and has a nice secure snap to it.
There are three buttons on the bottom that work the lights: Flood, Spot, and Red. Each one presses twice for different modes (high/low, and in the case of the Red button, flashing).
There are four blue LEDs that indicate the current battery level. In the picture above it was actually flashing from 3 to 4 because it was laying in the sun charging. Also pictured above is the game changing 1.5V female USB port that lets you charge nearly anything via USB.
Just below this port are two hooks locked into place that can be pulled out to tote the Torch or hang it from something. It’s a unique and innovative two hook system that let you use the hooks separately or overlap them together to form a complete handle.
On the back of the Torch 250 is a flood light with 22 LEDs that turns this flashlight into a lantern with the touch of a button. Not only is it bright, but it’s also extremely energy efficient, running up to 48 straight hours on a full charge.
All of this was neatly built into a rugged trapezoidal outer shell. I did feel that this shape was kinda awkward to hold at first but I quickly got used to it. After a few days in the bush it felt odd to go back to a regular round flashlight.
Goal Zero Torch 250 Specs
The Goal Zero Torch 250 boasts a powerful 4,400 mAh lithium 18650 battery, 250 total lumens output, and a 1.5A female USB port that can charge smartphones or other gear.
The Torch has a white light for normal use, a red light for emergencies or for when you want to keep your eyes adjusted to the dark. As mentioned above, it also has a large flood bar measuring 4.5″ x 2″ on the side that turns the Torch into a high efficiency lantern.
The water-resistant torch measures approximately 10″ long x 3.5″ wide x 1.75″ thick, and it weighs 14.4 ounces. It’s body is composed of matte black plastic with a rubberized coating.
Charge Times: With Goal Zero Nomad 7
Built in Solar: 23-46 hours
23-46 hours USB Source: 7 Hours
7 Hours Hand Crank: Variable. 1 minute of crank = 2 minutes of light Run Times Spot Light: 15 hours (low), 7 hours (high)
15 hours (low), 7 hours (high) Flood Light: 48 hours (low), 22 hours (high) Light LED (output): 250 Lumens, 4,000 Kelvin (Color temperature)
250 Lumens, 4,000 Kelvin (Color temperature) Spot Light: 180 Lumens
180 Lumens Flood Light: 70 Lumens Solar Rated Power: 0.8W
0.8W Cell Type: Monocrystalline Battery: Cell Type: Li-NMC
Li-NMC Cell Capacity: 16.3 Wh (3.7V, 4400mAh)
16.3 Wh (3.7V, 4400mAh) Lifecycles: hundreds of cycles
hundreds of cycles Shelf Life: Charge every 3-6 months
Charge every 3-6 months Management System: Charging and low-battery protection built-in Ports Female USB port (output): 5V, up to 1A (5W max), regulated
5V, up to 1A (5W max), regulated Male USB port (input): 5V, up to 1A (5W max) General Weight: 14.4 oz (408 g)
14.4 oz (408 g) Dimensions: 10 x 3.5 x 1.75 in (25.4 x 8.9 x 4.5 cm)
10 x 3.5 x 1.75 in (25.4 x 8.9 x 4.5 cm) Operating Useage Temp: 32-104 F (0-40 C)
32-104 F (0-40 C) Certs: CE, FCC, ROHS
CE, FCC, ROHS Warranty: 12 months
Charging and Run Time
Charging:
Charging by the USB is the fastest and easiest option, assuming you have access to a USB port or an outlet (and appropriate adapter).
The hand crank takes about one minute of cranking to give two minutes of charge yet doesn’t really seem to fully charge the battery from 0% to 100% but instead gives a burst of energy or a top off of power instead.
The solar panel is the slowest but most passive way to charge the Torch 250. You can also connect a portable solar panel, such as the Nomad 7 or Nomad 20 from Goal Zero, to supplement the built in solar panel to significantly reduce charging times.
A Note On Solar Panel Charge Times:
Charging via solar panel can be slow without a booster panel, but after a lot of research I fully believe this is simply a limit of modern technology and not a fault of Goal Zero.
Keeping the Torch 250 on a table by a window is a great way to make sure it’s always ready and, once you drain it, a day in the sun will charge it enough for an average night’s run plus some.
Without a booster panel it won’t fully recharge to 100% in a single day by solar alone, because charging takes 23-46 hours with the built in panel depending on the strength and angle of the sun. If the Torch gets 12 hours of sunlight per day it will take about two to four days to fully charge.
Whereas, even the Goal Zero Nomad 7 cuts this time down to 7-14 hours, and the Nomad 20 makes charging the Torch 250 via solar as fast, if not faster, than the outlets at your house.
According to Goal Zero, their Nomad 20 panels are the largest solar panels you can use to charge the Torch 250.
Run Time:
The actual run time really depends on what you’re doing with it, but you can expect roughly 7 – 48 hours of constant run time.
The spot light uses more energy than the flood lights, with the spots on high lasting about 7 hours and the floods on low lasting an incredible 48 hours.
You can charge your phone about twice with it, or a GoPro about three times, or most GPS devices about once or twice before needing to recharge the Torch 250.
Using The Goal Zero Torch 250
The Buttons:
Pressing the Flood button once turns the flood light on full brightness, and pressing it again dims them to save battery power. Pressing it again turns the LEDs off. These LEDs are quite bright, and they will definitely light up any area just like a regular lantern with a reflector. You can light up a tent or a table or under a sink or under the hood of your car and work comfortably.
On the top of the torch is a more traditional flashlight, a spot light, with one large white LED in the middle. Just like the Flood, pressing the Spot button once turns the flashlight at max brightness, and pressing it again dims the brightness a bit. Pressing a third time turns the spot light off.
Pressing the Red button once activates the red lights. They look much like the spotlight but slightly dimmer and there are two of them focused into one illuminated area. Unlike the other two lights, pressing it again makes them flash instead of dim. Pressing Red again turns the red lights off.
USB Port:
If you bring your own standard USB cord the Torch 250 has a place for you to plug just about anything in to be instantly powered or charged.
This is great for charging your phone or running any other gear that can be powered by a standard female 1.5v USB.
The USB port is one of the best features and transitions the Torch 250 from a simple solar powered flashlight into a multi-use piece of gear that should be on everyone’s list.
Putting The Goal Zero Torch 250 To A Real World Test
I put the Goal Zero Torch 250 to a real world challenge through several days of actual use.
I set out with a fully charged Torch 250. On the first day it lasted well into a long and hard night and still charged my cell phone afterwards.
By the morning it was still working but needed a charge. Nothing that a day in the sun can’t solve.
Note that I could have cranked it too, but this feels more like a quick surge of power (one minute of cranking gives you about two minutes of light) and not a way to fully charge the battery because it seems to top off at about 10 minutes of run time by cranking alone.
So I laid the Torch on a rock in the sun for the day as I went about tending to other things. By that night it was 3/4 charged and would easily last through the night of use in the tent and around camp, with plenty of power left.
After charging in the sun for the next day it was back to max charge. This continued for several days and I never ran out of power.
I used the lights and USB charge port whenever I needed them, and I used it conservatively like I felt most people would. For example, if I could use the low power I would, but if I needed more light I wouldn’t hesitate to flip it to High. And many I didn’t worry about it and just used the high settings.
I also charged my smartphone at least three times, and an mp3 player once. It also ran a small usb powered fan for a little while, which was a nice treat during a 98F and very humid day.
It held up well and passed our real world tests.
Disassembling The Goal Zero Torch 250
The case is held together with 8 screws and is fairly easy to open. Things are very neat and clean inside, everything is held down with screws instead of the glue that cheap manufacturers use. This makes everything much more repairable!
The battery pack is connected to the circuit board by a removable connector, which makes me think that it could be replaceable. Removing the battery pack requires unscrewing a couple other components but it isn’t a big deal.
The battery, by my own experience and also confirmed by Goal Zero, are top tier 18650 lithium batteries made by either LG or Samsung. They are used in parallel.
Most Asked Questions
While we were testing the Torch 250 we asked several people that we ran into what they though and we let them play with it for a while. Everyone loved it and they all seemed very impressed. More than a few pretended to tuck it under a shirt and run away.
They all had a few questions for us, here are the most common.
Q: How long will it hold a full charge if you’re not using it?
A: For many months, possibly up to 6 months. Goal Zero recommends charging it every three to six months to keep the batteries at peak performance.
Q: Should I keep the lithium batteries on charge or let it die and then charge it?
A: It doesn’t really matter. The Torch 250 has charging and low-battery protection built-in and Goal Zero says that you can keep the flashlight plugged in all the time or you can charge it every 3 – 6 months. It’s up to you because these batteries are quite possibly the best in the world (I’m not exaggerating that either, you can google it).
Q: Is it waterproof?
A: It is not 100% waterproof, but it is water resistant. What that means is you can get it wet (like from a splash of water or a light bit of rain) but it can’t be submerged.
Q: How far does the light shine?
A: The spotlight is bright and nicely focused. At about 200 feet, I would estimate the illuminated area is still about 15 feet across and is easily bright enough to walk with. The flood light is concentrated within a few broad feet and lights up a wide area such as a desk, a tent, or under a hood. The floodlight uses very little power but puts out a lot of light.
Q: Are the batteries 18650?
A: YES! The Torch 250 uses top tier 18650’s and that has been officially confirmed by Goal Zero for us. They also use them in many of their other products. They are made from a top of the line manufacturer too, possibly LG or Samsung, so these batteries are quite literally the best batteries in the world.
“What Is An 18650 Battery And Why Should I Care??”
For those that don’t know, the 18650 battery powers most high end lithium power tools, most laptops, most high end flashlights. It even powers Tesla cars (yes, that Tesla), their powerwalls, and is now going to one day soon be the battery backup of the entire California power grid!
All of that reputation, power, and quality is right in your hands with the Torch 250!
The 18650 has a following that can only be described as a cult (the good kind) and their reputation is well deserved. The world’s power problems are being solved every day by one simple 18650 battery at a time.
Overall Opinion
I’m very impressed. I will be taking the Torch 250 with me from now on. In fact, it has replaced my flashlight, my lantern, my lantern at home, my power pack, and my small solar panel.
Whether you want a versatile flashlight, a small solar panel, or a top of the line power bank, the Goal Zero Torch 250 is for you. If you need something for camping, survival, prepping, or just natural disasters, or maybe something for your vehicle, the Torch 250 is a great choice.
Frankly it’s the best choice on the market, everything else pales in comparison.
If you’re looking for the best flashlight for camping or survival you’re probably more concerned with getting home or rescued than anything. With the Torch you’ll be able to see at night on the trail and at camp, and you can keep your phone, GPS, emergency beacon, and other devices charged so you can know where you’re at and call for help if needed.
The red light is useful for emergencies or for when you need to preserve your night vision, like when you’re walking through the woods and want to see where you’re going and also what’s in the shadows.
The run time is impressive, up to 48 hours for the flood light on low. But it’s most important feature is the ability to recharge anything via USB, which it does perfectly.
The solar panel can recharge the 18650 batteries pretty fast with all things considered, and the ability to add additional panels for faster charging times is icing on the cake.
I will be buying a Nomad 7 or a Nomad 20 soon, which should greatly decrease the solar charging time and will be a great stand-alone addition to my preps. Not to mention their reviews are stellar.
For non-emergency topping off of the batteries, charging the Torch by USB every 3-6 months is as easy as charging any cell phone, or if you leave it in a windowsill all the time it’s truly set and forget.
I really like the the built-in two piece hanger system too. It allows you hold it like a lantern or hang the light on a cord or branch or inside your tent. When both hooks are together they form a D-ring handle that’s comfortable to use.
It has some minor flaws but none of them serious. My only real complaints are that the 4 blue LED’s that indicate the battery charge level are kinda bright and are lit up whenever the Torch is being used or charged. This extra glow is a little irritating, more so when you’re using the red lights.
Also, the light is somewhat awkward to hold at first, but you do get use to it and forget about it after a bit. Nor are the USB ports sealed against dirt, which was really freaking me out at first but I must admit it never gave me a bit of trouble.
Beside those minor complaints, I highly recommend the Goal Zero Torch 250 and give it 4.8 out of 5 stars.
The Real World Pros and Cons
First, the cons:
1. Charging by solar can take a while, but again, this is a limit of modern technology and not a fault of Goal Zero. Fixable with a Nomad 7 or Nomad 20 portable panel.
2. The USB ports have no dust covers and dirt could get in them. I never actually had any problems with the ports, but it did worry me.
Now, the pros:
1. Both the spot light and the flood light is blindingly bright. It’s very easy to walk with or work under these lights.
2. There are two power settings (high and low) for both lights. This lets you save the battery whenever possible.
3. The red flashing emergency lights and ability to leave it in a glove box or a trunk for months without any worries make it a great vehicle emergency flashlight.
4. The multiple charging options and ability to extend the solar panels with a portable addon means you’ll never be without power.
5. The batteries are top of the line and will last a very very long time, it’s impossible to find any better batteries. They did their homework and chose wisely.
6. It’s best feature is the ability to charge smart phones, tablets, and other devices with the built in USB port. A fully charged Torch can fully charge your average smart phone or GPS about twice, and that is life saving in a survival or emergency situation.
Final Thoughts
Overall, I am very happy with the Torch 250. Honestly, I have to say that this is now my favorite flashlight. It has already replaced my backpack flashlight, the emergency flashlight in my house, my backpack lantern, my lantern at home, my power pack, and my small solar panel. This one piece of gear has saved me a lot of space and weight.
The Torch 250 is one of those things you see and know you want, but because of its price you always put it off. My advise is to get it because it’s multiple uses make it an invaluable tool. It’s literally a flashlight with a built-in generator that fits in your backpack!
Power outages happen. Emergencies happen. SHTF happens. Having a well-built and dependable flashlight on hand and ready for action can go a long way toward keeping you and your family calm and safe.
Disclaimer: This is an unbiased review based on our own experiences and opinions. While Goal Zero supplied a review sample for us to test, it did not affect our results or conclusion. This post contains affiliate links. For more on how we occasionally receive products to test, how we test them, and why we make these reviews please see the sidebar and our lengthy about us page.If you're not aware of this, then you've been living under a rock. We are running |
” – and who sent out a call to the bravest and truest knights to join a great fellowship whose task was to care for the disenfranchised (especially women), and who would do no harm to anyone who did not deserve it.
Some 150 knights were said to have sat at the Round Table. Their adventures lead us into a magical realm of wonder: where ‘faery women’ test the nobility of the knights by offering them seemingly impossible tasks, and strange creatures lurk in the shadows of a vast forest, in whose depth are clearings where castles, chapels, hermitages, and ruins are found – some empty, others containing dangerous foes.
When they had largely rid the land of monsters, dragons, and evil customs, the knights undertook their greatest task of all – the quest for the Holy Grail. Many did not return.
3 The ‘faery women’ of Arthurian legend are probably due to the stories’ French influence
Many faery women thread together the stories of Arthur and his knights. This is probably because a good number of the stories originated not in Britain, but in Brittany – or, as it was known then, Armorica or Aermorica, where belief in ancient deities and the faery race lived on. These faery tales became interwoven with stories of chivalry beloved by the courtly circle. Within the courtly circle these stories were told by roving troubadours – poets who learned dozens of Arthurian tales by heart.
In c1150 Geoffrey of Monmouth named nine sisters in his Vita Merlini as the rulers of the enchanted island of Avalon. Among them was Morgen (more familiar to us as Morgan le Fay), who in later stories is described as Arthur’s half-sister and becomes his most implacable foe. Sir Thomas Malory, in his great 15th-century novel, Le Mort D’Arthur, tells us Morgan was “put to school on a nunnery, where she learned magic and necromancy”.
Though this may sound odd to us today, many of the women in enclosed orders were learned, and since learning was frequently equated with magic, thus Morgan came to be considered a sorceress.
4 Earlier Celtic myths can be seen as a precursor to the Arthurian quest for the grail
The greatest task undertaken by Arthur’s knights was the quest for the grail, a mysterious vessel linked to the Passion of Christ [the story of Jesus Christ’s arrest, trial, suffering, and eventual execution by crucifixion]. According to the 12th-century poet Robert De Boron, the grail was used to celebrate the Last Supper, and afterwards by Christ’s ‘uncle’, Joseph of Arimathea, to catch some of the blood that flowed from the Saviour as his body was taken down from the cross.
Earlier stories, from the mythology of the Celts, can be seen as precursors of the grail: they spoke of “cauldrons of plenty” that provided food for heroes and could even bring the dead to life. But once the links with Christian belief were established in the 12th century, the grail became a holy relic sought by mystics and heroes – and, most famously, by Arthur’s fellowship.
All 150 knights of the Round Table are said to have gone forth in search of the sacred vessel after it appeared at Camelot during Pentecost [a feast celebrated each year on the 50th day after the Great and Holy Feast of Pascha (Easter) and 10 days after the Feast of the Ascension of Christ]. Of those who went forth only three succeeded in their quest to find the grail: the saintly knight Sir Galahad, the simple Sir Percival, and the honest, plain-spoken Sir Bors.
Many other knights perished, and this undoubtedly weakened both the Round Table and Arthur’s court, preparing the way for the dark days to come when Arthur’s illegitimate son Mordred rose up against him and ended the dream of Camelot.
5 In early versions of the legend, King Arthur’s queen, Guinevere, spurned her lover, Lancelot
Love stories feature a great deal in the Arthurian world. Tristan and Isolde, for example, best known these days from Wagner’s 1859 opera that retold their story, were famous doomed lovers. But another story, originating in France, became one of the best known of the Arthurian tales: the love story of Lancelot and Guinevere.
The 12th-century poet Chrétien de Troyes gave us an account of their romance in his Lancelot, or the Knight of the Cart (c1177). No stories before this feature Lancelot, so we must assume that Chrétien invented him. Lancelot became known as the greatest knight of the Round Table and Arthur’s most trusted ally, but it was his illicit love for Queen Guinevere that made him famous.
Chrétien’s story tells a dramatic tale of Guinevere’s abduction by a lord named Melwas, who had fallen in love with the queen, and of Lancelot’s efforts to rescue her. In order to reach Melwas’ castle, where she is held, Lancelot is forced to ride in a cart – a vehicle reserved for criminals on their way to the gallows. But Lancelot hesitates for a moment, and when Guinevere learns of this this later on she spurns him as not worthy of her affections.
Later stories extended Lancelot and Guinevere’s love into a full-blown affair, which in the end brought down the Round Table and ushered in the end of Arthur’s reign when Lancelot rescued the queen, who had been condemned to burn at the stake, and in the process killed several of Arthur’s knights. With the king reluctantly forced to attack Lancelot, the way was left open for Mordred to attack Camelot.
6 After being wounded in his final battle, legend has it that Arthur sailed to Avalon and awaited recall by his country in time of need”
Weakened by the losses incurred during the quest for the grail, and then by the scandal of Lancelot and Guinevere, Arthur’s kingdom began to break apart.
War broke out after Lancelot staged an armed rescue of Guinevere, condemned to death for her treasonous love for the great knight. In the heat of battle Lancelot killed two of Arthur’s best men, Gareth and Gaheris, who had defended the queen. Their brother, the famous knight Sir Gawain, thus became Lancelot’s most bitter foe, and as Arthur was forced to respond to Lancelot’s rescue of the queen, he reluctantly led an army to France to attack him.
While Arthur and Gawain were away attacking Lancelot, King Arthur’s son, Mordred, raised an army and declared himself king. With the hasty return of the true king to Britain, a final battle took place at Camlann. Arthur killed Mordred, but suffered a wound that seemed likely to kill him – though in the end he was taken to Avalon to be healed.
There follows one of the most famous scenes in the entire series of Arthurian stories: Arthur’s faithful follower, Sir Bedivere, throws the king’s mighty sword back into the lake from which it had come at the beginning of his reign (given him by the Lady of the Lake). A mysterious hand rises from the water and seizes the sword, drawing it under.
A ship then appears, carrying three queens, who take the wounded Arthur away, across the sea to the fabled Isle of Avalon, where it is said he would be healed of his wounds and live on, awaiting recall by his country in time of need – the ‘once and future king’ indeed.
7 King Arthur’s bones were supposedly found at Glastonbury Abbey in 1191
Belief in Arthur’s expected return to his country was kept alive in stories for many years by the people of Britain. Arthur’s bones were supposedly found at Glastonbury Abbey in 1191, though this was nothing more than a fabrication designed to quell the belief that Arthur would return to expel the invading Normans. Nevertheless, some bones were indeed interred in a black marble tomb in 1278 at the expense of Edward I.
To this day, countless new books, films, television shows and plays continue to be created about King Arthur, adding to the popularity of the legends, which remain among the most familiar and best-loved stories of all time.
John Matthews is a historian who has produced more than 100 books on myth, the Arthurian legends, and the history of the Grail. His latest book, King Arthur: Many Faces, One Hero, co-written with Caitlín Matthews, will be published by Inner Traditions in 2016.
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This article was first published by History Extra in 2016.California medical cannabis customers could be losing about 25 percent of their precious bud purchases to poor weights and measures at the register. Now, state regulators are stepping in.
This June, the California Division of Measurement Standards released a brochure for the state’s roughly 2,500 weed shops — telling them to upgrade their scales and prepare for snap inspections.
High-grade medical cannabis can wholesale for up to $5,000 per pound and retail for up to $20 per gram. Low-quality scales can mis-weigh such a tiny bag of pot by a large margin, generating “dramatic overcharges (or undercharges),” the Division states.
“WEIGHING MEDICAL CANNABIS USING A TYPICAL CLASS III GROCERY SCALE COULD RESULT IN AN ERROR OF ± 25%, CAUSING SERIOUS FINANCIAL LOSS TO EITHER BUYER OR SELLER,” it states.
Cannabis buyers should be on the lookout for “Class II” scales, which are 10 times more accurate than Class IIIs. California is in the middle of regulating its multi-billion medical cannabis industry. The California Division of Measurement Standards’ job is, “Ensuring fair competition for industry and accurate value comparison for consumers.”
By 2018, the Division will be performing snap inspections where “The inspector will bring precisely calibrated test equipment such as test weights and volumetric measures to test your scales and packages containing liquid products. The inspector may also test your scale and then use it to verify “net content” during package inspections.”
The new weights rules also apply to “cannabis cultivators, product manufacturers and other persons that package and label the net quantity of cannabis products; … distributors, transporters.”
Effective January 1, 2018, licensed “Weighmasters” will help track and certify the state’s legal crop.
Thanks to regulations, consumers can expect a baseline standard for packaging as well, with requirements from the Division, as well as the California Departments of Public Health, Food and Agriculture, and Consumer Affairs.
More marijuana news from Smell the Truth podcast The Hash
Surviving Marijuana Legalization in California, with Fiona Ma, member California Board of EqualizationHe said that he hoped that prosecutors and the courts would take action against the activists.
In a strange twist, a judge on Saturday rejected a request by prosecutors to detain the activists or keep them from leaving the country, saying that prosecutors had failed to provide their addresses. But the request by prosecutors appeared to be too late anyway, since Greenpeace had said a day earlier that the activists had already left Peru. Luis Jaime Castillo, the vice minister for cultural heritage, said in a telephone interview that the authorities still intended to pursue criminal charges against the activists.
He said that he had met with several Greenpeace members in Lima on Thursday. The group included one of the activists who took part in the incident at the Nazca Lines. He identified the activist as Mauro Fernández, who appeared in a video taken during the stunt and posted later online.
Mr. Castillo said that he asked for the names of the other activists who participated in the stunt, and that Mr. Fernández told him that he could not remember their names.
That appeared to fly in the face of pledges by Greenpeace to cooperate with the authorities. Mr. Castillo said officials suspected that some members of the group had visited the site on a previous occasion to prepare for the stunt.
Greenpeace has issued a statement apologizing for the incident. A Greenpeace spokesman could not be reached for comment on Saturday.Hamilton’s Newest Winter Festival, I Heart Beer Festival
Great beer, great food, great vibes. The essentials of any and every great beer festival.
If you’re anything like me, you live for these moments and experiences. An opportunity and an excuse to head out to an event, connect with old friends, meet some new ones along the way, and have a few drinks?! What isn’t there to look forward to?
Well luckily for the both of us (if you nodded your head agreeing with me that is…), there’s a new beer festival, the Hamilton I Heart Beer Festival coming to Hamilton in the New Year! The Hamilton I Heart Beer Festival will be taking place from February 10th -11th, 2017 at the Hamilton Convention Centre.
Over the span of 2 days, the Hamilton I Heart Beer Festival will be running a total of 3 festival sessions: Feb 10th starting at 6:00pm, Feb 1th, 2017 starting at 12:00pm, and Feb 11th, 2017 starting at 6:00pm. Entry for each session is only $15 for the month of December. After December, ticket prices will be going up to $18/session. All the more reason to get your tickets early!
Like any great beer festival, there are 3 reasons why the Hamilton I Heart Beer Festival should be on your list of go-to events in the New Year: Beer, Food and a Great Cause.
Beer
Because what would any beer festival be without the beer to begin with? At Hamilton I Heart Beer Festival you can expect to see quite a diverse selection of local and independently-owned brewers from all over Ontario. The festival will be hosting a total of 24 local brewers for all 3 sessions. Some of the confirmed breweries to date include: Collective Arts Brewing (Hamilton, ON), Wellington Brewery (Guelph, ON), Bayside Brewing Co (Erieau, ON), Bell City Brewing Co (Brantford, ON), Shawn & Ed Brewing Co (Dundas, ON), and more! You can checkout the full list of confirmed breweries here.
Food
With great beer must come great food, of course. But you already knew that, didn’t you? This year, the Hamilton I Heart Beer Festival will be pairing 24 awesome Ontario beers (above) with 24 awesome Hamilton restaurants/caterer creations. The goal is to try and make something simple, fresh and affordable with each of the 24 beers so that all attendees have an opportunity to try numerous pairings without having to break that piggy bank of theirs.
Great Cause
The Hamilton I Heart Beer Festival will be supporting the McMaster Children’s Hospital Foundation. Every admission comes with a $2 raffle ticket that can be used to win prize packages donated by the breweries and the vendors. Each Raffle ticket has a two token value and 100% of raffle ticket proceeds go to the McMaster Children’s Hospital Foundation. Additional raffle tickets can be purchased for two tokens at the Charity table.
So what’re you waiting for? Get your tickets today before the admission price increases in the New Year. They would make for some pretty sweet stocking-stuffers.. just saying!
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Looking to increase awareness for your Venue, Organization, or your next Event? Head over to our website and get started today by creating your first listing.Having watched every preview video and read every interview on the Internet, I wasn’t sure No Man’s Sky could do anything to surprise me. On Thursday, I had a chance to play the universe simulator from Hello Games for the very first time, and although I knew what to expect, I came away with a surprising revelation:
No Man’s Sky has the potential to be the best RPG ever made.
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Before we go any further, it’s important that I qualify that claim.
No Man’s Sky is not a traditional RPG, in that you won’t be embarking on prewritten quests or leveling up your character or deciding where to allot your skill points. Rather, No Man’s Sky is an RPG in the most basic sense of the term — you get to decide what role you want to play in this vast universe.
That’s what Sean Murray, Hello Games Managing Director, kept harping on as we watched countless stars fly by on the game’s terrifyingly expansive map.
Murray has never shied away from comparisons to Minecraft. In fact, despite all the fundamental differences between the two games, it’s that spirit of exploration that he wants players to bring with them when they get their hands on No Man’s Sky.
One area where No Man’s Sky may even one-up Minecraft is the agency it gives to the player. In Minecraft, you can go anywhere, build anything and be anyone you want to be. No Man’s Sky isn’t quite so unlimited, but by paring down the choices, even just by a little bit, the game gives a player’s role more meaning.
For example, let’s say you want to be the player who walked the circumference of an entire planet. Or maybe you want to get to the center of the universe in record time. Or maybe you want to be a peaceful botanist who avoids combat at all costs. You can do any of these things, and they’re all “correct.”
No, you can’t rebuild the entire Disney World theme park in block form (a la Minecraft), but within the confines of this universe, you can be whoever you want to be. And that’s a thrilling prospect, done on a scale we’ve never seen before.
After watching Murray’s presentation, I had a chance to sit down and actually play the game. I was on a frigid planet, so my suit would only keep me warm for so long. My first objective was to find somewhere to warm up, so I was pointed toward a building in the distance. On the way, I collected harvested some elements from the flora around me, briefly alerting a group of drones to my presence. They really don’t like when you shoot stuff.
I made my way to the building, a watchtower of sorts, where an NPC was standing around, passing the time. I attempted to communicate with him (it?), but I had only learned a few words of the local language. The response that I chose from the dialog menu confused him, so I wandered off.
I did a little bit of crafting, a little bit of terraforming, unlocked a launch pad for my ship and took off into space. As I was approaching a second, undiscovered planet, I felt a tap on my shoulder and I was told that time was up.
Time and time again, I’ve seen Sean Murray explain to various members of the press that the game really doesn’t demo well. There’s just too much to experience to attempt to pack it into a 15- or 30-minute play session.
You’re meant to get lost in No Man’s Sky, and all of us finally will on June 21st.The Department of Public Works in San Francisco argues against public fruit trees saying that they attract homeless and rats. We find it strange that these two figures — that of the houseless and that of vermin — are always paired. We are suspicious. Is it possible to conceive of the city and of abundance together, and not to let fear and disgust consume us, to perhaps have these feelings in check via an ethics of decolonization and difference? We argue that resiliency, abundance, regeneration can be conceived without a disgust that blinds one to possibility. Successful harvests and their distribution are a design problem, not an impossibility.
(It remains to be seen whether the graft of edible landscape and city will take. It is our largest and most daring undertaking….)by The Commentator on 12 June 2013 10:28
Tensions are running high in the northern English town of Ashton-under-Lyne after a video circulating online showed a gang of what is reported as British-Pakistani youths attacking young "white girls" at a bus stop.
The incident, which occured in the town just outside of Manchester, has led to a number of groups calling for a'march' or 'rally' in the town this coming Saturday, with the English Defence League quickly setting up an 'Ashton-Under-Lyne' branch of the group.
The video, which has been removed from YouTube but can still be found on LiveLeak, describes the incident last night as, "This is a video that has been taken in Ashton Under Lyne, England that shows a gang of Muslim youths attacking a group of white kids. Just before the filming had started one of the muslim youths had punched one of the white girls in the face. This is becoming a regular occurence on the streets of the UK."
While there have been reports of arrests after last night's incident, Tameside Police are yet to confirm this to The Commentator, though police services for the local area have said that they have received, "Lots of messages about the video, it's being investigated arrests are being made. We have no further comments until after the investigation." The force also tweeted that it arrest four people for "minor public order offences" after groups gathered in Ashton town centre last night.
There were also reports of further clashes as a result of the incident, which have been rebuked by local authorities. Tameside Council tweeted last night, "Rumours circulating tonight about alleged fighting in Ashton town centre. These reports are inaccurate, there has been no disorder."
Sources also suggest that police sent a text message out asking parents and guardians to keep their children away from the area, though this is also yet to be confirmed.
Counter-terrorism expert and The Commentator Contributing Editor Ghaffar Hussain said: "This incident will most likely turn out to be a local petty squabble between gangs of youths with too much time on their hands. There could be a racial dimension, however, it is highly unlikely the religion is a motivating factor for either side. The over-emphasising of the religion in such cases, and consequent politicisation of common crime, is a worrying trend and one that is being increasingly adopted by the far-right to further demonise British Muslim communities".
The assault, which apparently included cricket bats, and included a young man launching into a flying kick on a girl, is thought to have occured on Monday night.
VIDEO:Jacques Peretti travels to the Cayman Islands to investigate the controversial British tax haven - a place with the population of Bognor Regis but a trillion pounds in the bank.
The Cayman Islands. It is a Caribbean paradise of sun, sea and cocktails, but there is something else going on. Big money, big corporations... and seemingly no one paying a penny of tax.
Now Jacques Peretti travels to Cayman in search of the truth about this controversial British tax haven, and uncovers some shocking revelations for what this sun-drenched island means for everyone back in Britain.
Jacques meets the politicians, playboys and ex-pats on the islands in a bid to unravel the truth about a place with the population of Bognor Regis... but a trillion pounds in the bank!The case marked the first time the Seattle City Attorney’s Office has charged anyone with mishandling a drone in a public space.
A man who was found guilty of reckless endangerment after his drone injured two people during Seattle’s 2015 Pride Parade, including a woman knocked unconscious, was sentenced Friday to 30 days in jail.
The sentence, which also included a $500 fine, was imposed on Paul M. Skinner, 38, by Seattle Municipal Court Willie Gregory, according to the City Attorney’s Office.
Gregory told Skinner, who lost control of the drone, he recognized the incident that injured the parade goers was an accident, the office said in a news release.
But Skinner had “engaged in conduct that put people in danger of being injured, which is what happened,” Gregory said.
City Attorney Pete Holmes, who had sought 90 days of jail time, said in the release that he views the faulty operation of drones “as a serious public-safety issue that will only get worse,” noting the increasing prevalence of drones on the market.
Skinner, the owner of an aerial photography company, was convicted by a jury last month of the gross misdemeanor after being charged with conduct that created a “substantial risk of death or serious bodily injury to another person.”
The case marked the first time the City Attorney’s Office has charged anyone with mishandling a drone in a public space.
Skinner declined to comment when reached by phone Friday. His attorney, Jeffrey Kradel, said the sentence was “too severe” for an act that wasn’t intentional.
He said his client was singled out for harsh treatment to scare other drone users, calling that an improper use of prosecutorial authority.
The woman, then 25, was standing near Fourth Avenue and Madison Street on June 28, 2015, when the 18-inch-by-18-inch drone crashed into a building and fell into the crowd, striking her in the head, according to Seattle police.
The woman’s boyfriend caught her as she fell to the ground. An off-duty firefighter helped treat the woman and called for police.
The drone retailed for about $1,200 and weighed about 2 pounds, police said at the time.
During the trial, prosecutors called several witnesses to testify, including the woman, who suffered a concussion, and a man who suffered a minor bruise, according to the City Attorney’s Office.
The verdict came days after representatives of Seattle’s Space Needle revealed an incident — captured on video — in which a flying drone struck the structure’s roof while pyrotechnicians were prepping for the fireworks display on New Year’s Eve.
During Friday’s sentencing, Assistant City Prosecutor Raymond Lee said Seattle residents “should not fear a drone strike falling from the sky” and that Skinner created the situation that caused the harm, according to the news release.
In handing down the sentence, Gregory, who had presided over the trial, told Skinner the injured woman “had a hard time talking about what happened to her when you placed that drone in the air,” the news release said.
A May 25 hearing has been set to determine the amount of restitution Skinner owes the woman for her medical treatment.
Skinner’s attorney said he will appeal the verdict. While pending, Skinner will not have to serve the 30 days in jail or pay the fine.
Even with the appeal, Skinner will have to take a certified class on drone safety under the sentence.
Holmes praised the work of Lee and his co-counsel, Assistant City Attorney Jeff Wolf.
“With limited legal tools at our disposal,” Holmes said, “I’m extremely proud of the job” they did.
“Operators should know that we will continue to go after them when they disregard public safety,” he said.In 2012, the most important monastery in the Russian Orthodox Church published a biology textbook for 10th and 11th graders. It’s called General Biology, but it’s an explicitly creationist text, describing God’s role in the natural world to counteract generations of official atheism in Russian schools. Darwinism, according to this book, has been disastrous for the world and for the Russian people in particular. It has led to an embrace of materialism, in both the philosophical and consumerist senses of the word. It’s antithetical to Russian values because it’s inherently intertwined with the dog-eat-dog lifestyles of 19th-century British capitalists. As the book denigrates natural selection, it praises the idea that characteristics acquired in one’s life can be passed on to future generations. It refers to recent research on epigenetics, the study of how the environment affects genes’ function in ways that are sometimes heritable.
Loren Graham, an MIT historian who has studied Russian science for decades, says General Biology is indicative of a recent resurgence of support for ideas once expounded by Trofim Lysenko, a Soviet biologist who rejected conventional genetics and tried to use acquired characteristics to improve agriculture. Lysenko set back farming and genetic research in the Soviet Union for decades, so why would anyone try to rehabilitate his ideas? Politics, essentially. In his new book, Lysenko’s Ghost, Graham says General Biology is a reminder of “the continuing strength of the belief in the superiority of collectivism over individualism” in Russia.
Lysenko’s Ghost: Epigenetics and Russia By Loren Graham Harvard University Press, 2016
That startled me. When I went to a fundamentalist Baptist high school in central Kansas, my ninth-grade biology textbook was, effectively, the American Protestant equivalent of General Biology. It, too, talked about acquired characteristics, but not as an alternative to Darwinism. Instead, we were taught that this theory, linked in the text to the French biologist Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, was inherently silly and served as proof against evolution. Of course a giraffe that has to stretch to reach its food wouldn’t produce babies with longer necks. Nor would a dog whose tail is docked have tail-less pups. It was just one more example of the ridiculous things evolutionists believed—beliefs that could be deeply dangerous. How dangerous? Well, everybody knows that Darwinism led people to reject God, abandon individual responsibility, and take up the mantle of collectivist communism in Russia.
The ways that politics, religion, cultural norms, and ideologies of all kinds distort science is at the heart of Lysenko’s Ghost. Those ideologies can alter our interpretation of facts and reshape our understanding of natural events. They have the power to change the meanings of words, even scientific terms. All those issues are at the forefront as Graham explores whether modern epigenetic research—which indicates that environmental conditions like famine can affect gene expression and influence the health of people generations removed from the actual event—means that Lysenko’s approach to agriculture was on the right track after all.
Spoiler: Lysenko has not been vindicated. Although epigenetics is deepening our understanding of how DNA works, it is not overturning the basic principles of genetic heredity that Lysenko challenged. Nonetheless, what to make of Lysenko now is a complicated question. As Graham points out, “the inheritance of acquired characteristics” did not mean the same thing to Lysenko—steeped in the politics and ethics of a collectivist Soviet Union—that it meant to Lamarck in France in the 1800s. It meant a third thing to many of Lysenko’s Soviet science contemporaries, and something else entirely to the farmers and folk agronomists who thought they saw evidence of it long before Lamarck came along. Likewise, the name Lysenko means different things to Russians, Americans, and Europeans. “Natural selection” does not mean to modern biologists what it meant to the eugenicists of the 1930s. Even the word “true,” Graham writes, is “thick and multidimensional.” Graham calls this the contradiction between usage and accuracy.
Trofim Lysenko is a fascinating character. He was born a peasant in 1898. He rose to immense power in the 1940s under Joseph Stalin by promoting a number of erroneous scientific techniques he claimed could increase wheat yields on famine-wracked collective farms. Among other things, he professed that by keeping seeds of winter wheat at low temperatures for longer than usual, he could convert the strain to a variety that would mature in the spring. When other scientists objected to his work, he attacked them in ways Graham calls “lethal and passive-aggressive,” pointing them out to the secret police and letting the wheels of Stalinist “justice” do the rest. Not until the 1960s did he finally become a pariah, after the death of Stalin and the ouster of Nikita Khrushchev gave Lysenko’s scientific foes an opportunity to denounce him as a fraud. Today, Lysenko is simultaneously a rallying point for a certain authoritarian strain of Russian nationalism and an embarrassment who leads Russian academics to avoid legitimate research on epigenetics.
Why was Lysenko opposed to the idea of inheritance through genes—and how did that mesh with Soviet ideology? Graham gives a partial answer. Even before Lysenko, in the 1920s, the German biologist Paul Kammerer and a slew of less-familiar Russian biologists promoted the idea of acquired characteristics as a sort of Marxist eugenics. In the West at this time, eugenics was all about creating a better society by making sure the “right” people (well-off and white) had lots of children and the “wrong” people (poor, disabled, black, and brown) had few or none. Kammerer, in contrast, promoted a eugenics based on improving environments. Marxism could make a better society by providing a better life, which would change the people who lived it, which would change their offspring. Over time, you would end up with an evolved human—the new “Soviet man,” brighter and smarter and healthier than anything produced by simply pairing off generations of bourgeois capitalists.
The problem, of course, is that biology doesn’t seem to play along. But Graham’s narrative of how far Lysenko took these ideas is confusing. Lysenko did not actually believe that inheritance of acquired characteristics occurred in humans. And in Graham’s telling, he seems to have been wishy-washy even on its applicability to agriculture.
That said, Graham is able to tell the story with intimate details. There’s one particularly memorable anecdote in which a young Graham spots the aging, out-of-favor Lysenko at a posh Moscow restaurant in 1971 and maneuvers next to him at a shared table. Over a bowl of borscht, Graham introduces himself. He’s uncomfortable, but he’s certain he’ll never get another crack at this.
Turns out Lysenko already knows who Graham is and doesn’t like him. He feels Graham has unfairly fingered him as culpable in the deaths of many Russian biologists. In a remarkable back-and-forth, Graham and Lysenko argue over whether or not Lysenko was part of the oppressive Soviet system. They have no quibble about the facts. It’s the meanings of the facts that they disagree about.
Maggie Koerth-Baker is a journalist and author in Minneapolis. Her work has appeared in Nature, Popular Mechanics, Gizmodo, and the New York Times.Scott Moore and I are off to the museum this morning after a productive weekend. The Larnaka District Archaeological Museum stores the artifact from our excavations near Pyla Village. Our main goal for this field season of the Pyla-Koutsopetria Archaeological Project is to process the artifacts from the 2012 excavation season. In the afternoon, we dedicate our time to preparing for our season at Polis-Chrysochous on the western side of the island which will start in early June.
At Pyla-Koutsopetria, we had to start to process over 700 lbs of pottery as efficiently as possible over our 6, short days of access to the museum storerooms. This material all derives from a single deposit and was carefully excavated as a number of different stratigraphic units. Since we determined at the end of the season that the pottery comes from a single depositional event, we’ve been tempted to combine the various stratigraphic units identified in the field into a single unit for the purpose of processing pottery. (We’d keep the excavated contexts separate during the analysis process, but for the purposes of discussion and analysis all the pottery would appear as a single context.)
All the pottery derives from a 2 x 3 x 2 m storage pit on the inside of the Hellenistic fortification wall on Vigla. As the pit leaned up against the wall, it posts dates it and the content of the storage pit (which appears to have become a trash pit at some point) then provides a terminus ante quem (a point before which) for the wall itself. So, not only are the contents of pit of interest because they appear to directly relate to the cycle of destruction and clean up at the site, but they also help date the fortification. Since the material appears to be from the clean up deposit, it should reflect the range of material at the site and activities.
Next, we have to prepare for our season at Polis-Chrysochous which will start on June 2. This involves processing more of the excavation notebooks and determining which areas require some focused attention. Our goal is to have a publishable preliminary report on the basilica-style church at the site of E.F2 (in the Polis excavation grid) prepared by the end of the summer. Doing data entry and notebook study is not nearly as exciting as analyzing piles of relatively well-preserved pottery fragments, but every bit as necessary. We key the notebooks and sync them with both the inventoried artifacts (generally remarkable finds or nearly complete vessels) and the context pottery (the Cypriots call these “the sherds”, and they are usually broken up bits of pottery from all sorts of depositional contexts).
In fact, I’m going to start to type and analyze two Polis notebook the moment I’m done with this blog. More on this soon.Image copyright Reuters Image caption Shia Houthi rebels continued to ring the presidential palace in Sanaa on Thursday
The president of Yemen has resigned along with his prime minister in protest at the takeover of the capital Sanaa by Shia Houthi rebels, creating a dangerous political vacuum.
President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi said he could not continue after the Houthis failed to honour a peace deal.
Parliament has reportedly refused to accept the resignations.
Security sources have told the BBC that Yemen's intelligence chief, Ali Hassan al-Ahmedi, has also stepped down.
There are reports of explosions in the southern port city of Aden, where President Hadi has a strong following.
Houthi rebel figures publicly welcomed the resignation of the president with one proposing the creation of a ruling council.
The council would include Houthi-led groups, Abu al-Malek Yousef al-Fishi was quoted as saying by Reuters news agency.
Houthi leaders had previously committed themselves to withdrawing from key positions around the presidential palace and the home of President Hadi.
The US, which is helping fight al-Qaeda militants in Yemen, said it was still assessing the implications of President Hadi's move.
Image copyright AFP Image caption The struggle in the capital has |
country. Even Bernie Sanders’ sorry endorsement of his erstwhile enemy, not long ago denounced as a tool of Wall Street, had nothing to say about global issues. But no one should be fooled: a Clinton presidency, which seems more likely by the day, can be expected to stoke a resurgent U.S. imperialism, bringing new cycles of militarism and war. The silence is illusory: Clintonites, now as before, are truly obsessed with international politics.
A triumphant Hillary, more “rational” and “savvy” than the looney and unpredictable Donald Trump, could well have a freer path to emboldened superpower moves not only in Europe but the Middle East, Central Asia, and the Pacific. While the candidate has not revealed much lately, she is on record as vowing to “stand up” to Russia and China, face off against Russian “aggression”, escalate the war on terror, and militarily annihilate Iran the moment it steps out of line (or is determined by “U.S. intelligence” to have stepped out of line) in its nuclear agreement with global powers. Under Clinton, the Democrats might well be better positioned to recharge their historical legacy as War Party. One of the great political myths (and there are many) is that American liberals are inclined toward a less belligerent foreign policy than Republicans, are less militaristic and more favorable toward “diplomacy”. References to Woodrow Wilson in World War I and Mexico, Harry Truman in Korea, JFK and LBJ in Indochina, Bill Clinton in the Balkans, and of course Barack Obama in Afghanistan (eight years of futile warfare), Libya (also “Hillary’s War”), and scattered operations across the Middle East and North Africa should be enough to dispel such nonsense. (As for FDR and World War II, I have written extensively that the Pearl Harbor attacks were deliberately provoked by U.S. actions in the Pacific – but that is a more complicated story.)
In something of a political twist, the “deranged” Trump candidacy – with its almost daily flow of bizarre utterances and proposals – actually serves Clinton’s neoliberal/neocon mission nicely, providing a foil to her outwardly more sane persona. Trump, of course, is far too irrational, too narcissistic, too unstable to assume the role of Commander-in-Chief. Who knows what might happen once his shaky hands get near the “nuclear trigger”? Worse yet, here is a bona fide challenger for the White House who has reportedly cozied up to that imperialist dictator, that great enemy of national sovereignty, Putin! No need for any discussion or debate here. It follows that Hillary will be more reliable (even if more “untrustworthy”), more in command – clearly the best option to manage imperial affairs. Why else would all those neocons and Republican super-hawks be so happy to sign on to the Clintonite project. The alliance of Hillary and foreign-policy hard-liners has, however, scarcely dampened the enthusiasm of her phalanx of liberal and progressive boosters, who endlessly talk, talk, talk about her amazing “pragmatism”, her ability to “get things done”. (That she can “get things done” in the realm of foreign policy is beyond question.)
A new Clinton presidency can be expected to further boost the U.S./NATO drive to strangle and isolate Russia, which means aggravated “crises” in Ukraine and worrisome encounters with a rival military power in a region saturated with (tactical, “usable”) nuclear weapons. Regime change in Syria? Hillary has indeed strongly pushed for that self-defeating act of war, combined with an illegal and provocative no-fly zone — having learned nothing from the extreme chaos and violence she did so much to unleash in Libya as Secretary of State. There are currently no visible signs she would exit the protracted and criminal war in Afghanistan, a rich source of blowback (alongside Iraq, Syria, Libya, Yemen, and Israel). Increased aerial bombardments against ISIS in Iraq, Syria, Libya, and elsewhere? More deployments of American troops on the ground? Such ventures, with potentially others on the horizon, amount to elaborate recipes for more blowback, followed by more anti-terror hysteria, followed by more interventions. Uncompromising economic, diplomatic, and military support of Israeli atrocities in Palestine? Aggressive pursuit of the seriously mistaken “Asian Pivot”, strategy, a revitalized effort to subvert Chinese economic and military power – one of Clinton’s own special crusades? No wonder the Paul Wolfowitzes and Robert Kagans are delighted to join the Hillary camp.
No wonder, too, that billionaire super-hawk Haim Saban has pledged to spend whatever is needed to get the Clintons back into the White House, convinced her presidency will do anything to maintain Palestinian colonial subjugation. Meeting with Saban in July, Hillary again promised to “oppose any effort to delegitimate Israel, including at the United Nations or through the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement.” She backs legislative efforts begun in several states to silence and blacklist people working on behalf of Palestinian rights. For this her celebrated “pragmatism” could work quite effectively.
Democratic elites say little publicly about these and other imperial priorities, preferring familiar homilies such as “bringing jobs back” (not going to happen) and “healing the country” (not going to happen). Silence appears to function exquisitely in a political culture where open and vigorous debate on foreign-policy is largely taboo and elite discourse rarely surpasses the level of banal platitudes. And Hillary’s worshipful liberal and progressive backers routinely follow the script (or non-script) while fear-mongering about how a Trump presidency will destroy the country (now that the Sanders threat has vanished).
Amidst the turmoil Trump has oddly surfaced to the left of Clinton on several key global issues: cooperating instead of fighting with the Russians, keeping alive a sharp criticism of the Iraq war and the sustained regional chaos and blowback it generated, ramping down enthusiasm for more wars in the Middle East, junking “free trade” agreements, willingness to rethink the outmoded NATO alliance. If Trump, however haphazardly, manages to grasp the historical dynamics of blowback, the Clinton camp remains either indifferent or clueless, still ready for new armed ventures – cynically marketed, as in the Balkans, Iraq, and Libya, on the moral imperative of defeating some unspeakable evil, usually a “new Hitler” waging a “new genocide”. Who needs to be reminded that Hillary’s domestic promises, such as they are, will become null and void once urgent global “crises” take precedence? The Pentagon, after all, always comes first.
Trump is of course no great bargain, a combative warrior looking to slay dragons lurking about in a dark, menacing world – something of a high-level Rambo figure – and this he happily and repeatedly advertises. Like the mythic Rambo, he is also an uncontrollable maverick, eccentric, prone to hare-brained “solutions” — much to the dismay of even Republican officialdom. And he is emphatically and unapologetically Islamophobic. At the other extreme, Clinton emerges in the media as the most “rational” and “even-tempered” of candidates, ideally suited to carry out the necessary imperial agendas. A tiresome mainstream narrative is that Hillary is “one of the best prepared and most knowledgeable candidates ever to seek the presidency.” And she is smart, very smart – whatever her flaws. All the better to follow in the long history of Democrats proficient at showing the world who is boss. The media, for its part, adores these Democrats, another reason Trump appears to have diminished chances of winning. Further, the well-funded and tightly-organized Clinton machine can count on somewhat large majorities of women, blacks, and Hispanics, not only for the march to the White House but, more ominously, to go along with the War Party’s imperial spectacle of the day. Most anything – war, regime change, bombing raids, drone strikes, treaty violations, JFK-style “standoffs” – can escape political scrutiny if carried out by “humanitarian”, peace-loving Democrats. Bill Clinton’s war to fight “genocide” and “ethnic cleansing” in the Balkans, cover for just another U.S./NATO geopolitical maneuver, constitutes the perfect template here.
There is a special logic to the Clintonites’ explosive mixture of neoliberalism and militarism. They, like all corporate Democrats, are fully aligned with some of the most powerful interests in the world: Wall Street, the war economy, fossil fuels, Big Pharma, the Israel Lobby. They also have intimate ties to reactionary global forces – the neofascist regime in Ukraine, Israel, Saudi Arabia, other Gulf states. Against this corporatist and imperialist backdrop, the “deluded” and “unhinged” Trump becomes far too unreliable for entrance to the Oval Office; he could too easily bungle the job of managing U.S. global supremacy. In March 121 members of the Republican “national security community”, including the warmongers Wolfowitz, Robert Kagan, and Brent Scowcroft, signed a public letter condemning Trump for not being sufficiently dedicated to American (also Israeli?) interests. Trump compounded his predicament by stubbornly refusing to pay homage to the “experts” – the same foreign-policy geniuses who helped orchestrate the Iraq debacle. A more recent (and more urgent) letter with roughly the same message has made its way into the public sphere. Predictably, Trump’s “unreliability” to oversee American global objectives has been an ongoing motif at CNN, the New York Times, the Washington Post, and Wall Street Journal.
Returning to the political carneval that was the Democratic convention, amidst all the non-stop flag-waving and shouts of “USA!” Hillary made what she thought would be an inspiring reference to Jackie Kennedy, speaking on the eve of her husband’s (1961) ascent to the White House. Jackie was reported as saying “that what worried President Kennedy during that very dangerous time was that a war might be started – not by men with self-control and restraint, but by little men, the ones moved by fear and pride.” We can surmise that JFK was one of those “big men” governed by “restraint”. History shows, however, that Jackie’s esteemed husband was architect of probably the worst episode of international barbarism in U.S. history – the Vietnam War, with its unfathomable death and destruction – coming at a time of the Big Man’s botched CIA-led invasion of Cuba and followed closely by the Cuban Missile Crisis, where the Big Man’s “restraint” brought the world frighteningly close to nuclear catastrophe. As for “fear” and “pride” – nothing permeates JFK’s biography of that period more than those two psychological obsessions.
Could it be that Hillary Clinton, however unwittingly, was at this epic moment – her breakthrough nomination – revealing nothing so much as her own deeply-imperialist mind-set?We all know that the trading of favours goes on but this book gathers the evidence in a systematic way to show that what has always gone on between people has reached epidemic proportions. I am not a conspiracy theorist and, mercifully, neither is the author. He takes pains to point out that he does not believe that Australia (or anywhere) is run by a secret group of evil people. He does point the finger at the neocon ideas and his own beliefs are clearly on the left side of the fence but he does not get bogged down with wild conspiracy claims.
The book is detailed and contains many quite complex ideas. I understood it a lot better on my second reading. I think it is a very important book because it takes such a deep look at the way Australia is run today. Its weakness is that it never really gets to grips with the question of whether it has always been like this or whether the behaviour of people in positions of power and influence have always been so selfish/narcissistic to the extent of fundamentally endangering themselves as well as everyone else. A good polity understands that the principles of ecology do apply to human society. The present political/corporate spectrum is a line of complacent bums in the air and heads in the sand. I don't think this has always been so. While this book is certainly worth reading for its very substantial survey of the present state of society in Australia, I think that the ideas presented by the writer Robert Prechter (The Socionomic Theory of Finance and other books) are a better explanation for the present dismal outlook. Prechter does not get stuck with political explanations. He sees human behaviour as cyclical and makes a good argument for the reasons for this.JSON with Encoder and Encodable Encoding a simple value to JSON, one step at a time.
Swift 4 brings a more native-feeling way to encode and decode instances, and includes built-in support for everyone’s favorite text-based format: JSON!
Rather than pore through all the source code for encoding and decoding, let’s take a different approach and step through a simple example: how does a single Int instance wind its way through JSONEncoder and become JSON data?
From there we should be able to take a step further and understand how other primitive types, arrays, dictionaries, etc. are encoded.
Archiving
NSCoding has been storing and retrieving data as part of Cocoa for a long time. In some exciting news, Apple has finally announced the deprecation of NSArchiver now that NSKeyedArchiver has been available for 15 years. 😜
The big idea is if individual instances such as strings and numbers can be encoded and decoded, then you can archive and unarchive entire object graphs.
Encoding All The Things
In the Swift standard library, there are things that are encodable as well as encoders.
Encodable is a protocol. A conforming type can encode itself to some other representation.
is a protocol. A conforming type can encode itself to some other representation. Encoder is also a protocol. Encoders do the work of turning Encodable things to other formats such as JSON or XML.
Encodable is like NSCoding but as a Swift protocol, your Swift structs and enums can join the party too. Similarly, Encoder is the counterpart to NSCoder although Encoder is again a protocol rather than an abstract class.
One Simple Integer
You can’t encode a bare scalar using JSONEncoder, but need a top-level array or dictionary instead. For simplicity, let’s start with encoding an array containing a single integer, [42].
let encoder = JSONEncoder () let jsonData = try! encoder. encode ([ 42 ])
First we instantiate JSONEncoder and then call encode() on it with our array. What’s going on in there?
// JSONEncoder.swift open func encode < T : Encodable > ( _ value : T ) throws -> Data { let encoder = _JSONEncoder ( options : self. options )
The encode() method takes some Encodable value and returns the raw JSON Data.
The actual encoding work is in the private class _JSONEncoder. This approach keeps JSONEncoder as the type with the friendly public interface, and _JSONEncoder as the fileprivate (everyone’s favorite!) class that implements the Encoder protocol.
// continued from above try value. encode ( to : encoder )
Note the reversal: at the original call site, we asked the encoder to encode a value; here, the encoder asks the value to encode itself to the private encoder.
Encodable
Let’s take a step back and look at the relevant parts of the protocols at play here.
First up is Encodable — remember, this is the protocol for the values such as integers and arrays that can be encoded.
public protocol Encodable { func encode ( to encoder : Encoder ) throws }
We’ll gloss over the wrapping array [42] and just consider the integer value 42 to keep things simple. Int conforms to Encodable and we can have a look at what its encode(to:) method does:
extension Int : Codable { public func encode ( to encoder : Encoder ) throws { var container = encoder. singleValueContainer () try container. encode ( self ) } }
We’re asking the encoder for a container, then asking that container to encode self, the integer value.
Encoder
Our next sidebar is to discuss Encoder — this is the protocol for classes such as _JSONEncoder that do the heavy lifting of turning encodable values into some coherent format.
public protocol Encoder { // [...] func container < Key > ( keyedBy type : Key. Type ) -> KeyedEncodingContainer < Key > func unkeyedContainer () -> UnkeyedEncodingContainer func singleValueContainer () -> SingleValueEncodingContainer }
At their core, encoders can deal with three kinds of values thanks to the three accessor methods above:
Keyed containers (dictionaries) Unkeyed containers (arrays) Single-value containers (for scalar values)
Back to the code to encode an Int :
// extension Int : Codable var container = encoder. singleValueContainer () try container. encode ( self )
First, get a single-value container from the JSON encoder, which is this code here:
// _JSONEncoder func singleValueContainer () -> SingleValueEncodingContainer { return self }
Well that’s simple: _JSONEncoder itself conforms to SingleValueEncodingContainer and returns itself. Let’s take a quick peek at that protocol:
public protocol SingleValueEncodingContainer { // [...] mutating func encode ( _ value : Int ) throws }
There are many additional encode methods for all kinds of simple types such as Bool, String, etc. But the one we’re interested in is for Int :
// extension _JSONEncoder : SingleValueEncodingContainer func encode ( _ value : Int ) throws { assertCanEncodeNewValue () self. storage. push ( container : box ( value )) }
It’s the moment of truth! There’s some kind of storage, and we’re pushing a boxed value onto it.
But what’s the storage? And what’s with the box? 🤔
Storage
To understand the storage, let’s jump ahead to the end. We’re way down in the stack here, but do you remember how we started? It was the encode() method in JSONEncoder where we passed in the array with one integer. The final line of that method looks like this:
// JSONEncoder.swift return try JSONSerialization. data ( withJSONObject : topLevel, options : writingOptions )
So the whole point of it all is to have a top-level container (an array or dictionary) that gets passed to JSONSerialization, formerly known as NSJSONSerialization.
The storage is another fileprivate struct that keeps a stack of containers. Beware, Objective-C will start to show itself here:
fileprivate struct _JSONEncodingStorage { /// The container stack. /// Elements may be any one of the JSON types /// (NSNull, NSNumber, NSString, NSArray, NSDictionary). private(set) var containers : [ NSObject ] = [] }
So that explains the box. Our array [42] will turn into an NSMutableArray and the box() call above will turn the integer into an NSNumber that gets added to the array:
// extension _JSONEncoder fileprivate func box ( _ value : Int ) -> NSObject { return NSNumber ( value : value ) }
Turns out if you go deep enough, it’s Objective-C all the way down.
To summarize: our Swift values get turned into their Foundation object equivalents by JSONEncoder and friends, then these objects get JSON-ified by JSONSerialization.
The Closing Brace
Here’s the final set of steps on asking JSONEncoder to encode the array with a single integer, [42] :
Array, encode yourself to _JSONEncoder Array sets up unkeyed container ( NSMutableArray storage) Array iterates over all elements and encodes them Integer, encode yourself to _JSONEncoder Integer sets up single-value container Integer asks the container to encode itself
Container boxes the integer into NSNumber, adds to the array
Use JSONSerialization to encode the top-level NSMutableArray
Profit! 💰
You can find all the relevant code in JSONEncoder.swift and Codable.swift in the standard library source.
Now what about the reverse, decoding? And how can you write custom encoders and decoders for formats other than JSON, say protocol buffers? Stay tuned for more, or why not dig into the code and see what you find?
Check out the next part, JSON to Swift with Decoder and Decodable for more.Description
This patient is 3 years old and has low muscle tone (hypotonia), developmental delay, and increased weight. During the first trimester of pregnancy, there was a concern of increased amniotic fluid (polyhydramnios). The patient was born by C-section at 38 weeks and his birth weight was 6 pounds 14 ounces. He had trouble gaining weight initially, but then had issues of being overweight starting at 6 months. A muscle biopsy was performed and showed myofiber smallness mostly affecting type 1 fibers, which is consistent with dysmaturation myopathy. Overall, the patient has been in good health.
Developmentally, the patient has been making progress with therapies he is receiving. His receptive language is good and sensory processing issues are improving. However, he does seem to be regressing in spoken language. In June of 2014, his parents reported that he had about 40-50 words, but now he has very few.Photo by Paul Heartfield
On September 4, Public Image Ltd. will release What the World Needs Now..., the followup to 2012's This Is PiL. Later in the year they'll hit the road to support the record; scroll down for the dates.
Their North American tour kicks off at the Voodoo Music + Arts Experience in New Orleans on Halloween. In a press release, John Lydon said of PiL's Voodoo Experience performance, "Bring a gas mask and I'm going to fart continuously. P.S.: I want to see Donald Trump misrepresented with the greatest possible glee."
Watch the video for new song "Double Trouble", as well as a video about the making of the song:
Public Image Ltd.:
09-18 Glasgow, Scotland - 02 ABC
09-19 Manchester, England - Academy
09-20 Newcastle, England - Riverside
09-22 York, England - Fibbers
09-23 Coventry, England - The Copper Rooms at Warwick University
09-25 Bristol, England - 02 Academy
09-26 Buckley, Wales - Tivoli
09-27 Reading, England - Sub 89
09-29 Bexhill, England - De La Warr Pavilion
09-30 Norwich, England - UEA
10-02 London, England - 02 Shepherd’s Bush Empire
10-03 Frome, England - Cheese and Grain
10-04 Southampton, England - Engine Rooms
10-06 Paris, France - Le Trianon
10-07 Amsterdam, Netherlands - Paradiso
10-09 Lausanne, Switzerland - Les Docks
10-10 Venice, Italy - Rivolta
10-11 Milan, Italy - Magazzini Generali
10-13 Mannheim, Germany - Alte Seilerei
10-14 Ludwigsburg, Germany - Rockfabrik
10-15 Berlin, Germany - Columbia Theatre
10-17 Bochum, Germany - Zeche
10-18 Antwerp, Belgium - Trix
10-31 New Orleans, LA - Voodoo Music + Arts Experience Festival
11-01 Memphis, TN - New Daisy Theatre
11-03 Athens, GA - Georgia Theatre
11-05 Ft. Lauderdale, FL - Culture Room
11-06 St. Petersburg, FL - The State Theatre
11-07 Orlando, FL - The Plaza Live
11-10 Washington, DC - U Street Music Hall
11-11 Philadelphia, PA - The Trocadero Theatre
11-12 Pittsburgh, PA - The Altar Bar
11-14 Montreal, Québec - La Tulipe
11-15 Toronto, Ontario - The Opera House
11-16 New York, NY - Best Buy Theatre
11-18 Chicago, IL - Concord Music Hall
11-20 Denver, CO - Gothic Theatre
11-22 Vancouver, British Columbia - Vogue Theatre
11-23 Seattle, WA - The Showbox
11-25 Las Vegas, NV - Brooklyn Bowl
11-27 San Francisco, CA - The Chapel
11-28 Sacramento, CA - Ace of Spades
11-29 Los Angeles, CA - The Fonda TheatreExperimental psychologist Bob Altemeyer spent his entire studying authoritarians, both the leaders and the followers. In 1998, he wrote:
“Wanna-be tyrants in a democracy are just comical figures on soapboxes when they have no following. So the real…threat lay coiled in parts of the population itself…ready someday to catapult the next Hitler to power with their votes.”
His and other’s research yields this list of conclusions about authoritarian followers whether they follow tyrants on the left, right,,, whatever:
They are highly ethnocentric, highly inclined to see the world as their in-group versus everyone else. Because they are so committed to their in-group, they are very zealous in its cause. They are highly fearful of a dangerous world. Their taught them, more than parents usually do, that the world is dangerous. They may also be genetically predisposed to experiencing stronger than most people do. They are highly self-righteous. They believe they are the “good people” and this unlocks a lot of hostile impulses against those they consider bad. They are aggressive. Given the chance to attack someone with the approval of an authority, they will lower the boom. Their beliefs are a mass of contradictions. They have highly compartmentalized minds, in which opposite beliefs exist side-by-side in adjacent boxes. As a result, their thinking is full of double-standards. They reason poorly. If they like the conclusion of an argument, they don’t pay much to whether the evidence is valid or the argument is consistent. They are highly dogmatic. Because they have gotten their beliefs mainly from the authorities in their lives, rather than think things out for themselves, they have no real defense when facts or events indicate they are wrong. So they just dig in their heels and refuse to change. They are very dependent on social reinforcement of their beliefs. They think they are right because almost everyone they know, almost every news broadcast they see, almost every radio commentator they listen to, tells them they are. That is, they screen out the sources that will suggest that they are wrong. Because they severely limit their exposure to different people and ideas, they vastly overestimate the extent to which other people agree with them. And thinking they are “the majority” supports their attacks on the “evil minorities” they see in the country. They are easily duped by manipulators who pretend to espouse their causes when all the con-artists really want is personal gain. They are largely blind to themselves. They have little self- and insight into why they think and do what they do.
Why would people be like this? Lots of reasons that are hard to distinguish. There are probably evolutionary origins beta males subordinating themselves in species with alpha males. Upbringing and social context play a role. We could list benefits of being a follower, for example, that self-certainty is fun. We could also list the costs of the alternatives, for example, that self-doubt, changing one’s mind, or admitting you’re wrong is uncomfortable.
Then there are those who aren’t choosing to be followers but can’t help it because they actually can’t think hard enough to make their own big choices. And then there’s an often overlooked factor: The more complicated the world becomes the more appealing it is to give up on thinking and put trust in an authority who speaks with.
We need to know what motivates authoritarian followers in order to figure out how to deal with them. Demanding that someone think harder will backfire with people who can’t. Calling them con-artists when they’re simpletons or simpletons when they’re con-artists will backfire too. Still, it’s hard to discern true motives, especially with authoritarian-followers, people who don’t know their own motives and so couldn’t or wouldn’t report them.
Here then, rather than focusing on what motivates them, I’ll focus on how they can justify and rationalize believing anything their leaders say and do. I’ll call their approach "machine.” They act like they think life’s questions can be answered by a machine that they have discovered and become. Input anything into the machine, you get the one reliable true output.
An algorithm is basically a reliable machine made of numbers, for example, 1+X=Y. Whatever you put into X, you’ll get a reliable output for Y.
Authoritarian followers pretend life is reducible to machine-like cause and effect algorithms. It is the alternative to thinking, defined as doubting, wondering, struggling with ambiguity and ambivalence. Computers may be “ ” by some definitions of the term, but they do not think as defined here. They don’t strive to discern differences as though their lives depended on it. Humans think, not that we having to do it. Still, our lives depend on it.
With authoritarian followers, the thinking is already over. They’re not guessing at what’s true. There’s no interpretation left to do. They and their leaders have already done all the interpretation necessary. They discovered the truth, embraced it, internalized it, and now only have to act on it like machines. They see reality clearly, truly and purely through their unambiguous mechanistic world view.
This is as true of soft spiritual followers as it is of techno-authoritarian nerd followers. Their theory could be warm and fuzzy or hardline firm. Either way, they have stripped the ambiguity from life. There are no tough judgment calls left anymore. Life can be managed with absolute rule-based discipline. Their absolute rules don’t always work, but they won’t admit it. They’ll say “sure there are exceptions, but still, it’s an absolutely universal rule.”
What they’re doing can be seen in their treatment of the variables in their mechanistic algorithmic equations. X is a variable, a placeholder, an input in 1+X=Y. Still, it looks as rock solid as that “1.” Authoritarian followers treat the variable as rock solid when it suits them and variable when it suits them. Take a libertarian authoritarian (despite their professed love of liberty most are decidedly authoritarian in their approach). They pretend that to know exactly what a variable like “freedom” means, even while they change the meaning from moment to moment. Authoritarian followers aren’t curious about the terms they use. They don’t recognize themselves as interpreting any more than an ATM machine interprets.
On the right, for example, they know that they hate PC and they know exactly what PC means. It means indulging in hypersensitivity. When they get huffy about someone insulting them, is that PC? Of course not. Ask them why and it's clear that they don’t know and they don’t care. They’re sure that PC is a rock-solid concept. They use the term as though they're calling a spade a spade. But they exploit the variable nature of the term PC to basically gerrymander the definition so they never have to doubt. Are they gullible or manipulative? Again, that’s not the question here. Setting aside motives they’re treating life like a simple puzzle they’ve already solved.
Clinton was a traitor for using a private server. What is a traitor? Someone who puts the country at risk by weakening it with respect to other countries. Is a traitor for using a private cell phone or protecting his staff from accusations of collaborating with the Russians? Of course not. They know what a traitor is and he's not one.
On the left, people sometimes say that love, kindness or is always the answer. They talk as though they know exactly what those terms mean, but ask them to define them and you’ll get a muddle. Ask them whether it’s possible to love the wrong thing or person, and they’ll say yes. Ask them whether the exception means that love is not always the answer and they’ll insist it still is always the answer.
Their basic algorithm can be as simple as this: If the (guru, teacher, God, Buddha, Jesus) says it’s true, it’s true. Trump becomes their algorithm. Just run inputs through him and output the definite true answer, plain, simple and always right. They can’t, won’t, or assume they shouldn’t ever have to question their assumptions.
I could say more—about how Socrates decried exactly this problem, and struggled to the death against it, challenging people to define their highfalutin terms. Or about how science today feeds this oversimplification, by treating minds as like machines or computers, and languages as codes, words flipping switches in our machine minds, or how psychology too has yet to explain how synapses and neurochemicals could ever yield interpretative guesses about reality. I address some of that in the videos below. Here I’ll just end with a poem I wrote the other day in taking notes toward this article, a poem about machine envy, the mechanistic mode of thinking.
The Mechanistic Mode
Minds are not computers
Language is not code.
Thinking that they are
I’ll call the “mechanistic mode”.
In it, folks pretend
that life is an equation
that they alone have solved and then
defend with slick evasion.
They posture pure precision
crunching notions like they're numbers.,
all the while they're juggling books in
in vague seductive slumbers.
Enchanted by their algebra
they see the X and Y's
As firm defined, not variables.
No "why's?" since they're so.
Lining up deductive ducks
All neatly in a row
They treat your challenges to them
as evidence you’re slow.
They spout about the grandest things
freedom, truth, and kindness,
sure they know just what they mean
by revelatory blindness.
Socrates was the first to note
the mode’s a social curse.
Still, wondering what we really mean
feels costlier and worse.
At first, of course, to wonder
removes our firm foundation,
Yet struggling with semantics
is how we’ll save our nation.
Three videos on the question of interpretation and the solutions to the mystery of just how we are not machines.
What is valuing? (7 minutes)
What is mind? (11 minutes)
What is trying? (20 minutes)Adjust font size:
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- The author of a best-selling comic book series intended to teach children about other countries said Monday he would change a chapter on Jews that has been called anti-Semitic and similar to Nazi propaganda.
Rhie Won-bok maintained, however, that his depiction of Jewish control of American media and politics was based on fact and "commonly believed."
"The Jews are the invisible force that controls the U.S.," Rhie, a professor of visual arts at Duksung Women's University in Seoul, told The Associated Press. "I wrote the chapter to let people know that you can't understand the U.S. without knowing the Jewish community."
More than 10 million copies from the 12-book series titled "Meon Nara, Yiwoot Nara," or "Far Countries, Near Countries," have been sold since it was first published in 1987, according to its publisher, Gimm-Young Publishers. The company boasts that at least one volume is in every South Korean home in this country of 48 million people.
The comics with playfully drawn figures have sought to explain European countries, the U.S., Japan and even Korea itself.
The first volume of three focusing on the United States was published in 2004. In a chapter titled "You have to know the Jews to see the U.S.," Rhie takes a wide-ranging look at Jewish history, mentioning the Holocaust and Jews being spread throughout the world without a homeland.
Although noting that Jews have faced prejudice for many centuries, the book takes a more sinister view of their role in the United States.
Rhie said the September 11 attacks occurred because of Arab terrorists' hatred for the U.S. he blamed on Jews who "move the U.S. in the way they want using money and the media as their weapon."
The book also says Korean-Americans are diligent and successful in the U.S. "but in the end, always run into the wall called the Jews." The accompanying picture shows an exasperated man walking up a hill only to be blocked by a brick wall with a Star of David and the word "STOP" in English.
Images from the book "echo classic Nazi canards," Rabbi Abraham Cooper of the Los Angeles-based Simon Wiesenthal Center said in a statement earlier this month. In a letter sent to the publishers, Cooper urged them to review "the slanders in this book that historically have led to anti-Semitism, violence, hatred and even genocide."
Rhie asserted he is "not at all anti-Semitic" and that he would remove the parts that have drawn offense or write them differently. "The last thing I want is a conflict between the Koreans and the Jews because of my book," he said.
There is no established Jewish community in Korea.
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.With the announcement that Derek Fisher has been hired as their 26th head coach, the New York Knicks face the curious prospect of entering the 2014-15 season with a head coach who’s a better point guard than their actual point guard and a president of basketball operations who’s a better coach than their head coach.
To make things even weirder (and for the Knicks that’s saying something), some of the names being bandied about the sports-talk ionosphere for assistant coach positions are these: Kurt Rambis, Party Down star Rick Fox, Luuuuuuuuuuke Walton, and Bill Cartwright. My long-held dream of seeing the human white man’s overbite, Mark Madsen, on the Knicks’ sideline still draws breath.
The Knicks’ particular big-market pathology has historically been the acquisition of players whose names look great on the building marquee. The franchise tried to sign a 39-year-old Wilt Chamberlain in 1975; paired Earl Monroe with Clyde Frazier in a gamble that paid off; paired Spencer Haywood with Bob McAdoo in a gamble that didn’t; and tried multiple times over the last 13 years to land Phil Jackson as coach before Eagles manager Irving Azoff and his all-terrain vehicle vision quest finally got it done.
The James Dolan era took this existing predilection, distilled it down to its essence, and smoked it in a crack pipe using lit $100 bills. While previous Knicks regimes chased name players, they also seemed to know some details about those players beyond just their names.
Under Dolan, the Knicks are a guy in a restaurant who says, “Give me the most expensive thing you got” without opening a menu, then expresses surprise when a ramekin of rare fish eggs arrives at the table. Things are expensive, therefore worth having, and if they aren’t expensive, well, just make them so. Allan Houston’s $100 million extension? Great. Jerome James just played five good games for the first time in his career? Pay the man. A soft-rebounding center with a possible heart condition? How many times can I bid against myself for his services?
With MSG |
where we really got to know our neighbors, we were always amazed at the diversity of the campers. In Minori, our campmates were a Sardinian man and an Australian woman who had been traveling around Italy for four months. The two spent days at a time simply enjoying the campsite, reading and appreciating the view. At night, the Sardinian, a trained Italian chef, taught us how to prepare authentic Italian pasta on the outdoor stove.Panasonic's NYC press event had more than pricing for its media streamers and Blu-ray players, as the company also put tags on its 2013 HDTVs. While it wasn't ready to announces MSRPs for its top of the line ZT60 plasmas that impressed us greatly at CES, it did put prices and shipping windows on its other models (check after the break for a complete list). The former flagship VT60 series will be available in 55-, 60- and 65-inch versions later this month for $2,600, $3,000 and $3,600, respectively. Cheaper plasma models include the ST60 and S60 series, available in sizes up to 60-inches. Its top of the line WT60 LCD LED-lit models will also ship later this month, topped by the 55-inch version with a sticker price of $2,999.
The bad news? While Panasonic's plasma manufacturing will continue, The Verge reports VP Kiyoshi Okamoto confirmed at the event that development has ceased on its plasma models, although some engineers have been shifted to work on OLED displays. We'll see if its recovery efforts and technological developments lead to new large-size OLEDs anytime soon, but for now it appears we're seeing the last of its efforts to push plasma technology forward.A perv accused of groping a female marathon runner last November was busted Wednesday with help from an unlikely tipster — his mother.
Police sources said Carlous Hamilton’s mom dimed him out to cops after recognizing her son as the suspected perv in a photo released earlier this week by authorities.
The 29-year-old athlete, who had recently tackled the New York City Marathon, was taking a ‘recovery run’ near West 37th Street and Fifth Avenue around 12:15 p.m., Nov. 23, when Hamilton, 31, allegedly came up behind her and squeezed her rear, officials said.
When the stunned victim wheeled around to confront the creep, he grabbed her breast, according to cops.
Police said the victim tried to block his advances, only to have the brute punch her in the face and body.
The assailant dashed off when the victim fought back — but not before a witness snapped these photos of him.
Authorities released the shots Tuesday hoping for a break in the case.
Hamilton, of Brooklyn, was arrested Wednesday on charges of sex abuse and assault.Giveaway currently closed. Thank you for all that entered.
Merry Christmas friends!
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There are so many options to choose from! Check out a few of my current favorites:Jan Váška (EUROPEUM Institute for European Policy)
In January 2013, the British Prime Minister David Cameron announced that in case of the Conservative Party’s victory in the upcoming parliamentary elections, he will ensure that the referendum about the UK staying in or leaving the EU will take place in 2017. This declaration was the culmination of the dispute between the pro-European and anti-European Tory factions, in which the latter prevailed. The call of the Eurosceptic Conservatives to re-negotiate the conditions of the British membership in the EU has become ever stronger since the outbreak of the economic crisis, which brought new dynamics in the area of economic integration. Apart from that, Cameron is trying to regain voters who were lured away by the UKIP.
The result of this year’s British elections is unpredictable. However, one can be sure that the winning party will have to govern in a coalition. There are many possible scenarios for the future development. If the Conservatives win, the 2017 referendum can be expected in due course. If the Conservatives govern alone, David Cameron will keep his support for the UK to remain in the EU, while European partners will be willing to negotiate and the Tories will probably vote against leaving the Union in the referendum. In case that the Conservative Party is in a coalition with UKIP, Tories could split and the Eurosceptic Conservatives will call for the UK to leave the EU. If the Labor Party wins, there will probably be no referendum at all provided there are no significant changes in the founding treaties.
The Union should try to prevent the potential “Brexit” in a number of ways. In the run-up to the elections, the EU should not do anything to alienate the prospective new government promoting the referendum. Perhaps the EU could express a certain willingness to re-negotiate the terms and conditions of the British membership. After the elections, if the Labor Party wins, the EU will gain more time that could be used for improving its economic situation and its image in the eyes of Britons. However, if the UK is led by a conservative government, the EU should consider partially appeasing the British demands in the areas such as social and labor law, the free movement of persons, agriculture, or Financial Transaction Tax. Great Britain must be reassured that it will not be discriminated against in the single market as a Eurozone non-member and, furthermore, the Union must persuade the Britons that the EU and the UK need each other.
(The study can be downloaded here)The statement from the hospital, one of the nation’s leading academic centers of medicine and a large community health care provider, added: “We assure you that one individual does not define Johns Hopkins. Johns Hopkins is defined by the tens of thousands of employees who come to work determined to provide world-class care for our patients and their families.”
Image Dr. Nikita Levy was fired in February 2013.
Initially, the hospital identified nearly 12,700 patients Dr. Levy might have seen in his 25 years as an employee. Investigators estimated that he began recording patients with tiny cameras hidden in a pen or a key fob around 2005.
“Words cannot describe how deeply sorry we are for all this has affected,” two top officials of Johns Hopkins wrote to former patients last year. “We are terribly sorry this has happened and for the distress you must be feeling.”
After Dr. Levy’s colleague reported him, hospital security officers confronted him in his office, and he turned over several cameras. A hospital statement at the time said that he was told to seek counseling and was escorted off the premises. Johns Hopkins contacted the Baltimore police and fired the doctor on Feb. 8, 2013.
Although law enforcement agencies concluded that Dr. Levy had not uploaded any of the images online or shared them with others, Mr. Schochor is not so sure. He cited retired F.B.I. experts whom he hired as consultants for the lawsuit. “I think there’s overwhelming probability” that Dr. Levy shared images, Mr. Schochor said.
His law firm, Schochor, Federico & Staton, which specializes in medical malpractice, interviewed about 2,000 former patients. He said many of the women described disturbances in work and their personal lives after learning of the recordings.
“There’s been a huge, devastating result to this whole thing,” Mr. Schochor said. “Many have had changes in their ability to focus, problems with sleeplessness. Some have had changes in their relationships with spouses and significant others.”
James A. Wells, the chairman of a medicine and law committee for the American Bar Association, said $190 million was “a very large number for the settlement of medical malpractice claims involving a single physician.”Toyota sold all shares in Tesla Inc by the end of 2016
News Hour:
Toyota Motor Corp said on Saturday it had sold all shares in Tesla Inc by the end of 2016, has canceled its tie-up with the U.S. luxury automaker to jointly develop electric vehicles.
Japan’s biggest automaker had bought a 3 percent stake in the Palo Alto-based automaker for $50 million. Toyota spokesman Ryo Sakai said the company had sold all of its shares in Tesla as of the end of 2016, part of a regular, periodic review of its investments after it had initially sold down a portion in 2014, reports Reuters.
“Our development partnership with Tesla ended a while ago, and since there have not been any new developments on that front, we decided it was time to sell the remaining stake,” he said.
In November, the Japanese automaker appointed its president to lead their newly-formed electric car division, flagging its commitment to developing a technology that it has been slow to embrace.
The department comprises a new in-house unit to plan Toyota’s strategy to develop and market electric cars as part of the company’s efforts to keep pace with tightening global emissions regulations.
Like this: Like Loading...My new book, first in a new trilogy, is on sale now. Let me start with a blurb.
“It’s Epic Fantasy that reads like a Thriller” — Kat Richardson
Here’s the description from the back cover:
The city of Peradain is the heart of an empire built with steel, spears, and a monopoly on magic… until, in a single day, it falls, overthrown by a swarm of supernatural creatures of incredible power and ferocity. Neither soldier nor spell caster can stand against them. The empire’s armies are crushed, its people scattered, its king and queen killed. Freed for the first time in generations, city-states scramble to seize neighboring territories and capture imperial spell casters. But as the creatures spread across the land, these formerly conquered peoples discover they are not prepared to face the enemy that destroyed an empire. Can the last Peradaini prince, pursued by the beasts that killed his parents, cross battle-torn lands to retrieve a spell that might—just might—turn the battle against this new enemy?
Several free chapters start here. Go forth and sample.
And here’s the cover itself:
God, I love that cover. (Chris sells prints at very reasonable rates.) Spoiler: the art on the inside is gorgeous, too. If you want to see a larger version of the map, the artist has put it on her site.
Let’s have some backstory. When I announced that poor sales numbers meant I was not going to be writing any more Twenty Palaces novels, I kept telling readers “I hope you like my next series just as much.”
Well, no pressure on me, but the next series is here. Anyone who’s been following this blog knows it was written as part of a homeschool project with my son. I tried to find traditional publication for this book and the two sequels, and when that failed, I turned it into a successful Kickstarter.
Hold on, let me just post this to see if I’m tired of looking at it yet.
Nope. Not yet.
It has a map by Priscilla Spencer, illustrations by Claudia Cangini, and the paperback was designed by a professional (who uses the pseud “thebarbarienne” online).
Anyway, the original working title for this trilogy was Epic Fantasy With No Dull Parts, which everyone thought was funny but few understood was mostly aspirational. Most epic fantasy has a slack, touristy feel to it, and I wanted to try for something different.
But I like to think this is more than just a thriller. It’s also about empire, and how it feels to live in one, and how you come to identify with it even if you hate it.
It’s also about being invaded. In fact, one of the NY publishers who turned the book down explicitly complained about this: a portal fantasy where the enemy is magically transported to a new land? Apparently, that’s Doing It Wrong. Portal fantasies are supposed to be about protagonists invading other places, not being invaded.
Please read the sample chapters. Book 2, The Way Into Magic is out right now. So is The Way Into Darkness, book 3.
If you like the books, please tell your friends.
| Amazon (print & ebook) | Apple iBooks (ebook) | Barnes & Noble (print & ebook) | Books-a-Million (print) | CreateSpace (print) | IndieBound (print) | Kobo (ebook) | Smashwords (ebook) |(Gage Skidmore/Flickr)
EDITOR’S NOTE: The following is Jonah Goldberg’s weekly “news”letter, the G-File. Subscribe here to get the G-File delivered to your inbox on Fridays.
Dear Reader (if there are any of you left),
Well, if this is the conservative movement now, I guess you’re going to have to count me out.
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#ad#No, I’m not making some mad dash to the center. No, I’m not hoping to be the first alternate to Steve Schmidt on Morning Joe, nor am I vying to become my generation’s Kevin Phillips. I will never be a HillaryCon. And I have no plan to earn “strange new respect” from the Georgetown cocktail-party set I’m always hearing about but never meeting. But even if I have no desire to “grow” in my beliefs, I have no intention to shrink, either.
The late Bill Rusher, longtime publisher of National Review, often counseled young writers to remember, “Politicians will always disappoint you.” As I’ve often said around here, this isn’t because politicians are evil. It’s because politicians are politicians. Their interests too often lie in votes, not in principles. That’s why the conservative movement has always recognized that victory lies not simply in electing conservative politicians, but in shaping a conservative electorate that lines up the incentives so that politicians define their self-interest in a conservative way.
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But if it’s true that politicians can disappoint, I think one has to say that the people can, too.
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RELATED: Trump Has Succeeded in Convincing Conservatives to Discard Their Principles Overnight
And when I say “the people” I don’t mean “those people.” I mean my people. I mean many of you, Dear Readers. Normally, when conservatives talk about how the public can be wrong, we mean that public. You know the one. The “low-information voters” Rush Limbaugh is always talking about. The folks we laughed at when Jay Leno interviewed them on the street. But we don’t just mean the unwashed and the ill-informed. We sometimes mean Jews, blacks, college kids, Lena Dunham fans, and countless other partisan slices of the electorate who reflexively vote on strict party lines for emotional or irrational reasons. We laugh at liberals who let know-nothing celebrities do their thinking for them.
Well, many of the same people we laughed at are now laughing at us because we are going ga-ga over our own celebrity.
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Behold the Trumpen Proletariat
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Yes, I know that there are plenty of decent and honorable people who support Trump. For instance, my friend John Nolte over at Breitbart is one. He constantly celebrates Trump because Trump has all the right enemies and defies the conventional rules governing politics and media:
#GOPSmartSet-ters confused by Trump's appeal need to spend some time in the Real World. You can't help the cause being this out-of-touch. — James Comey Colluded with the Russian’s Dossier (@NolteNC) August 28, 2015
Why Trump resonates. https://t.co/IGgZq6RXdS — James Comey Colluded with the Russian’s Dossier (@NolteNC) August 27, 2015
Trump goes right over the heads of the media to talk to the people. He uses the media like his chew toy. And it's glorious. — James Comey Colluded with the Russian’s Dossier (@NolteNC) August 26, 2015
I've waited 30 years to see the media get treated like Trump just treated that piece of garbage @jorgeramosnews. Oh. Hell. Yes. — James Comey Colluded with the Russian’s Dossier (@NolteNC) August 25, 2015
But this is not an argument for Trump as a serious presidential candidate. It is really no argument at all. It is catharsis masquerading as principle, venting and resentment pretending to be some kind of higher argument. Every principle used to defend Trump is subjective, graded on a curve. Trump is like a cat trained to piss in a human toilet. It’s amazing! It’s remarkable! Yes, yes, it is: for a cat. But we don’t judge humans by the same standard.
The Tempting of Conservatism
I’ve written many times how the phrase “power corrupts” has been misunderstood. Lord Acton’s original point wasn’t that power corrupts those who wield power, it was that it corrupts those who admire it. In a letter to a historian friend who was too forgiving of the Reformation-era popes, Acton wrote:
I cannot accept your canon that we are to judge Pope and King unlike other men, with a favourable presumption that they did no wrong. If there is any presumption it is the other way, against the holders of power, increasing as the power increases. Historic responsibility has to make up for the want of legal responsibility. Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men, even when they exercise influence and not authority, still more when you superadd the tendency or the certainty of corruption by authority. There is no worse heresy than that the office sanctifies the holder of it.
Trump’s popularity apparently trumps all standards we would apply not just to our neighbors, but to our leaders.
Popularity — which in democracy is a very important kind of power — works the same way. We routinely forgive the rich and famous for sins we would condemn our neighbors for. Trump’s popularity apparently trumps all standards we would apply not just to our neighbors, but to our leaders. A small example of what I am talking about can be found in Ted Cruz’s vow not to criticize other Republicans — if by “Republicans” you mean “Donald Trump.” I have a lot of respect for Cruz, but this doesn’t pass the laugh test. The Texan has been lambasting the entire Republican party for his entire time in office. Some of his critiques are valid, of course. But he has shown not an iota of reluctance to criticize fellow Republicans when it’s in his interest. Cruz isn’t criticizing Donald Trump because, as a smart politician, he wants to woo Trump’s followers when/if Trump eventually falters. Similarly, I’m constantly hearing from Trump fans that it’s “disrespectful” for me to criticize the Republican front-runner — as if these fans would refrain from criticizing Jeb or Rubio or Kasich if they were in the lead.
#share#
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The Bonfire of Principles
If I sound dismayed, it’s only because I am. Conservatives have spent more than 60 years arguing that ideas and character matter. That is the conservative movement I joined and dedicated my professional life to. And now, in a moment of passion, many of my comrades-in-arms are throwing it all away in a fit of pique. Because “Trump fights!”
How many Republicans have been deemed unfit for the Oval Office because of comparatively minor character flaws or ideological shortcomings? Rick Perry in 2012 saw his candidacy implode when he couldn’t remember the third item on his checklist of agencies he’d close down. Well, even in that “oops” moment, Rick Perry comes off as Lincolnesque compared with Donald Trump.
RELATED: Donald Trump’s Appeal Is Based on Yesterday’s News
Yes, I know Trump has declared himself pro-life. Good for him — and congratulations to the pro-life movement for making that the price of admission. But I’m at a total loss to understand why serious pro-lifers take him at his word. He’s been all over the place on Planned Parenthood, and when asked who he’d like to put on the Supreme Court, he named his pro-choice-extremist sister.
Ann Coulter wrote of Newt in 2011: “If all you want is to lob rhetorical bombs at Obama and then lose, Newt Gingrich — like recent favorite Donald Trump — is your candidate. But if you want to save the country, Newt’s not your guy.” Now Ann leads a chorus of people claiming that Trump is our only savior. Has Trump changed, or have Ann and her followers? Is there a serious argument behind the new thinking, or is it “because he fights!”?
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RELATED: Have Conservatives Grown Tired of Supporting the Rule of Law?
It is entirely possible that conservatives sweat the details of tax policy too much. Once in office, a president must deal with political realities that render the fine print of a campaign pamphlet as useful as a battle plan after the enemy is met. But in the last month, Trump has contemplated a flat tax, the fair tax, maintaining the current progressive tax system, a carried-interest tax, a wealth tax, and doing nothing. His fans respond, “That shows he’s a pragmatist!”
No. It shows that he has absolutely no ideological guardrails whatsoever. Ronald Reagan once said, “Government is like a baby. An alimentary canal with a big appetite at one end and no sense of responsibility at the other.” Trump is close to the reverse. He’s a mouth at the wrong end of an alimentary canal spewing crap with no sense of responsibility.
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In his embarrassing interview with Hugh Hewitt Thursday night, Trump revealed he knows less than most halfway-decent D.C. interns about foreign policy. Twitter lit up with responses about how it doesn’t matter and how it was a gotcha interview. They think that Trump’s claim that he’ll just go find a Douglas MacArthur to fix the problem is brilliant. Well, I’m all in favor of finding a Douglas MacArthur, but if you don’t know anything about foreign policy, the interview process will be a complete disaster. Yes, Reagan delegated. But he knew enough to know to whom to delegate.
RELATED: The Other Donald Trump Interview with Hugh Hewitt
If you want a really good sense of the damage Donald Trump is doing to conservatism, consider the fact that for the last five years no issue has united the Right more than opposition to Obamacare. Opposition to socialized medicine in general has been a core tenet of American conservatism from Day One. Yet, when Republicans were told that Donald Trump favors single-payer health care, support for single-payer health care jumped from 16 percent to 44 percent.
I’ve written a lot about my problems with populism. One of my favorite illustrations of why the populist mindset is dangerous and anti-intellectual comes from William Jennings Bryan. “The people of Nebraska are for free silver and I am for free silver,” Bryan announced. “I will look up the arguments later.” My view of conservatism holds that if free silver is a bad idea, it’s still a bad idea even if the people of Nebraska are for it. But Trumpism flips this on its head. The conservatives of Nebraska and elsewhere should be against single-payer health care, even if Donald Trump is for it. What we are seeing is the corrupting of conservatives.
Homework Is for Losers
I agree that presidents don’t need to be experts on everything. But they do need to do their homework. This is a standard I’ve held for years:
This is my biggest gripe about some of the GOP candidates in recent years. They don’t think they have to do their homework, perhaps because they aren’t so much running for president as running for greater celebrity. Consider Herman Cain. I love listening to him, and so do a lot of conservatives. He’s smart enough to be president. But he simply didn’t do his homework, and he acted like that was something to be proud of, as when he of bragged about not knowing the names of leaders of “small, insignificant states” like Uzbekistan (which he jokingly pronounced “Ubeki-beki-beki-beki-stan-stan”).The one thing you cannot buy in politics is charisma. If you could, Mitt Romney would have bought a pallet of it at Costco and he’d probably be president now. Cain and Perry had the charisma, the natural political talent, and they squandered it by thinking all they needed was the sizzle without the steak.
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Trump has the charisma, I’ll grant him that. But there is no evidence he’s thought deeply about the job beyond how much classier it will be once he has it. His whole shtick is an eminence front (“It’s a put on!” — The Couch).
When running for president, doing your homework is a question of character and even patriotism. If you love this country and want to be the president, quite literally the least you can do is be prepared.
So let’s return to the issue of character.
RELATED: Trump’s Hearing Problem
In 2012, Mark Steyn wrote that a President Gingrich would have “twice as many ex-wives as the first 44 presidents combined.” If that (quite brilliant) line resonated with you three years ago, why doesn’t it for a President Trump?
I understand the Noltean compulsion to celebrate anyone who doesn’t take crap from the mainstream media. But when Newt Gingrich brilliantly eviscerated the press in 2012, there was a serious ideological worldview behind it. Trump’s assaults on the press have only one standard: whether the journalist in question is favorable to Trump or not. If a journalist praises him, that journalist is “terrific.” If the journalist is critical of Trump he is a “loser” (or, in my case, a loser who can’t buy pants). Not surprisingly, Hugh Hewitt is now “third rate” because he made Trump look bad. I’m no fan of Arianna Huffington or Gail Collins, but calling them “dogs” because they criticized you is not a serious ideological or intellectual retort. (It’s not even clever.) I think Trump did insinuate that Megyn Kelly was menstruating during the debate. He denies it. Fine. But what in the world about his past would lead someone to give him the benefit of the doubt? This is the same man who said, “You know, it doesn’t really matter what [the media] write as long as you’ve got a young and beautiful piece of ass.”
Trump’s glass-bottom id lets the whole world see his megalomania.
Trump’s glass-bottom id lets the whole world see his megalomania. He talks about himself in the third person all the time. He explains that Trump is great because Trump is rich and famous. He’s waxed profound on how he doesn’t want blacks counting his money (he prefers Jews in yarmulkes). He makes jokes on national TV about women fellating him. He pays famous people to attend his wedding and then brags about it as if he got one over on them. He boasts in his books how he screwed over business associates and creditors because all that mattered was making an extra buck.
RELATED: What Makes Donald Run?
If your neighbor talked this way, maybe he’d still be your friend, because we all have friends who are characters. But would you want him to be your kid’s English teacher? Guidance counselor? Would you tell your kids you want them to follow his example? Would you go into business with him?
Would you entrust him with nuclear weapons?
Remnant Here I Come
#related#Karl Marx coined the term lumpenproletariat to describe working-class people who could never relinquish their class consciousness and embrace the idea of a classless socialist society. Hence, they were useless to the revolutionary cause. I’m no Marxist, so I don’t buy the idea that anybody — never mind a whole class of people — are beyond persuasion. But I am tempted to believe that Donald Trump’s biggest fans are not to be relied upon in the conservative cause. I have hope they will come to their senses. But it’s possible they won’t. And if the conservative movement and the Republican party allow themselves to be corrupted by this flim-flammery, then so be it. My job will be harder, my career will suffer, and I’ll be ideologically homeless (though hardly alone). That’s not so scary. Conservatism began in the wilderness and maybe, like the Hebrews, it would return from it stronger and ready to rule. But I’m not leaving without a fight. If my side loses that fight, all I ask is you stop calling the Trumpian cargo cult “conservative” and maybe stop the movement long enough for me to get off.
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Various & Sundry
I had hoped for sanity to be restored by the time I got back from my vacation. Alas, it was not to be. We had a really wonderful time. I may post some pictures over at my Facebook page later.
If you’re reading this “news”letter style, I’ll be on Special Report tonight. If you’re reading this on the web on Saturday (when it goes on the NRO homepage), I’ll still be on Special Report tonight, but you’ll be reading this too late.
I’ll be at the Cato Institute on September 9, talking about — of all things — the Magna Carta. Actually, I’ll just be responding to a guy talking about the Magna Carta. Still come on by if you can.
In October I’ll be speaking at The Fund for American Studies’ Leadership Conference in Colorado Springs. Details here. And on September 17, I will be hosting a telephone “townhall” (details here).
If you’re interested in what the presidential candidates are reading (or say they are reading), here’s my friend Tevi Troy’s breakdown.
My column today is on how Hillary Clinton is just simply guilty and the rest is commentary.
Here’s my column on defining superheroes down.
I’ve written a new foreword to Frank Meyer’s classic collection, What Is Conservatism? It seems timely.
Zoë Update: I don’t have much for you as I was away for two weeks and she was left behind with the house-and-dog sitter. We got back last Sunday. Around Wednesday she stopped chastising us for leaving her. The only problem is she now really thinks anytime I leave the house, I’m leaving forever. It’s pretty painful when she hugs my leg and I drag her toward the door.
And, now, some other stuff:
Building that looks like couple having sex is slammed as “architecture porn”
Man opens package, finds tarantula
Spiders invade bananas
Doctors discover 40-year-old twin growing inside woman’s body
Hamas arrests dolphin accused of being an Israeli spy
Iranian police smash squirrel spy ring
I hope the Wicked Witch doesn’t learn about this: China enlists squad of trained monkeys to clear skies during memorial parade
Newborn baby dies after being attacked by rats in hospital
Infestation of opossums kills 17 babies in Venezuelan birth ward
Abandoned tiger cub found roaming neighborhood
Watch out, Floridians: King Cobra loose in Orlando
The Buffalo Bill house from The Silence of the Lambs is for sale
Mad Max: Fury Road in real life: Yazidi women take on ISIS
No liquid allowed in carry on, woman drinks entire bottle of cognac at Beijing Airport security
Of course: Selfie causes car crash
Related: Millennials hate Millennials, poll finds
Van Helsing or Don Quixote? Man has been searching for Loch Ness monster for over 20 years
UFOs following Donald Trump?
(Flashback: The Simpsons on aliens and American democracy)
When Sesame Street mocked Donald Trump
Is this what the 2020 presidential election will look like?
Star Trek gadgets that exist today
Alabama woman arrested trying to break in to county jail
Good news for weird people
The evolution of Batman in cinema, world gravy wrestling championships, and more in Debby’s Friday links
Click here to see all of the Debby’s links posts since the last G-FileThe first time the Hillary campaign asked me to come canvass in Nevada, I lied and said I was busy. It came up like a reflex: I’m really sorry, I have something going on this weekend. Good luck, though! Even as I said it I knew it wasn’t true. My impulse to stay home had nothing to do with my social calendar; it was anxiety cutting to the front of the line, making me say no without considering yes. Everyone hates canvassers, right? Does interrupting somebody’s day really do any good? What if someone threatened me? Asked a question I didn’t know how to answer? Or — worst of all — was mean?
I’m an outgoing introvert. I can crank up the friendliness in the right situation, but would be just as happy not seeing or speaking to another person for weeks. It’s really set in with age, though my sister still talks about the time we went to the movies and I ran away to avoid talking to another kid from school there. I’m more graceful about it now, thankfully. But I’m also a Nice Person who doesn’t like getting yelled at or caught with my hand in the cookie jar — not even for Hillary Clinton.
Maybe I’m not the best candidate to talk politics with strangers. But I couldn’t shake the feeling — the knowledge, really — that I’d copped out. Bailing on our first female President, of all people, because you’re scared? Nah, girl. I called the guy back, told him I could make it after all, held myself accountable on social media, and freaked out for ten minutes. But it was on. I was going.
First stop: waking up at 3:30 in the morning to drive across town and get on a bus for four hours. Hooray!
The brutally early wakeup had two advantages: one, if you want to see how the Los Angeles freeway system is supposed to work, drive it before dawn on a Saturday. What traffic? Magical. And two, no one has the energy for small talk before 6:00 AM. So a room packed with new people — which I can typically handle for about an hour — lost its usual draining effect.
It helped that the campaign office gives you a lot to look at. The walls are covered in lawn signs, countdown calendars, strategy diagrams, photos, and enough inspirational stories to keep you motivated through 2024. It feels alive in there, very Dumbledore’s Army. You can’t help but look around and think oh my god, she’s really gonna do it.
Tearing up over Hillary ephemera is a great way to keep people from trying to chat with you. But the bus ride would be a different story. We’ve all been there, right? Just trying to get from Point A to Point B undisturbed — only to end up with a talkative seatmate and hours of conversation you’d rather avoid. Not even headphones can deter extroverts on the hunt. Fortunately, I came prepared.
I was ready to keep that hood up for the duration as a signal of polite indifference. But then a miracle occurred: I got a WHOLE ROW TO MYSELF. I didn’t believe it for the first few minutes. Surely someone would switch and wind up next to me — especially when another bus broke down and we welcomed their huddled masses aboard. But somehow, defying all logic, I got four hours of uninterrupted reading, snoozing, and podcasting. Hillary herself must have been looking out for me that day.
Dread crept back in once we crossed the state line. Why the hell did I say yes? I replayed the counterarguments: I should just donate instead, maybe I can stay back and phone bank, I’m the wrong person for this job. I can comfortably blame my cerebral palsy (sorry, can’t stand up for that long) and back out. I don’t have to go after all.
Then, as if on cue:
Right — that’s why I said yes.
Upon arrival, a well-coordinated staffer team hustled us off the bus, gave a crash course in voter registration (our goal for the day), pushed clipboards into our hands, and released us into the big bad world. It’s odd to be that person with the clipboard instead of avoiding them on the way to your car. How well could this really work? Who actually stops for canvassers?
Answer: not a lot of people! You get more “no, thank you”s than anything. But you know what? Once I put the first ask out, I forgot to be terrified. Hearing “no” and being repeatedly ignored didn’t wear me down like I’d expected — it helped me bounce back faster and care less about stuff that doesn’t matter. Someone doesn’t want to talk to me? Great! I don’t want to talk to most people either! On to the next. Also, getting escorted from the premises is a lot less scary when it’s already happened to you four times that day. (Walmart wouldn’t even let us park.)
Living in my head all the time has advantages: I listen well, give good advice, and create work I can be proud of. But I also have a hard time not being good at things. I’ll rarely try anything I’m not sure I can do. It makes sense; control is hard to come by in the body I have, so I grab it where I can. But that kind of perfectionism will also choke you if you’re not careful. You lose options once you’re used to never messing up. Good news, though — spend six hours getting largely rebuffed by strangers in a neighboring state, and you’ll start to give less of a shit what anyone thinks. Plus you’ll interact with over a hundred people, so you can refuse to speak to anyone else for weeks afterward and be completely justified.
I helped two people register to vote, talked to an eight-year-old who thinks Donald Trump is “so stupid” (same), and came home exhausted but less fragile than before.
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.07) −0.63 (<0.01)** −0.18 (0.28) Partial correlationb Placentalia 194 0.12 (0.83) 0.22 (0.94) −0.08 (0.30) Birds 0.04 (0.56) −0.60 (0.01)** 0.17 (0.63) Data Set Body Mass Longevity Age at Sexual Maturity Marginal correlationa Placentalia194 0.47 (>0.99)** 0.51 (>0.99)** 0.38 (0.98)** Birds −0.30 (0.07) −0.63 (<0.01)** −0.18 (0.28) Partial correlationb Placentalia 194 0.12 (0.83) 0.22 (0.94) −0.08 (0.30) Birds 0.04 (0.56) −0.60 (0.01)** 0.17 (0.63) View Large
Unexpectedly, an opposite result was obtained in birds. In this group, the mitochondrial dN/dS displays a negative correlation with LHT. The correlation is supported in the case of longevity (PP = 0.01; table 1) and remains so in partial correlation (i.e., controlling for dS, body mass and maturity; PP = 0.01; table 1).
The Relationship between Mitochondrial Kr/Kc and LHT
The high mutation rate experienced by the mitochondrial genome (Ballard and Whitlock 2004; Galtier et al. 2006; Nabholz, Glémin, et al. 2008) may prevent accurate estimation of dN/dS. In our data set, there is a marked saturation visible when uncorrected pairwise divergence is plotted against phylogenetic distance (fig. 1). As is clear from figure 1, saturation is more pronounced on synonymous than on nonsynonymous substitutions.
F ig. 1.— View largeDownload slide Pairwise uncorrected divergence against phylogenetic distance estimated on the bird (A) and on the placental (B) data sets. On both panels, gray dots correspond to measures based on amino acids and black triangles to measures based on nucleotides. Phylogenetic distances are estimated by maximum likelihood using CODEML (Yang 2007; mtmam.dat substitution matrix) for the amino acid data, and BASEML (GTR+GAMMA substitution model) for nucleotides.
F ig. 1.— View largeDownload slide Pairwise uncorrected divergence against phylogenetic distance estimated on the bird (A) and on the placental (B) data sets. On both panels, gray dots correspond to measures based on amino acids and black triangles to measures based on nucleotides. Phylogenetic distances are estimated by maximum likelihood using CODEML (Yang 2007; mtmam.dat substitution matrix) for the amino acid data, and BASEML (GTR+GAMMA substitution model) for nucleotides.
Differential saturation between dS and dN is likely to result in important distortions in the estimated dN/dS, raising doubts about the reliability of the correlation patterns displayed by dN/dS (table 1). Distortions caused by differential saturation may also explain some of the unexpected correlations observed between dN/dS and LHT, in particular in birds. Specifically, although smaller birds are expected to have smaller effective population sizes and, therefore, lower dN/dS ratios, in the presence of saturation, their higher overall rate of substitution (Nabholz et al. 2009) will only weakly impact dS but more strongly impact dN. As a result, the apparent dN/dS will increase, whereas in fact the real dN/dS is undergoing a decrease. This effect is also predicted in the case of mammals, although in that case, the better taxonomic sampling, combined with a wider overall range of variation in body size, may be sufficient for ensuring a robust positive correlation between dN/dS and body mass.
Measures of the strength of selection exclusively relying on the less saturated nonsynonymous substitutions may be more reliable than dN/dS in the context of mitochondrial genome evolution. With this in mind, we constructed several models based on the ratio of radical over conservative amino acid substitution rates. Biochemical conservativeness can be defined in several different ways, depending on whether amino acid replacements resulting in a change in charge, volume, or polarity were considered as radical. Accordingly, we defined four different versions of the model taking into account the three different changes mentioned above plus the combination of polarity and volume (see Materials and Methods).
In placentals, whichever definition of biochemical conservativeness is used, in all cases, Kr/Kc correlates positively with LHT, thus mirroring the correlation patterns observed for dN/dS (Popadin et al. 2007). Among the four models, the one considering a change in polarity or in volume as a radical change (RadConsAA-PolVol) gives a consistently stronger support for a positive correlation between LHT and Kr/Kc (table 2). Using this model, the correlation with LHT is stronger than using dN/dS (table 3). In contrast, the model using charge as the criterion for discriminating radical and conservative amino acid substitutions (RadConsAA-Chg) results in a weaker covariance, with a PP above 0.95 obtained only for longevity (table 2). Using a different method, Popadin et al. (2007) also found that a definition of radical substitutions based on charge results in a weaker correlation between body-mass and Kr/Kc, compared with volume or polarity. In contrast to our study, however, Popadin et al. (2007) reported that the model based on polarity or on volume alone were slightly better than the model based on polarity and volume in combination. In partial correlation analyses, Kr/Kc is found to correlate primarily with age at sexual maturity for the complete data set, and with longevity for the reduced data set (with 194 species, table 3).
Table 2 Data Set Classification Body Mass Longevity Age at Sexual Maturity Mammals (All) Charge 0.19 (0.91) 0.43 (0.99)** 0.17 (0.83) Polarity 0.29 (>0.99)** 0.23 (0.94) 0.49 (>0.99)** Volume 0.30 (>0.99)** 0.25 (0.95)* 0.47 (>0.99)** Polarity and volume 0.37 (>0.99)** 0.43 (>0.99)** 0.64 (>0.99)** Birds Charge −0.05 (0.42) −0.28 (0.24) −0.07 (0.41) Polarity 0.24 (0.90) 0.06 (0.62) −0.03 (0.44) Volume 0.26 (0.80) 0.33 (0.82) 0.18 (0.69) Polarity and Volume 0.37 (0.98)** 0.23 (0.84) 0.09 (0.59) Data Set Classification Body Mass Longevity Age at Sexual Maturity Mammals (All) Charge 0.19 (0.91) 0.43 (0.99)** 0.17 (0.83) Polarity 0.29 (>0.99)** 0.23 (0.94) 0.49 (>0.99)** Volume 0.30 (>0.99)** 0.25 (0.95)* 0.47 (>0.99)** Polarity and volume 0.37 (>0.99)** 0.43 (>0.99)** 0.64 (>0.99)** Birds Charge −0.05 (0.42) −0.28 (0.24) −0.07 (0.41) Polarity 0.24 (0.90) 0.06 (0.62) −0.03 (0.44) Volume 0.26 (0.80) 0.33 (0.82) 0.18 (0.69) Polarity and Volume 0.37 (0.98)** 0.23 (0.84) 0.09 (0.59) View Large
Table 2 Data Set Classification Body Mass Longevity Age at Sexual Maturity Mammals (All) Charge 0.19 (0.91) 0.43 (0.99)** 0.17 (0.83) Polarity 0.29 (>0.99)** 0.23 (0.94) 0.49 (>0.99)** Volume 0.30 (>0.99)** 0.25 (0.95)* 0.47 (>0.99)** Polarity and volume 0.37 (>0.99)** 0.43 (>0.99)** 0.64 (>0.99)** Birds Charge −0.05 (0.42) −0.28 (0.24) −0.07 (0.41) Polarity 0.24 (0.90) 0.06 (0.62) −0.03 (0.44) Volume 0.26 (0.80) 0.33 (0.82) 0.18 (0.69) Polarity and Volume 0.37 (0.98)** 0.23 (0.84) 0.09 (0.59) Data Set Classification Body Mass Longevity Age at Sexual Maturity Mammals (All) Charge 0.19 (0.91) 0.43 (0.99)** 0.17 (0.83) Polarity 0.29 (>0.99)** 0.23 (0.94) 0.49 (>0.99)** Volume 0.30 (>0.99)** 0.25 (0.95)* 0.47 (>0.99)** Polarity and volume 0.37 (>0.99)** 0.43 (>0.99)** 0.64 (>0.99)** Birds Charge −0.05 (0.42) −0.28 (0.24) −0.07 (0.41) Polarity 0.24 (0.90) 0.06 (0.62) −0.03 (0.44) Volume 0.26 (0.80) 0.33 (0.82) 0.18 (0.69) Polarity and Volume 0.37 (0.98)** 0.23 (0.84) 0.09 (0.59) View Large
Interestingly, the results obtained on birds are at odds with the dN/dS analyses. Apart from the model based on charge, for which Kr/Kc displays negative but not supported correlations with LHT, all other models indicate a positive correlation between LHT and Kr/Kc (table 2). Under the model based on polarity and volume, support for a positive marginal correlation is found between body mass and Kr/Kc (PP = 0.98, table 2). The marginal correlation with the other LHT is not significant, which may seem surprising given that all LHT are strongly correlated with each other. However, this could be explained by the fact that a substantial fraction of values is missing for these two LHT (35% and 48% of the entries for longevity and maturity, respectively). The effect of body mass is lost in partial correlations (table 3). Similar results were obtained using the alternative topology for the bird phylogeny (PP = 0.99, supplementary table S2, Supplementary Material online).
The Influence of Base Composition and Mutation Bias
Mitochondrial nucleotide composition, especially in Cytosine (C) and in Thymine (T), varies substantially between mammalian species (Gibson et al. 2005). In birds, we observed a similar pattern, with the frequency of C (π C ) being highly variable between species (ranging from 0.32 to 0.51), whereas A and G show moderate variation (from 0.29 to 0.43 and from 0.03 to 0.10, respectively). As in the case of mammals, in birds, the frequency of C (π C ) appears strongly negatively correlated with the frequency of T (π T ), suggesting that the joint variation in the two frequencies, in C and in T, is primarily the consequence of an underlying variation in the relative rate of cytosine deamination (Reyes et al. 1998).
Nucleotide compositional variation between species could potentially affect our estimation of dN/dS and Kr/Kc. Variation in nucleotide composition may differentially influence synonymous and nonsynonymous rates, owing to the fact that the nucleotide content is more variable on synonymous than on nonsynonymous sites. For Kr/Kc, the potential impact of compositional variation is less obvious, but could occur in several subtle ways. For instance, codons for polar amino acids have a tendency to be GC-poor compared with codons encoding nonpolar amino acids, and thus, a shift in nucleotide composition could potentially result in a higher rate of radical amino acid changes. In this context, the existence of a correlation between nucleotide composition and LHT, such as longevity (Jobson et al. 2010), raises the possibility that nucleotide compositional variation may be responsible for at least part of the correlations observed between LHT and dN/dS or Kr/Kc (tables 1 and 2), thus calling for a more detailed investigation of the impact of nucleotide composition on our estimation.
To do so, for the analyses using the MGdNdS model, we allow the equilibrium GC (GC*) of the codon substitution model to vary continuously along the tree (see Materials and Methods and Lartillot 2013). Variation in GC* among lineages is then treated like variation in dS and dN/dS, such that the overall covariance analysis includes a total of three substitution parameters and three LHT. Multiple regression then allows controlling for GC* when estimating the correlation between dN/dS and LHT. More specifically, we controlled for both the equilibrium GC composition at all codon position (GC*) and the equilibrium GC at the third-codon position (GC3*), the latter being markedly more variable than the former (Gibson et al. 2005). Both models leads to very similar results; therefore, we present only the GC3* results hereafter.
The GC3* appears positively correlated with dN/dS in birds (R = 0.57, PP > 0.99) and in placental mammals (R = 0.22, PP > 0.99). In placental mammals, GC3* is positively correlated with all LHT (PP > 0.99). In birds, GC3* correlates negatively with maximal longevity (R = −0.36, PP = 0.03), but not with body mass and age at sexual maturity. When controlling for GC3*, the correlation between dN/dS and LHT remains largely unchanged for birds (table 4). In placentals, the strength of the correlation is overall reduced, with body mass remaining the only correlate of dN/dS receiving a strong statistical support (PP > 0.99; table 4).
Table 4 Data Set Body Mass Longevity Age at Sexual Maturity Placentalia (N = 194) 0.38 (>0.99)** 0.45 (0.91) 0.16 (0.82) Birds −0.21 (0.15) −0.54 (0.01)** −0.25 (0.20) Data Set Body Mass Longevity Age at Sexual Maturity Placentalia (N = 194) 0.38 (>0.99)** 0.45 (0.91) 0.16 (0.82) Birds −0.21 (0.15) −0.54 (0.01)** −0.25 (0.20) View Large
Table 4 Data Set Body Mass Longevity Age at Sexual Maturity Placentalia (N = 194) 0.38 (>0.99)** 0.45 (0.91) 0.16 (0.82) Birds −0.21 (0.15) −0.54 (0.01)** −0.25 (0.20) Data Set Body Mass Longevity Age at Sexual Maturity Placentalia (N = 194) 0.38 (>0.99)** 0.45 (0.91) 0.16 (0.82) Birds −0.21 (0.15) −0.54 (0.01)** −0.25 (0.20) View Large
To control for nucleotide composition in the case of the RadConsAA models, we opted for a pragmatic method circumventing the fact that nucleotide frequencies are not explicit parameters of the substitution model. Specifically, for each taxon, we computed the frequencies of C and T (π C and π T ) at the third positions, and considered these (log-it transformed) frequencies as quantitative traits, to be included in our covariance analyses along with the three LHT. We then performed multiple regression analyses, so as to estimate the correlation of LHT with Kr/Kc while controlling for composition in C and T. Alternatively, we devised a control using GC bias, AT skew and GC skew (all log-transformed) instead of π C and π T (see Materials and Methods). These controls were conducted both on the original sequence alignments and on alignments from which the ND6 gene was excluded, as this gene, being located on the light strand, experiences a distinct mutation bias compared to other mitochondrial protein coding genes.
We find that π C and π T are, respectively, positively and negatively correlated with longevity in mammals (PP > 0.99 for π C and PP < 0.01 for π T for all the LHT). These results are in agreement with previous analyses (Jobson et al. 2010). We also observe that Kr/Kc is positively correlated with π C (R = 0.35, PP > 0.99) and negatively with π T (R = −0.29, PP < 0.01). This correlation could be due in part to a joint covariation of Kr/Kc and composition in C and T with LHT. However, controlling for LHT does not eliminate the statistical support for the correlation of Kr/Kc with nucleotide composition (π C : R = 0.24, PP = 0.99; π T : R = −0.19, PP = 0.03), suggesting instead that compositional variation has a direct impact on Kr/Kc estimation. On the other hand, biases induced by compositional variation do not entirely explain the correlation of Kr/Kc with LHT, as controlling for π C and π T does not reduce the strength the correlation between LHT and Kr/Kc (table 5). Similarly, controlling for GC bias, AT skew and GC skew does not have any impact on the strength of the correlation (PP > 0.98 for all LHT; table 5) nor does the exclusion of ND6 (supplementary table S3, Supplementary Material online).
Table 5 Data Set Control Body Mass Longevity Age at Sexual Maturity Placentalia (All) π C and π T 0.33 (>0.99)** 0.46 (>0.99)** 0.53 (>0.99)** Placentalia (All) GC bias, AT/GC skew 0.33 (>0.99)** 0.38 (0.98)** 0.54 (>0.99)** Birds π C and π T 0.42 (0.99)** 0.29 (0.88) 0.19 (0.76) Birds GC bias, AT/GC skew 0.41 (0.99)** 0.27 (0.86) 0.20 (0.77) Data Set Control Body Mass Longevity Age at Sexual Maturity Placentalia (All) π C and π T 0.33 (>0.99)** 0.46 (>0.99)** 0.53 (>0.99)** Placentalia (All) GC bias, AT/GC skew 0.33 (>0.99)** 0.38 (0.98)** 0.54 (>0.99)** Birds π C and π T 0.42 (0.99)** 0.29 (0.88) 0.19 (0.76) Birds GC bias, AT/GC skew 0.41 (0.99)** 0.27 (0.86) 0.20 (0.77) View Large
Table 5 Data Set Control Body Mass Longevity Age at Sexual Maturity Placentalia (All) π C and π T 0.33 (>0.99)** 0.46 (>0.99)** 0.53 (>0.99)** Placentalia (All) GC bias, AT/GC skew 0.33 (>0.99)** 0.38 (0.98)** 0.54 (>0.99)** Birds π C and π T 0.42 (0.99)** 0.29 (0.88) 0.19 (0.76) Birds GC bias, AT/GC skew 0.41 (0.99)** 0.27 (0.86) 0.20 (0.77) Data Set Control Body Mass Longevity Age at Sexual Maturity Placentalia (All) π C and π T 0.33 (>0.99)** 0.46 (>0.99)** 0.53 (>0.99)** Placentalia (All) GC bias, AT/GC skew 0.33 (>0.99)** 0.38 (0.98)** 0.54 (>0.99)** Birds π C and π T 0.42 (0.99)** 0.29 (0.88) 0.19 (0.76) Birds GC bias, AT/GC skew 0.41 (0.99)** 0.27 (0.86) 0.20 (0.77) View Large
Interestingly, for birds, the relationship between π C and π T and LHT goes in the opposite direction, compared with what is observed in placental mammals: in birds, π C is negatively correlated with body mass although the correlation is not supported (R = −0.15, PP = 0.08) and π T is positively correlated with body mass, with marginal support (R = 0.17, PP = 0.95). As in mammals, controlling for π C and π T or for GC bias, AT skew and GC skew, with or without ND6, does not reduce the support for the correlation between body mass and Kr/Kc (PP ≥ 0.96; table 5 and supplementary tables S2 and Supplementary Data, Supplementary Material online, for the results with the alternative topology and the correlation without ND6, respectively). Importantly, the fact that the correlation between Kr/Kc and composition goes in opposite directions in birds and in placental mammals, whereas in both cases Kr/Kc is positively correlated with body mass and/or longevity, is encouraging, as it confirms that compositional variation cannot entirely explain observed correlations between Kr/Kc and LHT.
Macroevolutionary Patterns of Kr/Kc and LHT
The reconstructions of dN/dS and Kr/Kc are displayed in supplementary figures S3 and Supplementary Data, Supplementary Material online, for dN/dS and figures 2 and 3 for Kr/Kc. In the case of dN/dS (supplementary figs. S3 and Supplementary Data, Supplementary Material online), branches with large values of dN/dS are mostly ancient branches. This is further indicated by the strong positive correlation between divergence times and dN/dS observed in placentals (fig. 4A), suggesting that dN/dS could indeed be overestimated because of an underestimation of dS in the more ancient branches of the phylogeny, itself due to the greater mutational saturation affecting synonymous substitutions. In the context of a nearly neutral interpretation of the variation in dN/dS, such differential saturation effects would result in artifactual inference of small ancestral effective population sizes. In addition, as the model uses the relationship between LHT and dN/dS to reconstruct ancestral LHT, the overestimation of dN/dS in ancient lineages may bias the estimation of ancestral LHT toward higher values.
F ig. 2.— View largeDownload slide Reconstruction of Kr/Kc (as defined by change in polarity or volume) along the phylogeny of Placentalia. Color stands for the marginal posterior mean instant value of Kr/Kc at each node, with linear interpolation along branches.
F ig. 2.— View largeDownload slide Reconstruction of Kr/Kc (as defined by change in polarity or volume) along the phylogeny of Placentalia. Color stands for the marginal posterior mean instant value of Kr/Kc at each node, with linear interpolation along branches.
F ig. 3.— View largeDownload slide Reconstructionof Kr/Kc (as defined by change in polarity or volume) along the phylogeny of birds. Color stands for the marginal posterior mean instant value of Kr/Kc at each node, with linear interpolation along branches.
F ig. 3.— View largeDownload slide Reconstructionof Kr/Kc (as defined by change in polarity or volume) along the phylogeny of birds. Color stands for the marginal posterior mean instant value of Kr/Kc at each node, with linear interpolation along branches.
F ig. 4.— View largeDownload slide Plot of dN/dS (A, C) and Kr/Kc (B, D) against divergence times in Placentalia (194 species; A, B) and in Birds (92 species; C, D). dN/dS, Kr/Kc (both in base 10 logarithm), and divergence times are estimated by their posterior means obtained under the MGdNdS and the RadConsAA-PolVol models, respectively. Black lines indicate lowest fit curves estimated using “loess” function in R (R Development Core Team 2004).
F ig. 4.— View largeDownload slide Plot of dN/dS (A, C) and Kr/Kc (B, D) against divergence times in Placentalia (194 species; A, B) and in Birds (92 species; C, D). dN/dS, Kr/Kc (both in base 10 logarithm), and divergence times are estimated by their posterior means obtained under the MGdNdS and the RadConsAA-PolVol models, respectively. Black lines indicate lowest fit curves estimated using “loess” function in R (R Development Core Team 2004).
In contrast, patterns of Kr/Kc (fig. 2) are more consistent within orders, and across the tree: high values of Kr/Kc in orders such as Cetartiodactyla (especially cetaceans), Carnivora (particularly Ursidae and Pinnipedia), Primates (especially Catyrrhinii), and more isolated clades like elephants or sloths. Conversely, Glires (i.e., Rodentia + Lagomorpha), Eulipotyphla (i.e., insectivores within Laurasiatheria), or Afrosoricida and Macroscelidae (i.e., insectivores within Afrotheria) have low Kr/Kc values. Chiroptera have relatively low values, with large Pteropodidae having higher Kr/Kc ratios than other smaller Chiroptera. These patterns are globally consistent with Kr/Kc representing a more reliable molecular correlate of population size and LHT. Unlike what is observed with dN/dS, the early lineages of placental mammals do not have especially high values of Kr/Kc, and a negative, instead of a positive, correlation is observed between Kr/Kc and divergence times in placentals (Spearman’s rho = −0.67, P value < 0.01; fig. 4B), but note the increase of Kr/Kc toward the very base of the tree (fig. 4B). Nonetheless, the ancestor of placental mammals is estimated to have a bigger body mass using the MGdNdS model (between 2 and 40 kg) than under the RadConsAA model (between 0.6 and 7 kg). Similarly, the ancestors of each of the major groups of placental mammals are all inferred to be two to four times smaller using RadConsAA than using MGdNdS (table 6).
Table 6 Clade Body Mass Estimated under MGdNdS (kg) Body Mass Estimated under RadConsAA (kg) Xenarthra 6.2 (1.1, 30.3) 1.9 (0.3, 16.8) Afrotheria 11.7 (2.4, 47.5) 1.7 (0.5, 11.9) Laurasiatheria 8.9 (2.3, 38.1) 2.0 (0.6, 8.4) Euarchontoglires 6.0 (1.7, 22.4) 0.9 (0.2, 4.4) Clade Body Mass Estimated under MGdNdS (kg) Body Mass Estimated under RadConsAA (kg) Xenarthra 6.2 (1.1, 30.3) 1.9 (0.3, 16.8) Afrotheria 11.7 (2.4, 47.5) 1.7 (0.5, 11.9) Laurasiatheria 8.9 (2.3, 38.1) 2.0 (0.6, 8.4) Euarchontoglires 6.0 (1.7, 22.4) 0.9 (0.2, 4.4) View Large
Table 6 Clade Body Mass Estimated under MGdNdS (kg) Body Mass Estimated under RadConsAA (kg) Xenarthra 6.2 (1.1, 30.3) 1.9 (0.3, 16.8) Afrotheria 11.7 (2.4, 47.5) 1.7 (0.5, 11.9) Laurasiatheria 8.9 (2.3, 38.1) 2.0 (0.6, 8.4) Euarchontoglires 6.0 (1.7, 22.4) 0.9 (0.2, 4.4) Clade Body Mass Estimated under MGdNdS (kg) Body Mass Estimated under RadConsAA (kg) Xenarthra 6.2 (1.1, 30.3) 1.9 (0.3, 16.8) Afrotheria 11.7 (2.4, 47.5) 1.7 (0.5, 11.9) Laurasiatheria 8.9 (2.3, 38.1) 2.0 (0.6, 8.4) Euarchontoglires 6.0 (1.7, 22.4) 0.9 (0.2, 4.4) View Large
The saturation detected in nucleotide sequences may also explain why the relationship between LHT and dN/dS is weaker than the relationship between LHT and Kr/Kc. Based on all of these observations, we choose to favor the reconstruction of the ancestral LHT using the RadConsAA model over MGdNdS, and we will only refer to the results obtained using the RadConsAA model hereafter.
The ancestor of extant placental mammals was estimated to weigh 2 kg (95% credibility interval [CI]: 0.6–7 kg), reach its sexual maturity after 440 days (CI: 277–696 days) and have a life span of 15 years (CI: 10–23 years). This estimation is compatible with estimates obtained with a nuclear data set (mean = 1.6 kg; CI: 0.2–7 kg; Lartillot and Delsuc 2012). Comparing estimates obtained under the covariant or the uncorrelated models suggests that Kr/Kc brings information in favor of a slight downward revision of the ancestral LHT of a certain number of ancestors. For example, all the ancestor of major orders such as Primates, Rodentia, Chiroptera, Cetartiodactyla, and Carnivora are inferred to be heavier using the uncorrelated model. The largest discrepancy was observed for Cetartiodactyla where the ancestor is estimated to be almost twice as large with the uncorrelated model (median = 33 kg; CI: 9–113 kg) compared with what is observed under the covariant model (median = 15 kg; CI: 4–53 kg). The estimation for the ancestor of placental mammals is, however, nearly identical between the uncorrelated (median = 1.7 kg; CI: 0.5–6 kg) and the uncorrelated models.
The negative correlation between Kr/Kc and divergence times alluded to above, combined with the positive correlation between Kr/Kc and LHT, would seem to suggest the existence of a global trend in increasing body size in placental mammals, akin to a Cope’s rule. On the other hand, early placentals do not have especially low Kr/Kc ratios: Kr/Kc is larger in early branches connecting placental orders, than within Rodentia or Eulipotyphla (mean Kr/Kc = 0.85; CI: 0.69–1.1 and mean = 0.85; CI: 0.70–0.99 for Laurasiatheria and Euarchontoglires ancestor vs. mean = 0.93; CI = 0.71 and 1.22 for terminal branches of Rodentia and mean = 0.72; CI: 0.63–0.96 for terminal branches of Eulipotyphla). Such an intermediate Kr/Kc ratio suggests that early placentals were not especially small: indeed, even when taking into account the covariance between body mass and Kr/Kc (which leads to a smaller inferred ancestral body mass), the estimated body mass of the last common ancestor of placentals is bigger than the mass of a majority of extant mammals. The median body mass of extant mammals is 100 g, and only 23 % of the extant species weigh more than 2 kg (N = 3,913 species available in PanTheria database, Jones et al. 2009). Therefore, our estimate for the ancestor represents a fairly large animal compared with a typical extant placental mammal, and this, fundamentally because species-rich group of mammals such as Rodentia, Chiroptera, and Eulipotyphla are all small animals.
To further explore the trend in body mass during placental evolution, we computed the difference between the median ancestral body mass and median body mass of extant species for the 14 orders containing at least two species in our data set. Exactly one-half of the orders experienced an increase in size (the largest increase being observed in Perissodactyla; fig. 5), whereas the other half shows a decrease in body size (particularly in Eulipotyphla and Chiroptera; fig. 5), and thus not suggesting any systematic trend in body mass evolution globally across placental mammals.
F ig. 5.— View largeDownload slide Difference between the median ancestral body mass estimated using the RadConsAA-PolVol model and the median of the body mass of extant placental mammals species (all in base 10 logarithm). A positive (respectively negative) value indicates a decrease (respectively an increase) in body mass. Taxonomy is as in PANTheria (Jones et al. 2009).
F ig. 5.— View largeDownload slide Difference between the median ancestral body mass estimated using the RadConsAA-PolVol model and the median of the body mass of extant placental mammals species (all in base 10 logarithm). A positive (respectively negative) value indicates a decrease (respectively an increase) in body mass. Taxonomy is as in PANTheria (Jones et al. 2009).
In birds, saturation is expected to have the same negative impact on dN/dS and, as in mammals, we note the absence of a positive correlation between dN/dS and divergence time when using Kr/Kc (compare figs. 3 and 4C and D with supplementary fig. S4, Supplementary Material online). Using the same rationale as above, we again favor the ancestral reconstruction obtain with RadConsAA model, over that obtained under the MGdNdS model. We obtain an estimate of approximately 640 g (CI: 0.2–1.9 kg) for the ancestral body mass of Neornithes. Compared with extant species, this represent a fairly large bird, that is, about the size of a common buzzard Buteo buteo. From this ancestor, diversification of modern birds mainly occurred through size reduction. The ancestor of Neoaves (all the extant birds excluding Galloanserae and Palaeognathae) was already estimated to be smaller than the Neornithes ancestor (median = 341 g; CI: 142–820 g) and the great majority of modern birds (6,556 species out of 8,177 Neoaves) have today a body mass lower than 150 g (Dunning 2007). This trend is, however, not followed by Palaeognathae (Ratites + Tinamiformes), nor by Galloanserae. The ancestor of Palaeognathae was estimated to be heavier than the Neornithes ancestor (median = 2.1 kg and 95% CI: 530 g to 8.7 kg), after which body mass still increases toward the very large extant Ratites (but |
over when breaking down gendered interactions.
In turn, I inform those who are unaware. A dialogue that will potentially make people uncomfortable will inevitably make people think and hopefully reconsider their approach. These moments not only say a lot about how I identify, but about how others identify as well. I hope to help shape those who are unaware of gender outside of the binary.
Although it is clear to them now, my parents never understood why I was into HESS trucks and Hot Wheels, but they bought me GAP t-shirts, cargo shorts, and let me wear the prettiest dresses.
I think about how they let me chop my hair into a bowl cut in second grade, with a little hesitation. I played with Barbies. I chased boys around the playground. I was on the same level as them because in my mind, there was no elevator taking us up or down according to gender.
As a child there was no hierarchy to tend to. Gendered awareness settled in once I fought back and got punished for it.
Every time someone assumes I’m a “she” or a “her,” my mind backtracks to when I was locked in the binary. I was a kid. I am a kid.
The confusion that is breaking down gendered language and disproving gendered norms clouds my processor.
I have to prove myself in proving my pronouns all while steaming milk for the never-ending line of drinks backed up on bar. I am defending an identity not everyone is aware of in an environment where personal life shouldn’t bleed.
I waited for a pause in customers, the rare “Wow, there’s no line!” moment. I lowered my voice and asked Obie to help me clean the espresso bar. Other workers were restocking cups and lids, brewing coffee for the next rush. I told him about the playground and what being genderqueer means and list non-binary pronouns.
He asked if I prefer “they.” I said that I do and the cashier slams a cup on the bar. The next rush was here.By daniel_csaki Date: Sep 22 2016 Views:
Mobile RPGs today are plenty, and for one to be really popular, well, it takes a lot. Even though some become really popular in a short amount of time, they also get forgotten fairly quickly as well. Summoners War is one of those that managed to stay popular. The reason for this is the graphics and the game's amazing combat system.
Unlike most of these mobile RPGs, Summoners War puts all of their fights in full 3D, and occasionally monsters even get special cut scenes when they perform a critical attack. Every monster also has a different set of skill that depends on its element type, so there's plenty of diversity there.
But, why is this game so interesting? Why doesn't it get boring like so many other mobile RPGs with the same premise?
Well, in Summoners War you have full control over what happens while you're battling. That's right, there an optional auto-combat feature but you canchoose what your monsters do and how they do it.
This, combined with the vast amount of monsters that fill different roles provides a satisfying experience that never gets boring. Strategy is also key, as you have damage dealers, tanks, and support, so putting thought into the best possible combination is needed if you want to win. As all mobile games, this one also has some pay2win aspects, but they are all minor compared to other titles, so just go and play the game, you won't regret it!
Download this game here:
Meet the Digital Paper, Sony’s latest e-ink slate. It’s part iPad, part e-reader, and must be made out of moon rocks. It’s $1,100 and will be available in the States this May. But you’re not going to buy it.
The 13.3-inch “letter size” Digital Paper isn’t for the average consumer. It’s definitely not for me. Sony is marketing it to gullible legal professionals with large expense accounts. It’s a note-taking device. The flexible e-ink display boasts both optical and active digitizer touchscreens allowing for finger and stylus input. Markup documents right on the screen. Files are saved in a repository that can be shared.
It’s too bad that the software only supports PDFs.
Sony introduced this device to the Japanese market last year. Since launch the device has only supported the editing and viewing of PDF documents. Word and Excel docs can be converted to be viewed on the device. But it’s still a PDF. And as the Digital Reader notes, it lacks an email client and the ability to install additional software. What you see is what you get.
The device sports Wi-Fi, 2.8GB of flash storage, a microSD card slot and a 13.3-inch flexible e-ink screen with a 1600×1200 resolution. The battery lasts three weeks. The whole package is only 6.8mm and weighs 358 grams — that’s less than half that of the iPad air.
Digital Paper will be sold in the U.S. this May through Worldox, a U.S.-based company specializing in document management for legal professionals. Maybe I don’t get it. I’m not a legal professional, and I’ll stick to my iPad for note taking.This is a very nice space paper craft from udonfactory, the scale of this paper model is 1:48. The Apollo Lunar Module (LM), also known as the Lunar Excursion Module (LEM), was the lander portion of the Apollo spacecraft built for the US Apollo program by Grumman to carry a crew of two from lunar orbit to the surface and back. Six such craft successfully landed on the Moon between 1969–1972.
The LM, consisting of an Ascent stage and Descent stage, was ferried to lunar orbit by its companion Command/Service Module (CSM), a separate spacecraft of approximately twice its mass, which took the astronauts home to Earth. After completing its mission, the LM was discarded. In one sense it was the world's first true spacecraft in that it was capable of operation only in outer space, structurally and aerodynamically incapable of flight through the Earth's atmosphere.
The LM got a later start on its design than the CSM, due to the initial unpopularity of the lunar orbit rendezvous strategy. Its development was also plagued with several hurdles which delayed its first unmanned flight by about ten months, and its first manned flight by about three months. Despite this, the LM eventually became the most reliable component of the Apollo/Saturn system, the only one never to suffer any failure that significantly impacted a mission, and in at least one instance (LM-7 Aquarius) greatly exceeded its design requirements by maintaining life support for astronauts after an explosion damaged the Apollo Service Module.
You can download this Apollo Lunar Module (LM) paper model from here: Apollo Lunar Module Free Paper Model DownloadContending with a world 'that isn't built for me'
Transgender Boulder County residents and their allies alike are bothered by state lawmakers' decision last week to vote down a bill that would have allowed Coloradans who don't identify with their originally assigned gender to update their birth certificates.
After passing the state House three weeks ago with bi-partisan support, the Birth Certificate Modernization Act was killed in committee by a Republican majority.
Under current Colorado law, those who wish to change gender on a birth certificate must be able to prove with a doctor's note that they've undergone sexual reassignment surgery. For those who are transgender but don't want or cannot afford such a procedure — or, in many cases, are under 18 and thus too young to qualify — they're left with a form of identification that doesn't jibe with who they are and can lead to uncomfortable, nerve-wracking conversations whenever the document has to be shown.
"It would have been something that ensured I could apply for jobs safely in the future without having to out myself," said Sara Connell, 25, a transgender Boulder woman who testified on the bill and helped rally support from members of the state House.
"The reality is that if I went to work somewhere new or went to grad school, I'd still have to contend with a world that isn't built for me or doesn't fit me."
'They knew what they were going to do'
It wasn't exactly a surprise that the Republican-controlled State Affairs Committee wound up voting the measure down, but Connell believes the opposition comes more from a place of discomfort than thoughtful politics.
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"If this was about anything other than being transgender, it would be a Republican bill," Connell said. "It's about taking government out of people's lives and giving them control over their own private data. What could be more Republican than that?"
A recent report by the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation states that only 8 percent of Americans know a transgender person, and one Boulder County parent who testified — but asked to remain anonymous to protect the identity of her transgender teen son — thinks the committee seemed to have its mind made prior to the hearing.
"I honestly felt like they had opinions about the community before they walked in," she said. A couple of the committee members were looking at their phones and making jokes while a dad was testifying about how his daughter had considered suicide, and how, as a conservative, he had trouble with it, but ultimately loved his daughter more than anything.
"They asked very few questions, so I think to vote something down without asking about it says they knew what they were going to do.
The father she mentions was one of roughly a dozen who testified in favor, including transgender family members, medical professionals, and a representative from the state registrar.
Among that pair was a Mike Norton, a lawyer from the Arizona-based Alliance Defending Freedom, which works to protect religious freedom laws and to criminalize gay sex, among other far-right pursuits.
But Sen. Kevin Lundberg, R-Berthoud, said he opposes the Birth Certificate Modernization Act not necessarily out of disdain for the transgender community, but because he believes the certificate shouldn't be tinkered under any circumstance.
"A friend of mine who's a doctor called me about this and said, 'You gotta be kidding. A birth certificate is a scientific document, and for someone to have the option to say something other than what the physical fact is, is crazy,'" Lundberg said.
"If somebody makes some choices on what they want to be seen as or how they want to present themselves, that's a different issue," he added.
Finding understanding is far from easy
The difference of opinion on L, G, B and particularly T issues, however, often comes down to the fact that transgender people do not feel they've made a choice, per se, but rather embraced their true selves. And while coming out is a challenge of its own, finding understanding, educated support thereafter — both through measures like the birth certificate bill and through basic everyday compassion — can be an even bigger hurdle. As a result, transgender teens, men and women are about 40 times more likely than the rest of the population to have attempted suicide.
"You name the quality of life measure, and they're incredibly, disproportionately impacted," said Dave Montez, executive director of One Colorado. "You'd think after seeing all the data that lawmakers would find a way to reduce discrimination to make their lives less complicated.
"Unfortunately, with this bill, we saw that a few Republicans on one committee were able to stand in the way. And it really is unfortunate, because when your documents don't match up, you're discriminated against pretty much everywhere, from trying to get a job to trying to get a house to trying to vote. People look at you differently."
Alex Burness: 303-473-1389, burnessa@dailycamera.com or twitter.com/alex_burnessAs cryptocurrency fever grips the tech world, and blockchain technologies gradually become more viable, there is a new wave of accelerators and incubators appearing to service this growing ecosystem. Some are covering funding and services, some are about services only. It’s fair to assume, however, that some kinds of cryptocurrency will be changing hands, of course, not to mention the odd token here and there. The latest to join the throng is Waves which has a platform for blockchain-based token trading and raised $17m in their ICO. They aren’t the only ones, however, because the idea behind these incubators is to build out each protagonist’s ecosystem. As such, this going to be interesting to watch from the sidelines as each platform does its best to attract the best and brightest blockchain startups. This emerging world is not so much about old-fashioned “exits” as it is about creating a robust community in each case.
The Waves Lab will provide support for pre-ICO projects and teams which are creating solutions using the Waves Platform’s infrastructure. The startups selected will get tranches of early funding up to $300,000. In addition to seed funding, they’ll also get legal support and advice, tech resources and PR/Marketing. They are also aiming to get their charges fully up-to-date with compliance requirements, given the murky, unregulated world of ICOs these days. But Waves isn’t the only one playing in this new incubator arena for crypto/ blockchain startups.
Earlier this year Thomson Reuters, the news and information behemoth created a new startup incubator aimed at blockchain companies. Incubator Labs will offers startups in various fields access to free resources like office space, Amazon web services and mentorship at a number of locations. Two companies joined initially, Open Mineral and WealthArc
It was launched actually in Zug, a small canton (or municipality) that is part of Switzerland’s so-called Crypto Valley. Open Mineral has developed a multi-sided platform which will directly connect the mines and smelters of physical commodities such as copper, zinc and lead, aiming at increasing transparency and lowering fees. WealthArc is a SaaS platform for the $120 trillion investment management industry.
Meanwhile, the NEM Foundation, creators of the NEM blockchain platform, have launched a strategic alliance with Australia’s Blockchain Global to open a Blockchain Center in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to serve as an incubator, accelerator, and co-working space. Predictably, this will nurture startups interested in using the NEM platform. The NEM Foundation is expected to spend around $40 million in the next year to fund its global expansion programs and $5 million will be allocated towards supporting blockchain companies incubated in the Blockchain Center.
But the list does not end there.
Adel is a global cryptocurrency community that is self-regulated, self-sustained, and offers its own economic ecosystem with the Adelphoi token.
BitHub.Africa is a commercial blockchain accelerator that is driving the adoption of blockchain technology and solutions across Africa.
Block Chain Space is a multi-location 12-week acceleration program
Boost VC is an institutional fund to commit to funding blockchain companies. Boost VC runs two accelerator programs every year and invests up to $50k in exchange for 7% of the company.
Coin Apex is a New York-based incubator that builds products integrating cryptography, software, and technology. The company says it can offer a full scope of services from advising to implementation.
Outlier Ventures co-develops blockchain startups with entrepreneurs, corporate venturing partners, consortia, and accelerators because the company “believes blockchains are about networks, not platforms”. Outlier Ventures Ltd is the research and commercial arm to the venture platform which tracks over 30 blockchain use cases at any one time on behalf of Outlier Capital LLP.
Satoshi Studios is an incubator for blockchain startups in Southeast Asia. All the selected companies have to move to New Delhi, India, for a three-month intensive program where they get access to mentorship and hands-on sessions with blockchain experts. The incubator invests $50K in exchange for 8%–15% of equity.
As you can see this is just the tip of the iceberg that is the developing crypto accelerator world.Over the past decade, it has become increasingly clear that many aspects of aging are conserved across species. For example: the sirtuins, first discovered in yeast, control lifespan and age-related phenotypes in metazoans. Likewise, the IGF-1 pathway, originally revealed in the worm in studies of the daf-2 mutation, appears to play a significant role in mammalian aging.
But how much do these model systems reveal about what’s going on in human beings? Even the rodents — the laboratory organisms most closely related to us — have very different life histories and have adapted to very different niches over the course of evolution; therefore it would not be surprising if their response to e.g. calorie restriction (CR) were quite different from ours. Indeed, a study from Fontana et al. argues that this is the case for the IGF-1 pathway:
Long-term effects of calorie or protein restriction on serum IGF-1 and IGFBP-3 concentration in humans Reduced function mutations in the insulin/IGF-I signaling pathway increase maximal lifespan and health span in many species. Calorie restriction (CR) decreases serum IGF-1 concentration by ~40%, protects against cancer and slows aging in rodents. However, the long-term effects of CR with adequate nutrition on circulating IGF-1 levels in humans are unknown. Here we report data from two long-term CR studies (1 and 6 years) showing that severe CR without malnutrition did not change IGF-1 and IGF-1 : IGFBP-3 ratio levels in humans. In contrast, total and free IGF-1 concentrations were significantly lower in moderately protein-restricted individuals. Reducing protein intake from an average of 1.67 g kg−1 of body weight per day to 0.95 g kg−1 of body weight per day for 3 weeks in six volunteers practicing CR resulted in a reduction in serum IGF-1 from 194 ng mL−1 to 152 ng mL−1. These findings demonstrate that, unlike in rodents, long-term severe CR does not reduce serum IGF-1 concentration and IGF-1 : IGFBP-3 ratio in humans. In addition, our data provide evidence that protein intake is a key determinant of circulating IGF-1 levels in humans, and suggest that reduced protein intake may become an important component of anticancer and anti-aging dietary interventions.
To understand why this is significant and somewhat surprising, let’s go through the logic: Decreased IGF-1 levels are associated with increased lifespan. Calorie restriction is also associated with increased lifespan. In rodents, CR is associated with decreased IGF-1 levels, leading to the (still unproven) hypothesis that the effects of CR are mediated by modulation of the IGF-1 axis.
In humans, however, the situation is slightly different: As in rodents, the human IGF-1 pathway contains several genes that appear to regulate longevity. The longevity benefits of CR are still under study, but it does appear that certain types of fasting regimens have protective effects against e.g. tumor growth.
According to this new study, however, CR has no effect on the levels of functional, circulating IGF-1 — so while IGF-1 may regulate longevity and CR may protect against cancer and other age-related maladies, it doesn’t appear that CR mediates its effects via IGF-1. And this is true even in the model system that biogerontologists consider to be the best compromise between experimental tractability and evolutionary proximity.
The moral? Just that we can’t ever assume that a result obtained in rodents will hold true in humans: animal model results aren’t clinical facts, just hypothesis generators for studies that will ultimately have to be performed in Our Favorite Species. The devil, as always, is in the details.
AdvertisementsCLOSE Iraqi PM hails victory over terrorism in Mosul. Video provided by AFP Newslook
Fighters backing Iraqi forces pose with the Iraqi flag from Tal Afar's Ottoman-era historic citadel after troops took control of the area from the Islamic State on Aug. 27, 2017. (Photo11: Ahmad Al-Rubaye, AFP/Getty Images)
A lightning offensive that ousted the Islamic State from one of its last strongholds in Iraq reflects vast improvements in Iraq’s security forces and a demoralized enemy, U.S. and Iraqi officials said Monday.
The success of the offensive in Tal Afar on Sunday also highlights a growing level of cooperation among armed factions in Iraq, said Lukman Faily, a former Iraqi ambassador to the United States. Government-sanctioned Shiite militias helped isolate the area while Iraq’s military thrust into Tal Afar, which is about 50 miles west of the recently liberated city of Mosul.
Faily called the victory a significant "morale booster" for Iraq's government.
The collapse of the terror group's defenses in Tal Afar marks a milestone in a U.S.-aided campaign to free the last remaining Iraqi territory held by the Islamic State, also known as ISIS, more than three years after the militants invaded the country from neighboring Syria.
Iraqi forces launched the offensive Aug. 20 on five different fronts, rapidly overwhelming the ISIS fighters. “It went very quickly,” said U.S. Army Col. Ryan Dillon, a coalition spokesman. “We went into this planning for the worst.”
Few civilians remained in the city, which allowed Iraq’s security forces to advance quickly against militants attempting to defend the area, the coalition said. The pace of the campaign was in contrast to the offensive to liberate Mosul, a much larger city. That effort took nine months because tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians were trapped and often used as human shields by ISIS.
Iraq’s military, which announced Sunday that Tal Afar had been “liberated,” was still clearing numerous pockets of resistance north of the city.
In 2014, ISIS militants swept into Iraq, capturing Mosul, the country’s second-largest city, as well as Ramadi and Fallujah, important Sunni cities in western Iraq.
At the time, the militants controlled a large chunk of the country, the capital Baghdad was at risk of falling into ISIS' hands, and Iraq’s military was in disarray.
Since then, Iraqi forces have been rebuilt with the help of U.S. arms and equipment and coalition trainers and advisers. Airstrikes by a U.S.-led coalition have increased as Iraqi ground forces made progress against militants in key cities.
Iraq's reconstituted military showed progress by recapturing Ramadi and Fallujah last year.
Threats posed by ISIS remain, as evidenced by a car bomb Monday in eastern Baghdad that killed at least 12 people. The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack. As the group loses ground, it has resorted to terror attacks.
Several thousand militants remain in a string of remote villages in western Iraq along the Euphrates River Valley, which extends into Syria. Recapturing the area is critical to gain control over the border, Faily said.
Militants also hold Hawija, a town in northern Iraq, with about 1,000 fighters, according to the coalition. As long as the militants hold Hawija they can threaten Kirkuk, a major city east of the town.
Coalition airstrikes have begun ramping up attacks in the remaining ISIS strongholds in Iraq over the past week. A decision on when to launch ground operations in those areas will be made by Iraq’s government, the coalition said.
The Pentagon's initial plan when it launched airstrikes and sent advisers to the region was to make Iraq the main battlefield against ISIS.
Now efforts have gained momentum to drive them from Syria, where a civil war has raged for more than six years. A U.S.-backed force of Kurds and local Arab militias are fighting to recapture Raqqa, the Islamic State’s de facto capital in Syria.
The coalition faces tough fighting there, where about half the city has been cleared of militants after several months of fighting, the coalition said.
The city is defended by an estimated 2,000 militants who have spent years preparing elaborate defenses, including concrete reinforced tunnels and bunkers.
“They are going to fight to the end in Raqqa, just like they did in Mosul,” Dillon said.
More: U.S.-led Iraqi forces launch battle for Tal Afar
More: ISIS is rapidly losing control of Raqqa, its headquarters in Syria
More: Fight against ISIS 'far from over' despite terrorist group's loss of Mosul
More: Desperate ISIS fighters using human shields as battle nears end in Mosul
Read or Share this story: https://usat.ly/2xHk2EMPHILADELPHIA (CBS) – Police say three minors pointed what appears to be a gun at two people in North Philadelphia earlier this week.
The youngest suspect, 10-years-old, turned himself in on Wednesday night.
Police say the gun was either a toy gun or a BB gun. Authorities continue to search for two additional minors.
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The incident occurred in the Tioga section of the city on Monday around 6:45 p.m.
According to police, a 27-year-old man was approached by a group of males on the 3300 block of North 16th Street.
Police say one of the males then reached into his backpack, pulled out a handgun and pointed it at the victim saying “hey buddy.”
The victim ran into a house and called 911 while the suspect fled south toward Allegheny Avenue.
About 20 minutes later, police say a minor was seen on surveillance video approaching a female and pointing a handgun at her. Police say the woman put her hands up as if she was being robbed, but continued to walk away.
Video Courtesy: Philadelphia Police Department
Surveillance video then shows another male take the handgun from the minor and walk east on Ontario Street where he drops to one knee and points the gun at a group of males walking towards him before joining the group with the gun still in his hand.
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The first suspect has been described as a 4-foot-9, 10 to 12-year-old, black male with a thin build. He was wearing a red t-shirt with white writing, blue shorts, green sneakers and a multicolored bookbag. He is wanted for questioning about the gun.
The second suspect has been described as a 14 to 16-year-old, black male between 5-foot-5 and 5-foot-7 with a thin build and a dark complexion. He was wearing a dark hooded sweatshirt, dark pants with black and white sneakers and a red bookbag.
The third suspect has also been described as a 14 to 16-year-old, black male between 5-foot-5 and 5-foot-7 with a thin build, light complexion and close cut hair on the side. He was wearing a red zip-up hooded sweatshirt, camouflage pants and black and white sneakers.
Anyone with information should call 911 or 215-686-TIPS (8477).Cleveland-based photographer Seph Lawless‘s first job was in a bustling Ohio mall. Today, that same mall appears in his photo series and book Black Friday: The Collapse of the American Shopping Mall — a haunting series that pays homage to these victims of the recession and the online shopping revolution.
His photos really need no further introduction, and so instead of spending time describing what you could simply scroll down and see, we sat down with Lawless (digitally) to talk about the hows and whys behind this eerie photo book.
PetaPixel: What was your inspiration for this project?
Seph Lawless: I wanted Americans to see what was happening to their country from the comfort of their suburban homes and smartphones. I didn’t think the problems we face as a country would change unless we faced these problems and I thought we could start by simply looking at them.
I knew if I portrayed these images creatively enough, they would have a very deep impact on the viewer. And if you’re an artist that can move someone with your art even for a brief moment, then I think it’s the artists’ responsibility to challenge the viewer and promote some form of activism.
Art is much too powerful not to fully engage it, even exploit it, if it means the betterment of humanity. So I decided to shove these images into as many people’s faces as I could. I used popular social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram to share these images and it was a very effective way to reach Americans.
PP: How did you go about finding these places? And getting access?
SL: Just traveling around. Most cities in the Rust Belt region of America are filled with places because of loss of manufacturing jobs that resulted in massive population loss. Leaving literal ghost towns scattered throughout parts of Indiana, Ohio, Michigan and Pennsylvania.
Getting in is a challenge at times. Boards can be hard to remove. Sometimes climbing to even get to a point of entry is dangerous.
PP: What gear did you use? Do you have a particular approach you take each time you photograph an abandoned mall?
SL: I use a Nikon D-90 with various lenses, tripods and most recently video equipment for an upcoming documentary.
PP: Did you run across any major challenges? (beyond finding and getting access to the malls)
SL: Not so much for this project, but my last project and book called Autopsy of America was filled with challenges and stories. Several of the abandoned homes and building had derelicts, drug users and criminals.
I was approached several times and even attacked. Entering these abandoned dwellings are like entering another world; a world where anything can happen… and often does. I was photographing the inside of an abandoned home in East Cleveland. They would later find a dead body in that home that a serial killer left there just days later.
PP: Do you have a favorite mall or shooting experience that arose from this project?
SL: North Randall Mall because it was beautiful. The architecture was brilliant and you really could see the Gruen Transfer technique popularized by Victor Gruen who came up with the concept of the shopping mall. I grew up in that mall and to be there during this project was surreal. I was there for 8 hours the last day during a thunderstorm. It was dark but I didn’t want to leave. I wasn’t ready to say good-bye.
PP: What about a least favorite? Any scary situations or crazy encounters?
SL: I remember this one huge factory had a mentally ill homeless man living it in with his dog. Several times I was trapped on floors as he led his dog around looking for me. It was like a bad horror movie. I knew I could outsmart a human but I was no match for an animal. I was vulnerable… that was a scary time.
PP: Any interesting tidbits or surprising factoids that you feel our readers will appreciate?
SL: I never crop my pictures. I frame them accordingly and see every shot in my head before I shoot it or I don’t shoot it. I treat my digital camera like it’s an analog camera. These kids nowadays shoot a camera like it’s a machine gun and as a result their work comes across cold and uninspiring. I take my time, oftentimes waiting for the sun and light to align perfectly before I take a shot.
PP: If you had to describe this project/book and its purpose in just a few sentences, what would you say?
SL: The problem with America is there’s not enough television shows about pawn shops and storage lockers. Americans have grown numb as their country is literally crumbling apart. I want my images to send chills down their spine, so Americans demand better for their country. I think fear can be an effective way to get results, but only after every other option has been exhausted, and I think we’ve long passed that.
PP: Finally, what are your photography plans going forward? What are you looking forward to in 2014?
SL: To find beauty in the most grotesque things is a gift. I plan on continuing to challenge the viewer in that sense. I’ll be photographing Ohio Death Row inmates in 2014. The photographs will be an attempt to humanize them through portraits alone. That will be on July 4, 2014 as most will be out enjoying their freedom and watching fireworks, I’ll be in a prison hopefully creating something powerful and moving.
Recently, two American professors from two major Universities have been using my photographs to inspire creative writing/poetry among their students. A Pakistani professor in Lahore has also been doing the same. Texas A&M recently ordered both of my books for their university library after a sociology professor requested it. My new book slated for fall of 2014 will sharing these students poems along with the images of mine that inspired them. It will be released by a leading publisher by November 2014.
We want to sincerely thank Seph for taking the time to answer our questions and for allowing us to share his photography. To see more of his work and follow along on his future adventures, be sure to head over to Seph’s website and give him a follow on Facebook.
And if you loved these abandoned mall images as much as we did, you can pick up Black Friday: The Collapse of the American Shopping Mall by clicking here.
Image credits: Photographs by Seph Lawless and used with permissionOne rhetorical technique used by journalists and other professional speakers is to hold the pretense of being in dialogue with presidents and other sacred figures.
They behave like characters in ancient Greek dramas having an open dialogue with the gods about moral issues. How they perceive the god to feel, or what his true thoughts are on a subject, versus what he has actually said, is a matter for intense discussion and rumination. That a president takes the role played by the gods in the ancient dramas is only sometimes remarked upon, usually by comedians, and sometimes by critics.
When events turn out differently than what was initially expected, sinners take the blame — usually republicans, conservatives, foreigners, bankers, and other typical scapegoats who bear differing levels of real responsibility for the failure of the proposed policy.
Modern playwrights will often try to set ancient plays in modern dress, sometimes updating the language to modern idiom, in a bid to help contemporary audiences connect with an alien past. Although the president is presumably a man like any other, there are numerous myths about presidents that place them on similar levels to the divinely-elected emperors and kings of the past.
For example, the many myths around nuclear weapons, established by movies, television, and propaganda, portray presidents as having the capacity to annihilate the world, as God does, at the press of a button. Millions of people today believe that presidents must work together to avert climate-caused disaster, which is much more superstitious than even medieval people were about the powers of their kings on earth.
Rather than begging the gods to avert pestilence, we turn to the president and his men to avert disaster — but when practical measures, such as quarantines, are suggested, even the most purportedly rational of people will refuse on moral principle to implement them. Instead, we are told to have faith in the mystical powers of intention to curb disease, and potentially the development of as-of-yet-uninvented-and-untested potions to be mass-distributed at the behest of the god-president.
The people remain fascinated by prophets and magic, and it seems the more rationalism is imposed, the more widespread and occulted the beliefs become, even from the minds of the people that hold those occult beliefs.
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Like this: Like Loading...ESPN's Chris Broussard breaks down Golden State's decision to trade Andrew Bogut to Dallas to make room for Kevin Durant's contract. (1:08)
The Dallas Mavericks will be adding a pair of Golden State Warriors -- forward Harrison Barnes and center Andrew Bogut -- in the wake of Kevin Durant's decision to sign with the Warriors, according to league sources.
Editor's Picks Trade grades: Warriors move Bogut to Mavs The Warriors traded Andrew Bogut to Dallas to make room for Kevin Durant. How did Dallas and Golden State come out? Kevin Pelton grades the deal.
Dallas benefits from Kevin Durant dominoes Kevin Durant's decision to go to Golden State delivered Harrison Barnes and Andrew Bogut to Dallas. 1 Related
The Warriors and Mavs have agreed to a trade that will send Bogut to Dallas, according to league sources. The Mavs also reached a verbal agreement on a four-year, $94 million maximum deal with Barnes.
Sources told ESPN that the Warriors will renounce their rights to Barnes as a restricted free agent with Durant heading to Golden State, meaning there will be no three-day waiting period while his previous team ponders whether to match the offer.
The Warriors needed to shed Bogut's $11 million salary to create cap space to sign Durant to a two-year, $54.3 million deal.
Andrew Bogut and Harrison Barnes are expected to remain teammates next season, but with the Mavericks and not the Warriors. AP Photo/Lance Murphey
By adding Bogut, Dallas, which acquired center Zaza Pachulia from the Milwaukee Bucks in a similar salary dump last summer, would fill a need at starting center with a proven veteran on an expiring contract.
Barnes, 24, turned down a reported extension totaling $64 million before the 2015-16 season. He in turn had his best campaign as a pro, averaging 11.7 points and 4.9 rebounds in 66 games.
A polarizing player because of his inconsistency, Barnes has been a key cog in the Warriors' back-to-back runs to the NBA Finals, particularly in their small-ball lineups.
Barnes thanked the Warriors and fans for his four years with Golden State.
"I've grown up in Oakland and thank everyone for all the love that was shown there from day one," he said on his Twitter feed. "You guys have been rockin with the team for decades before we got there so it was rewarding to bring a championship to the Bay."
I just want to thank the entire Warriors organization, my teammates & coaches for the amazing 4 years I've had there pic.twitter.com/QDb04pLYci — Harrison Barnes (@hbarnes) July 5, 2016
Bogut, 31, suffered bone bruises to his proximal tibia and distal femur, two major bones in the leg, during Game 5 of the NBA Finals and missed the final two games of the series against the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Bogut's injury did not require surgery.We are out, exploring the night life in Havelock in the Andamans. It is different. In complete darkness, the powerful shaft of silver from our flashlights picks out the creatures of the night: a languorous lobster here, a bunch of spindly shrimps looking like rock stars, a squid there, spiky sea urchins littered across the ocean floor, a brilliantly hued parrot fish in slumber under a massive rock.
Butterfly fish at Narcondam, an isolated island in the Andamans
The next day, as I go diving in the warm waters of the Indian Ocean, I am about to experience the meaning of “million" all over again. Welcome to Havelock, the dive capital of India in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
A ghost pipefish, or false pipefish, in the waters off Havelock. Photo: Vandit Kalia
There are just eight of us diving here. As we begin to descend, a school of some 400 barracuda swirls gracefully around us. Immediately we sense why divers |
Cinematic Universe: Phase One, with its collectible replica suitcase holding the Tesseract, along with lots of physical bonus content. That suitcase was a delight to open and made me feel like I was part of the movies.Phase Two attempts to replicate that emotion by presenting you with a reproduction of an Infinity Stone in its Orb (as featured in 'Guardians of the Galaxy'), along with a bunch of other bonus content that puts you right in Marvel's Universe. The Orb splits apart like in the movie, with a locking mechanism to keep the halves together. There is a separate purple Infinity Stone you can place in the middle, with a hidden button in the Orb that lights the stone from an LED below.— MOVIES —The movie discs are located in sleeves in the back of the Orb display stand, but there is no mechanism to keep the sleeves in place so if you hold the display slanted, all the sleeves will slide out. The movie sleeves are designed in the same beautiful art direction as Phase One, so I love the consistency throughout these phases.Phase Two includes the following movies (Each has a Blu-ray 3D, Blu-ray, digital copy):• Iron Man 3• Thor: The Dark World• Captain America: The Winter Soldier• Guardians of the Galaxy• Avengers: Age of Ultron• Ant-Man+ Top Secret Bonus Disc (Which isn't very top secret, nor hidden. It's included in Bonus Disc sleeve.)— EXTRAS —Along with the Orb, you get extras in a square envelope that houses an assortment of in-movie memorabilia related to all the films [see photos]. There are not as high quality and in-depth as Phase One, but they are pretty cool.— DISNEY MOVIES ANYWHERE —Unlike Phase One, Phase Two provides digital copies of all the movies with DisneyMoviesAnywhere. Sign up for an account and you can link it to Amazon Video, iTunes, Google Play, and more. Once you link your accounts to Disney, your select Disney movies show up in all your other connected platforms. This makes the set much more valuable and accessible for people digitizing their collections. That also means the price will be higher. I think these days, digital copies are necessary for people buying any type of collector's edition.— SUMMARY —The price is reasonable considering you get the 3D Blu-ray discs, regular Blu-ray discs, digital copies, along with a cool Orb, and collectibles. Separately, these would cost more than the individual sets combined. Recommended.Prosecutors and defense lawyers will be in Jefferson County Juvenile Court in Steubenville later this week to make arguments on a number of motions filed in the lead up to the trial of two 16-year-old athletes charged with raping a 16-year-old girl. One of the teens is also charged with having a nude photo of the girl on his cell phone.
Defense lawyer Walter Madison filed a number of motions Friday, including one that asks Visiting Judge Thomas Lipps to order the parties to refer to the Weirton, W.Va., girl at the center of the case as the "accuser" and not the "victim."
"The ultimate question in this case is whether a crime was committed. Only after any such determination can a person be declared a 'victim,' " Madison wrote.
He said to refer to the girl as a victim harms his clients' rights to be presumed innocent and to a fair trial.
Madison also asked that prosecutors be made to "clarify" any agreements they made with three witnesses who testified at an evidentiary hearing in the case and are expected to be key eye witnesses at the trial.
Madison says he believes the witnesses were offered immunity. Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine says they were not.
Letters provided to the lawyers of the three teens say their actions the night of the incident in August did not rise to the level of criminal conduct.
DeWine's office recently said they did not have enough evidence to prosecute the three witnesses on specific charges but did not rule out other charges in the case.
Local law-enforcement officials, including Jefferson County Sheriff Fred Abdalla, have said they expect no further charges.
Madison also asked Lipps to "take notice" of a 12-minute Michael Nodianos video that has been the subject of worldwide discussion because of the former Steubenville student's comments about the teen girl involved in the case.
"The world has now seen and heard the repugnant sentiments of Michael Nodianos," Madison wrote in his motion. "Those sentiments have become the sounding board for many protest [sic], discussion, and attention. The Ohio Attorney General and Steubenville Police Chief have previously indicated that those sentiments are not criminal in nature."
Madison asked the judge to take note of the video and its non-criminal nature that included speech that is protected by the Constitution.
In other developments, the DeWine's office has confirmed it is investigating a second rape allegation in Steubenville. The second case reportedly was mentioned Police Chief Bill McCafferty during a taping of the "Dr. Phil" syndicated TV show last week. The second incident occurred in April but was not reported until September, officials said, but they are not commenting on details and whether there is any relation to the August incident.
Also, the Columbus Dispatch reports DeWine's office is offering more assistance to police, sheriffs and prosecutors for help in investigating criminal cases, including the Steubenville case and the police shooting in East Cleveland in November:
DeWine’s office was drawn into prosecuting the Steubenville case at the request of Jefferson County Prosecutor Jane Hanlin, whose son is a student at Steubenville High School. DeWine said that his prosecutors have “cut through” the Internet chatter and media hype and are prepared to prosecute the two Big Red players on rape charges. “Just because somebody is saying something on the Internet doesn’t mean it is relevant, doesn’t mean they were there,” he said. “Our case is going to be based on some exhibits we have, and it is going to be based on testimony, and that’s no different than a case that was tried 100 years ago.”
Mallory Jean Tenore of Poynter.org notes how the media is offering contrasting coverage of the Steubenville case and the rape and death of a woman in India. Tenore says coverage in the U.S. of the India rape appears more sympathetic to the victim than the coverage of the Steubenville incident:
Lauren Wolfe, director of the Women’s Media Center’s Women Under Siege project, said journalists covering the Steubenville case need to do deeper reporting.... She thinks the U.S. media’s coverage of the Steubenville rape... is too focused on the town being “divided.” “Why are we again seeing such heinous acts defended or dismissed, as we saw with Penn State? On one hand, I’m not faulting the media for giving that airtime because it actually does the service of revealing the terrible reality in this country that we don’t take the violation of women seriously. But on the other, it’s also true that there is such an entrenched culture of rape in the world — including in the U.S. — that the media has on blinders on how to discuss sexualized violence. How many more times can they refer to rape as ‘sex’? They need to treat rape like they would any other crime, yet they don’t.”
NPR's "Talk of the Nation" says the cases in Steubenville and India raise questions about why so many sexual assaults go unreported, and also why bystanders often will do nothing to help a victim. Kim Lonsway, director of research for End Violence Against Women International, says only about 5 to 20 percent of rapes are reported, depending on the population:
One of many misconceptions about sexual assault. I think most people think, you know, if you were really raped you're going to call the police right away. That is very much the exception. In fact, even if folks do report it, they typically don't contact law enforcement first. They tell someone they love first, and then go to law enforcement.
With contributions from Cliff Pinckard, The Plain DealerVoluntary assisted dying vote likely to be close in Victoria's Upper House
Updated
Sorry, this video has expired Video: Daniel Andrews shares his views on euthanasia (ABC News)
Access to a medically assisted death for terminally ill Victorians lies in the hands of just a few Upper House MPs, with a final vote on controversial laws to go down to the wire.
Following a marathon sitting last week, Lower House MPs voted 47-37 to legalise voluntary euthanasia in Victoria, under a model Premier Daniel Andrews has described as the most conservative in the world.
The bill is set for the Upper House next week where numbers are tight.
There are 19 Yes votes locked in, two short of the 21 needed in the 40-person chamber.
That includes the Reason Party's Fiona Patten, five Greens, two Liberals and 11 Labor MPs.
Opposing the bill are three Labor MPs, Rachel Carling-Jenkins of the Australian Conservatives, One Nationals MP and at least eight Liberals.
Shadow frontbencher Georgie Crozier said after much thinking and analysis of the bill she could not support the plan because of fears people would be coerced.
'Lots of unanswered questions'
She has fears that some people will feel a burden on their families and see an assisted death as a relief to their loved ones.
James Purcell, who is based in the Western districts, from the Vote 1 Local Jobs Party, personally supports euthanasia but said given the vote was going to be so close he wants to make sure it was the will of his vast electorate.
He said he would not be abstaining.
"I've never run away from a vote and I'm not going to start with this," he told the ABC.
"My vote is going to be for the community, not for me.
"I genuinely think at this stage that the majority of the people in western Victoria are supportive of the legislation but I'll wait and decide at the end of the day."
Liberal MP Wendy Lovell said she was trying to keeping an open mind but was leaning against the bill.
"It will take a bit to convince me at this time, there are lots of unanswered questions," she said.
The Liberal President of the Upper House, Bruce Atkinson, said he is yet to decide on how he will vote, as is Margaret Fitzherbert, the member for the Southern Metropolitan Region.
Their colleague Simon Ramsay has previously said he was supportive of the idea of euthanasia but was yet to declare on the bill.
Nationals MP Melina Bath's office said the Gippsland MP was reserving her right on the issue, her colleague Luke O'Sullivan will vote against the bill.
The two Shooters, Fishers and Farmers' Party MPs are yet to declare how they will vote.
'Down to the wire'
Special Minister of State Gavin Jennings conceded amendments might be needed to win support for the bill in the Upper House.
"We're not inviting amendments and the Government's clear preference is not to have amendments, but I'm dealing with the reality in the circumstances where I don't control the numbers, the Government doesn't control the numbers in the Upper House," he said.
"This bill, the voluntary assisted dying bill, will be like every other bill. Every single vote has the potential to go down to the wire."
Topics: euthanasia, community-and-society, death, state-parliament, vic, melbourne-3000
First postedSince Rawlings usurped power from Dr Limann's elected government in 1981 to form his Neo-Nazi PNDC, tribalism has all of a sudden taken hold of Ghanaian society, setting Ewes especially against Ashantis particularly and Akans generally all the time. Since then, Rawlings by way of patching-up with Northerners for denying them the great opportunity for a Northerner to be Ghana's President, Mr Rawlings has rather succeeded in inciting and annexing the people of Northern Ghana to his instituted morbid hatred for Ashantis and Akans to form a kind of Ewe-Northern-Ga alliance against Ashantis and Akans in general.
Rawlings and Ewes' major grievance is that in the second republican era, the Progress Party did not make anybody from the Volta Region a Cabinet Minister, woefully ignoring the fact that the constitution of the second republic, a Westminster prototype provided for Cabinet Ministers to be Members of Parliament. Unfortunately the progress Party won only two seats in the Region out of which no Cabinet Minister could emerge in the highly competitive Cabinet positions available at that time. Not every MP became a Cabinet Minister by virtue of being MP. Several MPs out of the 105 the Progress Party seats won from all the Regions across Ghana were back-benchers including those two from the Volta Region. Out of this issue, pro-secessionist Prof Kofi Awonor has continually campaigned for Ewes separation from Ghana for reasons and would-be achievements best known to Awonor, Rawlings and their mafia revolutionary group.
Secondly, Rawlings and Ewes especially claim that Ashantis and Akans have amassed all of Ghana's wealth and subjected their hegemony over all tribes most especially with their language. In furtherance to the above they claim Ashantis look upon Northerners as non-citizens who do not deserve to hold any of the high offices in Ghana, yet here is Rawlings who ousted a Northerner-President from the highest office of the land to achieve his personal desires by committing crimen laesae majestatis on the Limman-led PNP administration.
It is no secret to state that having succeeded in dragging the glory of Northerners in mud, the best Rawlings could do to appease them was to play on their minds and intelligence in his more suo demagoguery as a means to an end which he has sought to achieve for a particular purpose. Rawlings has ever since and continually found delight in attaching and tapping a nuisance value to the annexed Northerners to his morbid instincts and agenda. Rawlings has succeeded in carving out a militant hit-man group, Azorka boys from Tamale as a wing of the NDC to form a notorious lager louts miscreants for causing riots and anarchy especially during elections and some other ad hoc tasks as may be determined. This is a prime example of the nuisance value Rawlings deems suitable for his compatriotic alliance with Northerners against Akans whiles such lawless group has not been formed in the Volta Region. With these versions of claims conceived in the mind of Rawlings, Ewes and Northerners and indeed of like minds it is rather unfortunate that Northerners have not yet discerned what their “messiah” takes them for. This conceptual sentiments in Rawlings and his mafia invariably calls for an analysis into the concept of citizenship in the context of Ghana
The word 'citizen', like 'comrade' has been and still is a revolutionary word. Both words have not only been titles that have been proudly adopted by men to mark their liberation from tyranny and despotism, they are still used by those who feel not yet to have gained admission to the fraternity of the free and equal. Whereas no such division has ever existed in Ghana whereby a particular tribe or clan has been socio-politically or socio-economically denied active participation in governance or fair share of the national cake, Rawlings has made revolutionary tribal distinctions a prominent order of the day to the extent of having made several attempts to alter Ghana's socio-political history from its primordial status quo by employing chorizonts like Nana Bobie in London UK to rewrite and change Ghana's history
The rank and status of citizenship first appeared in the ancient world with the beginning of constitutional rule in the city states of Greece. The Greeks set themselves apart from the Barbarians who had not yet been fully annexed into full Greek citizenship and had limited juridical rights to redress supposed injustices. The Barbarians therefore usually resorted to rebellions as a means to fight for their limited apportioned rights. Rebellions, passivity and nihilism have always been the characteristic elements of supposed denizens who though proudly claim citizenship of a country with paranoia. In the Ghana context, no such thing has ever existed so where from this paranoia generated in Rawlings and his cohorts to warrant need for tribal and citizen identity among Ghanaians within our own boarders by fanning tribal flames to divide Ghana? Though Ewes constitute only 8% of Ghana's population, most strategic juicy positions of officialdom in the Mills-led NDC administration are held by Ewes alone; Northerners come next with only the subsecives not as preferred favourites in the sense of equiparation but only as expletives.
Some Ghanaians have adopted an attitude akin to the sort of evil may occur passiveness of invading freeloaders to whom if the country prospers they enjoy it but if it fails and collapses they quickly opt out without any obligation, hence they have no inner instinctive well-wishing for Ghana, best to be described as denizens. It can be said on authority that Rawlings has never sincerely loved Ghana at heart; his false pretensions are manifest make-up for purposes of exploitation and to live off the fat of Ghana. To this day, Rawlings wants to live and rely on regular and incessant State subventions for the rest of his life irrespective of millions of US Dollars he has to his credit in his various allonymous bank accounts. No matter where anybody comes from in Ghana, we are all Ghanaians with equal citizen's rights, appreciable depending on what anybody can contribute positively but not destructively for personal ends. We must all decry anybody who depends on State for subsistence.
Unlike the American, British, German Swedish etc mostly people of the Western developed world have positive ethos, truthfulness, unfeigned but realistic sincerity towards their country as people who crave for their national prosperity. Ghanaian attitude to national issues as true and loving nationals appear to be very questionable and confusing, edging on passive tribal and selfish instincts. Ghana belongs to all Ghanaians within our boarders irrespective of tribe, clan etc. Before we get too comfortable with such divisive hostile labels as Ashantis, Fantis, Ewes, Gas, Dagombas, Northerners and Southerners, let us all try to be Ghanaians first and see if our lives in this country won't be made a lot easier through unity and co-operation, as opposed to rivalry and sinister antagonism.
Adreba Kwaku Abrefa Damoa & Peter Antwi
London UK(Reuters) - Turkey under President Tayyip Erdogan needs more Westernization, and not less, to bolster dwindling free speech rights and a wobbly democracy, Nobel Prize-winning author Orhan Pamuk said on Tuesday.
FILE PHOTO - Nobel-winning Turkish author Orhan Pamuk attends a news conference before the opening of the Museum of Innocence in Istanbul April 27, 2012. REUTERS/Osman Orsal
Pamuk, 65, also said in an online chat in the Reuters Global Markets Forum that he laments much modernization and saw his stories, including his 10th novel published last year, “The Red-Haired Woman” as focused on the personal costs people pay for discarding traditions in the rush to adapt to the ways of 21st century.
The following are edited excerpts:
Question: Is Turkey, often described as a bridge between West and East, becoming too Westernized?
Answer: The lack of free speech is so grave that we definitely need to be more friendly with the West and Europe. I am not worried about too much Westernization, especially in these days when government is trying to push us away from Western values.
Q: Do you see gentrification in Istanbul and other Western influence in Turkey as threats or positives to Turkey’s identity?
A: I actually do not want to bring East and West together. I essentially want to write poetic, literary observations about the lives of the people in and around Istanbul. And since Istanbul is made up of things from the West, and modernity, and also things that come from traditional cultures, and East, readers think my intention is to “bridge” them. Actually, there are things from East and West that are already harmoniously together in Istanbul. All I do is invent stories about them.
Q: How is that theme in “The Red–Haired Woman”?
A: My main character carries the weight of having an idealist political father, while he is more busy with making money. I have many friends like that... They are troubled by moral issues like the ones I discussed in this book. Individuality versus belonging to community... Or economic development and comforts of modernity versus preserving the past than the old architecture and culture. My books are always about how to be modern without losing your identity.
Q: It is Nobel award season. How did your win in 2006 affect you?
A: My books were already translated to 46 languages before I won the Nobel prize. Now my books are translated into 63 languages. The prize may have helped. It definitely brought me new readers and some diplomatic responsibility of representing my country.By Ed McBrayer
For decades we have lived in a city where interstate highways and major arterials define the spaces in which we can safely move around as pedestrians and cyclists. Neighborhoods are isolated, boxed in by wider and wider streets where it is unsafe to leave unless you are in a car.
The ‘boxed-in’ lifestyle does not appeal to younger generations. They depend less on cars and more on muscle-powered transportation.
Instead of fleeing density and diversity, today’s younger folks, (and even older folks like me) are drawn to walkable, bikeable communities that encourage a healthier, more communal lifestyle. The borders of these communities are not defined by the inability to cross major thoroughfares; indeed the thoroughfares have been altered to include wider sidewalks, cycle tracks for bicycles, landscaped refuge islands, and more.
Doctoring up a few arterials isn’t enough to make metro Atlanta a walkable, bikeable mecca that will lure new businesses and the educated millennials they wish to employ. We need to think outside the box in order to reconnect our region and start transforming Atlanta into the ultimate friendly place for non-motorized travel.
The Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) can take a giant leap toward this goal by including provisions for pedestrians and bicyclists in their plans to revamp the I-285/Ga.400 interchange and widen Ga. 400 north of I-285.
Specifically, GDOT should carry the PATH400 trail through the I-285 interchange and leave room for the trail north of I-285 along the edge of their widening project. They also need to provide a bicycle/pedestrian crossing of Ga. 400 that would connect Sandy Springs and Atlanta to the PATH400 trail.
This interchange divides Atlanta, Sandy Springs, Dunwoody, and Brookhaven, into four islands with virtually no safe connections for pedestrians and cyclists. This is a perfect place to start knitting the region back together on a human scale.
How many residents live within a mile or two of this interchange and would jump at the chance to walk or bike to State Farm, Cox Enterprises, Northside Hospital, Perimeter Mall or MARTA if a first class facility for safely making the trip was in place? How many cars would not leave the garage as a result of people walking and biking to work?
PATH is already building a trail along Ga. 400 from the Atlanta BeltLine through Buckhead to the old toll booth location. If GDOT makes provisions for the trail through the new interchange and along their widening project going north, the PATH400 trail will connect the entire Perimeter area to the Atlanta Beltline. Doesn’t this seem like a vision worth pursuing?
Our organization stands ready to help GDOT design bike and pedestrian facilities into their interchange and widening projects to insure connectivity through this area is realized.
You can help advance this vision by contacting your elected officials, attending the public meeting in Sandy Springs on Feb. 5 and reviewing GDOT’s plans at http://bikewalkdunwoody.org/news/call-for-action-gdot-400285-projects-add-trail-network-complete-streets/.
It is time to think of transportation infrastructure in a whole new way. This is an extraordinary opportunity for Atlanta to demonstrate a commitment to providing safe, alternative transportation choices for future generations.
Ed McBrayer is the executive director of the PATH Foundation, which has been building a network of off-road trails in metro Atlanta for 22 years and is helping build PATH400 in Buckhead.Double Dragon IV will launch for Switch on September 7 via the eShop, Arc System Works has just announced. This should apply to all regions – North America, Europe, and Japan.
Double Dragon IV debuted earlier this year and was created as the next core entry in the series. On Switch, docked, portable, and tabletop modes will be supported. Two players will be supported with each option.
Here’s a previous overview in English from Arc System Works:
The next entry in the side-scrolling action game series Double Dragon is finally here!
The story picks up after the elimination of the Black Warriors in Double Dragon II! Experience all-new exhilarating action with the original old-school graphics!
Use the art of Sou-Setsu-Ken to rescue the kidnapped Marian! Plus, new enemy characters including ninjas, karate masters, and sumo wrestlers,
none of which have been seen in Double Dragon before! There are lots of extra modes, too! Cool new features fans have been waiting for!
Playable enemy characters, VS Mode, Tower Mode, and even more!
And a trailer:
Double Dragon IV will cost $6.99 / 800 yen when it lands on Switch next month.
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PocketIn the first 100 days of 2015, the new Congress has cast more roll call votes on energy and environmental issues than on any other legislative area, with the Senate casting 44 percent of its votes on the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline; efforts to block action to reduce carbon pollution; proposals to sell America’s public lands; and other fossil-fuel and energy-related legislation. However, not one of the energy- or environment-related bills and amendments on which the new Congress has voted has become law.
Whereas congressional leaders often aim to achieve signature legislative achievements during their first 100 days, the energy and anti-environmental agenda of the 114th Congress has come off the rails before leaving the station. The Senate and House devoted weeks of debate to the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline, knowing full well that President Barack Obama would veto the legislation if it were sent to his desk. Moreover, rather than advancing and voting on the stated energy priorities of the new congressional leadership, a Center for American Progress analysis of roll call votes shows that this Congress has instead focused on divisive anti-environmental proposals that, according to public opinion research conducted by Hart Research Associates for CAP in December, the American public widely opposes.
House and Senate roll call votes
The 114th Congress has cast a total of 279 roll call votes, more than 30 percent of which were on energy- and environment-related topics. In the House, more than 17 percent of votes focused on energy and environmental issues, the lion’s share of which was aimed at blocking efforts to address climate change. In the Senate, 59 roll call votes were on energy and environmental issues, well ahead of the number of votes dedicated to economic, health care, and national security issues combined.
The high number of votes cast on the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline—8 in the House and 22 in the Senate—is consistent with now-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-KY) December pledge to put the controversial pipeline at the top of the agenda for the new Congress. Yet the Senate has also cast dozens of votes on other energy and environmental issues, including 18 roll call votes on whether to preserve or weaken protections for public lands, wildlife, and clean water. In fact, the Senate has cast more votes—five—to remove protections of wilderness areas, block new parks, and sell public lands than it has votes—four—to address defense, veterans, and transportation issues combined.
CAP’s analysis found that on 74 percent of the energy and environmental votes since the start of the new Congress, a majority of senators supported the anti-environment position. On 8 of the 11 votes related to climate change, a majority of senators supported the anti-environment position. Following Sen. McConnell’s vow “to do any and everything I can to stop” the Environmental Protection Agency’s, or EPA’s, efforts to cut carbon pollution, 49 senators—all Republicans—voted to deny that “climate change is real” and that “human activity significantly contributes to climate change.” A majority of senators also voted to block President Obama’s agreement with China to cut greenhouse gas emissions, though the proposed amendment did not receive the 60 votes required for passage.
A Senate agenda that is off the rails
In 2013 and 2014, coal, oil, and gas companies spent more than $720 million to help ensure that a new Congress would advance an agenda focused on fossil fuels. That investment paid off in a big way, with the November midterm elections sweeping in conservative majorities in both houses. The incoming chair of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), pledged to prioritize a wishlist of fossil-fuel industry priorities, including fast-tracking U.S. oil and natural gas exports, approving the Keystone XL pipeline, and opening new areas for offshore drilling.
Although Sen. Murkowski has begun to hold committee hearings on some of the priorities she outlined in a 2013 policy paper and in January comments, she has endured setbacks and is experiencing slow progress in at least three key areas. The first of these areas is oil exports. In January 2014, Sen. Murkowski delivered a high-profile speech that called for the lifting of oil export restrictions, but since taking over the chairmanship of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, she has taken a self-described “methodical” approach to the issue. An amendment to lift oil export restrictions was pulled from the floor in January out of concern that it did not have enough votes to pass.
The second area is natural gas exports. Sen. Murkowski’s committee held a hearing in January on the subject, but a proposal by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) to expedite liquefied natural gas exports failed to reach the 60 votes needed to pass. The third area deals with allowing oil and gas development in new areas. Neither Sen. Murkowski’s committee nor the full Senate has voted on legislative proposals to open new federal lands offshore or onshore to oil and gas development. The oil and gas industry claims that this is one of its top priorities, notwithstanding the fact that energy companies are sitting idle on 21.9 million leased acres of federal lands onshore and 26.9 million leased acres of federal waters on the Outer Continental Shelf.
With the exception of the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline and failed attempts to block the Obama administration’s efforts to cut carbon pollution, Senate leadership has dedicated little time and few resources to advancing its top-tier energy priorities. Instead, a review of Senate hearings and floor activity reveals that Sen. Murkowski and other Senate leaders have gotten sidetracked by a series of highly partisan and divisive anti-environmental legislative proposals. News accounts have documented Sen. Murkowski’s outrage at the Obama administration’s protection of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska, including threats to cut the Department of the Interior’s budget and force layoffs of park rangers in retaliation against the administration. Sen. Murkowski subsequently brought amendments to a vote in the Senate that would release wilderness-quality lands in the lower 48 states from wilderness protection and facilitate the sale or transfer of public lands to private or state ownership. The December public opinion research shows that the concepts reflected in Sen. Murkowski’s amendments against public lands, along with other anti-wildlife and anti-public land amendments brought to a vote on the Senate floor, are unpopular with voters of all parties.
Leadership needed
With the failure of the new Congress to enact any of its top energy priorities in its first 100 days, congressional leaders will now have to decide how to get their energy and environment agenda back on track. Continuing to focus on dismantling protections for public lands, clean air and water, and wildlife appears to be a deeply unpopular and losing strategy, particularly in the Senate. Meanwhile, the big-ticket priorities of the fossil-fuel industry—including expanding oil exports, blocking the EPA from cutting carbon pollution, and expanding onshore and offshore drilling—have thus far not acquired the momentum or political support needed to pass.
Congressional leaders will need to forge an alternate path of consensus building and bipartisanship if they hope to achieve meaningful legislative results. Expanding renewable energy production, for example, is a top priority for both Republican and Democratic voters, according to the December public opinion research. Likewise, a broad bipartisan majority supports new protections for parks, wilderness, and public lands. The new Congress would be wise to reset its direction on energy and environmental issues and to tie its agenda to the priorities expressed by the majority of the public rather than those of the fossil-fuel industry.
Note: Authors’ analysis of roll call votes is based on a review of records collected by the clerk of the House and the Senate bill clerk and compiled by the Library of Congress. The information is available on the Library of Congress website at Congress.gov.
Matt Lee-Ashley is a Senior Fellow and the Director of Public Lands at the Center for American Progress. Claire Moser is a Research and Advocacy Associate with the Public Lands Project at the Center. Emily Ludwigsen, an intern at the Center, contributed to this analysis.As a photographer, you will need to master the technical basics of the camera and form an understanding of the kind of equipment you need. The Fundamentals of Digital Photography will also teach something even more important (and crucial for success) - how to bring your creative vision to fruition.
Taught by seasoned photographer John Greengo, the Fundamentals of Digital Photography places emphasis on quality visuals and experiential learning. In this course, you’ll learn:
How to bring together the elements of manual mode to create an evocative image: shutter speed, aperture, and image composition.
How to choose the right gear, and develop efficient workflow.
How to recognize and take advantage of beautiful natural light.
John will teach you to step back from your images and think critically about your motivations, process, and ultimate goals for your photography project. You’ll learn to analyze your vision and identify areas for growth. John will also explore the difference between the world seen by the human eye and the world seen by the camera sensor. By forming an awareness of the gap between the two, you will be able to use your equipment to its greatest potential.Significance Cocaine is one of the most abused drugs in modern society, with overdoses that are frequently lethal. Molecular mechanisms underlying its toxic actions have been obscure. The present study demonstrates that cocaine’s cellular toxicity involves a signaling cascade that utilizes the gasotransmitter nitric oxide, which leads to autophagy, a cellular modification that can cause cell death. Thus, manipulations that impair nitric oxide signaling and autophagy diminish cytotoxic actions of cocaine. By contrast, alterations of apoptosis and other nonautophagic modes of cell death are ineffective. Therapies directed toward the autophagic process may be beneficial in treating cocaine neurotoxicity.
Abstract Cocaine exerts its behavioral stimulant effects by facilitating synaptic actions of neurotransmitters such as dopamine and serotonin. It is also neurotoxic and broadly cytotoxic, leading to overdose deaths. We demonstrate that the cytotoxic actions of cocaine reflect selective enhancement of autophagy, a process that physiologically degrades metabolites and cellular organelles, and that uncontrolled autophagy can also lead to cell death. In brain cultures, cocaine markedly increases levels of LC3-II and depletes p62, both actions characteristic of autophagy. By contrast, cocaine fails to stimulate cell death processes reflecting parthanatos, monitored by cleavage of poly(ADP ribose)polymerase-1 (PARP-1), or necroptosis, assessed by levels of phosphorylated mixed lineage kinase domain-like protein. Pharmacologic inhibition of autophagy protects neurons against cocaine-induced cell death. On the other hand, inhibition of parthanatos, necroptosis, or apoptosis did not change cocaine cytotoxicity. Depletion of ATG5 or beclin-1, major mediators of autophagy, prevents cocaine-induced cell death. By contrast, depleting caspase-3, whose cleavage reflects apoptosis, fails to alter cocaine cytotoxicity, and cocaine does not alter caspase-3 cleavage. Moreover, depleting PARP-1 or RIPK1, key mediators of parthanatos and necroptosis, respectively, did not prevent cocaine-induced cell death. Autophagic actions of cocaine are mediated by the nitric oxide-glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase signaling pathway. Thus, cocaine-associated autophagy is abolished by depleting GAPDH via shRNA; by the drug CGP3466B, which prevents GAPDH nitrosylation; and by mutating cysteine-150 of GAPDH, its site of nitrosylation. Treatments that selectively influence cocaine-associated autophagy may afford therapeutic benefit.
Cocaine is a well recognized behavioral stimulant, which is widely abused. Its behavioral effects are thought to reflect inhibition of the reuptake inactivation of biogenic amines, especially serotonin and dopamine (1⇓⇓–4). Transcriptional regulation may underlie long-term effects of cocaine, especially the transition from abuse to addiction (5⇓⇓⇓⇓⇓⇓–12). Cocaine is also notably neurotoxic and broadly cytotoxic, but mechanisms for such actions have not been well characterized. Diverse modes of cytotoxicity and cell death have been delineated (13). Apoptosis is well established as a programmed form of cell death (14, 15). Earlier work had regarded necrosis as unprogrammed with cellular integrity disrupted via diverse, seemingly random events. More recently programmed modes of necrosis have been identified. Parthanatos reflects cell death associated with activation of poly(ADP ribose)polymerase-1 (PARP-1) (16). In necroptosis, tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) typically activates Receptor-interacting protein kinase 1 (RIPK1) (17). Apoptosis is linked to a series of caspases (18⇓–20). Autophagy is a process wherein cells degrade diverse metabolic products (21). Levine and associates (22, 23) delineated a mode of cell death uniquely associated with autophagy, which was designated “autosis.” Understanding the relationship of cocaine toxicity to one or more of these signaling systems might afford novel strategies for treating cocaine toxicity.
Recently we showed that behavioral effects of cocaine reflect a signaling cascade associated with nitric oxide (NO) and glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) (24). Generation of NO is triggered by a variety of stimuli such as glutamate neurotransmission acting via its N |
actually depressed," Harber says.
In the study, 126 teachers from the New York metropolitan area were asked to edit essays supposedly written by a black, Latino, or white student. They weren't told the the student's racial demographics, but the researchers provided students' names that hinted at it (Taisha or Jarell for black students, Mark or Molly for white students). The teachers were told their comments would be delivered back to the students. In actuality, there were no students and the essays were assembled to mimic a C-grade level ability.
The researchers found that the teachers were indeed not grading the black and Latino students as critically as the white ones. This trend has been documented before, but the deeper question Harber and his colleagues were trying to answer was the source of the teacher's motivation. What compelled them to be less critical of minority students?
Political correctness is often seen as an effort to keep up appearances, but Harber's group found that something different was going on here. The teachers were trying to preserve a self image of being unbiased. The research group came to this conclusion this because the teachers didn't show bias toward the objective aspects of the essay -- the grammar or the spelling -- but rather the subjective aspects like ideas and logic. And as the paper states, "criticizing subjective features of writing raises the risk of appearing unfair because there are few established standards to justifying such criticism."
"There might be multiple causes [for positive feedback bias], but the one that seems particularly potent is a self-image concern, that the whites don't want to see themselves as prejudiced, independent of how other people see them," Harber says. "What happens, I believe, is their focus gets distracted from what are the needs of the students to what are ways that I can restore my self image."
So how can this problem be solved? Harber and his colleagues found that teachers who have greater social support at school are less likely to show a positive feedback bias toward black students. The theory is that teachers with support feel less anxious about their performance and can concentrate on being fair graders.Using dis to look at the bytecode generated for the two versions:
not ==
4 0 LOAD_FAST 0 (foo) 3 LOAD_FAST 1 (bar) 6 COMPARE_OP 2 (==) 9 UNARY_NOT 10 RETURN_VALUE
!=
4 0 LOAD_FAST 0 (foo) 3 LOAD_FAST 1 (bar) 6 COMPARE_OP 3 (!=) 9 RETURN_VALUE
The latter has fewer operations, and is therefore likely to be slightly more efficient.
It was pointed out in the commments (thanks, @Quincunx) that where you have if foo!= bar vs. if not foo == bar the number of operations is exactly the same, it's just that the COMPARE_OP changes and POP_JUMP_IF_TRUE switches to POP_JUMP_IF_FALSE :
not == :
2 0 LOAD_FAST 0 (foo) 3 LOAD_FAST 1 (bar) 6 COMPARE_OP 2 (==) 9 POP_JUMP_IF_TRUE 16
!=
2 0 LOAD_FAST 0 (foo) 3 LOAD_FAST 1 (bar) 6 COMPARE_OP 3 (!=) 9 POP_JUMP_IF_FALSE 16
In this case, unless there was a difference in the amount of work required for each comparison, it's unlikely you'd see any performance difference at all.
However, note that the two versions won't always be logically identical, as it will depend on the implementations of __eq__ and __ne__ for the objects in question. Per the data model documentation:
There are no implied relationships among the comparison operators. The truth of x==y does not imply that x!=y is false.
For example:
>>> class Dummy(object): def __eq__(self, other): return True def __ne__(self, other): return True >>> not Dummy() == Dummy() False >>> Dummy()!= Dummy() TrueAs it turns out, "a malicious third party" had managed to break into a "non-core system" that DocuSign uses to send out service announcement emails. This is why the phishing campaign has been so accurately targeting customers, though the red flag here is that emails ask recipients to download a Microsoft Word document (containing malware), which isn't something a genuine DocuSign email would ever request.
The company stresses the breached system contained only a list of email addresses, that it has since been secured, and that all other data and services were untouched. Obviously it's still not a good look for DocuSign given data security is an integral part of its pitch, but it's an important reminder that just because an email looks above board at first glance doesn't mean it can be trusted.Abbott government to pay Jeremy Stoljar $3.3m for a contract from 12 April last year until the end of this year, documents show
The lead lawyer for the royal commission into trade union corruption will be paid more than $3.36m for just under two years’ work at the inquiry.
The government will pay Jeremy Stoljar SC $3.3m for a contract from 12 April last year until the end of this year, according to documents posted on the Austender website.
Stoljar was paid another $54,366 for two and a half months work on the preparation and setting up of the royal commission last year, according to a separate tender document.
The government has allocated a total of $52m to the royal commission, which is investigating allegations of corruption and slush funds in the union movement and has so far held 70 hearings calling on 220 witnesses around the country. It will continue hearings this year.
The commission was set up after allegations involving the construction industry, the health services union and also the former prime minister, Julia Gillard, over legal advice she gave as a young lawyer to her then boyfriend, the Australian Workers Union official Bruce Wilson, which helped him set up what was later revealed to be a union “slush fund”.
An interim report delivered late last year recommended criminal charges be considered against scores of officials from three unions but found Gillard had committed no crime and was unaware of any crimes committed by others.
The workplace relations minister, Eric Abetz, said the interim report bolstered the government’s case to introduce the Registered Organisations Commission – an independent oversight body for unions and employers – and reintroduce the building industry watchdog, the Australian Building and Construction Commission. Neither organisation was specifically mentioned by the royal commission and the legislation to reintroduce both bodies is blocked in the Senate, with Labor, the Greens and crossbench senators saying they will not pass it.
Abetz said the report revealed a “systemic culture” of criminality within sections of the trade union movement but the president of the ACTU, Ged Kearney, said it was a waste of taxpayer money because it contained “nothing to say there’s widespread corruption” in the unions. Labor and the unions have argued police should investigate corruption allegations.
The royal commission is headed by former high court justice Dyson Heydon.
Asked whether the amount in the contract could include anything other than Stoljar’s fees, a spokeswoman for the commission said “the contract value is for services provided and likely to be provided in the future by Jeremy Stoljar”.
The spokeswoman said: “It is general practice that the terms and conditions (including daily or hourly rates) on which the Commonwealth engages individual legal counsel, including Royal Commissioners and Counsel Assisting, are not disclosed as this information is commercial-in-confidence.”CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on Tuesday returned to the theme that threw Mitt Romney off balance for several weeks this summer, hammering the Republican presidential candidate for refusing to release his tax returns.
"Never in modern American history has a presidential candidate tried so hard to hide himself from the people he hopes to serve," Reid said during his evening speech here at the Democratic National Convention. "When you look at the one tax return he has released, it's obvious why. It's obvious why there's only been one. We learned that he pays a lower tax rate than middle class families. We learned he chose Swiss bank accounts and Cayman Islands tax shelters over American institutions. And we can only imagine what new secrets would be revealed if he showed the American people a dozen years of tax returns -- like his father did."
Romney's father George Romney ran for president in 1968 and released a dozen years of tax returns, arguing that only one year could be an anomaly. Romney has released a nearly complete 2010 return and has promised to release his 2011 return in October -- but no more.
In July, Reid told HuffPost that an investor connected to Bain Capital told him that Romney hadn't paid any taxes for a decade. Romney has since claimed to have paid at least a 13 percent rate each year over the past decade -- though without seeing the returns it's impossible to know what level of income he claims.
"Mitt Romney says we should take his word that he paid his fair share. His word? His word?" said Reid, mocking Romney. "Trust comes from transparency and Mitt Romney comes up short on both. See, this is about more than just a piece of paper. It isn't personal. This is about leveling with the American people and creating a level playing field for them. If we don't know how Mitt Romney would benefit from the policies he proposes, how can we know if he's looking out for us, or for himself."Sometimes it can pay off big to bet on stock-market chaos. Facebook / Warner Bros. Sure, price swings in the stock market have stayed locked near the lowest on record for the better part of two months. But that hasn't dissuaded one particularly aggressive trader from continuing to bet on a massive shock.
Two months after the volatility vigilante made a humongous wager that the CBOE Volatility Index— or VIX — would surge from its depressed levels by October, the trader has essentially extended that bet into December.
The so-called rollover carries roughly the same maximum potential payout as before: a whopping $263 million.
And considering the trader lost only about $9 million on the wager over the past two months, closing the October trade and pushing it to December allows continued exposure to a huge upside at a relatively small cost, according to a person familiar with the trade.
Still, considering the VIX's propensity to trade near all-time lows, it's a risky bet. The so-called fear gauge has fallen 23% so far this year, and investors continue to pile into the short-volatility trade, which has evolved into one of the market's most crowded positions.
Let's unpack the trade:
To fund it, the investor sold approximately 263,000 VIX puts expiring in December with a strike price of 12.
The trader then used those proceeds to buy a VIX 1x2 call spread, which involves buying 263,000 VIX December calls with a strike price of 15 and selling 526,000 VIX December calls with a strike price of 25.
For reference, bullish call spreads are used when a moderate rise in the underlying asset is expected. Traders buy call options at a specific strike price while selling the same number of calls of the same asset and expiration date at a higher strike.
In a perfect scenario, where the VIX hits but doesn't exceed 25 before the December expiration, the trader would see a $263 million payout.
It is possible for the VIX to spike too much. If it increased beyond 35.2, the investor would start to lose money since they used a call spread, even though they got the direction of the trade correct.
For context, VIX December futures are trading at 14.07, while the spot traded at 10.71 as of 3:09 p.m. on Monday.
All data is from Bloomberg and was reviewed by a person familiar with the trade.WikiLeaks is dead. Long live WikiLeaks.
That’s the basic message Wednesday from secrets blog Cryptome, which published an essay outlining why the release of secret US State Department cables effectively struck a death knell to WikiLeaks as a service to the whistleblower community.
WikiLeaks as a secrets outlet was once a thriving, vibrant online community: a technology apparatus that allowed for the transmission of data with complete anonymity. Today it is completely seized by the international furor over US diplomatic cables allegedly given to the site by a lone US Army private.
It once had a massive backlog of files and new document caches were appearing daily. Since it began releasing cables, that river of data has all but dried up.
“At the rate of 20 cables a day it will take 13,000 days to finish — some 35 years,” Cryptome noted.
What happened?
“The original merits of Wikileaks have been lost in its transformation into a publicity and fund-raising vehicle for Julian Assange as indicated in the redesign website which billboards him,” Cryptome resigns in its second paragraph.
“Meanwhile the original purpose of Wikileaks is dead in the water,” the site opines. “Thousands of mirror carcasses floating on the Internet sea, none offering new material except the wee drops of cables which at the current rate will require the passive sites to last redundantly decades when they could be offering material Wikileaks does not.”
All that remains are a series of “bombshell releases” ahead of his book tour, they suggest.
“There will be those who continue to milk the promise of Wikileaks, arguing vehemently for its protection and continuation, but not acknowledging in its current configuration sheltered by main stream partners it is not a threat or threatened — standard bloviation of the media to magnify its importance,” Cryptome concludes. “The shift of focus to Bradley Manning and Adrian Lamo indicates the Assange threat angle is withering and needs to be goosed with journalistic and lawyerly flim-flam so common to awaken readers and juries dozing with disinterest.”
Daniel Domscheit-Berg, the former spokesman for WikiLeaks, also plans on releasing a book as a tell-all on his time with the site — along with a new site to continue the ideals of the former whistleblower platform.
The new site, dubbed OpenLeaks, aims to cut out the figurehead by allowing whistleblowers the ability to send information directly to media outlets of their choosing. The site would not actively publish the information as WikiLeaks has done, but instead would serve as a media waypoint service for the anonymous passage of sensitive files.
OpenLeaks will also be an open-source project, which the creator hopes will encourage other upstarts to adopt similar technical approaches. Berg similarly criticized WikiLeaks for failing to live up to what he called “its open-source promise.”Friday’s jobs report is the first to reflect the post-sequester world. March jobs numbers a big miss
The economy added far fewer jobs than expected last month, raising questions about the strength of the economic recovery and how much the recent round of spending cuts and tax increases are hurting growth.
The Labor Department reported Friday that the economy added 88,000 jobs in March while the unemployment rate dropped to 7.6 percent. The number was far below the expectations from analysts, who predicted the economy added about 190,000 jobs in March.
Story Continued Below
( PHOTOS: How sequestration could affect you)
“We all overshot it,” Austan Goolsbee, the former chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers in President Barack Obama’s first term, said on CNBC. “This is a punch to the gut. I mean, this is not a good number.”
Friday’s jobs report is the first to reflect the post-sequester world. With a divided Washington unable to reach a deal, a series of automatic budget cuts to nearly all government programs kicked in March 1, and economists have warned that the sequester could take a hammer to the still-recovering economy.
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has projected the sequester could cost the economy 750,000 jobs this year and scale back economic growth by 0.6 percent.
( Also on POLITICO: Obama budget includes Medicare, Social Security cuts)
The report also rattled investors, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropping more than 160 points in early morning trading.
The new numbers also arrive as Washington is poised to reignite the budget wars next week, with the release of the much-delayed fiscal 2014 budget from the White House triggering anew a debate over taxes, spending and how best to boost economic growth.
Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) declared in a statement that the jobs report showed the White House’s economic policies “continue to make it harder for Americans to find work.”
“One of the best things President Obama can do is follow the House and outline a balanced budget next week – one that includes entitlement reforms that are not conditional on enactment of more tax increases, which will suppress growth instead of encourage it,” Boehner said.
Alan Krueger, chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, put a more positive spin on the new data while saying they also bolster the administration’s case that more stimulus spending is needed on such initiatives as infrastructure projects.
“While more work remains to be done, today’s employment report provides further evidence that the U.S. economy is continuing to recover from the worst downturn since the Great Depression,” he said in a statement. “It is critical that we continue the policies that are helping to build an economy that creates jobs and works for the middle class as we dig our way out of the deep hole that was caused by the severe recession that began in December 2007.”ALPAKA 7ven: The seven day bag
Jin Li Blocked Unblock Follow Following Jan 7, 2016
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ALPAKA 7ven bag messenger style
How it all started
It took us nearly two and half years to get to this point, and it was a tough journey. We originally envisioned the first ALPAKA bag as a modular backpack with swiss army knife like versatility, but after many failed attempts in finding the right designer(s) and factory that could manufacture our concept, we nearly canned the project. Luckily, after travelling extensively over the last 12 months, and visiting many bag factories, we decided to switch direction on the bag design. So instead of continuing with prototyping the original modular backpack design (aka The Homer), we decided to pursue a minimalistic messenger bag design.
When we first commissioned the design for the ‘new’ messenger bag, our idea for the bag was quite straight forward. The bag should be simple and suitable for all seven days of the week. A bag formal enough that you could take to work, but also cool enough to use on the weekend or any other occasion.
ALPAKA 7ven as a shoulder bag
Once we decided to go minimalistic with the bag design, it was a much easier design process; also, working with a factory that understood our needs helped us streamline the development of the bag. So rather than taking years to design and then prototype (like the first backpack design), it only took us a few months to move from design to the first prototype. The quick prototyping also allowed us time to solicit feedback from our friends and families for the first bags. Thanks to feedback we received, we were then able to make small incremental changes in our prototype bags to get to a stage that we felt comfortable about the bag’s overall quality and design.
ALPAKA 7ven as a travel carry on bag
What’s in a name?
So why did call the bag, 7ven? We named the bag, 7ven, because that is what we want the bag to be; a bag that is useful for all seven days of the week. A bag that you can take to work during the week and to your weekend adventure away in some exciting places.
ALPAKA 7ven as a weekend travel bag
Special design features
In order to make the bag suitable for all seven days of the week, we had to make sure the exterior design and the fabric choice do not conflict with the end usage cases:
The bag has to be designed in such as a way that you can carry it like a briefcase, and won’t look out of place when you are wearing a suit.
But at the same time it can be a bag that you can take on your weekend getaway, and be able to carry your gear in the bag.
Bonus points if you can carry some camera gear with the bag.
ALPAKA 7ven bag with camera tripod attached
After testing various fabric options available on the market, from some common to some really exotic materials, we decided to use a special black ballistic nylon fabric for the exterior of the bag. So we decided to use this fabric because:
It looked and felt high class (Quality)
Very tough and abrasion resistant (Longevity)
Fitted well with the minimalist design of the bag (Design)
We could have used any other fabric that costed half as much, but we couldn’t have gotten the same result.
ALPAKA 7ven as a work bag
For the inside of the bag, we chose the most expensive ripstop nylon fabric on the market, as we wanted something that was tough, but at the same time looks a cut above the rest.
Leather detailing on the ALPAKA 7ven bag
To further enhance the ALPAKA 7ven bag’s end user experience and give it a touch of class: we wrapped the carry strap and the corner of the bag with high-quality premium leather.
ALPAKA 7ven as a carry bag
Where we are now
After spending a considerable amount of designing, prototyping and re-prototyping (many times), we are quite confident in our design, and as such we are doing testing of the bag by allowing our friends and families to try it out. But also we are travelling with our bags to see whether it is suitable for the kind of use that we envision it for. We are also preparing to launch it on Kickstarter in February or March 2016, so that we can bring this project to life, and allow other people to share this amazing journey of design and creation.Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro kisses his wife Cilia Flores. REUTERS/Miraflores Palace Venezuela is running out of condoms.
The country is broke. Its economy is on track to shrink 7% in 2015 alone, in large part because oil prices are so low. And now thanks to rampant inflation and shrinking foreign currency reserves, its economic crisis is leading to a health crisis.
A lack of contraceptives doesn't keep people from having sex, it just keeps them from having safe sex.
Bloomberg reports that the country started running out of condoms and other kinds of contraceptives in December. "The condom shortage, caused by a scarcity of dollars among importers, has prices on a website used to find scarce goods soaring and risks aggravating one of South America's highest HIV infection and teenage pregnancy rates."
A 36-pack of Trojan condoms is going for 4,760 bolivars (about $750) on Mercado Libre, a site where Venezuelan citizens bid for scarce goods. A three-pack is 399 bolivars (about $62).
An unlocked iPhone 6 runs for $749 on Apple.com.
Those with American dollars hold a huge advantage, according to Bloomberg. The same 36-pack is only $25 on the dollar-based black market.
Venezuela has one of the highest rates for both STDs and teenage pregnancies in South America, and a significant condom shortage will set the country back further.
It is incredibly bad for the country's women. From Bloomberg:
In Venezuela, with abortion illegal, the disappearance of contraceptives will raise the number of female deaths by driving more pregnant women to clandestine clinics, said Carlos Cabrera, vice president of the local branch of London-based International Planned Parenthood Federation. A lack of condoms will also leave a long-lasting economic impact by taking girls and young women away from schools and the work force, he said.Your browser does not support HTML5 video tag.Click here to view original GIF
Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare is the first "pure next-gen" entry in the endlessly popular shooter series, but what does that mean for PC gamers? In short: nothing. Nothing whatsoever. UPDATE: Activision says these are the wrong specs.
Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare's specs are the same as Call of Duty: Ghosts' on PC. Exactly the same, point-for-point, both required and recommended. Here, see for yourself:
Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare (Source)
OS: Windows 7 64-Bit / Windows 8 64-Bit
Windows 7 64-Bit / Windows 8 64-Bit HDD: 40GB HD space
40GB HD space Sound: DirectX Compatible Sound Card
DirectX Compatible Sound Card DirectX: 11
11 Internet: Broadband connection and service required for Multiplayer Connectivity. Internet connection required for activation.
Broadband connection and service required for Multiplayer Connectivity. Internet connection required for activation. CPU: Intel® Core™ 2 Duo E8200 2.66 GHZ / AMD Phenom™ X3 8750 2.4 GHZ or better Recommended: Intel® Core™ i5 – 680 @ 3.6GHz
Intel® Core™ 2 Duo E8200 2.66 GHZ / AMD Phenom™ X3 8750 2.4 GHZ or better Recommended: Intel® Core™ i5 – 680 @ 3.6GHz RAM: 6 GB RAM Recommended: 8 GB RAM
6 GB RAM Recommended: 8 GB RAM Video: NVIDIA® GeForce™ GTX GTS 450 / ATI® Radeon™ HD 5870 or better Recommended: NVIDIA® GeForce™ GTX 760 @ 4GB
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Call of Duty: Ghosts (Source)
OS: Windows 7 64-Bit / Windows 8 64-Bit
Windows 7 64-Bit / Windows 8 64-Bit HDD: 40GB HD space
40GB HD space Sound: DirectX Compatible Sound Card
DirectX Compatible Sound Card DirectX: 11
11 Internet: Broadband connection and service required for Multiplayer Connectivity. Internet connection required for activation.
Broadband connection and service required for Multiplayer Connectivity. Internet connection required for activation. CPU: Intel® Core™ 2 Duo E8200 2.66 GHZ / AMD Phenom™ X3 8750 2.4 GHZ or better Recommended: Intel® Core™ i5 – 680 @ 3.6GHz
Intel® Core™ 2 Duo E8200 2.66 GHZ / AMD Phenom™ X3 8750 2.4 GHZ or better Recommended: Intel® Core™ i5 – 680 @ 3.6GHz RAM: 6 GB RAM Recommended: 8 GB RAM
6 GB RAM Recommended: 8 GB RAM Video: NVIDIA® GeForce™ GTX GTS 450 / ATI® Radeon™ HD 5870 or better Recommended: NVIDIA® GeForce™ GTX 760 @ 4GB
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The kicker is that Call of Duty: Ghosts actually ran very poorly on PC when it first came out, so it wasn't even using the meager amount of power it required very well. Here's hoping Advanced Warfare does a better job, lest Kevin Spacey's space face move like a boulder and look like a blob of un-molded putty.
And Activision? Please, please, please stop making us suffer through unreasonably massive downloads and installs for this series. PC gamers may (generally) have more hard drive space than console gamers, but that doesn't mean we like using it when we don't have to.
Bluh. Anyway, who's looking forward to this one? Do you play Call of Duty on PC? That seems like... not the most common thing.
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Update: Activision reached out to let us know that the specs posted on the Activision store were for Ghosts, and Advanced Warfare specs are still being finalized.
"The PC Specs for Advanced Warfare are not final. The info posted yesterday on the Activision store was from last year and posted in error. We apologize for any confusion. We look forward to releasing the actual PC specs once the game is optimized."Winter sports enthusiasts can help lower emissions—if they’re smart about how they hit the slopes.
By Bob Berwyn
Moonset over Dillon, Colorado, a mountain resort that depends on skiers in the winter and boaters in the summer. As global warming shifts the snow season, it affects both summer and winter recreation. During the early 2000s, this part of the Rocky Mountains, 70 miles west of Denver, was near the heart of a multi-million-acre forest die-off caused by bark beetles reproducing in turbo overdrive in response to a warming climate. The town is starting to take steps in recognizing the climate challenges ahead, but there is much more it could do to reach the goals of the Paris climate agreement. (Photo: Bob Berwyn)
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Connecting the dots on climate change isn’t that hard anymore. There are hundreds of studies that all say nearly the same thing: The world as we know it faces irrevocable change unless we stop pumping heat-trapping greenhouse gases into the air by 2050. Those changes will include decade-long droughts across parts of the American West, shorter winters, and less snow in many mountain ranges all around the world. We’re already seeing the changes now.
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So I spent a few days in a deep funk after the election, knowing that, if the new president makes good on his threats to dismantle established global climate policy, it means my son probably won’t have the chance to ski his way through life like I did. In big part, it’s the memories of all the joyful powder turns Dylan and I shared over the past 16 years that spurred me to think about how to decarbonize skiing so that we’re part of the solution, not the problem.
After graduating from Summit High in Colorado last June, Dylan is taking a year to focus on skiing, but he and his friends have already felt the sting of global warming. Along with the rest of the world, Summit County was near-record warm and dry through late November — too warm for snowmaking. Ski area openings were delayed, ski town jobs on hold, and some resort workers relied on dwindling food banks for meals.
Climate change is a global issue, and skiers are part of a global community that transcends national borders. What we’ve learned from the election is that we probably can’t count on the government to save us. We need to join hands with other people hurt by climate change, and who suffer social and environmental injustice: Native Americans, people of color, the LGBQT community, and so many more. We need solidarity because we have to tackle global warming ourselves.
Here’s what we can do.
We can make personal choices to lower our individual carbon footprints by the amount spelled out by the Paris Agreement; 50 percent by 2030 and 95 percent by 2050. That’s tough, but not impossible — and, remember, the agreement was endorsed by the winter sport community last December at the COP21 global climate summit.
“Know that the full force of winter is behind you,” skiers and snowboarders wrote in a letter to President Barack Obama ahead of the Paris conference, urging strong action on climate change.
It’s time to own those words and turn them into action.
It may seem daunting to tackle this on a grassroots level, but it wasn’t as though the government was ever going to turn off all the coal smokestacks and conjure up a forest of carbon-sucking truffula trees overnight. It was always going to take a lot of hard work and grassroots activism to make the needed changes. The Paris deal was a beginning, not a happy end. Implementing it has always meant making dramatic changes to our way of life: how we heat our homes, drive our cars, and power our ski lifts and run the hotels we stay in.
Except now, there probably aren’t going to be any new regulations mandating greater fuel efficiency, limiting power plant emissions, or requiring sustainable building. And if the president-elect pulls out of the deal (or simply declines to meet the commitments hammered out in Paris), our compatriots around the globe are not going to be happy with our carbon-emitting, snow-killing ways. Do we want to rely on the rest of the world to bail us out by cutting their emissions to compensate for a lack of action in the United States? If so, we can count on paying a hefty carbon tax on a plane ticket to Switzerland, provided there’s any snow left in the Alps.
The Lodge at Krippenstein, in the Alps near Salzburg, Austria, operates fully on renewable energy and has been certified as a sustainable lodge by the regional government. All aspects of mountains sports and tourism must be carbon-neutral by 2050 to meet the goals of the Paris climate agreement. (Photo: Bob Berwyn)
When skiing (and doing other things), we need to carpool more, and eat less beef. Every quarter-pound burger equals about 7.5 pounds of CO2. If every one of the 54 million skiers in the U.S. last year ate one burger it would add up to 198,000 tons of methane and CO2—so there’s potential to cut. There are plenty of greenhouse gas calculators out there, showing the carbon cost of most common activities and products. Maybe we could create an application that would help skiers track their own footprint — what’s the carbon cost of riding Chair 23 at Mammoth for a day? The point is, we have to know not just the abstract, millions of tons of annual emissions statistic, but what our individual carbon footprint is before we can cut it.
Since there’s not going to be a carbon tax in the U.S. any time soon, here’s a radical idea: We could tax ourselves for carbon as a community of skiers, making sure that we’re taking responsibility for our own carbon footprint.
Carbon is already bought and sold by the ton on several markets around the world, so it’s easy to pay into a climate compensation fund for lowering CO2 levels around ski slopes — even better if those investments flow to locally owned renewable energy projects.
Better still would be a network of local, state, and regional carbon banks and markets. In mountain regions, the ski and tourism industry could work with local banks and governments to play a leading role in establishing those financial mechanisms. That would give mountain towns the chance to invest in local renewable energy products, and our local governments could help provide power grid infrastructure.
Winter sports and snow are a big part of the cultural fabric in Frisco, Colorado, where ski tourism helps fund the preservation of historic mining cabins. The town is taking small steps to address climate sustainability, and would be hurt by President-elect Trump’s moves to abandon greenhouse gas reduction goals. (Photo: Bob Berwyn)
We need to fly less, until we figure out ways to do it without spewing yet more heat-trapping pollution. If you have to fly, look for the most fuel-efficient airline, as ranked by the International Council on Clean Transportation. We can also choose to tax ourselves for flying. An online carbon calculator shows it costs $2.95 to pay for the 0.38 tons of CO2 from an East Coast to Denver roundtrip.
Do you know what your favorite ski area’s carbon footprint is? I’ve mostly skied at Arapahoe Basin the past 20 years, a mid-sized resort about 70 miles west of Denver that generates 3,633 metric tons of CO2 equivalent greenhouse gases each year, and has committed to cutting its carbon footprint 3 percent by 2020 (from 2008–09 levels). That’s not all that much, so I’ll encourage the resort’s managers to step up their ambition, in line with the Paris climate goals. Alta, a slightly bigger ski area in Utah, is aiming to cut its emissions by 20 percent in the same timespan.
But every ski area’s carbon footprint needs to shrink to near zero by 2050 to meet the climate deal we backed, and since Donald Trump probably won’t give free sets of solar panels and wind turbines to every ski resort in the land, we need to figure out how to make the needed cuts happen another way. When I go skiing this winter, I’ll stay at a certified climate-friendly lodge that gets all its power from renewable energy sources.
Ski resorts, with their lodges, snowmaking, and ski lifts are energy hogs and must push hard for a decarbonization of the larger energy economy to meet the world’s climate targets. But we also have to take into account the climate impacts of other parts of the industry, including the personal consumer decisions we make. Start by choosing skis and snowboards from climate-aware companies like Grown, which lists the carbon footprint of all its products and has tried to reduce the use of carbon-intensive materials. An average pair of skis from the company has a carbon footprint of 16.4 kilograms.
What about the carbon cost of heli-skiing and the ski film industry? Hundreds of helicopters fly thousands of miles each winter to deliver a few thousand people to distant powdery peaks. Those choppers burn 45 gallons of fuel per hour; each gallon burned produces about 22 pounds of carbon, so switching to biofuels would drastically help shrink the climate footprint of this elite activity.
One of the most vexing questions of the ski industry climate equation is transportation. By 2050, we have to decarbonize the streams of tens of thousands of cars heading from Los Angeles to Mammoth and Denver to Breckenridge each weekend by using electric vehicles and mass transit powered by renewable energy.
Many businesses and industries say climate action helps their bottom line and support momentum toward a low-carbon economy, as shown by the American Business Act on Climate pledge, signed by 154 companies worth more than $7 trillion. Some of those companies say they’ll cut emissions by 50 percent and purchase only renewable energy by mid-century.
At a special event during last month’s COP22 climate conference in Marrakech, corporate executives from around the world said they see a clear business case for climate-friendly policies. Some companies like Mars, Inc. have said they are striving to eliminate greenhouse gas emissions by 2040. Working toward energy efficiency helps companies cut costs and motivates employees who are working toward a higher purpose, the business community said during the session.
With so much at stake, the ski industry should be at the very forefront of this movement, and we, its customers, need to help shift the paradigm. Let’s make sure the ski industry is accountable and fully transparent when it comes to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. There’s already a great framework in place for this with the National Ski Areas Association Sustainable Slopes charter, which is maturing into a legitimate tool for reducing greenhouse gas pollution. In an annual climate challenge, resorts show their carbon footprint and what steps they’re taking to shrink it.
Dylan Berwyn carves fresh powder snow at Arapahoe Basin Ski Area in Summit County, Colorado. (Photo: Bob Berwyn)
The voluntary climate challenge goes much further than many other industries in getting specific about greenhouse gas reduction targets. And, even if the goals fall short of meeting the goals of the Paris deal, the effort shows how grassroots, community, and business choices can shape climate action.
Sk |
: “They pay us a lot of money, and we need money to pay our producers and directors.” – Larry King explains why he works for the state-funded Russia Today (NYT)
NEWS YOU CAN USE IF YOU LIVE IN D.C.:
-- Another mostly-cloudy day ahead, with a few morning showers, today’s Capital Weather Gang forecasts: “Areas of morning fog with a few isolated showers around, especially early south and east of the city. With mostly cloudy skies, our highs manage to edge up into the lower to middle 80s this afternoon, with light breezes from the north.”
-- The Nationals lost to the Marlins 4-3.
-- Fairfax County Public Schools superintendent Karen Garza announced her resignation, moving on to a new role at an Ohio-based education nonprofit after four years in the job. (T. Rees Shapiro, Moriah Balingit and Antonio Olivo)
-- Two teenagers were arrested in the slaying of the 20-year-old man whose body was found floating over the weekend in a Prince George’s County creek. (Lynh Bui)
VIDEOS OF THE DAY:
A timelapse shows the construction of the African American history museum from start to finish:
HRC talked with Fallon about running for president as a woman:
More here:
She also joked about her pnuemonia:
Drew Carey cut a brief ad for Gary Johnson:
Jamie Foxx chatted with TMZ about the election and the possibility of a Kanye run in 2020:
A clip from Clinton's speech at Temple University for millenials:
This orphaned baby koala found comfort in a stuffed animal friend:David Beckham cavorted across a confetti-strewn pitch with a Union Jack a year ago after claiming American soccer’s greatest prize with the Los Angeles Galaxy. Last Saturday in Kansas City another English footballer donned a St George’s Cross that flapped like a superhero’s cape as he celebrated winning Major League Soccer’s championship.
While Beckham cracked America via Hollywood, Dom Dwyer’s Stateside success owes much to the place famous as the home of Disney’s Magic Kingdom. A prolific loan spell at minor-league Orlando City last summer earned the 23-year-old from Cuckfield in West Sussex a spot in Sporting Kansas City’s starting line-up.
Dwyer scored the goal against Houston Dynamo on Nov 23 that put his team through to the MLS Cup final and played the first 72 minutes on Saturday as Kansas City beat Real Salt Lake on penalties to lift the trophy.
This American dream was born from an English nightmare. A small and sharp forward, Dwyer was released by Norwich City's youth set-up and advised by a doctor to retire after suffering a series of foot injuries. After a trial arranged by a company called Soccer Icon he won an athletic scholarship to a college in small-town Texas.
Dwyer was prolific for the Tyler Apaches and switched to a university in Florida. Then he was selected by Kansas City in the first round of the 2012 SuperDraft, the process by which MLS franchises choose the top graduates.
"It was one of the weirdest things I’ve ever done. So different to England. I signed a contract with the league and had no control over where I was going to live," Dwyer said.
He would probably have returned to England rather than attempt to get by on MLS’s minimum wage, currently $35,125 (£21,500). But as a member of the Generation Adidas programme for elite prospects his salary was higher – about £47,000 in 2013.
"It’s pretty tough for guys coming out of college on the minimum wage,” Dwyer said. “[But MLS has] been fun and it’s something you get to see grow all the time."
Some two-dozen Britons played in MLS this year. "It’s a great league to be in. I think some of the smart English people are realising it’s something they want to be part of," he said.
Still, after just 14 minutes of first-team action in his rookie season, Dwyer’s future looked uncertain and he was dispatched on loan to Orlando in March this year, a third-tier club with a strong British influence including former Everton and Stoke City striker Adrian Heath as head coach.
"That was an amazing experience, I felt like I fitted right in. The guys know all the English banter," Dwyer said.
He scored at a rate of more than a goal per game and found the net four times as Orlando won their title match. That was enough to convince Kansas City’s head coach, Peter Vermes, that Dwyer was ready for MLS.
"Unbelievable," the striker said. "From coming in to pre-season and being told I was not good enough right now, to being a key part of the team, to the final..."
He loves silencing doubters. "Want to thank all those haters who have been there all year, you really pushed me. 2-0 Dom!" he tweeted after Saturday’s game along with a picture of his Orlando and Kansas City winners’ medals.
"My life could have gone either way. I believed I was good enough and it was easier to make a name out here," he said.
But it may already be time to return home. Dwyer said that he is set to move to an unnamed Sky Bet Championship club on loan in January with the possibility of a permanent transfer. If it happens, he will travel back across the Atlantic as a champion – just like Beckham.Posted April 17, 2017 at 1:01 am
Excuse or not, panel two is absolutely true. You might think it won't happen to you, then BAM!
Ketchup EVERYWHERE.
Justin makes a very good point in this comic. Change blindness is a real thing, but it's not guaranteed to work, and there are plenty of x-factors that could result in someone noticing. Heck, Justin knowing what Grace is up to should make it easier for him to notice (but fortunately for Grace, I find it more amusing if he doesn't notice the changes).
That said, we all agreed that this is non-canon (anyone who says they didn't agree to that is clearly lying), so while I would normally agree with Justin, there's really no long term consequences to worry about.Oluchi Nwaubani had been playing in a friend's garden when she fell into their swimming pool and sank to the bottom.
She was not found for almost 20 minutes, double the amount of time the heart can normally keep beating without oxygen and three times longer than the brain can usually survive.
At the time doctors gave her only a two per cent chance of survival and discussed with her parents, Junior and Tayo, about turning off her life support machine. They were warned that even if she survived she would not be move, speak or eat properly.
Yet after three months in hospital Oluchi has defied medical expertise by making a full recovery and is now back at home.
Mr Nwaubani, 40, a prison officer, said: "The doctors said she would not be able to talk anymore, she would not walk again - she would be a vegetable.
"But she is walking, she is eating normally and she is able to say what she wants.
"They said she would never pass urine again because her kidney failed. But she is passing urine normally now.
"The doctors said that the amount of time she spent in the water meant she would never recover but when I asked her to say 'hello' to the doctor she tried to speak.
"And then I asked her to wave goodbye and she moved her hand.
"Her doctor said he couldn't believe what he had just witnessed. Staff were calling her a miracle baby."
Oluchi, who was two at the time, had gone with her two sisters Ria, 12 and five-year-old Amarachi to a friend's house in Bromley, Kent, last September.
The other girls had been playing on a trampoline in the front garden when Oluchi wandered out into the back garden where the covered pool was, and fell in.
She was airlifted to the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel before being transferred to Great Ormond Street, where brain scans revealed that she had starved of oxygen for 18 minutes.
Despite the bleak outlook, she started breathing on her own again after three days in intensive care and was soon came back to life.
Mr Nwaubani, from Petts Wood, London, said: "For days afterwards all we were being told was that our daughter had virtually no chance of survival because she had been under the water for too long.
"They told us it might be better to turn off her life support machine but my wife and I are both Christians and we just prayed to God that she would pull through
"The doctors said there was a faint pulse so we clung onto that."
The family are members of the Cornerstone Christian Centre in Bromley and say fellow worshippers around the world offered prayers of support for Oluchi, now three, throughout her time in hospital.
Mrs Nwaubani, 40, who works for the Department for International Development, said: "She seems to have defied doctors at every stage.
"It was hard to explain to her sisters that she was alive because they had seen her die at the pool."prison to cannabis
Damien Marley To Convert A Prison Into A Cannabis Factory
Reggae legend Bob Marley’s youngest son, Damien Marley, is making waves in the marijuana scene with his announcement that he will be making a cannabis factory out of a California State prison. Marley partnered with Ocean Grown Extracts to cash in on the green rush while promoting the benefits of legalization.
The 77,000 square foot facility is intended for the growth of medical marijuana to be distributed to dispensaries around the Sunshine State. “Many people sacrificed so much for the herb over the years who got locked up,” Marley told Billboard. If this [venture] helps people and it's used for medicinal purposes and inspires people, it's a success."
Marley’s efforts are already worthy of high praises. By shelling out $4.1 million to buy the Claremont Custody Center, the Coalinga town was saved from its pending $3.3 million in debt thanks to Marley and his partners. The prison-to-pot-farm project will create 100 new jobs in a town that is experiencing severe economic hardships because of drought and increasing oil prices, both of which are damaging the town’s oil and farming industries which the locals have been relying on for income since historical times. Marley’s initiative is expected to bring $1 million in tax revenues yearly for Coalinga.
According to Marley’s manager, Dan Dalton, the business started out organically. “Cannabis is something that's around Damian every day with friends, family and with his Rastafarian faith. We've watched people who have sacrificed their lives for it. That injustice has motivated us to be advocates as well as knowing that there are healing properties in cannabis.”
Marley has also just announced the launch of Speak Life, a special cannabis strain he designed together with his partner, Ocean Grown Extract. The strain was inspired by the company’s legendary strain named OG Kush although some genetic aspects were altered to create a new, one-of-a-kind hybrid strain made of 70% indica and 30% sativa.
The singer and his partners are also gearing up for the potential greens that Prop 64 could bring in should the initiative be passed in November’s elections. His Coalinga farm will start manufacturing cannabis oil extracts in 2 months. By January 2017, they are expecting to harvest the first marijuana crop. When it comes to his business ventures though, Marley can see that the grass is truly greener wherever you water it – and that means that he isn’t limiting himself to California. He recently partnered with TruCannabis, a Colorado-based company, to launch a 3,000 foot dispensary called Stoney Hill. Marley’s venture into the dispensary business is the first time a major singer started a cannabusiness.
What’s interesting though, is that none of Marley’s cannabusinesses involve any licensing deals which he’s denied in the past. However he is promoting his music alongside the dispensary businesses. The name of his 4th album is Stony Hill, the same name of his Denver, Colorado dispensary. The record is due to be released in January – is it a coincidence that it’s at the same time the Coalinga facility is expecting their first harvest? Stony Hill also features a track aptly named Speak Life, the name of the strain he designed with Ocean Grown. Billboard asked Marley if he ever envisioned the legalization of marijuana to be the way it is today. He responded, “I didn't know it would happen this way.”
Marley has also said, “"This was definitely something we were working towards for a long time, before I was even born. There was Peter Tosh's 'Legalize It' and songs like that -- this is something our culture has been working towards. I was optimistic that it would one day be legal -- and now it is here."
HAPPY WIFE HAPPY LIFE, HOW CANNABIS HELPS MARRIAGE, CLICK HERE..
OR..
POLICE LOOKING TO HELP SMALL BUSINESSES OWNERS, CLICK HERE..Bug enthusiasts who caught the January 2011 edition of the Journal of Insect Physiology may have noticed something odd on page 35, just under the lead scientist’s name: Huron Park Secondary School, Woodstock, Ontario, Canada.
Jessie MacAlpine is first-year University of Toronto student who has developed d a potential malaria treatment using herbicides. ( Steve Russell / Toronto Star )
Jessie MacAlpine was only a Grade 9 student when she published her first research paper, “The effects of CO2 and chronic cold exposure on fecundity of female Drosophila melanogaster.” Today, the 18-year-old is in her first year at the University of Toronto and has moved on to even loftier pursuits. Using a molecular compound she stumbled upon in high school, MacAlpine is developing a potential new drug for malaria, a parasitic disease that infects about 219 million people every year and is growing resistant to available drugs. If all goes according to plan, MacAlpine’s drug will be cheap, effective and accessible to people in the developing world. It will also be made from mustard oil.
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“Globally, we’re always in desperate need of another anti-malarial product,” said Ian Crandall, a U of T professor who has been working with MacAlpine at the Sandra A. Rotman Laboratories, where he is a principal investigator. “The interesting thing about what Jessie has been doing is (that) growing mustard oil is not something that requires a huge facility to do. If it’s kind of a natural product that can be used to treat malaria, then it’s something that’s worth looking into.” The daughter of an accountant and stay-at-home mom, MacAlpine knew she wanted to be a scientist as early as Grade 2, when she signed one of her homework assignments “Dr. Jessie MacAlpine.” By the time she graduated high school, she had already won a top prize at an international science fair, launched a research collaboration with U of T scientists and made two interesting discoveries in her basement lab — both of which she is now in the process of patenting. One of her patents is for a bioherbicide, which MacAlpine developed using molecular compounds found in garlic mustard plants and Tim Hortons coffee grounds. The other is a mustard-oil compound, allyl isothiocyanate — the stuff that gives mustard and wasabi its pungent kick — which she hopes to develop into a treatment.
The idea came to her in Grade 11, after reading a newspaper article about a potential treatment using herbicides. In the ’90s, scientists discovered that the parasite causing malaria — a species called Plasmodium — actually has plant genes because it evolved hundreds of millions of years ago from an ancient algae. These plant genes are essential to the parasite’s survival. So the thinking was: if herbicides killed plant genes, maybe they could kill malaria parasites too.
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“Since I’d spent the past two years developing a herbicide, I thought, ‘Ooh, maybe I can change my compound into a malaria drug,” she recalls. Other scientists worldwide are already working on new treatments that could target these plant genes; some have reached clinical trials. But as far as MacAlpine knows, no one has studied using mustard oil. While her early experiments have shown promise, her research is still in the very early stages. David Roos, a University of Pennsylvania biology professor whose lab helped confirm Plasmodium’s plant ancestry, applauds MacAlpine’s efforts but cautions that “the world is full of thousands and thousands of natural products that have been shown to be effective against malaria parasites (but) have not wound up as drugs.” For MacAlpine, success — if it ever comes — is at least 10 years and millions of dollars away. “It’s also important to remain realistic,” she notes. “There’s still a lot of tests that need to be done and a lot of work that needs to be completed for that dream to be realized.” But luckily for MacAlpine, age 18, there is plenty of time.Spain Toll Free Numbers are free to call numbers from landlines and mobiles in Spain. Spanish toll free numbers are formatted in the following way - 800 xxx xxx. Spain have also released 900 xxx xxx numbers as toll free due to the lack of availability of numbers. Our current stock is all 800 xxx xxx numbers.
A Spain 800 number will allow your customers to call you for free as you will be picking up the charge for the receipt of the call. Having a toll free number in Spain will encourage local callers to contact you if you are trying to sell a product or service. Other companies tend to use Spain toll free numbers as a customer support line, this can assist in keeping good relationships with your suppliers and customers.
Spain Toll Free Numbers - Mobile Access
If you would like people in Spain to call your toll free number then you will have to pay a Mobile Access Surcharge. This will be charged to you at 30p per minute at all times. If you would prefer not to receive calls from mobiles in Spain please let us know and we will block this element off for you.U.S. soldiers prepare for a live-fire exercise southeast of Baghdad, in January. Ahmad Al-Rubaye/AFP/Getty Images
America's drumbeat back to war in Iraq grew stronger Monday, with the announcement the White House has approved raising the number of U.S. troops deployed there to more than 4,000. The U.S. will also deploy attack helicopters, rocket-powered artillery and hundreds of millions of dollars more to support Iraq's fight against the Islamic State group.
Defense Secretary Ash Carter announced in Baghdad on Monday that the limit on U.S. forces stationed in Iraq would be lifted by 217, raising the cap to 4,087. Pentagon officials could not say where these troops would come from or when they would arrive but said they would perform roles in advising and training, protecting U.S. forces, maintaining aircraft and calling in fire support.
These new forces could be drawn from the hundreds of additional U.S. personnel already in Iraq but not counted under the official limit the White House has set, such as the Marines firing artillery from Firebase Bell outside the Iraqi city of Makhmour, Pentagon officials said. The true number of Americans in Iraq, believed to exceed 5,000, includes troops on "temporary" duty, such as these Marines, or forces poised to replace others.
Perhaps most significantly are the new authorities offered to U.S. forces, which will now be able to embed at the battalion level of the Iraqi army to plan and support operations – potentially bringing U.S. advisers much closer to the front lines than before. Americans had previously been limited to advising division- and brigade-level headquarters – much larger military formations that kept U.S. forces away from combat, though occasionally near fighting, such as in the retaking of Ramadi.
"Clearly with coalition help, the [Iraqi security forces] have momentum, particularly as they move on to Mosul. To that end, we are looking to leverage strategic opportunities to support Iraqis' fight against ISIL," Pentagon spokesman Navy Capt. Jeff Davis said Monday, using an alternative name for the Islamic State group.
Carter also announced the U.S. had agreed to employ Apache attack helicopters in support of Iraqi forces as they move to retake Mosul. These powerful weapons had been available in the Iraqi army's retaking of Ramadi, but the government chose not to call on them. American High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, or HIMARS, the truck-mounted rocket launchers, will also be available to the Iraqis.
The new American support to the Iraqi central government – which the Pentagon says is based on a request from Baghdad – includes $415 million the U.S. expects Baghdad will pass on to the Kurdistan Regional Government, which oversees the highly effective but ethnically focused Kurdish peshmerga fighting units.
"They will help the KRG overcome severe impacts from its internal budget crisis through directed assistance to its peshmerga units involved in the counter-ISIL fight," Davis said. This will include stipends to fighters and other economic shortfalls, and will come from funds already allocated to fight the Islamic State group.
Kurdish representatives have warned the Iraqi parliament in recent days that they might not be able to maintain their support in the fight against the Islamic State group due largely to ongoing budget shortfalls from the low price of oil. The need for American support in this effort signals both the fragility of Iraqi governance as well as concerns of continued ethnic marginalization from the majority Shiite Muslim-dominated government in Baghdad.WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. lawmakers plan to start drafting legislation this week aimed at keeping the Internet open without tighter “net neutrality” rules backed by the Obama administration, Republican leaders of the House and Senate Commerce committees said in an op-ed column on Reuters.com.
Pro-net neutrality Internet activists rally in the neighborhood where U.S. President Barack Obama attended a fundraiser in Los Angeles, California July 23, 2014. REUTERS/Jonathan Alcorn
Senate Commerce Chairman John Thune and House Energy and Commerce Chairman Fred Upton said they have come up with a working proposal and, working with lawmakers from both parties, planned to begin the process of publicly discussing and formally drafting legislation this week.
“By acting legislatively, we can set aside the baggage and limits of an antiquated legal framework and work with the Federal Communications Commission to ensure the Internet remains the beacon of freedom and connectivity that defines America in the 21st century,” they wrote.
At stake is what rules should govern how Internet service providers (ISPs) manage web traffic on their networks to make sure they treat all Internet content fairly.
The debate has raged for nearly a year, and FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler recently indicated he was leaning toward regulating ISPs more strictly under a section of the communications law known as Title II, which would treat them more like public utilities.
President Barack Obama had endorsed such an approach, which the ISPs and some Republicans reject even as they say they agree with some of the principle goals.
In Wednesday’s column, Thune and Upton said they proposed rules that would prohibit Internet service providers from blocking or throttling data, and from charging a premium to prioritize content delivery, but without the use of the “ill-fitting” tool of Title II.
White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters on Air Force One he was not aware of the lawmakers’ plan, but added: “If there are Republicans who share the president’s goal of preserving a free and open Internet, then we would of course work with them in pursuit of that goal.”
The FCC is slated to vote on new rules on Feb. 26, and broadband companies are expected to fight them in court.
U.S. Chamber of Commerce President Thomas Donohue on Wednesday also spoke against “efforts to regulate the Internet as if it were a 20th century public utility.”
“We need to develop better and smarter frameworks for data security and sharing,” he said, “but the system must remain open, flexible, and innovative, and excessive government regulation of the Internet would just kill that goose.”Roughly half of the $15 billion in tax breaks for superannuation contributions goes to the top 12 per cent of income earners, according to new research to be presented to the Senate this week.
The Australian Council of Social Service says the rest goes to the bottom 88 per cent, with those at the very bottom getting nothing, even after proposed reforms. The council will tell the Senate economics committee the proposed government contribution to the super funds of low-earning Australians would merely cut their tax penalty for putting money into super from 15 per cent to zero, leaving untouched the tax benefit for high earners of 32¢ in the dollar.
Seeking expert advice … Bill Shorten. Photo: Andrew Meares
"We spend more on super tax concessions for high income earners than it would cost to simply give them the pension," the council's tax policy officer, Peter Davidson, said.
"It's all the more wasteful because they are likely to save for their retirement anyway. High-income earners are unlikely to need either the pension or tax incentives."The Paris Attacks Were Probably All About the "Grayzone"
Dan Sanchez Blocked Unblock Follow Following Nov 13, 2015
Tragically, with today's attacks on Paris, the cycle continues apace. As I wrote in March:
“To take a more recent example, as Juan Cole convincingly argued, the unjust violence of the Charlie Hebdo attacks in Paris were meant to polarize or “sharpen the contradictions” between Muslims and non-Muslims in France by provoking unjustly violent oppression:
‘Al-Qaeda wants to mentally colonize French Muslims, but faces a wall of disinterest. But if it can get non-Muslim French to be beastly to ethnic Muslims on the grounds that they are Muslims, it can start creating a common political identity around grievance against discrimination.’ (…)
The neocons and the terrorist leaders, as Justin Raimondo put it, are “funhouse mirror counterparts” of each other. Both “see world events through a Manichean prism,” and seek to more completely realize that severe dualism by polarizing the world into two irreconcilable camps deadlocked in a civilizational Ragnarök. To this end, each pursues innocent-consuming savagery, and each counts on and even hopes for like savagery from the other.”
From “The Symbiosis of Savagery.”
In fact, as I just learned tonight on Twitter, in one of its own publications following that attack, ISIS wrote of driving to “extinction” the “grayzone” between Islamic extremism and “the crusader coalition.” Again, it's all about using terrorism to "sharpen the contradictions" and polarize the world.
And now indeed French president Hollande has said, “To all those who have seen these awful things, I want to say we are going to lead a war which will be pitiless.”
And there are even unconfirmed reports of a Calais migrant camp being set on fire.
Enough with this madness. Break the damn cycle. Stop being manipulated by extremists on both sides. This is the only world we have.Introduction
At Intersec we chose the C programming language because it gives us a full control on what we’re doing, and achieves a high level of performances. For many people, performance is just about using as few CPU instructions as possible. However, on modern hardware it’s much more complicated than just CPU. Algorithms have to deal with memory, CPU, disk and network I/Os… Each of them adds to the cost of the algorithm and each of them must be properly understood in order to guarantee both the performance and the reliability of the algorithm.
The impact of CPU (and as a consequence, the algorithmic complexity) on performances is well understood, as are disk and network latencies. However the memory seems much less understood. As our experience with our customers shows, even the output of widely used tools, such as top, are cryptic to most system administrators.
This post is the first in a series of five about memory. We will deal with topics such as the definition of memory, how it is managed, how to read the output of tools… This series will address subjects that will be of interest for both developers and system administrators. While most rules should apply to most modern operating systems, we’ll talk more specifically about Linux and the C programming language.
We’re not the first ones to write about memory. In particular, we’d like to highlight the high quality paper by Ulricht Drepper: What every programmer should know about memory.
This first post will provide a definition of memory. It supposes at least a basic knowledge of notions such as an address or a process. It also often deals with subjects such as system calls and the difference between user-land and kernel mode, however, what you need to know is that your process (user-land) runs above the kernel that itself talks to the hardware, and that system calls let your process talks to the kernel in order to request more resources. You can get details about the system calls by reading their respective manual pages.
Virtual Memory
On modern operating systems, each process lives in its own memory allocation space. Instead of mapping memory addresses directly to hardware addresses, the operating system serves as a hardware abstraction layer and creates a virtual memory space for each process. The mapping between the physical memory address and the virtual address is done by the CPU using a per-process translation table maintained by the kernel (each time the kernel changes the running process on a specific CPU core, it changes the translation table of that CPU).
Virtual memory has several purposes. First, it allows process isolation. A process in userland can only express memory accesses as addresses in the virtual memory. As a consequence it can only access data that has been previously mapped in its own virtual space and thus cannot access the memory of other processes (unless explicitly shared).
The second purpose is the abstraction of the hardware. The kernel is free to change the physical address to which a virtual address is mapped. It can also choose not to provide any physical memory for a specific virtual address until it becomes actually needed. Moreover it can swap out the memory to disk when it has not been used for a long time and the system is getting short of physical memory. This globally gives a lot of freedom to the kernel, its only constraint is that when the program reads the memory it actually finds what it previously wrote there.
The third purpose is the possibility to give addresses to things that are not actually in RAM. This is the principle behind mmap and mapping files. You can give a virtual memory address to a file so that it can be accessed as if it was a memory buffer. This is a very useful abstraction that helps keeping the code quite simple and, since on 64-bit systems you have a huge virtual space1, if you want, you can map your whole hard drive to the virtual memory.
The fourth purpose is sharing. Since the kernel knows what process is mapped in virtual space of the various running processes, it can avoid loading stuff twice in memory and make the virtual addresses of processes that use the same resources point to the same physical memory (even if the actual virtual address is specific to each process). A consequence of sharing is the use of copy-on-write (COW) by the kernel: when two processes use the same data but one of them modifies it while the other one is not allowed to see the change, the kernel will make the copy when the data get modified. More recently, operating systems have also gained the ability to detect identical memory in several address spaces and automatically make them map to the same physical memory (marking them as subject to COW)2, on Linux this is called KSM (Kernel SamePage Merging).
fork()
The best known use case of COW is fork(). On Unix-like systems, fork() is the system call that creates a process by duplicating the current one. When fork() returns, both processes continue at exactly the same point, with the same opened files and the same memory. Thanks to COW, fork() will not duplicate the memory of a process when you fork it, only data that are modified by either the parent of the child get duplicated in RAM. Since most uses of fork() are immediately followed by a call to exec() that invalidates the whole virtual memory addressing space, the COW mechanism avoids a full useless copy of the memory of the parent process.
Another side effect, is that fork() creates a snapshot of the (private) memory of a process at little cost. If you want to perform some operation on the memory of a process without taking the risk of it to be modified under your feet, and don’t want to add a costly and error-prone locking mechanism, just fork, do your work and communicate the result of your computation back to your parent process (by return code, file, shared memory, pipe, …).
This will work extremely well as long as your computation is fast-enough so that a large part of the memory remains shared between both the parent and the child processes. This also helps keeping your code simple, the complexity is hidden in the virtual-memory code of the kernel, not in yours.
Pages
The virtual memory is divided in pages. The size of a page size is imposed by the CPU and is usually 4KiB3. What this means is that memory management in the kernel is done with a granularity of a page. When you require new memory, the kernel will give you one or more pages, when you release memory, you release one or more pages… Every finer-grained API (e.g. malloc ) is implemented in user land.
For each allocated page, the kernel keeps a set of permissions: the page can be readable, writable and/or executable (note that not all combinations are possible). These permissions are set either while mapping the memory or by using the mprotect() system call afterward. Pages that have not been allocated yet, are not accessible. When you try to perform a forbidden action on a page (for example, reading data from a page without the read permission), you’ll trigger (on Linux) a Segmentation Fault. As a side note, you may see that since the segmentation fault has a granularity of a page, you may perform out-of-buffer accesses that don’t lead to a segfault.
Memory Types
Not all memory allocated in the virtual memory space is the same. We can classify it through two axis: the first axis is whether memory is private (specific to that process) or shared, the second axis is whether the memory is file-backed or not (in which case it is said the be anonymous). This creates a classification with 4 memory classes:
Private Shared Anonymous 1 stack malloc() mmap(ANON, PRIVATE) brk()/sbrk() 1 2 3 4 stack malloc() mmap(ANON, PRIVATE) brk()/sbrk() 2 mmap(ANON, SHARED) 1 mmap(ANON, SHARED) File-Backed 3 mmap(fd, PRIVATE) binary/shared libraries 1 2 mmap(fd, PRIVATE) binary/shared libraries 4 mmap(fd, SHARED) 1 mmap(fd, SHARED)
Private Memory
Private memory is, as its name says, memory that is specific to the process. Most of the memory you deal with in a program is actually private memory.
Since changes made in private memory are not visible to other processes, it is subject to copy-on-write. As a side-effect, this means that even if the memory is private, several processes might share the same physical memory to store the data. In particular, this is the case for binary files and shared libraries. A common misbelief is that KDE takes a lot of RAM because every single process loads Qt and the KDElibs, however, thanks to the COW mechanism, all the processes will use the exact same physical memory for the read-only parts of those libs.
In case of file-backed private memory, the changes made by the process are not written back to the underlying file, however changes made to the file may or may not be made available to the process.
Shared Memory
Shared memory is something designed for inter-process communication. It can only be created by explicitly requesting it using the right mmap() call or a dedicated call ( shm* ). When a process writes in a shared memory, the modification is seen by all the processes that map the same memory.
In case the memory is file-backed, any process mapping the file will see the changes in the file since those changes are propagated through the file itself.
Anonymous Memory
Anonymous memory is purely in RAM. However, the kernel will not actually map that memory to a physical address before it gets actually written. As a consequence, anonymous memory does not add any pressure on the kernel before it is actually used. This allows a process to “reserve” a lot of memory in its virtual memory address space without really using RAM. As a consequence, the kernel lets you reserve more memory than actually available. This behavior is often referenced as over-commit (or memory overcommitment).
File-backed and Swap
When a memory map is file-backed, the data is loaded from the disk. Most of the time, it is loaded on demand, however, you can give hints to the kernel so that it can prefetch memory ahead of read. This helps keeping your program snappy when you know you have a particular pattern of accesses (mostly sequential accesses). In order to avoid using too much RAM, you can also tell the kernel that you don’t care to have the pages in RAM anymore without unmapping the memory. All this is done using the madvise() system call.
When the system falls short of physical memory, the kernel will try to move some data from RAM to the disk. If the memory is file-backed and shared, this is quite easy. Since the file is the source of the data, it is just removed from RAM, then the next time it will be read, it will be loaded from the file.
The kernel can also choose to remove anonymous/private memory from RAM. In which case that data is written in a specific place on disk. It’s said to be swapped out. On Linux, the swap is usually stored in a specific partition, on other systems this can be specific files. Then, it just works the same way it works for file-backed memory: when it gets accessed, it is read from the disk and reloaded in RAM.
Thanks to the use of a virtual addressing space, swapping pages in and out is totally transparent for the process… what is not, though, is the latency induced by the disk I/O.
We’ve covered here some important notions about memory. While we talked a few times about physical memory and the difference with reserved address spaces, we avoided dealing with the actual memory pressure of the process. We will address that topic and describe some tools that let you understand the memory consumption of a process in the next article.Tor.com is pleased to reveal the Yuko Shimizu cover for Monstrous Affection, an anthology of beastly tales edited by Kelly Link and Gavin J. Grant! Fifteen top voices in speculative fiction explore the intersection of fear and love in a haunting, at times hilarious, darkly imaginative volume, available this September from Candlewick Press.
Shimizu also created the artwork for Link and Grant’s previous anthology, Steampunk!, also with Candlewick Press. For |
his other films, to the National Rifle Association, as part of the NRA's exhibit "Real Guns of Reel Heroes" at the National Firearms Museum in Fairfax, Virginia.[6]
The movie was filmed entirely in Australia. Scenes were filmed in and around Warrnambool and Apollo Bay, Victoria.[7]
Although several scenes of the story depict violence and cruelty toward and involving animals, a film spokesperson explained that no animal was harmed, and special effects were used. For example, Quigley and Cora are reduced to consuming "grub worms" (actually blobs of dough) for survival. A pack of dingoes attacks Cora, and she finally saves herself by shooting the animals. Those animals were specially trained, and were actually "playing" for that scene, which was later enhanced by visual and sound effects. Several scenes involve falling horses; they were performed by specially-trained animals and were not hurt. When a horse falls off a cliff, the "horse" was a mechanical creation. The film's producer stated that a veterinarian was on the set whenever animals were being used in filming.[8]
Reception [ edit ]
Critical responses were mixed, with Quigley having a 56% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.[9] Roger Ebert gave the film two-and-a-half out of four stars, arguing that it was a flawed but respectable neo-western, and particularly praising San Giacomo's performance: "[T]his may be the movie that proves her staying power. [...] She has an authority, a depth of presence, that is attractive, and her voice is deep and musical."[10]
The film, however, was not a financial success in theaters, roughly recouping its budget.
The film, and more specifically the protagonist's skill with his rifle, has led snipers to refer to the act of killing two targets with a single bullet as 'a Quigley'.[11]
Awards and nominations [ edit ]
See also [ edit ]From Tuesday evening onwards a long letter from one Biswajit Roy, a journalist, victim of the massive retrenchment in ‘The Telegraph’ news paper of ABP group has been making the rounds in WhatsApp. His more than 1000-words open letter exposes the sheer autocratic mindset of Indian “oligarch” media owners and journalist leaders, who preach Freedom of Expression and values of morality in public life.
As no media house will publish the terminated staffer’s gut-wrenching letter, we have decided to publish the full letter for public understanding to expose the unethical activities in the media world, which talks big on morality. The Telegraph news paper belongs to Ananda Bazar Patrika (ABP) Group and is owned by Aveek Sarkar and his younger brother Arup Sarkar.
This letter shows the duplicity of media owners who brag as custodians of Freedom of Expression and involve in dubious deals for building personal empires. “Perhaps it’s easy to defy Trump, Modi or Mamta than taking on the behemoths inside media empires that goaded us to bask under the vainglory of independent journalism only under their strict control,” writes Roy, on how he was kicked out all of a sudden in the evening by Telegraph.
Here is Biswajit Roy’s letter exposing the Indian media owners and journalist union leaders:
Finally I resigned from The Telegraph, albeit under duress like 700 odd fired journalists and non-journalists in the ABP Group. Twenty journalists including 17 district correspondents in TT Bengal reporting have lost their jobs in this round.
The ABP management did not allow me to write my resignation letter but got me signed on a one line format that had no mention of the company’s current culling of its workforce. Instead, it pretended that I left out of my free will. Neither had I received a written assurance on the details of the ‘special package’ and statutory dues when I had to sign another format about payments. One of editorial bosses countersigned the latter as I asked for a promissory note from the management. My HR handler told that the company would not commit formally to an individual (even if the job contract was between the company and me as individual) but no reason was offered. I had to insist for the photocopies of the two papers. The pressure on me to put in my resignation at the earliest was aimed at accomplishing the management’s mission by this month.
Although I would be released on March 1, my access to the office computer system was deactivated even before I tendered my resignation. It was meant to make me feel completely unwanted.
Also I was asked to surrender my entry swipe card. The arm-twisting tactics was evident as I was told that the processing of my dues would not begin unless I comply with. I became an outsider effectively on the very day. Now I would have to call or meet HR/accounts or editorial nodal men and meet them at the reception, if they want, to get my dues cleared. So I am at the mercy of the management to receive the fruits of its benevolence after serving the house for20 plus years.
I am told to trust the company which did not think twice before humiliating and firing 700 odd men and women in the name of financial crisis but never bother to explain or discuss with the staffs on ways to overcome it. It did not bother to offer us an honorable exit or an amicable separation except a unilateral but informal assurance of a soothing package. Instead, a piece of paper handed over to the victims revealed the Orwellian absurdity of the world of ABP’s HR mandarins. It offered us help from career counselors, psychiatrists and tax consultants except an audience with the top guns or some exchange of parting messages, not even the corporate niceties like the exit interviews.
Like Kafka’s Castle, we never reached the sanctum sanctorum of the media empire unless the presiding demigods wanted us to do so. Their high priests who are now manning the castle watchtowers are trying their best to behave like compassionate killers. But they may not know when and how the axe will fall on them. Those in the newsroom carried the defiant note by Columbia Journalism Review in the wake of America becoming the Trumpland or mocked Modi and Mamta for their megalomania, hardly showed the same courage of conviction when they were asked to change tunes from time and time as it suited the super bosses. If professionalism is the convenient euphemism for their meek submission, I expected them to protect the lambs they had shepherded so far, if not the perpetual prodigals like me. But sadly, that did not happen. Perhaps it’s easy to defy Trump, Modi or Mamta than taking on the behemoths inside media empires that goaded us to bask under the vainglory of independent journalism only under their strict control.
The all pervasive fear and deafening silence down the line is more alarming. I could not bid adieu digitally to my younger colleagues in the reporting since my access to internal system was locked. I thought of taking leave of everybody in person. But the silence and indifference was chilling as none met my eyes. It was the girl at the reception who said: ‘good bye sir’. There was some personal touch. And, I felt like crying. For the humiliation heaped on me at the fag end of my career, for the loneliness I suffered for my defiance, above all, for the shame of my inability to fight back.
The cowardice of my community leaders before the media owners is even more depressing. Despite the concerted attacks on journalists and non-journalists livelihoods across the country by the media barons they are keeping mum. “What can we do!” a Kolkata Press club office-bearer who himself has suffered termination just before his retirement told me when I asked him to call a meeting covering all the affected houses. If his reply was typical of a man who had resigned to his fate and wanted to reap the benefits out of losses at the end of his career, the deafening silence of community elders and bodies in Kolkata and elsewhere will surely invite further onslaughts on young men and women in the profession in a short time. If the latter is behaving like proverbial ostriches at the time of sandstorm, it the older jackasses with rubber spines are to be blamed more.
Kolkata Press club has managed to hold protest meetings and marches against ruling party or police attacks on journalists at different times despite the opposition and sabotage by the cronies of the rulers of the day, both at the state and centre. But I don’t remember any protest meet, let alone a march, against the media Mughals in my 30 plus years in the profession.
Many watchdogs of democracy bark at the perceived or real intruders, often expecting pats from its masters. But unlike the real canines they never bark at or bite the abusive and cruel masters. They are better at drowning their grief in the drinks after sundown while networking for change of masters. But the problem is that the masters are far and fewer now while our tribe has a baby boom. Pedigrees are rare and most of us are mongrels hardly having any taker. Mongrels are doomed if we follow the assorted asslickers who are relishing lairs of shit for good life, usually licking political and corporate masters by turn. My collar is rusted and my bones are weary. Hope someday some young canines will take up the barking and if needed, biting too.
BISWAJIT ROYAcademy Award voters have until tomorrow at 5 p.m. to turn in their nomination ballots, and when the nominations are announced on January 16, there will be six whole weeks to cry and carp about who was robbed. The following list isn’t intended to remind voters that Amy Adams in American Hustle and Leonardo DiCaprio in The Wolf of Wall Street deserve to be on their ballots. This is a list of performances that have a slim-to-none chance of being nominated. They’re already robbed.
Oscar Isaac, Inside Llewyn Davis
When you see Isaac in a movie, you ask, who is that? He’s got an offbeat handsomeness. He’s ethnically ambiguous, and never going for too much. The Coen brothers cast him as the title character in their folk-scene comedy and got more, I think, than they could have predicted. What Isaac has goes beyond talent and skill (he has both). Llewyn is a narcissist and a snob. He’s self-sabotaging, too. But for reasons that have everything to do with what’s not on the page, you feel for him. What Isaac has is intangible: confidence, sexiness, comfort, soul, cool. It can’t be taught or learned, just harnessed and deployed. Inside Llewyn Davis would have worked without Isaac, but with him it’s a stronger movie. With him, it sings.
Alfre Woodard, 12 Years a Slave
Of all the devastating work done in this movie, the performance that stuck with me most is one of the briefest. Woodard appears for one scene in which her character — a slave turned plantation mistress — sits on a porch and explains how she acquired her comfortable position. Woodward applies lyricism and musicality that sting. This is a woman who has already wept and bled. What Woodard plays is the bitter flower that’s arisen from the scar.
Mickey Sumner, Frances Ha
My ambivalence about this movie never reached Sumner. She made Greta Gerwig’s diffidence make sense for as long as she was around. Sumner has a sad face that dark hair and horn-rim glasses only accentuate. But she performed with all the conviction that Gerwig used to stay in one spot (Gerwig is the flightiest comedian never to actually take off). I didn’t go into this movie thinking Sumner was much of an actor — Trudie Styler and Sting are her parents; it seemed to run in the family. Plus, I’d seen her aptly cast as Patti Smith in CBGB, nearly the worst movie of last year. But I left thinking she had strong presence. That appears to run in the family, too.
Cuba Gooding Jr., Lenny Kravitz, and Colman Domingo, Lee Daniels’ The Butler
So much about this movie is so loopy. But the historical absurdism in the White House is never upstaged by the camaraderie among the men providing the service. They all help relax Forest Whitaker’s rigidity. Gooding supplies the obscenity, Kravitz the steadiness, and Domingo, in another part of the house, a dab of queeny snobbiness. The temperature of any Daniels movie is hot, but with these three he generates something that’s almost better: warmth.
Julianne Moore, Don Jon
Maybe we’re still recovering from the 30 Rock accent, maybe we know too well all the tics (the stammering, the open-mouth dry-heave crying jag). But we’re taking this woman’s general excellence for granted. She’s so good so often that it’s starting not to mean anything. That’s a crime. This year, she was good in two so-so movies (What Maisie Knew and Carrie) and brilliant in Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s more than so-so Don Jon. It didn’t seem like a promising character: a single, middle-aged night-school stoner. But Moore gave the part all her sensuousness and wise humor. When she shows Gordon-Levitt how to make love to her, you’re not noticing her actorly technique. You’re taking notes.
Scarlett Johansson, Don Jon and Her
I don’t like that we’re calling her “ScarJo.” When you’ve got talent, a name like that cheapens your aura. Elizabeth Taylor detested being called Liz. (JLaw, beware!) With Johansson, the nickname obscures how much better she’s gotten. This is the rare actress who, in a decade or so, has traveled from arguably overrated to severely underrated. She spent a season doing Arthur Miller on Broadway and became a creatively richer performer who, in Don Jon, understood how to use her body and, in Her, dared to work without it. In Jonathan Glazer’s upcoming Under the Skin it’s back to being physical, but soulfully, inventively. Still, it’s thrilling to think that Johansson’s voice might be body enough.
Toni Servillo, The Great Beauty
It’s possible you’re reading this name and thinking I have no idea who that is. Stop reading this right now and find his photo, not accepting an award (he has a few), but in character. Actually, just watch him work — as part of the ensemble in Matteo Garrone’s Gomorrah or any of the five movies he’s made with Paolo Sorrentino, including this one. Servillo plays a jaundiced socialite turned self-satirizing novelist amid morally decayed Roman aristocracy. Observant boredom shouldn’t be this acrobatic. But Servillo is the sort of great, appetizing actor who seems like he’s in motion even when he’s standing still.
Sally Hawkins, Blue Jasmine
Sure, Cate Blanchett: from here to eternity. Her crackpot head case was simply the most magnificent contribution to Woody Allen’s mostly magnificent movie. (It has really grown on me.) But Hawkins matches Blanchett’s fragility with steeliness and brittleness of her own. She has a masterly hotel-room scene with Andrew Dice Clay (who’s very good, too) that turns sitcom into sensual theater. With Blanchett, Hawkins’s coquettishness dissipates. She’s breathless, windswept, and flummoxed, this small town leveled again by a tornado.
Cameron Diaz, The Counselor
Alex Pappademas has already paid her a great tribute. But I pray the movies let Diaz stay around whatever corner she turned as the secret puppet master in this roundly rejected, instantly underappreciated Cormac McCarthy/Ridley Scott horror-comedy. She gave her sexiness and comedy a hard, lacquered finish, going crazy without going too far. Even as she made love to a car windshield, she had all the control. That’s what was so exhilarating about her here. Our pulse went up because hers didn’t.
Jon Bernthal, Snitch, Grudge Match, The Wolf of Wall Street
The first time I noticed Bernthal in a movie, he was playing Ewan McGregor’s overeager literary agent in Roman Polanski’s The Ghost Writer, and he wasn’t that good. He didn’t know how to handle the lines. But he had something — an unusually handsome face (his nose looks like it’s still broken) and an athlete’s charisma. When he popped up opposite Dwayne Johnson in Snitch as an ex-con dragged, nobly, back into crime, I couldn’t believe it was the same actor. Bernthal brought gentleness and texture to a part that didn’t need either. He did the same as the son of Kim Basinger and an estranged Robert De Niro in Grudge Match and as a risibly macho drug dealer in The Wolf of Wall Street.
In all three movies, he could be a variation on a goon, but he locates the person in the part, even in a cartoon like his Long Island pusher (right now he’s playing a gangster in TNT’s Mob City; he was Al Capone in the second Night at the Museum and also spent two seasons on The Walking Dead). I’ve come to love Bernthal in these movies because he seems to go beyond what’s necessary in order to reach what’s true for him as an actor. He also looks like he comes from somewhere, ethnically and class-wise. He’s like Oscar Isaac that way: suddenly incapable of not making a movie more interesting.
Dwayne Johnson, Pain & Gain
The awards people might be forgetting the complexity of his performance in Michael Bay’s caper comedy. I haven’t. Initially, it seemed he was going for a send-up of himself. But he took his juiced-up, coked-out idiot bodybuilder to the fun house. He’s the tragicomedy the rest of the movie can’t live up to. There’s a sequence in which he’s tasked to help dispose of bodies, and his high-energy nincompoopery distracts from the gratuitous grossness of the scene. Johnson is an action star — a good one (I liked him a lot driving a semi, in terror, for one tense scene in Snitch). But there’s more to him than that. This is it.
Matthew McConaughey, The Wolf of Wall Street
He has only one scene in this movie. But it’s crucial. He has to seduce Leonardo DiCaprio’s finance-industry rookie into a life of addiction and corruption and make us see what a young broker would see in him. He flutters his hands and drums on his chest and moans the film’s caveman theme song, all while laying out the terms of malfeasance that set the movie’s gluttonous tone. It’s hard to mistake his macho grandiloquence and the maniacal greed it provokes as anything but absurdism. McConaughey’s probably Oscar-bound for fighting AIDS in Dallas Buyers Club. But I’ll always take him doing Robert Duvall in Apocalypse Now over Tom Hanks in Philadelphia.
Paula Patton, Baggage Claim
Is this another opportunity to write about how much I love Patton? Well, this is me taking advantage of it. This movie wasn’t a hit. I heard it was terrible. That’s not the movie I saw. I saw a romantic comedy that Patton rode like a bronco. She has a great movie ditz’s sense of timing and respiration, and even in crap, it’s something to see. At the risk of endorsing remakes, is anybody doing Private Benjamin? Would those people please hurry up and put Patton in it?
Yolanda Ross and Edward James Olmos, Go for Sisters
You can rethink blaxploitation a dozen ways. John Sayles’s approach is to treat the genre as it elementally is: action movies born of social reality. Doing so lets Ross, as an ex-con, and Olmos, as a beached LAPD detective, explore characters instead of attitudes. Ross’s bodaciousness isn’t the first thing you notice. First, it’s how contrition mellows the hard edges of her face. Then you notice that this woman is all charisma. Olmos is still — still! — being asked to play Mexicali gangsters (he acquitted himself with menace in Two Guns). This was an emotional vacation. He’s dour and craggy and put-out, but he’s in the kind of foul mood only a veteran could humorously sustain. He’s following the plot, but he’s playing a moment of regret.
Rooney Mara, Jude Law, and Catherine Zeta-Jones, Side Effects
Steven Soderbergh’s movie was too frigid to be a bigger hit than it was. All that chill came straight from the women, while Law, who had a good time working with Soderbergh, tries to understand why it’s so cold. Mara is the sort of actor who can seem like she’s acting inside a coffin. Here that’s a strategy rather than a pose. And Zeta-Jones is a star who’s really good with deviousness. When she’s not doing musicals, she should do mischief. The movie’s about Big Pharma shell games. Had this movie come out three weeks ago, we might be talking about these three the way we’re talking about another group of actors. This was an American hustle, too.SANTA CLARA, Calif. – For years, the San Jose Earthquakes have bristled at the notion that their style – even when it was generating a franchise-record 72 goals in 2012 – made them the Stoke City of MLS.
With the hiring of Mark Watson as the club’s new full-time coach, general manager John Doyle wants to chart a dramatically new stylistic course – copying the blueprint from one of the world’s best clubs.
“Who would we like to play like? Like Bayern Munich,” Doyle said Wednesday in his season wrap-up with reporters. “I think we want to be dominant on set pieces. We want to be able to keep the ball.... We need to be able to play different ways.”
That’s not to say that Doyle thinks the Quakes are going to match the quality of Thomas Müller, Franck Ribéry, Arjen Robben or Bastian Schweinsteiger – “Obviously, the talent level [of Bayern] is pretty high,” Doyle said with a laugh. But it does mean that he wants to be able to attack from multiple locations on the field, in the same way that the UEFA Champions League title-holders can strike from anywhere.
WATCH: 40 years of Quakes soccer
That desire dovetails neatly with the philosophy of Doyle’s new coach. Taking over in midseason on an interim basis without much chance to change offensive personnel, Watson continued the Quakes’ high rate of attacks derived from the wing play of Shea Salinas and Cordell Cato.
After signing a multi-year deal Wednesday, Watson said that he will be seeking to bring more diversity to the Quakes attack as the club moves forward this offseason.
“We like it when our wide players get the ball and are really dynamic going forward. But I wouldn’t say that’s Option A,” Watson said. “Sometimes, open up the field and keep the ball and pick your moments and try to attack. Other times, if you’re being pressed and you’re in a dangerous area, I want to play off the strikers.
"I don’t think it’s [an edict], ‘We are going to play this way.’ I want our players to be aware of making good decisions on the ball, and being versatile in the fact that we want to be able to break teams down in different ways.”
To that end, Doyle said that his top two targets for offseason acquisitions are help in the center of midfield and a front-running striker with pace enough to stretch opposing back lines.
That would put pressure on midfielders Rafael Baca and Sam Cronin – who often played what seemed to be an “empty bucket” style under Yallop, tasked with winning back balls and cycling them to the wings. It would also turn the microscope on target forwards Alan Gordon and Steven Lenhart, who enjoyed career years in 2012 but failed to match those heights this season for a variety of reasons.
“I would say we’ve identified those players for four to five months, where we’ve seen a need for those positions,” Doyle said. “We always have a running scouting list.... There’s players [available] that we’re very interested in right now.”
Geoff Lepper covers the San Jose Earhquakes for MLSsoccer.com.The Supreme Court has directed all cinema halls in the country to play the national anthem before a film. The SC says citizens must respect the anthem and the flag and orders that nobody can print the anthem on any undesirable object. What the undesirable objects are has not been specified. The court said there can be no commercial exploitation of the anthem. SC directs people in cinema halls to stand up when the anthem is played. The National Flag should be shown on screen when the anthem is played. SC directs that no commercial benefits be taken by a person by playing the anthem. SC directs Centre that the order should be given effect in a week's time and be circulated to all the states and Union Territories. Details awaited.In 2014, 12-year-old Tamir Rice was playing with BB gun in an Cleveland, Ohio park when he was shot dead by a police officer who mistook his toy gun for a real firearm. On Thursday, the Assembly took a step toward ensuring that the same fate does not befall children in New Jersey when they voted to advance legislation that would ban the sale of realistic toy guns in the state.
“The death of Tamir Rice was a tragic wake-up that realistic looking toy guns can prove just as great of a threat as a real one,” said bill co-sponsor Assemblywoman Angela McKnight (D-Hudson). “For the sake of children in all of our communities, we need to eliminate any ambiguities that could threaten their safety.”
If enacted, New Jersey’s legislation would require toy firearms to meet certain criteria. Toy guns could no longer be be black, blue, silver or aluminum in color, must be marked with an orange strip that runs the entire length of each side of the toy gun’s barrel and meet certain dimension criteria, an expansion of federal regulations that only require an orange tip on toy guns. According to sponsors, those criteria will help law enforcement officers make accurate determinations about the authenticity of a firearm and will potentially save lives.
“Unfortunately, when a law enforcement officer is called to a scene and has to make a split-second decision, it can be difficult to differentiate between a real weapon and an imitation,” said bill co-sponsor Assemblywoman Sheila Oliver in a statement. “If the officer is wrong in assuming that a toy is a real weapon, it can result in tragedy for a child at play. If the officer hesitates, believing that a real weapon is a toy, it can result in tragedy for the officer. By putting restrictions on the sale of replica weapons, we can get to the root of this disturbing problem.”
The legislation was approved with 57 yes votes, 16 no votes, and three abstentions. It will now move to the state Senate for consideration and, if passed, will go to the governor’s desk. While the legislation targets only toy guns, Gov. Chris Christie has been hesitant to sign legislation relating to gun control in the past.
If passed, New Jersey will join a number of states including New York and who have already enacted similar bans on realistic toy weapons.One of the biggest moments of the NHL offseason arrives Saturday at 11 a.m. CT when free agency opens. All 31 teams will be competing to sign the top players on the open market, a group that includes Joe Thornton, Alexander Radulov, Kevin Shattenkirk, and Karl Alzner.
The Chicago Blackhawks, lacking in cap space as usual, probably won’t be able to land any players like that (even though rumors have tied them to Alzner). They’re currently over the $75 million upper limit, per Cap Friendly, so they’ll need to make further moves just to be compliant by opening day.
But with the opening of free agency coming so soon, now is a good time to take tabs on the Blackhawks’ entire situation, and what they can do to tackle their issues over the next few weeks. Big changes already came to Chicago this summer. It doesn’t seem like the team is done yet.
So here’s our guide to the Blackhawks’ foray into 2017 free agency.
Current salary cap breakdown Position Player Cap hit Position Player Cap hit Forward Patrick Kane $10,500,000 Forward Jonathan Toews $10,500,000 Forward Brandon Saad $6,000,000 Forward Marian Hossa $5,275,000 Forward Artem Anisimov $4,550,000 Forward Marcus Kruger $3,083,000 Forward Richard Panik $2,800,000 Forward John Hayden $925,000 Forward Nick Schmaltz $925,000 Forward Ryan Hartman $863,333 Forward Tomas Jurco $800,000 Forward Tanner Kero $750,000 Forward Vinnie Hinostroza $717,500 Forward Jordin Tootoo $700,000 Defenseman Brent Seabrook $6,875,000 Defenseman Duncan Keith $5,538,462 Defenseman Connor Murphy $3,850,000 Defenseman Jan Rutta $925,000 Defenseman Michal Kempny $900,000 Defenseman Gustav Forsling $872,500 Defenseman Michal Rozsival $650,000 Goaltender Corey Crawford $6,000,000 Goaltender Anton Forsberg $750,000 SALARY CAP OVERAGE $3,558,000 TOTAL CAP HITS $78,307,795 SALARY CAP $75,000,000 CAP SPACE -$3,307,795
So... not great!
They’re over $3 million over the cap right now with a full roster. Maybe the team won’t carry 14 forwards for the start of the season, so you can chop off a little space there, but before any trades or long-term injured reserve savings, this team is not close to cap compliant.
They’ll need to clear cap space to make moves
One of them will likely involve Marian Hossa and long-term injured reserve, which would create an exception for the Hawks to go $5.275 million over the cap. It’s important to note what a complicated matter that is, however. Despite all the talk about the Hawks doing this to circumvent salary cap rules, it’s fair to say that they’d be a better team with Hossa in the mix than as an LTIR option, despite his age.
The problem with LTIR is timing. If Hossa goes on LTIR before the start of the season, the Hawks have an extra $5.275 million to use this summer, but their ability to accrue salary cap space in season that can be used before the trade deadline will be weakened. If he goes on LTIR following opening day, that’s not an issue, but the Hawks won’t be able to use that $5.275 million in space until mid-October, when there aren’t exactly a bunch of great players available.
So GM Stan Bowman has a tricky situation on his hands, and that’s assuming the NHL doesn’t do anything weird by trying to say Hossa can’t go on LTIR. They haven’t decided one way or another yet for some reason, but they need to soon because otherwise they’re putting the Blackhawks at a disadvantage in free agency without the knowledge of their complete cap situation. Luckily, all indications are that this is simply the NHL following its process before making the decision we all expect anyway.
The other way to clear cap space will obviously be trades.
More trades are possible, including Marcus Kruger
Despite all the rumors of a Kruger trade, he’s still here. This hasn’t been confirmed, but it’s fair to wonder whether this is because he has a $2 million bonus set to be paid on Saturday as part of his $3.475 million salary for the 2017-18 season.
If the Hawks wait until that signing bonus is paid, they could ship him and his $3.083 million cap hit to another team, which would be on the hook for the full cap hit, but only a salary of $1.475 million. His deal is also front-loaded, so it’d be a similar deal for 2018-19, when he makes $2 million on a $3.083 million cap hit.
Kruger isn’t a valuable asset given his contract, but he becomes immediately more valuable when his payments total $3.475 million on cap hits of $6.16 million over two years.
The other notable matter coming Saturday is that Kruger has a modified no-trade clause going into effect that allows him to submit a list of seven teams he can block trades to, per Cap Friendly.
But that still leaves 24 teams available, so while Kruger could conceivably build a blocked list that includes most teams that’d be desperate to reach the cap floor, he’ll be an immediately more appealing asset with such a large gap between his cap hits and actual money owed.
That would only shed $3.083 million, though, so it’s fair to wonder what else the Blackhawks might have up their sleeve. Most likely, the Artemi Panarin and Niklas Hjalmarsson trades were the biggest moves of the summer, but given how aggressive the Hawks have been, it seems like the door has been opened to other possibilities.
Projected cap space scenarios
So with all those moving pieces in mind, here’s how much cap space the Blackhawks could free up depending on what they do with Hossa and Kruger. We’re also going to assume the team only carries 13 forwards, so we’re removing Vinnie Hinostroza’s $717,500 cap hit for this exercise, as well. Keep in mind that other trades could shake up this situation even further.
Hossa on LTIR before opening day, Kruger traded: $69.23 million in total cap hits; $5.77 million in available space
Hossa on LTIR after opening day, Kruger traded: $74.51 million in total cap hits; $492,705 in available space
Hossa on LTIR before opening day, Kruger retained: $72.32 million in total cap hits; $2.68 million in available space
Hossa on LTIR after opening day, Kruger retained: Over the cap, not gonna work.
If the Hawks trade Kruger and give up in-season flexibility by placing Hossa on LTIR before the season starts, they could have almost $6 million to spend on Saturday. That could lead to one or two significant additions.
If they simply trade Kruger and don’t use LTIR on Hossa until the season starts, they’re basically cornered into standing pat right now.
There’s no scenario where the Hawks could avoid all of these moves entirely. Either Hossa goes on LTIR before the season, or guys are getting traded. Possibly both if the Hawks really want to make a free agent splash.
Possible targets
This is where the amount of cap space available matters a lot. If they have almost $6 million to work with, suddenly a ton of really intriguing options open. If they have less than $500,000, then they’re stuck going after super-cheap players that would replace other cheap players on the roster, essentially just shuffling minor pieces around.
Here are guys I’d go after in the scenario where Chicago does free up millions. Basically, I think their main targets should be good secondary forwards.
Sam Gagner: Coming off a 50-point season, he’d be a perfect fit as a third-line center and right-handed power play shot.
Nick Bonino: Not quite the scorer that Gagner is, and the Blackhawks shouldn’t go anywhere near his reported demand of four or five years, but if his price lowers, he’s a good penalty killer who would help a unit that struggled last season.
Mikhail Grigorenko: He got non-tendered by the Avalanche, which isn’t exactly a great sign, but Grigorenko would be an interesting buy-low candidate. He played last season at age 22, did well on faceoffs, and recorded 10 goals. It’s worth looking into.
Brian Boyle: He’s huge (6’6, 244 pounds) and can score (13-plus goals in three straight seasons), which would make for an interesting fit with the Hawks, who clearly wanted to get bigger this summer.
Justin Williams: He’s got loads of championship experience and 100 points over the past two seasons.
Beau Bennett: Bennett could be a bargain after the Devils non-tendered him this month. He’s shown flashes of being a solid two-way winger during parts of five seasons in the NHL. It’d be worth seeing whether he can put it together in Chicago.
I’d also be open to Patrick Sharp returning on a Brian Campbell-like deal that minimizes risk. There’s a lot of skepticism about whether he can still play at a high level, but his shot metrics were still strong in an otherwise brutal 2016-17, so it may be a worthwhile gamble if the price is right.
(Quick plug: You can read more from me on Gagner, Bonino, Boyle, and Sharp over at The Athletic. Subscription required, and yes I’m biased, but they’re building quite the hockey coverage team with Scott Powers, James Mirtle, Craig Custance, Katie Strang, Justin Bourne, Tyler Dellow, etc.)
As for defensemen, part of the trouble is that the Blackhawks would really need a proper top-four guy because they already have a bunch of question marks. Getting more lottery tickets is good, but I’m not sure it’d be worth using the Hawks’ potential cap space on someone who might just end up being another third-pairing guy on a team that may end up having way too many of them.
Alzner would not be the answer to what ails to this team, particularly if he wants a lucrative deal at a lengthy term. Campbell might be worth bringing back, but then you run into the same issue as last year with four lefty defensemen (Campbell, Keith, Forsling, Kempny) who aren’t comfortable playing their offside regularly. Cody Franson is another target who could conceivably work.
However, if Hossa doesn’t go on LTIR until the start of the season, most of these guys are non-options (barring other major trades).
What should the Hawks do?
All of this hinges on what happens with Hossa and Kruger (or someone else who might be traded). If the Hawks don’t use LTIR on Hossa before the season and free up that space, the answer here isn’t particularly interesting. They’d trade Kruger and basically look for guys willing to sign for a million bucks or less.
But if the Hawks make the moves to clear those two, giving them nearly $6 million in cap space, it’d be fascinating. What if you could get Gagner for $3.5 |
the riot gear and crowd control devices have many potential uses.
Perhaps, the equipment for use in instances like last year, when protesters in Murrieta confronted Customs and Border Patrol agents and blocked buses carrying a wave of illegal immigrants from Central America?
The requested equipment includes:
Hand Delivered Pyrotechnic Canisters, including Smoke Canister for Training (Reduced Toxicity)
Continuous Discharge Large Smoke Canister (Operations)
Continuous Discharge CS Canister
Orange Colored Smoke Canister
Green Colored Smoke Canister
Pocket Tactical Smoke Canister
Pocket Tactical CS Canister
Three Part Sub-Munitions CS Canister
Non-Burning Internal Canister OC Grenade Non-Pyrotechnic Indoor/Outdoor Use Flameless Expulsion Grenade (OC)
Flameless Expulsion Grenade (CS)
Flameless Expulsion Grenade (Inert) Hand Delivered Rubber Ball Grenades Rubber Ball Grenade
Rubber Ball Grenade (CS) 40mm Launched Specialty Impact Munitions 40mm Direct Impact Sponge Cartridge
40mm Direct Impact Sponge Cartridge (OC)
40mm Direct Impact Sponge Cartridge (OC) 40mm Direct Impact Sponge Cartridge (Marking)
40mm Direct Impact Sponge Cartridge (Inert)
40mm Sponge Training Rounds Crowd Management Projectile Cartridges 40mm Smokeless Powder Blast (OC)
40mm Smokeless Powder Blast (CS)
40mm Long Range Canister (CS)
40mm Long Range Canister (Smoke)
40mm Cartridge Four Part Sub-Munitions (CS)
40mm Cartridge Four Part Sub-Munitions (Smoke)
40mm Aerial Warning Munitions (100 Meters)
40mm Aerial Warning Munitions (200 Meters)
40mm Aerial Warning Munitions (300 Meters)
40mm Aerial Warning Munitions OC (100 Meters)
40mm Aerial Warning Munitions OC (200 Meters)
40mm Aerial Warning Munitions OC (300 Meters) Controlled Noise And Light Distraction Devices Distraction Device Compact
Distraction Device
Distraction Device Reloadable Steel Body
Distraction Device Reload
Command Initiated Distraction Device Reload
Distraction Device Training Fuse
Distraction Device Training Body
Multiple Detonation Distraction Device
Low Profile Distraction Device
Command Initiator Ferret Rounds 40mm Ferret Round (OC Powder)
40mm Ferret Round (OC Liquid)
40mm Ferret Round (CS Powder)
40mm Ferret Round (CS Liquid)
40mm Ferret Round (Inert Powder)
The ferret rounds are designed to penetrate barriers and deliver debilitating or disrupting chemicals:
“The projectile shall be designed to penetrate barriers of glass, particle board, and interior walls. Upon impact of the barrier, the nose cone will rupture and instantaneously deliver the OC liquid on the other side of the barrier. “
The collection of equipment provides a diverse range of toys with which authorities could push back crowds and potentially intimidate free speech as well.
Are there more riots coming? Is widespread civil unrest only a matter of time? Is it related to martial law exercises like Jade Helm 15?
What do the Feds know that we don’t?
They are getting ready… are you?
Related Reading:
The Prepper’s Blueprint: Prepare For Any Disaster
If Martial Law Comes to America “Dissidents and Subversives Would Be Rounded Up”
The 17 Elements of Martial LawSen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) is expected to introduce a single-payer healthcare bill on Wednesday that firmly positions Democrats for the 2018 and 2020 elections—even if it stands little chance of passing.
Sanders’ bill comes as an increasing number of high-profile Democrats continue to raise their support for single-payer healthcare, or basic healthcare that is guaranteed to all citizens through the use of taxes. The legislation comes in light of uncertainty surrounding the Affordable Care Act, former President Barack Obama’s healthcare law that continues to be in the crosshairs of congressional Republicans and President Donald Trump.
The bill is quickly racking up a slate of well-known co-sponsors: Sens. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), and Cory Booker (D-N.J.), are all reportedly backing Sanders’ bill.
Harris, Warren, Booker, and Sanders have all been rumored as possible candidates to run against Trump in 2020, and that is no coincidence.
As support for the Affordable Care Act (often known as Obamacare) continues to climb in the face of Republican efforts to repeal it, Democrats are seizing the opportunity to go even further than Obama’s signature domestic policy—by providing healthcare to everyone in the country.
Several other major countries have implemented similar progressive healthcare, including the United Kingdom, Canada, Brazil, Japan, and China.
With a Republican-controlled Senate and House of Representatives, it is unlikely Sanders’ universal healthcare bill heads anywhere close to Trump’s desk. However, its introduction shows that many of the party’s most prominent figures appear to be ready to use it as a campaign topic when it comes to 2018, when Democrats have a chance to control Congress, and 2020, when they may be able to use that hypothetical majority to create laws with a Democratic president.
In other words, any candidate thinking of running for president in 2020 that doesn’t back Sanders’ bill is going to have to explain why they didn’t.
Those hopefuls seem to have the backing of American citizens. A poll by the Pew Research Center in January showed that 60 percent of Americans thought the government had a responsibility to provide healthcare coverage for everyone, a jump from only 51 percent the year before.Hard to believe that at one time in the not-very-distant past, Apple's board of directors included one Eric Schmidt, at the time the chief executive of Google.
Of course, Schmidt's stint as a board member came to an end in 2009 as Google began to more directly compete against Apple. The ensuing war of words between the companies shows little ebb, and in an interview with The Wall Street Journal today, Schmidt, now Google's executive chairman, used the occasion to gob-smack Apple around just a bit, contrasting the way the two companies manage their business decisions.
Alluding to the "on and off" relationship between Apple and Google in the last year, Schmidt expressed surprise at Apple's decision to stop using Google's map app in iOS6, a decision that led to much embarrassment in September after users reported getting wrong location results from Apple's replacement app. Apple subsequently apologized to users.
Obviously, we would have preferred them to use our maps. They threw YouTube off the home screen [of iPhones and iPads]. I'm not quite sure why they did that. The press would like to write the sort of teenage model of competition, which is, 'I have a gun, you have a gun, who shoots first?' The adult way to run a business is to run it more like a country. They have disputes, yet they've actually been able to have huge trade with each other. They're not sending bombs at each other. I think both Tim [Cook, Apple's CEO] and Larry [Page, Google's CEO], the sort of successors to Steve [Jobs] and me if you will, have an understanding of this state model. When they and their teams meet, they have just a long list of things to talk about.
Asked whether Apple and Google are discussing a patent-related settlement, Schmidt avoided answering the question but hinted that the companies might be talking, albeit remain far apart.
Apple and Google are well aware of the legal strategies of each other. Part of the conversations that are going on all the time is to talk about them. It's extremely curious that Apple has chosen to sue Google's partners and not Google itself.
You can read the full interview here.One the big topics at the 2014 ASMI Injuries in Baseball course this year was our evolving understanding of the outcomes follow UCL reconstruction, better known as Tommy John surgery. As each year goes by, we have more data on the results of people who have previously had Tommy John surgery since Dr. Frank Jobe first performed the procedure.
Over the last few years we have seen very important outcomes studies from Dr. James Andrews, who undeniably performs the most Tommy John surgeries of anyone in the world. In 2010 they published the short term 2-year results of 1281 athletes over a 19 year period. More recently, they have presented their results on 256 people with at least 10 years follow up, meaning that they all had surgery at least 10 years ago.
Based on the information we have obtained from these landmark studies, we now know more about the outcomes of Tommy John surgery. However, has some of the public perceptions around Tommy John remained true or has our opinions been swayed by sensationalized media reports?
Dr. Chris Ahmad, of the New York Yankees, recently released a paper asking players, coaches, and parents about their perceptions regarding Tommy John surgery. The authors report:
28% of players and 20% of coaches believed that performance would be enhanced by having Tommy John surgery.
23% youth, 32% HS, 53% of college pitchers, 33% of coaches, and 36% of parents believed velocity increases after Tommy John surgery. (I polled my followers on Twitter and Facebook yesterday too and I would say the majority do believe that velocity increases after Tommy John surgery)
24% of players, 20% of coaches, and 44% of parents believed that return would occur in less than 9 months.
And get ready for the most shocking one:
33% of coaches, 37% of parents, 51% of high school athletes, and 26% of collegiate athletes believed that Tommy John surgery should be performed on players without elbow injury to enhance performance.
That is absolutely crazy!
Based on Dr. Ahmad’s study and recent research on this topic, I wanted to discuss many of these perceptions to help people understand that many of these are myths.
Here are 5 myths of Tommy John surgery that any player, coach, or parent needs to fully understand.
Everyone Returns From Tommy John Surgery
If 37% of parents and 51% of high school athletes believe that they should have Tommy John surgery even if they don’t have an elbow injury, then the assumptions must be that every returns to throwing, so why not?
Well, first off, Major League Baseball disagrees. Stan Conte, the Head Athletic Trainer of the Los Angeles Dodgers, presenting interesting data at the 2014 ASMI Injuries in Baseball Course.
SEE ALSO: Presentations from the ASMI Injuries in Baseball Course can be seen at RehabWebinars.com
He noted that 16% of all professional baseball pitchers, both Major and Minor League combined, have had Tommy John Surgery, and 25% of Major League Baseball pitchers have undergone Tommy John Surgery. So if Tommy John surgery was a slam dunk, that number would be closer to 100%.
According to both the short term and long term Dr. Andrews studies, 83% of pitchers return to play at the same level or higher. 83% is a really good result, but it is not 100%.
Simply put, no one wants Tommy John surgery unless they need it. Returning from surgery is not guaranteed.
There are No Complications with Tommy John Surgery
While I would certainly agree that complications can be kept to a minimum with good surgery and rehabilitation, don’t forget that Tommy John surgery does not always go smoothly and can have complications.
In the above mentioned study perform by Dr. Cain and Dr. Andrews, they noted that 20% of all the procedures performed by Dr. Andrews had complications, though 16% were considered not major complications. These can range from issues with your ulnar nerve, to infection, to even failure of the graft.
Keep in mind that this rate of complication was reported by the surgeon that is considered the best at this procedure and performs the most Tommy John surgeries.
No surgery is 100% perfect, there will always be some complications.
Recovery From Tommy John Surgery is Quick and Easy
The false sense of comfort that the general public has adopted over the years also implies that the general assumption is that recovery from surgery is quick and easy. Again, Dr. Ahmad reported that 44% of parents believe their child can return to pitching in less than 9 months.
In general, we have always said that return to play takes 9-12 months. This was based on past studies that showed this range was common. I must admit that I have seen a mild trend in baseball with people attempting to come back quick, closer to the 9 month range.
Results from Dr. Andrews’ studies have shown the average time to competition has been 11.6 months.
There are a lot of factors involved with deciding when a safe return to play show happen with each individual. These include your age, level of play, timing of the surgery, and how well your rehab has gone to date. I honestly don’t remember the last time I have had someone return at 9 months. Some of the elite level MLB players that I have worked with have returned around 10.5-11.5 months after surgery, but I really don’t recommend that for younger players.
I personally am going to stop citing the 9-12 month range, as I feel that may bring some false hope and information to many people. I am personally going to start simply saying Tommy John recover is 1 year. I may individualize this for each person, but as a rule of thumb, I think elite level players returning around 11 months and amateurs around 12 months is probably in the athletes’ best interest.
Assume going into surgery that it is going to be 12 months before you return to competition.
Velocity Improves After Tommy John Surgery
Of all the myths discussed so far, I think the myth that velocity increases after surgery is likely the most important to dispel. This fact has been sensationalized in the media for years.
Two preliminary research projects have recently been conducted that looked at MLB pitchers velocity before and after having Tommy John Surgery. Rebecca Fishbein presented a report at the 2013 Sabermetrics meeting in Boston. She analyzed the average velocity of 44 MLB pitchers before and after undergoing Tommy John surgery between 2007 and 2011.
She reported no significant difference with velocity after surgery (she actually found a mild 0.875 mph decrease in velocity, though this was not significant). Stan Conte reported a similar finding at the 2014 ASMI Injuries in Baseball Course in 32 pitchers from 2007 to 2012. In Stan’s study, there again was no significant difference in velocity before and after surgery (he also found a 0.79 mph drop in velocity, but again not statistically significant).
I personally have seen many players increase their velocity after surgery, but the important point here is that on average, velocity does not change. There are many reasons why it may go up in some people. Perhaps they were pitching with a deficient ligament or in pain for several years, perhaps they never worked out before surgery, or perhaps the hit a big growth spurt while rehabbing.
Despite popular belief, velocity has not been shown to go up in MLB pitchers after Tommy John surgery.
All Tommy John Rehabilitation is the Same
This last myth is personal one for me! Baseball pitchers are such unique athletes that to truly get the best outcomes, you really need to work with a person that has extensive experience. There are many subtleties and things to watch out for that could easily slow down the rehab process if you aren’t on the look out.
I have spent my entire career working with baseball players and I can tell you I continue to learn more and more about what makes them unique every year. Just when you think you have figured out something, someone comes around and amazes you with what they can do with their body.
Tommy John rehabilitation requires the understanding of the unique attributes of the baseball pitcher, the unique nature of how these injuries occur, and knowledge of the stress involved while throwing during the recovery. Anyone can follow a protocol, it is understanding how to individualize the protocol to each person to avoid speeding up and slowing down the program like a roller coaster.
Losing range of motion is going to be a problem, assuring the ulnar nerve isn’t stressed is an issue, gradually progressing activities to make sure the ligament is ready to start throwing is always important, and controlling strength and conditioning workloads while progressing a throwing program takes skill and experience.
Everyone rehabbing after Tommy John surgery is going to have some bad days and even bad weeks. It is how these periods are handled that will assure you return to competition safely and effectively.
Summary
In summary, 83% of people undergoing Tommy John surgery have been shown to return to play at the same level or higher, without an increase in velocity, in 11.6 months [Click Here to Tweet].
Tommy John surgery is not a slam dunk, so the best strategy is ALWAYS to avoid surgery as much as possible. While this isn’t always possible, programs should be built that work on enhancing performance AND reducing injuries in baseball players.
SEE ALSO: How Baseball Players Can Enhance Performance While Reducing Injuries
Despite popular belief, if you have Tommy John surgery you are not guaranteed to return to your previous level without complications, and rehab is not a quick and easy process that results in improved velocity.Alex Salmond warned independent Scotland would be prevented from joining defence group if there was row over bases
Senior Nato officials have warned Alex Salmond's government that an independent Scotland would be barred from joining Nato if there were any disputes over the basing of nuclear weapons on the Clyde.
The Guardian can reveal that a small group of Scottish civil servants travelled to Nato HQ in Brussels last month to discuss Scotland's options for joining the alliance if Salmond wins next year's independence referendum. They argued that an independent Scotland should be given special treatment because it was already a significant part of an existing, founder member of Nato, the UK.
It is understood that Nato officials said it might be possible to allow Scotland to start fast-track talks – but in a blow to Salmond's anti-nuclear strategy, the Scottish delegation was also told that no new member would be allowed to join Nato if that state had unresolved military or territorial disputes with other countries.
Under article 10 of the Nato treaty, one assistant general secretary of Nato said at the meeting on 6 July, new applicants also have to show a history of stable defence policies and structures as a minimum entry requirement. Article 10 also implies that every Nato member accepts the alliance's nuclear first-strike policy.Official sources in Edinburgh and London confirm that these issues were seen as coded warnings that the Scottish government's determination to close down the Trident nuclear submarine base at Faslane on the Clyde would be a major obstacle to Scotland's application.
Lord Robertson, a former secretary general of Nato and a defence secretary in Tony Blair's government, said Romania, Hungary and Bulgaria were expected to resolve disputes over Transylvania and crossings over the Danube before starting their Nato membership process.
"You're not expected to import problems with your neighbours into Nato and that's a very clear warning signal," Robertson said. He said Faslane's continued operations were integral to Nato's strategic concept.
He said Salmond knew there was an unbridgeable contradiction between Salmond's desire to join Nato and his pledge to remove nuclear weapons from Scotland. "He's taking the Scottish people for fools by claiming that [the SNP] would want Scotland to be in Nato but laying down conditions that would make it impossible. It's a confidence trick both on their membership and the Scottish people."
Salmond has made closing down the nuclear facilities at Faslane a cornerstone of his independence campaign. In an appeal to leftwing voters, the first minister has promised to make that non-nuclear policy legally binding in a new written constitution after independence.
But becoming a full member of Nato is regarded as an essential part of Salmond's plans to persuade sceptical middle-ground voters that an independent Scotland would still remain part of mainstream and powerful international institutions.
The threat to close Faslane is one of the biggest obstacles facing a deal between the Scottish and UK governments over independence, because of its strategic significance and the immense cost of relocating the Trident fleet and its warheads to a new base in England or Wales.
Nato officials stressed that any decision on accepting new members would be political, requiring a unanimous decision by member states, adding to the pressure on Salmond over resolving any conflicts on defence policy with the UK.
Although an independent Scotland would be seen as a new state and required to apply as a new member, in principle it could be possible for the Scottish government in Edinburgh to start talks about joining Nato while those bilateral discussions were going on.
That would boost Salmond's case that it is in Nato's interests for Scotland to be a full member of the alliance, because of its strategic position in the north-east Atlantic and its oil reserves.
The Guardian revealed last month that Ministry of Defence officials were studying plans to force Scotland to designate Faslane and the nearby nuclear warhead base at Coulport as sovereign UK territory, provoking a furious reaction from nationalists and anti-nuclear campaigners.
During the lengthy meetings, Nato officials added that in the event of a yes vote, the UK and Scotland would have a large number of significant defence issues to resolve in the 18 months before independence day — set by Salmond as taking place in March 2016, and before Scotland applied to join Nato.
Professor Malcolm Chalmers, director of UK defence policy studies at the Royal United Services Institute think tank, who has analysed the Scottish government's defence strategy, said Trident's future would be of critical importance.
Chalmers said other Nato members would expect London to take the lead in settling the Trident issue and all other defence questions before they seriously entertained Scottish membership.
He said that pragmatists in the SNP accepted that would likely involve a long-term basing deal with the UK to keep Trident on the Clyde, but that would not be as dramatic as a sovereign basing agreement which would see Faslane declared to be UK territory.
Although Nato members would be keen for Scotland to join quickly and smoothly, "people would want Scotland to be a member but it would be in terms of not wanting any problems to be imported [into the alliance], but the main judge of the importing problems question would be London.
"I can't see a scenario with Scotland being a problem for Nato, provided it had sorted out any bilateral problems with England." He said no-one in Nato wanted to see Scotland being left outside the alliance.
• This article was amended on 15 August 2013. The earlier version said Alex Salmond had "made closing Faslane a cornerstone of his independence campaign", using "Faslane" as shorthand for the nuclear weapons facilities on the Clyde. The Scottish National party has asked us to clarify that it would continue to use Faslane as a naval base and a Scottish defence force headquarters after independence: it would close Faslane's nuclear facilities but not the entire base.James Martin/CNET
Instagram apologized to its users today, saying it will "remove" language from its legal terms that would have let it sell users' photos or use them in advertisements.
In a blog post this afternoon, Chief Executive Kevin Systrom said it's "our mistake that this language is confusing" and that the company is "working on updated language."
"Since making these changes, we've heard loud and clear that many users are confused and upset about what the changes mean," he wrote.
Instagram's terms of use agreement announced yesterday sparked a user revolt unprecedented in its history -- and prompted competitors to tout their own services as more user-protective. It came three months after Facebook completed its acquisition of the popular photo-sharing service, which has over 100 million users, and follows recent efforts by the social network to increase revenue.
Stephen Shankland/CNET
No other photo-sharing service appears to have had a policy as broad as Instagram's now-abandoned language, which claimed the perpetual right to license users' photos to companies or any other organization, including for advertising purposes, which would effectively transform the Web site into the world's largest stock photo agency. A hotel in Hawaii, for instance, could have written a check to Instagram to license photos taken at its resort and then use them for its own purposes.
Google's policy, by contrast, does not permit the company to sell photographs uploaded through Picasa or Google+. Its policy says: "The rights you grant in this license are for the limited purpose of operating, promoting, and improving our services." Google now owns Instagram competitor Snapseed.
A Google spokesman told CNET this afternoon that Google+ and its other services protect their users' rights: "As our terms of service make clear, 'what belongs to you stays yours.' You own your files and control their sharing, plain and simple. Some of our services allow you to submit content. You retain ownership of any intellectual property rights that you hold in that content. In addition, on Google+ you can export your photos and other data whenever you'd like."
In 2007, Yahoo had a photo-rights flap of its own when its "brand portal" for the Nintendo Wii used Flickr images without permission, but it backed down soon after. Now Yahoo's policies for Flickr are photographer-friendly, saying the company can use the images "solely for the purpose for which such content was submitted or made available."
Another pitfall of the now-abandoned policy: If Instagram users continued to upload photos after January 16, 2013, and subsequently deleted their account afterward, they may have granted Facebook an irrevocable right to sell those images in perpetuity. There's no obvious language that says deleting an account terminates Facebook's rights, said Kurt Opsahl, a senior staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
In his blog post, Systrom emphasized that Instagram does not want to own users' photos, and that when users set their photos to private, they won't be made public under these new terms. He wrote that advertising is one of the many ways the company can sustain itself, saying:
We envision a future where both users and brands alike may promote their photos & accounts to increase engagement and to build a more meaningful following. Let's say a business wanted to promote their account to gain more followers and Instagram was able to feature them in some way. In order to help make a more relevant and useful promotion, it would be helpful to see which of the people you follow also follow this business. In this way, some of the data you produce -- like the actions you take (eg, following the account) and your profile photo -- might show up if you are following this business.
That sounds like a form of advertising similar to Facebook's sponsored stories ads. Facebook's sponsored ads are based on what users' friends "Like" on the social network. Once you like a brand's Page, your friends will see that like in their feeds.
Systrom's blog post comes after a day of silence from the photo-sharing network, which didn't answer questions from CNET, other media organizations, and users for over 24 hours.
Now playing: Watch this: Inside Scoop: Instagram backpedals on new privacy rulesTorte de Lini Profile Joined September 2010 Germany 7680 Posts Last Edited: 2018-11-24 12:58:33 #1 Standard Hero Builds Project Over 300 Million Current Subscriptions
@TorteDeLini || Patreon.com/Torte || Discord Server || /r/HeroBuilds
This topic is aimed to create "standard" play guides for average pub games and typically newer players. These guides are updated regularly and used by myself as well as others. I incorporate and accept all feedback so long as it is justified or it makes sense and I always try to get second-opinions on everything suggested. I am not the best player or even beyond average, I just like the effort of elevating everyone's capabilities to improve and integrating in-game hero guides to everyday use to help ease people into new characters.
When I posted my initial guides on the first 20 or so heroes, I got a lot of great feedback from everyone and so I tried to implement guides for all the heroes. I ended up expanding to over 150 heroes and have quite a few more to go. While some guides are not ideal positions for some heroes, some people prefer to play that way and I try to accommodate to all styles.
To note: Valve only let's you write a small bit of words on every item and ability. So I cannot write all possibilities of an item nor can I offer alternate builds depending on the lane. Anything that requires me to get into great detail of its importance or start splitting situations in the small descriptions I cannot do. Also remember who the audience is and what can pass as acceptable despite it sucking in the higher leagues.
I cannot detail the importance of certain levels depending on certain lanes as that really opens up a lot of possibilities and ideas.
I do not know all the answers or how to build each hero perfectly. Please be patient and understanding with me.
Torte de Lini's Standard Hero Guides Project
Heroes List (158 Guides) This topic is aimed to create "standard" play guides for average pub games and typically newer players. These guides are updated regularly and used by myself as well as others. I incorporate and accept all feedback so long as it is justified or it makes sense and I always try to get second-opinions on everything suggested. I am not the best player or even beyond average, I just like the effort of elevating everyone's capabilities to improve and integrating in-game hero guides to everyday use to help ease people into new characters.When I posted my initial guides on the first 20 or so heroes, I got a lot of great feedback from everyone and so I tried to implement guides for all the heroes. I ended up expanding to over 150 heroes and have quite a few more to go. While some guides are not ideal positions for some heroes, some people prefer to play that way and I try to accommodate to all styles. https://twitter.com/#!/TorteDeLini (@TorteDeLini)
Sn0_Man Profile Joined October 2012 Tebellong 31252 Posts #3 With respect to wand, it is situational which I understand is a huge issue for these guides.
Basically wand is good on all heroes against almost all heroes (obviously not so good vs, say Single-button King). However, for new players (like my brother) I never recommend it because he never remembers to activate it at the right time.
So, its up to you, but wand is as I said Good on all Heroes vs essentially all heroes. On heroes that have extreme slot-economy issues, wand is bad, but that is pretty rare.
On razor, drop the vanguard for mek and I'd leave it at cloak over hood (with pipe situational) since if you want hood you want pipe. Drums make up the difference in gold nicely leaving you with a similarly priced core (Cloak/Drums/Mek) that offers you a lot more (IMO). Moderator SCIENTISTS BAFFLED | 3275929302
Cragus Profile Joined August 2010 Canada 28 Posts #4 I think jungle naix in general is pretty old fasioned (or I suppose 'weak fashioned' might be a better description). His jungle is pretty poor if you don't know how to choke point jungle unless you get lucky and spawn loads of mud golems (even then it's slow). As for phase vs tread builds, in my opinion, phase drum armlet is actually a little safer than treads armlet basher since the buildup on drums is really nice, and phase will let you run away more effectively (as will a completed drum).
As a note: if you have the space, it's probably worth mentioning in the TA guide that meld can be used to disjoint projectiles. aka Nakji/Сталкер/Reed
Torte de Lini Profile Joined September 2010 Germany 7680 Posts #5 On February 23 2013 02:59 Cragus wrote:
I think jungle naix in general is pretty old fasioned (or I suppose 'weak fashioned' might be a better description). His jungle is pretty poor if you don't know how to choke point jungle unless you get lucky and spawn loads of mud golems (even then it's slow). As for phase vs tread builds, in my opinion, phase drum armlet is actually a little safer than treads armlet basher since the buildup on drums is really nice, and phase will let you run away more effectively (as will a completed drum).
As a note: if you have the space, it's probably worth mentioning in the TA guide that meld can be used to disjoint projectiles.
I'll add the the Meld tidbit! I think I can add that! I'll add the the Meld tidbit! I think I can add that! https://twitter.com/#!/TorteDeLini (@TorteDeLini)
Torte de Lini Profile Joined September 2010 Germany 7680 Posts #6 On February 23 2013 02:56 Sn0_Man wrote:
With respect to wand, it is situational which I understand is a huge issue for these guides.
Basically wand is good on all heroes against almost all heroes (obviously not so good vs, say Single-button King). However, for new players (like my brother) I never recommend it because he never remembers to activate it at the right time.
So, its up to you, but wand is as I said Good on all Heroes vs essentially all heroes. On heroes that have extreme slot-economy issues, wand is bad, but that is pretty rare.
On razor, drop the vanguard for mek and I'd leave it at cloak over hood (with pipe situational) since if you want hood you want pipe. Drums make up the difference in gold nicely leaving you with a similarly priced core (Cloak/Drums/Mek) that offers you a lot more (IMO).
YEah, I'm taking another look at Razor, it's incredibly hard to fit him into proper items without the "consider your opponents" scenario. YEah, I'm taking another look at Razor, it's incredibly hard to fit him into proper items without the "consider your opponents" scenario. https://twitter.com/#!/TorteDeLini (@TorteDeLini)
Firebolt145 Profile Joined May 2010 Lalalaland 11414 Posts #7 Simple general rule: If you're unsure about Wand, just buy a Magic Stick as a minimum. If you ALREADY have 3 iron branches then upgrade to a Wand, if not, leave it as a Stick and sell it later when you need a slot.
As for everything else, I don't really understand. Are you targeting your guides at a mid-skilled audience? Moderator
Torte de Lini Profile Joined September 2010 Germany 7680 Posts #8 On February 23 2013 03:03 Firebolt145 wrote:
Simple general rule: If you're unsure about Wand, just buy a Magic Stick as a minimum. If you ALREADY have 3 iron branches then upgrade to a Wand, if not, leave it as a Stick and sell it later when you need a slot.
As for everything else, I don't really understand. Are you targeting your guides at a mid-skilled audience?
Just for general use who are looking to rely on builds to figure how to build their hero before getting comfortable with them. Just for general use who are looking to rely on builds to figure how to build their hero before getting comfortable with them. https://twitter.com/#!/TorteDeLini (@TorteDeLini)
Sn0_Man Profile Joined October 2012 Tebellong 31252 Posts #9 I'd recommend stick on every hero then, with the understanding that as players improve they will be able to judge their need but noobs will get it since its more often good than bad.
I really think Phase/Drums/Cloak/Mek is a solid "core" on razor for virtually every game. Tranqs are really good but situational enough that I don't think I'd recommend them in guides this generic. SnY is basically the same as the drums+mek but offers much much less team utility and tankiness (although is much easier for bad players). If you want the guide to be super easy to use you could definitely recommend SnY instead. Moderator SCIENTISTS BAFFLED | 3275929302
Torte de Lini Profile Joined September 2010 Germany 7680 Posts #10 On February 23 2013 03:14 Sn0_Man wrote:
I'd recommend stick on every hero then, with the understanding that as players improve they will be able to judge their need but noobs will get it since its more often good than bad.
I really think Phase/Drums/Cloak/Mek is a solid "core" on razor for virtually every game. Tranqs are really good but situational enough that I don't think I'd recommend them in guides this generic. SnY is basically the same as the drums+mek but offers much much less team utility and tankiness (although is much easier for bad players). If you want the guide to be super easy to use you could definitely recommend SnY instead.
Thanks I will do this! I just finished CM and am working on Enchantress now, so I will add this! Thanks I will do this! I just finished CM and am working on Enchantress now, so I will add this! https://twitter.com/#!/TorteDeLini (@TorteDeLini)
Sn0_Man Profile Joined October 2012 Tebellong 31252 Posts #11 Re: CM
Frostbite actually has terrible range. Its crystal nova that has good range (thanks to hitting heroes at cast range + aoe radius = ~1000 range initiation). Use crystal nova to get in frostbite range.
I'm not sure that mek is "core" on CM. I might swap a bracer in for the mek and move the mek to situational with a note that "if you have the money and your teammates aren't building one, rush mek".
If you can fit a note about frostbite being OP for jungling (or rather, getting some XP/gold from the jungle) even when left at level 1 that would be neat but maybe too advanced/irrelevant to most. Moderator SCIENTISTS BAFFLED | 3275929302
Torte de Lini Profile Joined September 2010 Germany 7680 Posts Last Edited: 2013-02-22 18:46:54 #12 On February 23 2013 03:28 Sn0_Man wrote:
Re: CM
Frostbite actually has terrible range. Its crystal nova that has good range (thanks to hitting heroes at cast range + aoe radius = ~1000 range initiation). Use crystal nova to get in frostbite range.
I'm not sure that mek is "core" on CM. I might swap a bracer in for the mek and move the mek to situational with a note that "if you have the money and your teammates aren't building one, rush mek".
If you can fit a note about frostbite being OP for jungling (or rather, getting some XP/gold from the jungle) even when left at level 1 that would be neat but maybe too advanced/irrelevant to most.
Just did your |
and I don't think you benefit by starting this process over again," said Sen. Roy Blunt (Mo.), a member of the Senate Republican leadership team and the Intelligence Committee, which also is investigating Trump's alleged Russia ties.
"I am concerned that he couldn't put a team together that wasn't so overwhelmingly on one side of the ideological spectrum," he added. "But maybe even somebody as capable and experienced as Mueller can learn a lesson from this."
Others found solace in the fact that Mueller removed Strzok upon learning of his texts with Page, who had left Mueller's team weeks earlier for unrelated reasons. But these lawmakers insisted that the texts were reason to have a second special counsel look into evidence of political bias at the FBI.
"This FBI agent doesn't taint Muller's investigation, because Mueller's going to be responsible for the final product. Mueller fired the guy, I liked that," said Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.), a leading member in the Judiciary Committee's investigation. "But we need to have somebody looking at this other stuff, and it can't be Mueller."
Graham has not shied away from criticizing Trump. But even the president's staunchest supporters in the Senate have made a concerted effort to preserve a decent opinion of Mueller as their estimation of the inquiry has plummeted.
"Set Mueller aside. I don't know. But I have to tell you this: I think those texts, I believe those texts totally taint the investigation that's going on right now," said Sen. James E. Risch (R-Idaho), a senior member of the Intelligence Committee.
"I don't know who hired those people, but they need to be replaced," he continued. When pressed about whether Mueller bore responsibility for assembling his team, he repeatedly declined to draw the connection, insisting, "I'm not going to use those words."
[Rod Rosenstein defends Robert Mueller as GOP lawmakers raise questions of bias in Russia probe]
This sentiment, though problematic for Mueller, still stands in sharp contrast to that in the House, where the special counsel's critics are openly calling for his removal.
Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), who last month filed a resolution calling for Mueller to recuse himself from the Russia investigation, said Wednesday that he had been "a lone voice in the wilderness" for the past few weeks. But since the Strzok-Page texts emerged, "now I find a chorus singing loudly behind me," he said.
More voices in the House also are calling for a second special counsel to investigate allegations of pro-Clinton bias at the FBI, as opposed to in the Senate, where the GOP is torn about the value of appointing yet another outside lawyer to look into matters Congress should be able to investigate or the Justice Department should be able to sort out.
"The FBI should look at that issue.... I'm not convinced that we need yet another lawyer involved in this," said Sen. John Neely Kennedy (R-La.), a member of the Judiciary Committee, noting that there are "some good lawyers at Justice, and we have some good agents at the FBI, most of them."
"There's a better way to do it rather than have the special counsel for the special counsel for the special counsel," said Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.), a member of the Intelligence Committee.
But for all of Senate Republicans' efforts to separate Mueller from the politically charged firestorm around him, they have been slow to rally around a legislative venture to protect his control of the Russia investigation.
Along with Graham, Sens. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), Christopher A. Coons (D-Del.) and Cory Booker (D-N.J.) have been locked in negotiations for weeks trying to finalize a bill that would require a three-judge panel to review, within 10 days, any decision to fire a special counsel.
Grassley has not weighed in on the effort, but has repeatedly said he is concerned about the "constitutionality" of a bill that would subject the president's executive actions to a judicial order.
Read more at PowerPostAnd so, after countless hours spent sitting in front of the computer bathed in the harsh glow of the liquid crystal display, we arrive at the end of our Top 25 of 2012 coverage, and more broadly the end of our year here at the blog. As is tradition (a new tradition, just one year old, but a tradition nonetheless) we’re taking the time between X-Mas and New Year’s off, a period where we plan to catch up on all of the rap albums, video games, folk metal, comic books, and hot stove baseball analysis we’ve forgone to write about the music we love. Thanks so much for reading, and we hope that you’ll take some time this holiday to check out some new tunes from an artist you may not be familiar with, and then spread the love via whatever means you have available to you.
Without wanting to spend too much more time here (we have a Soft Moon show to get to), we’d just like to remind you that we’ve been doing Year End coverage all week, and our full top albums list and links to the articles will appear at the bottom of the post. We hope you enjoyed your time with us this year, and hope to see you again in the next. Onwards to glory!
5. Legend
Fearless
[Artoffact]
The overarching aesthetic of the debut from Iceland’s Legend isn’t easy to immediately pigeonhole, but that’s only because the duo crafted a batch of songs so well-developed and distinct that each feels like its own pocket universe. There’s the plaintive but distinctly slinky “Sister”, the Underworld meets ZZ Top slow-burn of “The City”, the soulful night moves of “Devil In Me”, but “Runaway Train” remains the lynchpin: engine stroke drums kick and stutter densely before a sustained piano line which sounds like it’s being hammered out by the Phantom of the Opera himself heralds a slowly building passion play that’d make the hairs on Jim Steinman’s neck stand on end. Bolstered with bombastic percussion and sonic chasms of atmosphere, Fearless is dark electronic pop writ wide and large with a drama we perhaps haven’t heard since (yes, we’re going to say it) Violator. In addition to the material itself, we have to single out the absolutely masterful production Legend have lent to their big coming out. We’ve noticed that while it took some friends a couple of listens to really sink into Fearless, once they did there was no getting out of it. Our suggestion: skip the intermediary stage and make sure that your first exposure to any or all of Fearless ‘ tracks happens via excellent headphones or the best and loudest PA you can lay your hands on.
Read our full review and our interview with Legend.
4. Douglas J. McCarthy
Kill Your Friends
[Pylon Records]
Whether consciously or not, in 2012 even casual fans of electronic music are likely to have been exposed to Douglas McCarthy in some capacity, be it in a remix of a classic Nitzer Ebb track dropped into a techno or electro DJ set, or hearing him guest on a number from Motor or Recoil. Whole schools of EBM basically revolve around paying tribute to his vocal style on classic Ebb material. The dude’s influence on modern electronic music is palpable in and outside the borders of Our Thing. It’s fitting then that his first solo LP touches on so many of the sounds he influenced; from the dusty shuffling electro-blues of “Hey” to the modern synthpop of “The Last Time” and the tweaky ballad “Nothing After This”, each seems as natural a fit as any other. And at the center of each song stands Doug, dignified, soulful, and charismatic as ever, crooning along with so much presence and personality that he himself becomes the context that unites Kill Your Friends. It’s more than just the voice, it’s the sensation that someone we know intimately from all the years we’ve spent with them is visiting, and by god, it’s good to see them. When McCarthy whispers “From London to LA/New York another day/Berlin and Mexico City/Come down if you want to meet me”, it’s hard not to take it as a literal invitation. Thanks Douglas, hoping to see you sooner rather than later.
Read our full review.
3. Continues
self-titled
[Mattress]
Outside of the “Love On The Run” single, our first proper exposure to Continues came at Kinetik a year and a half ago. As die-hard Babyland fans we were excited, skittish even, about hearing Dan Gatto’s new project, but had no real idea of what to expect. I Die: You Die was still in the planning stages at that point, but half an hour after Gatto took the stage in Montreal, we knew that Continues was precisely the sort of thing we wanted to write about, precisely the sort of thing we wanted to champion from whatever pulpit we could carve out for ourselves. By seizing latter-era Babyland’s increased interest in pop melody and exploding it to fill its entire canvas, Continues doesn’t just instantly consolidate itself as a distinctly new project. It also underlines the album’s emotional frailty by invoking the near-Jungian associations with romance, nostalgia, and innocence which classic synthpop holds. In Babyland, Gatto’s lyrics of strength in the face of adversity and self-betterment were honest and impassioned enough to fuel a dozen youth crews – that credibility and humanity transposes perfectly here, with naked, heart-on-sleeve confessionals of first love, insecurity, and romantic confusion ringing all the more true for Gatto’s desperate rasp. It’s the kind of record that only gets made at the cliff-face of a new beginning, and every single moment glistens with the sweat of victory, of defying the odds, of not going away. Continues by name, continues by nature.
Read our full review and our interview with Continues.
Lost Life by Continues
2. X-TG
Desertshore / The Final Report
[Industrial Records]
We’ve already written more about Desertshore/The Final Report than any other album in the history of this site, and at first it seemed like it would be a difficult task to come up with anything else to say about it, much less to come up with a short form summary of everything it means to us personally and to the industrial music as a whole. Like the best of Throbbing Gristle’s material though, its layers are so multitudinous and deep that even a week or so away from it has brought a whole new raft of thoughts and feelings about the last of Peter Christopherson’s work with Cosey Fanni Tutti and Chris Carter to the fore. Pairing a track by track cover of Nico’s most doleful album of Teutonic sorrow-bait (complete with guest vocals from Blixa Bargeld, Antony Hegarty and Marc Almond amongst others) with the remains of an intended X-TG album is such a perfectly pitched idea on so many levels; undercutting elegia with a difficult and rewarding collection of sounds that push and prod at the boundaries of our expectations. Do our heroes still have the capacity to surprise us, and can they deliver on the unspoken promise that it’s not over, that nothing is ever really over? Yes and yes. The opened and closed, alpha-omega circle of the double release is perfect: X-TG was ostensibly a new group, but also the literal end of Throbbing Gristle, Desertshore/Final Report is their first album but also their last. As finales go, it’s proven to be anything but final, a passion that dies and is reborn with imperfect symmetry again and again.
Read our full review.
1. ∆AIMON
Flatliner
[Tundra Dubs / Artoffact]
We’ll be straight-up: the question of which of our top two records of the year would get the final nod was a contentious one between the two of us this year (much like the three-way dance for the top spot last year). We’d like to think that came across in the writing on this site: we invested an unparalleled amount of time, sweat and tears into our X-TG review, and we’ve been writing about ∆AIMON pretty much non-stop since April. So, why did FLATLINER get the nod this year? The short answer is “it was the best thing we heard all year.” The long answer? Well…
The reason we run I Die: You Die is twofold: firstly, to do our bit to help artists we like and who have been established in Our Thing for years get some of the due they deserve. Secondly – and this is the most important thing to us when compiling these lists – to make a point of championing the new, the interesting, the right now. Nothing else we heard this year made us as excited about the latter concern like ∆AIMON did. Everything about it then, starting with their oblique, mystical public image, continuing through their complete subversion of the snake-eating-its-own-tail fate that witch house was looking to be consigned to at the beginning of the year, and especially the absolute strength of their material. At seven songs in length (before the Artoffact rerelease anyway), it’s still stronger than whole catalogues of music by comparable artists, if there can even be said to be any. If our end of the pool (mired in what is perceived as a backwater of alternative culture) has a bleeding edge, this is it.
The two traditions from which FLATLINER could perhaps be said to draw from, witch house and the strain of martial-cum-neoclassical industrial in which Cold Meat Industry used to trade, have rarely been known for their warmth, compassion, or proximity to human relationships. Yet for all of its occult symbolism and dark blasts of buzzing noise, FLATLINER finds Brant Showers and Nancy Lutz squarely in the middle of the storm they’ve gathered: hope, love, failure, intimacy, all parts of the greater human drama are found in the lavishly ornate frieze ∆AIMON present to the listener (an aspect the band acknowledged bringing to the fore on their sophomore release). Some of the subtler nuances of FLATLINER ‘s references to the Great Work may fly over the heads of a couple of secular socialist milquetoasts from the godless Northwest, but even we know that if “love is the law”, there’s lots of it here under FLATLINER ‘s foreboding waves.
In our original review of FLATLINER we likened it to Ulver’s Blood Inside, a comparison that becomes more and more appropriate with each passing week. Like that record by the mighty Norwegian wolves, it defies easy categorization and pigeon-holing, a genus of one, and is unlike anything else we’ve heard or expect to hear again, possibly even from ∆AIMON. For where it lands historically, for its charms both subtle and apparent, and for the innumerable number of times it compelled us to put it on from the beginning immediately after listening to it, it’s I Die: You Die’s album of the year.
Read our full review and our interview with ∆AIMON.
current by ∆AIMON
That’s it! Here’s the full list of our Top 25, plus links to the rest of our Year End coverage. Good night, St. Louis!
25. DSX, Anonymous
24. Displacer, Foundation
23. Spectres, Nothing To Nowhere
22. Alter Der Ruine, There’s Always One More Son of a Bitch
21. Carter Tutti Void, Transverse
20. Fostercare, Altered Creature
19. Caustic, The Man Who Couldn’t Stop
18. Assemblage 23, Bruise
17. V▲LH▲LL + M‡яc▲ll▲, Għøsŧs of Λnŧįquįŧұ
16. Killing Joke, MMXII
15. Rome, Hell Money
14. Distorted Memory, Temple Of The Black Star
13. The Pain Machinery, Restart
12. Nothing But Noise, Not Bleeding Red
11. Grendel, Timewave Zero
10. mind.in.a.box, Revelations
9. Dead When I Found Her, Rag Doll Blues
8. Spark!, Hela Din Värld
7. Agent Side Grinder, Hardware
6. S U R V I V E, self-titled
5. Legend, Fearless
4. Douglas J. McCarthy, Kill Your Friends
3. Continues, self-titled
2. X-TG, Desertshore / The Final Report
1. ∆AIMON, FLATLINER
–I Die: You Die’s 10 Favourite Videos of 2012
–The Friends of I Die: You Die 2012 Year End Round Up
–I Die: You Die’s Honourable Mentions 2012
–I Die: You Die’s Top 25 of 2012: 25-16
–I Die: You Die’s Top 25 of 2012: 15-6Argentina celebrate after Lionel Messi scored the winner against Uruguay.
Argentina will remain No. 1 in the new FIFA World Ranking when it is released on Sept. 15, with Brazil one of the big climbers and Wales back in the top 10.
Argentina have finished as runners-up in the World Cup and two consecutive editions of the Copa America in successive years, putting them well ahead of Belgium -- who lost to Spain and beat Cyprus -- as their nearest challengers.
La Albiceleste will extend their lead from 184 points last month to 277 points after beating Uruguay 1-0 and drawing 2-2 in Venezuela in World Cup qualifiers.
Brazil will move up five places to join Colombia in joint fourth place, their highest ranking since they were third two years ago. Coach Tite won both qualifiers over the past week, winning 3-0 in Ecuador and edging Colombia 2-1.
Germany move above Colombia into third place, while Uruguay (ninth, up four) and Wales (10th, up one) re-enter the top 10 at the expense of Spain (11th, down two) and Italy (13th, down three).
Wales will stay above England, who climb one place into 12th. Northern Ireland drop two to 30th, Republic of Ireland climb stay in 31st and Scotland rise seven places to 44th. Netherlands rise two to 24th despite losing at home to Greece and drawing in Sweden.
Costa Rica's climb back up the ranking sees them back in the top 20, up three into 18th. But Mexico remain the top-ranked CONCACAF nation, though drop one place to 15th. United States rise four places to 22nd, the best position since February 2014.
Algeria are still the top African nation, dropping two to 34th, with Iran up two to 37th as Asia's leading team.
NEW FIFA RANKING TOP 20
1 Argentina
2 Belgium
3 Germany
4 Brazil
4 Colombia
6 Chile
7 Portugal
8 France
9 Uruguay
10 Wales
11 Spain
12 England
13 Italy
14 Croatia
15 Mexico
16 Switzerland
17 Poland
18 Costa Rica
19 Ecuador
20 Hungary
Dale Johnson has been an editor and journalist at ESPN for 18 years. You can follow him on Twitter @dalejohnsonESPN.A woman catching a bus into Sydney's CBD had a chunk of her hair cut off by passengers who were sitting behind her, witnesses say.
The incident occurred on the route 339 bus, which travels from Clovelly into the city, about 9.40am on Wednesday and left the woman distraught and in tears.
The incident occurred on a route 339 bus from Clovelly to the city. Credit:Lisa Wiltse
A male passenger sitting next to the woman - who he estimated was in her early 20s with long, dark hair - told Fairfax Media that a "creepy, freaky" man and woman had been sitting in the seat behind them.
"The girl turned around and asked the man 'did you cut my hair?' " said the passenger, who did not wish to be identified.Vatican City — Despite media reports that Pope Francis refused the candidate that France proposed as its next ambassador to the Holy See, the French government has yet to receive an official response from the Vatican, said a spokesperson for the French government.
"For the moment, we wait," said Stephane Le Foll.
During a press briefing Wednesday in Paris, Le Foll confirmed that Pope Francis met with the proposed candidate, Laurent Stefanini. However, Le Foll discounted reports claiming the pope did not approve the nomination.
"What is cited in the newspaper is not the official word of the Vatican," he said, responding to a question from a journalist. "I do not give any credit to the information [about the refusal] you brought up."
According to the French Catholic news agency I.Media, the pope and Stefanini had a 40-minute private meeting at the Domus Sanctae Marthae on April 17, during which they spoke and prayed together.
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Since then, however, some media outlets published reports that accuse the Vatican of refusing France's nomination because Stefanini is gay. The press also cited Bernard Kouchner, a French politician and co-founder of Medecins Sans Frontieres, as reacting to the Vatican's alleged refusal, describing it as "racism."
Le Foll told journalists he would not comment on Kouchner's remarks, adding that as the former French minister of foreign and European affairs, Kouchner "should know in any case, on all of these subjects, to always take many precautions before commenting on information."
The French government is waiting -- "after the normal discussions, the time that is necessary for the study of the candidacy" -- for a response from the Vatican, Le Foll said.
International law grants all states, including the Vatican, the right to review all nominations and accept or reject an appointed ambassador. The review process is usually private and states are not obliged to give a reason for refusing a proposed candidate.
Stefanini, currently France's chief of protocol, is Catholic and worked as the first councilor for the French embassy to the Holy See from 2001 to 2005.
The Vatican press office has declined to comment on Stefanini's candidacy.Share
Immigration attorneys have confirmed social media reports that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement conducted raids on Buford Highway on Feb. 9.
The round ups of undocumented citizens are routine. But Sarah Owings, who chairs the Georgia-Alabama chapter of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, said ICE’s priorities have changed under President Trump. She said under President Obama, ICE primarily targeted violent criminals. Now, the department is going after “low-hanging fruit,” like people who have traffic offenses.
“They were using what limited resources they had on things they considered to be important, what was best to keep the country safe,” she said. “Now it’s going to be more like a fire hose. It’s going to go everywhere.”
A spokesperson for ICE said the raids are not new and are not casting a wide a net as the attorneys claim.
“Every day, as part of routine targeted enforcement operations, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Fugitive Operations teams arrest criminal aliens and other individuals who are in violation of our nation’s immigration laws,” ICE spokesperson Bryan Cox said. “ICE conducts targeted immigration enforcement in compliance with federal law and agency policy. ICE does not conduct sweeps or raids that target aliens indiscriminately.”
Cox could not immediately provide specific information about the Buford Highway raids, but said, “We probably did have an operation up there.”
“The perception certainly is that this is new or expanded or something of that nature. Yes we have fugitive operations teams,” Cox said. “These are established fugitive operations teams that have been existence. We’re continuing to conduct enforcement in the same manner.”
Cox said that the Atlanta Field Office, which covers Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina, reported 200 arrests this week which he said were “evenly split” between the three states. He said more precise data would be available next week and said the “majority” are convicted criminals. When asked if ICE has expanded its priority list to include people who have minor offenses, he pointed to a recent presidential executive order titled, “Enhancing Public Safety in the Interior of the United States.”
Section 5 reads as follows:
Sec. 5. Enforcement Priorities. In executing faithfully the immigration laws of the United States, the Secretary of Homeland Security (Secretary) shall prioritize for removal those aliens described by the Congress in sections 212(a)(2), (a)(3), and (a)(6)(C), 235, and 237(a)(2) and (4) of the INA (8 U.S.C. 1182(a)(2), (a)(3), and (a)(6)(C), 1225, and 1227(a)(2) and (4)), as well as removable aliens who: (a) Have been convicted of any criminal offense; (b) Have been charged with any criminal offense, where such charge has not been resolved; (c) Have committed acts that constitute a chargeable criminal offense; (d) Have engaged in fraud or willful misrepresentation in connection with any official matter or application before a governmental agency; (e) Have abused any program related to receipt of public benefits; (f) Are subject to a final order of removal, but who have not complied with their legal obligation to depart the United States; or (g) In the judgment of an immigration officer, otherwise pose a risk to public safety or national security.
“I don’t think anyone would dispute the read the pool of individuals has been broadened versus what it was before,” Cox said. “What I can tell you is when our teams go out … our focus still is on those who pose the greatest threat.”
He said fugitive operations target specific individuals. He said during these operations, officers may also come across individuals who meet the new enforcement priorities. But he said there’s some latitude as far as who will be arrested.
“If that person also has a violent felony conviction, the fact they have children is going to be weighted,” he said.
Owings said ICE agents took 40 people into custody in Savannah yesterday. WTOC in Savannah reported that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, arrested 26 suspected undocumented immigrants. Owings said she was still working to gather details about how many people were arrested on Buford Highway.
She said the concern among attorneys is that people who might be eligible to remain in the United States are being caught up in raids.
“We’re hearing reports they’re taking into custody anyone else in the house,” she said.
But if people are here legally it shouldn’t be a concern, right?
“People who are eligible for benefits are deported before they have an opportunity to fight for their cases,” Owings said. “It’s about the people around them. You’ll see a lot of permanent resident family members who are about to suffer tremendous loss. The human impact on people cannot be understated, how devastating it is. We do need immigration reform. It’s not a black and white situation and anyone who says it is doesn’t know anything about immigration law.”
On Friday afternoon, the Washington Post reported that there were “sweeping” immigration enforcement raids in six states.Scientists have created the world's thinnest light bulb using the wonder material graphene, in a layer just one atom thick.
Graphene – a form of carbon – has been heralded as having a vast range of uses.
The ability for the super-thin material to produce light is seen as a key step to create super-thin computer and TV screens.
Scroll down for video
Scientists have created the world's thinnest light bulb using the wonder material graphene in a layer just one atom thick (illustrated).
The 'bulb' was created by attaching a small strip of 'atomically thin' graphene, acting as a filament, to metal electrodes.
When they passed a current through it, the graphene lit up.
James Hone, professor of mechanical engineering at Columbia University said: 'We've created what is essentially the world's thinnest light bulb.'
The 'bulb' was created by attaching a small strip of 'atomically thin' graphene, acting as a filament, to metal electrodes. When the team passed a current through it, the graphene lit up (pictured at different magnifications left (which can be seen with the naked eye) left and right
WHAT IS GRAPHENE? Graphene is a single atomic layer of carbon atoms bound in a hexagonal network. It not only promises to revolutionise semiconductor, sensor, and display technology, but could also lead to breakthroughs in fundamental quantum physics research. It is often depicted as an atomic-scale chicken wire made of carbon atoms and their bonds. Scientists believe it could one day be used to make transparent conducting materials, biomedical sensors and even extremely light, yet strong, aircraft of the future. Similar to another important nanomaterial - carbon nanotubes - graphene is incredibly strong - around 200 times stronger than structural steel.
He added that the light 'will pave the way towards the realisation of atomically thin, flexible and transparent displays'.
The filament, despite being tiny, is visible to the naked eye when it is on.
The graphene reaches very high temperatures of 2,500°C but does not melt the electrodes because the 'hot spot' is restricted to the centre of the filament.
Yun Daniel Park, of Seoul National University said that carbon was one of the earliest filaments used when light bulbs were invented.
'Edison originally used carbon as a filament for his light bulb and here we are going back to the same element, but using it in its pure form – graphene – and at its ultimate size limit – one atom thick.'
Graphene, discovered in the UK, is composed of carbon atoms linked in a hexagonal lattice.
Its incredible properties include being 200 times stronger than steel by weight, conducting electricity and being nearly transparent.
The discovery of graphene in 2004 by Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov, two Russian-born scientists at the University of Manchester, earned the pair the Nobel Prize for Physics and knighthoods.
In 2014, a National Graphene Institute was set up in Manchester, with more than £60 million ($94 million) of funding to find uses for the substance.
The discovery of graphene (a molecular model is shown) in 2004 by Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov, two Russian-born scientists at the University of Manchester, earned the pair the Nobel Prize for Physics and knighthoods.While filming series 8 of Doctor Who at Mermaid Quay in Cardiff, Peter Capaldi met a five year old autistic girl called Roxaan and took time out to reassure her that it was alright for him to be The Doctor now.
The little girl’s auntie went on to explain the situation:
Hiya, the little girl in the dalek outfit is my niece, she’s autistic and was finding it difficult coming to terms with the regeneration as Matts doctor is her imaginary friend, she was worried PCap wouldn’t want to play with her. We are very ecstatic that he took time to reassure her. He’s brilliant! …
The first video (above) is the family’s recording of their meeting with Peter Capaldi and Jenna Coleman. The second video (below) is from youtube and is clearer but has poorer sound quality.
You can read more on the family’s blog.German Chancellor Angela Merkel goes for a handshake with Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu after they addressed the media upon their meeting at the Chancellery in Berlin, January 12, 2015. REUTERS/Hannibal Hanschke (GERMANY - Tags: POLITICS)
Berlin (Reuters) - Nach den Anschlägen von Paris hat sich Bundeskanzlerin Angela Merkel ausdrücklich vor die Muslime in Deutschland gestellt.
“Der frühere Bundespräsident Wulff hat gesagt, der Islam gehört zu Deutschland. Das ist so. Dieser Meinung bin ich auch”, sagte Merkel am Montag in Berlin. Die Bundesregierung tue alles dafür, dass die Integration von Migranten gelinge, unabhängig von der Religion. “Ich bin die Bundeskanzlerin aller Deutschen, das schließt alle, die hier dauerhaft leben, mit ein”, sagte Merkel nach einem Treffen mit dem türkischen Ministerpräsidenten Ahmet Davutoglu. Es gebe aber sicherlich eine Notwendigkeit, den Dialog zwischen den Religionen zu verstärken.
“Ich bin dankbar, dass die Muslime selbst die Trennlinie ganz klar ziehen”, fügte die Kanzlerin hinzu. Auch die Muslime in Deutschland wendeten sich klar gegen Gewalt. Am Dienstag will Merkel zusammen mit anderen Regierungsmitgliedern und Parteienvertretern an einer Mahnwache am Brandenburger Tor teilnehmen, zu der muslimische Verbände im Gedenken an die Opfer des Anschlags auf die Satire-Zeitung “Charlie Hebdo” und auf einen jüdischen Supermarkt in Paris aufgerufen haben.
Auch Davutoglu betonte die Notwendigkeit, den Dialog zwischen den Religionen zu stärken. Allerdings müsse auch entschieden gegen Islamophobie in Deutschland vorgegangen werden.Comet Ping Pong pizza shop in Washington on Dec. 5, 2016. A fake news story prompted a man to fire a rifle inside this popular local pizza place as he attempted to “self-investigate” a conspiracy theory that Hillary Clinton was running a child sex ring from there, police said. (Jose Luis Magana/Associated Press)
Fake news has been dominating real news since last year’s U.S. presidential election. Its effect has been debated and politicized, and in the process, the term itself has lost its original meaning and become something of a partisan insult. But an underlying question still needs answering: Can people distinguish legitimate sources of information from fake ones?
A majority of Americans are confident that they can, according to surveys. But it might be more difficult than it seems in an increasingly fragmented media landscape, with countless information sources tailored to every ideological taste.
Here’s how I did the research
To find out how well-informed people can tell true from false, I conducted a study on a sample of about 700 undergraduates at the University of British Columbia. These were primarily political science students interested in current events, who said they frequently read and watch news, on and offline. I thought that they would easily spot fake news websites. I was wrong.
[Trump’s war on the news media is serious. Just look at Latin America.]
First, I presented the students with images of banners of actual news websites. These varied from an established Canadian daily newspaper — the Globe and Mail — to mainstream online publications like Yahoo News and more partisan outlets like the HuffPost, Fox News and the far-right Breitbart.com. Although the study was conducted outside the United States, Canadians are familiar with the U.S. media market, consume news from U.S. sources and tend to follow U.S. politics.
I also showed them images of logos from three fake news sites, some of which gained prominence during the U.S. presidential election. One site was ABCnews.com.co, a fake news site whose name and logo is similar to that of the U.S. television network. A second was the Boston Tribune, and a third was World True News.
After viewing the logos, the students were asked to rate the legitimacy of each news source on a scale from 0-100, with 100 being very legitimate and 0 being not legitimate at all. Not surprisingly, the Globe and Mail was viewed as the most legitimate, with an average score of 68, as you can see in the graph below.
But two of the fake news sources did surprisingly well. ABCnews.com.co, which illegally parrots the circular logo of ABC News, received an average legitimacy score of 52, while the Boston Tribune, which includes the tagline “News you can trust” got an average legitimacy score of 54. Both of these sources attempt to look like traditional news sites, and unsuspecting news consumers might accept them as legitimate. World True News scored a 33, which may have to do with both its name — perhaps consumers think that a site calling itself “True” is trying to hide something — and the fact that its logo looks less like a traditional news site.
Interpreting this finding is not entirely straightforward. On the one hand, respondents may have given ABCnews.com.co and the Boston Tribune relatively high scores simply because they weren’t familiar with them. Indeed, a relatively large number of respondents rated the two sources at the midpoint of the scale, which could have been a default response indicating a lack of familiarity. And since respondents didn’t see any actual news content, we don’t know how the fake news sites’ ratings would change if they were paired with stories that might have been viewed as suspicious or outright false.
But the findings are consistent with other recent work. A few months ago, researchers from Stanford University found that young students, ranging from middle to high school, had a hard time distinguishing good sources of information from questionable ones. For example, 82 percent of students couldn’t differentiate sponsored content from a real news story.
My work suggests that the problem might extend to politically attentive university students. And it might be worse among the broader public, which is composed of more people who spend less time consuming news, are less interested in current events and lack higher education.
[There’s been a big change in how the news media covers sexual assault]
Further, ideology clearly affects how respondents rate news site legitimacy. Liberal students, who made up the majority of the sample, attributed more legitimacy to fake news sites that looked real, like ABC News.com.co and the Boston Tribune, and fake news that looks fake, like World True News, than to Fox News.
What does it mean for democracy?
The implications of these findings are troubling. At a time when all of us are asked to be our own informational gatekeepers, many lack the necessary skills to separate actual journalism from predatory clickbait falsehoods, while ideological and partisan biases only make these decisions more difficult.
The fact that even the digital natives might fall prey to fake news sites suggests that perhaps media literacy should become a component of curriculums, including in college.
Dominik Stecula is a PhD candidate in political science and a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council doctoral fellow at the University of British Columbia.By the end of U.S. presidential candidate Mitt Romney's first full day in London on Thursday, he had been the target of a verbal jab from the British prime minister and had been mocked by the city's mayor, who spoke before a cheering crowd.
So it is safe to say that Romney's |
.core.async.macros :refer [ go ]]) ( :require [ om.core :as om :include-macros true ] [ om.dom :as dom :include-macros true ] [ cljs.core.async :refer [ put! chan <! ]] [ ajax.core :refer [ GET json-response-format ]])) ( def app-state ( atom { :teams nil })) ( defn teams-view [ app owner ] ( reify om/IRender ( render [ this ] ( apply dom/tbody nil ( map-indexed ( fn [ idx t ] ( let [{ :keys [ team goals_for goals_against win loss draw points goal_diff games ]} t ] ( let [ cols [( + idx 1 ) team win loss draw goals_for goals_against goal_diff games points ]] ( apply dom/tr nil ( for [ r cols ] ( dom/td nil r )))))) ( sort-by :points # ( compare %2 %1 ) ( :teams app ))))))) ( defn app-state-error [ response ] (.error js/console ( :message response ))) ( defn app-state-handler [ response ] ( swap! app-state assoc :teams response ) ( om/root teams-view app-state { :target (. js/document ( getElementById "content" ))})) ( GET "/" { :handler app-state-handler :error-handler : app-state-error :response-format ( json-response-format { :keywords? true })})
Starting from the top, we declare our namespace in our client just like we would in a server-side clojure program. Here we are requiring Om and parts of ClojureScript to make our lives a little easier.
Next up we create our app-state. This atom stores our client-side application state, compared to angular this would be similar to an AngularJS scope.
After the app-state comes our function that defines a React component teams-view. Our teams-view function creates a new React component. Here our component creates a table body and the uses map to build the individual rows and columns of our table based on the data in the teams element of our app-state.
app-state-error and app-state-handler are the failure and success callback from the GET function that hits our server-side Clojure REST API. When GET is called it returns data to the app-state-handler. This data is swapped into our app-state, completely replacing whatever is there. The app-state-handler also calls om/root which renders our React component into the element named "content".
Om HTML File
Below is our Om HTML file. This file sets up the target for our React component when it is rendered.
<!DOCTYPE html> <html lang= "en" > <head> <meta charset= "utf-8" ></meta> <meta http-equiv= "X-UA-Compatible" content= "IE=edge" > <title> React Tutorial Rewritten in OM </title> </head> <body> <!-- entry point for components --> <table> <thead> <tr> <th> Rank </th> <th> Nation </th> <th> W </th> <th> L </th> <th> D </th> <th> GF </th> <th> GA </th> <th> GD </th> <th> GP </th> <th> Points </th> </tr> </thead> <tbody id= "content" > </tbody> </table> <!--<script type="text/javascript"> var CLOSURE_NO_DEPS = true; </script> --> <script src= "//cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/react/0.11.1/react.js" ></script> <script src= "js/client.js" type= "text/javascript" ></script> </body> </html>
AngularJS
Now that we've explained the React and Om approach, let's show this same solution using AngularJS. First we'll start with our AngularJS HTML file with our declarative markup.
<!DOCTYPE html> <html ng-app= "worldCupApp" > <head> <title> AngularJS Performance Test </title> </head> <body ng-controller= "ScoreController" > <table> <thead> <tr> <th> Rank </th> <th> Nation </th> <th> W </th> <th> L </th> <th> D </th> <th> GF </th> <th> GA </th> <th> GD </th> <th> GP </th> <th> Points </th> </tr> </thead> <tbody> <tr ng-repeat= "(index,team) in teams | orderBy:points:true" > <td> {{index + 1}} </td> <td> {{team.team}} </td> <td> {{team.win}} </td> <td> {{team.loss}} </td> <td> {{team.draw}} </td> <td> {{team.goals_for}} </td> <td> {{team.goals_against}} </td> <td> {{team.goal_diff}} </td> <td> {{team.games}} </td> <td> {{team.points}} </td> </tr> <tr> <td colspan= "9" > </td> <td> {{total()}} </td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <script type= "text/javascript" src= "https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/angularjs/1.2.23/angular.js" ></script> <script type= "text/javascript" src= "client/app.js" ></script> </body> </html>
Now for our AngularJS controller
( function () { 'use strict' ; var worldcupApp = angular. module ( 'worldCupApp', []); worldcupApp. controller ( 'ScoreController', function ( $scope, $q, $http, $filter ){ $scope. teams = []; $scope. init = function (){ $http. get ( 'http://localhost:3000/' ). then ( function ( result ){ $scope. teams = result. data ; }, function ( error ){ console. log ( error ); }); }; $scope. points = function ( team ){ return team. points ; }; $scope. sortedTeams = function (){ return $filter ( 'orderby' )( $scope. teams, $scope. points, true ); }; $scope. total = function (){ var total = 0.0 ; angular. forEach ( $scope. teams, function ( t ){ total += t. points ; }); return total ; }; $scope. init (); }); }());
Just like React, Angular makes an AJAX call to the Clojure REST API to load the dataset. It renders the results using a declarative approach in the HTML and only uses a few Javascript helper functions to do some aggregate calculations.
Conclusion
In this article we've shown just how simple it is to build a React view using Om with ClojureScript. We've also set the stage for our final article which discusses the performance difference between the two approaches, AngularJS vs Om. AngularJS is known for having a difficult learning curve, and Om is no different. In addition to being comfortable with React you also require knowledge of Clojure and ClojureScript, both large topics on their own. For teams considering an investment in Clojure, this is an easy trade and will help build your Clojure competency faster. In the next article we'll also expand on our Om example and bring in channels which will allow our UI to respond to changes in the data structures we are displaying.
Do you need an expert in web development? With a team of web development specialists covering a wide range of skill sets and backgrounds, The BHW Group is prepared to help your company make the transformations needed to remain competitive in today’s high-tech marketplace.Our Madoka Magica group at Sacanime! This series is how I got into cosplay. Years ago I attended the Madoka fan panel at Fanime 2013, my first panel at my first con. There I made some awesome friends (including @carroselle, who was Nagisa for that panel too). I later joined the same panel as Kyubey in 2014 for my first cosplay group. It really meant a lot to me to cosplay this series again with some amazing friends and with a revamped Kyubey design!
📸 by the one and only @extrnalzdmike
Also thanks to @time2goh for the amazing 3D printing on the pendant and soul gems and @carroselle
for painting them!
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#sacanime #sacwinter #sacanime2019 #cosplay #madokamagica #kyubey #groupcosplay #sayakamiki #kyokosakura #homuraakemi #madokakaname #mamitomoe #nagisamomoe
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Gibson, 24, had a great season in 2013 with Dayton, leading the team in goals and assists. Bardsley tallied 25 points, 9 goals, and 7 assists in the 2013 season with the Lions, and was named to the All-USL PRO 2nd Team.
“I’m pretty stoked. I was originally born here in San Clemente, so it was an opportunity that arose, and I said, why not come back to where I was born and raised.” said Bardsley, about his recent signing with OC Blues FC. “From the get-go, the Blues talked about pushing for a championship, and getting into the playoffs. That is one of my goals as a player, and there’s no better way to do that than winning a championship, so I wanted to come to a team with a similar mentality.”
“When he was introduced to me, I sensed his motivation for success, and this is one of the great attributes that we expect all of our players to have for our upcoming season if we want to win the league,” said Head Coach Daryuosh Yazdani.
OC Blues FC’s first home match at Anteater Stadium at UCI is set for Saturday, April 5th, as the Blues welcome expansion franchise OKC Energy FC. The Blues 2014 season begins on Saturday, March 22nd at StubHub Center in Carson, for a match against the newly formed LA Galaxy II.
2014 Season seats for OC Blues FC are on sale now. Join the family and be guaranteed to be a part of the inaugural season of professional soccer in Orange County. For more information on how to become a Season seat holder, call (714) 871-0484, email seats@bluessoccerclub.com, or visit www.ocbluesfc.com.
AdvertisementsIf an individual knowingly has given classified material to unauthorized person, it's a grave breach of trust and law.
The National Security Agency at Fort Meade, Md. (Photo11: Patrick Semansky, AP) Story Highlights Obligation for contract employees to deal properly with classified material is the same as for government employees.
Individuals don't get to decide for themselves what should be classified.
Snowden should be called to account for breaking the law.
Edward Snowden and Bradley Manning have a lot in common.
Each one signed oaths of confidentiality and agreements to serve. Each received some of the highest security clearances the nation can give for the handling of secrets that aid in securing the American people from those who would harm them. And each decided he is the ultimate arbiter of what is right and wrong with America's policies.
OUR VIEW: Whistle-blower hero or villain?
Neither man had been asked to shed his blood (Manning was safe in a secured headquarters facility; Snowden was in Hawaii), but they apparently felt they had a mission that would allow them to enjoy the status of martyrs.
Some have said that because Snowden was a contractor, he shouldn't have had access to such confidential information. But the obligation for contract employees to deal properly with classified material is the same as for government employees.
Individuals don't get to decide for themselves what should be classified. If an individual knowingly has given classified material to unauthorized person, it's a grave breach of trust and law.
The U.S. system regularly shares classified information with contract employees. Failures like this are a rare occurrence. Contractors, when used prudently with appropriate oversight, are an invaluable part of our military and security capability. Efficiently tapping the private sector for national security can be an enormous competitive advantage for the U.S.
We have to separate the leak, which is simply wrong, from concerns over the program itself. Surveillance for threats can be done legally. The conflating of multiple programs and the inaccurate description of some of these programs makes it is impossible to tell from news reports and government talking points alone if the program was administered properly. That process will now begin.
That said, individuals who suspect wrongdoing in government have legitimate options to bring this to the attention of responsible individuals in government and Congress without breaking the law.
Mr. Snowden decided it was fine to break the law, and he should be called to account for it. These leaks never occur without repercussions. One hopes that any damage to the nation's security does not cause loss of life. Some Americans may lionize Snowden, but there are terrorists who surely do.
Steven Bucci, a deputy assistant secretary of defense during the George W. Bush administration, is director of the Allison Center for Foreign Policy Studies at The Heritage Foundation.
Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/13yAAedJill Stein, the Green Party's presidential candidate, promised young adults at a Sunday night rally in Boulder that she would free them from crippling debt if they elect her.
"They can liberate themselves by coming out to vote green," she said. "They can come out to take over this election."
Stein, who spoke at Glenn Miller Ballroom on the CU campus to an audience of about 150, also praised Colorado's reform efforts, including the ColoradoCare universal healthcare ballot measure, two ballot initiatives to limit fracking and legalization of marijuana.
"Democrats, they're not going to save us," she said. "We are going to save us. Colorado is going to save us."
Green Party presidential nominee Jill Stein speaks to an audience in Glenn Miller Ballroom at the CU Boulder campus on Sunday evening. More photos: dailycamera.com. (Autumn Parry / Daily Camera)
Sunday's Boulder rally was Stein's last stop on a two-day Colorado tour that included appearances in Denver, Colorado Springs and Fort Collins. She's appealing to the previous supporters of Bernie Sanders, who won overwhelmingly in Colorado's 2016 caucus.
"What they are afraid of with Bernie, they have every reason to be afraid of with us," she said. "People say that our campaign is actually Bernie on steroids."
She emphasized three campaign issues Sunday: standing up to climate change, war and student debt.
On climate change, she said, she supports a ban on fracking and all new fossil fuel infrastructure, zeroing out fossil fuels and nuclear power plants by 2030. Replacing those jobs would be 20 million new jobs in organic food production and green energy, she said.
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Getting rid of fossil fuels, she added, would end wars over oil.
"We do not need, and we cannot justify, spending half of our discretionary budget putting military around the world to protect our access to other people's fossil fuels," she said.
She said she also wants to shut down the country's "profiteering weapons industry," with the United States responsible for providing arms that end up in the hands of terrorists.
"We started this madness, we can put it to a stop," she said.
She said she's running to win and answered the question of "aren't you afraid you're going to elect Donald Trump" by saying "I will not sleep well if Donald Trump gets elected, but I will not sleep well if Hillary Clinton gets elected."
She vowed to show up for the next presidential debate in September, whether she's invited or not, even if it means getting arrested as she was in the last election.
"One way or another, we're going to be at there at that debate, trying to open it up," she said.
She also bashed corporate media several times, saying the media only covers the Green Party when "we force them to by running for president."
"We greens are here," she said. "They're just trying to pretend that we aren't."
Justin Mathis, who lives in Arvada, was a volunteer organizer for Sanders and is now a Stein fan.
"A candidate should have to earn your vote, and Hillary didn't really try," he said. "I'm really tired of voting for the lesser of two evils. In the end, you just get evil. I want to vote for the greater good."
Boulder's Ollie Tullos is another Sanders supporter now planning to vote for Stein, saying Stein's platform is similar to Sanders and she's "someone who isn't Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump."
"Voting for a third party is more important than it has ever been if we want to see change in the two-party system," Tullos said. "It's more important than participating in that system."
Alex Horne, who drove to Boulder from Fort Collins for the rally, is still undecided on who will get his vote. If Trump is polling low enough, he said, he would "love to vote for Jill Stein."
He said he wanted to learn more about her ideas and opportunities to canvass, adding that he likes what he's heard so far, especially her urgency around addressing climate change.
"I respect her commitment to science," he said. "Her fundraising s completely clean. She's a genuine person with a kind heart, not a racist businessman or an ambitious career politician."
Kevin Alumbaugh, co-chair of the Greater Boulder Green Party, said having Stein include Boulder on her Colorado campaign swing was "the greatest thing we could hope for."
"She's my hero," he said.
Beating the odds to get her to 15 percent in the national polls, giving her a spot at the presidential debate, is the main goal, he said.
"If she could get on the debate stage, she could turn the tide," he said.
Amy Bounds: 303-473-1341, boundsa@dailycamera.com or twitter.com/boundsaWhat they did: Past research has shown the 50,000 children who were evacuated from Finland during WWII were more likely to experience mental illness than those who were not. To control for pre-existing genetic tendencies towards mental illness, the researchers looked at the rates of hospitalization among the descendants of first cousins: 3,000 children who were descended from evacuees, and over 90,000 who were descended from siblings who stayed.
What they found: Daughters of women who were evacuated were four times more likely to be hospitalized for mental illness compared to their first cousins who stayed. This trend held true regardless of whether or not their mothers had been hospitalized for mental illness but was not true for male offspring or the descendents of men.
Take note: Because the study is retrospective, it's impossible to capture all the possible variables impacting the children. And since the study looks at hospitalizations for mental illness, it may be underestimating the scope of the problem, since mental illnesses are often underreported, particularly in men. Still, the large sample size and strong associations help account for some of these challenges.
The researchers weren't able to determine the cause for this trend, but they suggest two possibilities:
The experience of being evacuated may have impacted the parenting behaviors of the subjects in the study, or that stories of experienced trauma influenced the mental health of their children.
Or, intriguingly, this could be due to epigenetics — sometimes-inheritable changes in which genes are activated. Essentially, cells control which genes are "turned on" in a cell by attaching or detaching a molecule that can prevent the piece of DNA from being read. Past research has shown a physiological response to famine can be passed down across generations. One study found that the descendants of Holocaust survivors have different hormonal responses to stress, and another study from the same lab suggested epigenetics may explain why.
Go deeper: Rachel Yehuda, an author on both papers on multi-generational mental health impacts in Holocaust survivors, notes the gender trends could indicate something epigenetic is at work. Past research has shown mothers can pass on certain epigenetic changes while pregnant.
The bottom line: Epigenetics is a fledgling field, and the epigenetics of mental health is even younger. But, notes Yehuda, "Data like these really help make the argument that the effects of war are devastating well beyond the actual exposure and potentially for generations after," whether it be genetic or otherwise.NYPD will be out in force for DWI enforcement around the five boroughs over Independence Day weekend; From Friday through Tuesday nights, “Know Your Limit” campaign will offer $10 off cab rides taken via the Curb app
NEW YORK— As part of the Vision Zero safety campaign, Mayor de Blasio today announced a focus on DWI enforcement over the 4th of July weekend, which traditionally has been among the deadliest times of the year for drunk-driving fatalities. At a briefing on holiday-related law-enforcement matters at One Police Plaza, he was joined DOT Commissioner Polly Trottenberg, NYPD Transportation Chief Thomas Chan, and TLC Commissioner Meera Joshi, who also announced a new program to offer discounted cab rides — via the Curb app — over the holiday weekend.
“Over three years of Vision Zero, we have made tremendous progress in reducing fatalities,” said Mayor de Blasio. “However, we have so much more work to do and a holiday weekend celebration is no excuse to let our guard down in keeping our fellow New Yorkers safe. If you are drinking this weekend, don’t get behind the wheel. If you do, the NYPD is going to make sure you pay for it. Please use mass transit this weekend, or take advantage of the discounts being offered for New York City cabs.”
The DOT, NYPD, and TLC today made the following Vision Zero announcements:
DWI Enforcement Citywide: DOT and NYPD data show that the 4th of July weekend ends one of the most dangerous periods of the year for DWI-related traffic fatalities. During the six-week period between Memorial Day and Independence Day weekends, the rate of fatal alcohol-involved crashes increases by 55% compared to the rest of the year. The National Safety Council predicts that with traffic fatalities on the rise nationally, this four-day weekend holiday weekend could be the deadliest in many years.
NYPD will be focused on finding and arresting intoxicated drivers this holiday weekend. The focus on DWI will be down to the precinct level, including through the use of random checkpoints.
“Know Your Limit” Campaign features $10 Off Rides via Curb App: “Know Your Limit” is an on-street campaign educating New Yorkers about the dangers of drinking and driving. When enjoying a night on the town, New Yorkers should always plan ahead, especially because New York City already provides thousands of designated drivers – taxi drivers, bus drivers, and subway conductors. As part of “Know Your Limit,” New Yorkers are encouraged this weekend to book a safe ride home on the Curb app, which connects its users to over 13,000 licensed NYC taxis.
Users who have downloaded the Curb app — at gocurb.com/app or in the App Store or at Google Play — can use the promotional code “NODWI” to get $10 off rides. Beginning tonight, a limited number of promotional codes will be available each night this weekend through Tuesday night from 7pm to 4am. To redeem the discount, riders simply download and register their credit card on the app. Enter the promo code in the payments section and a $10 credit will be applied to the rider's fare for one ride this weekend.
More information is available on NYCDOT’s Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram accounts and on taxi tops and Taxi TV.
“Last weekend, a driver in Midtown with an alcohol level twice the legal limit, drove the wrong way on Seventh Avenue and seriously hurt a cyclist,” said DOT Commissioner Polly Trottenberg. “Even as Mayor de Blasio’s Vision Zero efforts have helped us achieve historic declines in crashes, we need to stay vigilant for behavior that can so quickly undo that success. If you are celebrating this holiday weekend, have a designated driver, take a subway or grab a cab. However you are celebrating, do not drink and then get behind the wheel. ”
"If you're out celebrating this weekend, ensure you have a designated driver," said NYPD Commissioner James P. O’Neill. "Our officers will be out across the City enforcing our traffic laws and cracking down on those who drink and drive."
“Taxi and For-Hire Vehicle drivers play an essential safety role by helping passengers both stay off the road and get home comfortably after enjoying the holiday weekend,” said Taxi and Limousine Commissioner Meera Joshi.“The City and TLC-licensed driver’s efforts to prevent both drunk and fatigued driving is also something to celebrate.”
About Vision Zero
In January 2017, after three successive years of declines in traffic fatalities, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced New York City would make an additional $400 million investment in Vision Zero – for a total of $1.6 billion over the next five years. DOT is implementing its most aggressive street redesign safety program, an increased investment in street redesign and traffic-calming measures citywide. Other Vision Zero changes announced by the Mayor include ensuring NYPD crossing guards at every post, faster replacement of street markings, intersection upgrades in the bike-lane network, more left-turn calming efforts, brighter lighting and more equipment at each police precinct to catch speeding.
For more information about the de Blasio Administration’s Vision Zero initiative, please see www.nyc.gov/visionzeroGoogle may be the dominant search engine, but it’s far from ideal. One major problem: How do you search for things you don’t know exist?
Using Google’s own experimental algorithms, a graduate student may have build a solution: a search engine that allows you to add and subtract search terms for far more intuitive results.
The new search engine, ThisPlusThat.Me, similarly looks for context clues among the terms. For instance: Entering the arithmetic search “Paris – France + Italy” gives the top result as “Rome,” but if I search the same thing in Google, I’ll get directions between Paris and Italy, restaurants in France and Italy, and a depressing Yahoo Answers of whether Italy is in Paris (or vice versa). “Rome,” on the other hand, is an association you, a human, would make (I want This, without That but including Those)–and the engine makes that decision based on each answer’s semantic value compared to your search.
Until now, search has been stuck in a paradigm of literal matching, unable to break into conceptual associations and guessing what you mean when you search. There’s a reason Amazon and Netflix have scored points for their item suggestions: They’re thinking how you think.
The engine, created by Astrophysics PhD candidate Christopher Moody, uses Google’s own open-source word2vec algorithm research to take the terms you searched for and ranks the query results by relevance, just like a normal search–except the rankings are based on “vector distances” that have a lot more human sense. So in the above example, other results could have been, say, Napoleon or wine–both have ties with the above search terms, but within the context of City – Country + Other Country, Rome is the vector that has the closest “distance.”
All the word2vec algorithm needs is an appropriate corpus of data to build its word relations on: Moody used Wikipedia’s corpus as a vocabulary and relational base–an obvious advantage in size, but it also had the added benefit of “canonicalizing” terms (is it Paris the city, or Paris from the Trojan War? In Wikipedia, the first is “Paris” and the second “Paris_(mythology).” But millions of search-and-replaces in Wiki’s 42 GB of text was intensive, so Moody used Hadoop’s Map functions to fan those search-and-replaces to several nodes.At the heyday of colonial conquest, Charles Baudelaire, the French poet and lover of the Haitian-born artist Jeanne Duval, wrote that “dandyism is a setting sun; like the declining star, it is magnificent, without heat and full of melancholy.” Diasporic Africans, whose bodies were reduced to mere commodities for centuries, have long used “stylin’ out” to subvert racial order, perform their identities far from a lost homeland, and “redefine blackness and cosmopolitanism,” as the historian Monica Miller noted in “Slaves to Fashion: Black Dandyism and the Styling of Black Diasporic Identity.”
The recent publication of “Return of the Rudeboy,” by the photographer and filmmaker Dean Chalkley and the creative director Harris Elliott, bears testimony to this history of struggle and survival while taking their stunning exhibition, curated at Somerset House in London last year and at Laforet Museum Harajuku in Tokyo this spring, to a larger audience.
The term “rude boys” originally referred to the youth gangs that emerged in Kingston shortly after Jamaica’s emancipation from British rule in 1962. Against a backdrop of increasing poverty and post-independence disenchantment, rudies’ rebellious bravura, paced by reggae and ska rhythms of Bob Marley and Peter Tosh, became a rallying cry among poor and disenfranchised teenagers.
The mass migration of Jamaicans to the United Kingdom not only further developed this culture of dissent by exporting sound systems, turntables and toasting, but also changed British culture by shaping cultural, social and political alliances with the equally riotous white youths of the Mod and, later, punk scenes. The rude boy culture came to define an ethos of self-worth, determination and creativity for a generation of migrants ready to strike back at a conservative and racist society.
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In 2012, Jamaica was celebrating its 50th anniversary of independence and its superstar sprinter Usain Bolt was crowned as the fastest man on the planet at the Summer Olympics, held in the former capital of the British Empire. Also in London, Mr. Chalkley and Mr. Elliott, collaborators and friends for more than a decade, sensed a change in attitude among black youths in the U.K. Some were drifting away from the sportswear consecrated by the prophets of early rap and the later hip-hop moguls.
“Independently, we both observed a change in attitude and sartorial dress codes, tailored and cropped trousers and killer hats disrupting the sight lines,” Mr. Chalkley said in a Skype interview. “There was a mood and an atmosphere. There was obviously a connection, but no one has done it. We decided to do something about it for ourselves to illustrate this shift.”
They started making portraits of people who embodied the rebirth of the rude boy style. The project, Mr. Elliott said, was meant to “show excitement and positivity,” not produce a formal historical account of rude boys.
“The political climate is really different from what it was in the 1950s and 1960s,” he said. “We wanted to celebrate the rude boys’ legacy, but also what is happening now: how young people are adopting a sense of self-worth in which they can express themselves in the way they dress and in the way they have done so for decades.”
Shot in just a couple of months, the images evoke the shared complicity of friends more than the cold intimacies that often characterize the short-lived encounters of street photographers. “As we were talking with people, other people came forward,” Mr. Chalkley said. “We were crystallizing these aspirations. The people we were photographing introduced us to other people.”
Nor was the project grounded in the fashion photography aesthetic that enshrines clothing items like sacred objects of consumption rituals. “Nobody was styled,” Mr. Elliott said. “They all presented themselves in their own unique and sharp way.”
The attitude they wanted to shoot, he said, “was about making the best of what you can with what you got, even if you’re living in poverty. It was about expression, freedom and emancipation, as seen in hip-hop from the early days. And, in that respect, it set up a new balance and marker.”
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The images in their self-published book tell individual and collective stories that cross gender, generational and racial divides. Faithful to the rude boy-Mod alliance, the book displays a portrait of the vintage clothes dealer Dexter de Leadus wearing a two-gun broach he made for the shoot. “He expresses the original rude boy attitude,” Mr. Elliott said. “He is a purist. He is rarely photographed because of his ‘don’t mess with me’ stance.”
The fashion buyer Alani Adenle, who, according to Mr. Chalkley, “could be a guy on a corner of a street in Kingston, Jamaica, in 1965,” perfectly personifies “the swagger style: an air, a grace and a strength.” The stylist Cynthia Lawrence-John is photographed with a razor-blade umbrella looking at the camera with a fierce intensity. The guitarist Seye Adelekan, who performed with the rock musician Damon Albarn and the kora player Toumani Diabaté, wears a striking electric blue jacket — and a killer smile.
The richness of cultures that are still forged along the seashores of the Black Atlantic will certainly inspire new nostalgia in the centuries to come. Their depth will serve also as a reminder that, as the St. Lucian poet and playwright Derek Walcott would say, “Either I’m nobody, or I’m a nation.”
Jean-Philippe Dedieu is a Cirhus fellow and visiting scholar at the department of social and cultural analysis at New York University. He was recently awarded a Weatherhead Initiative on Global History fellowship at Harvard University. Specializing in African diasporas, he published “La Parole Immigrée: Les Migrants Africains dans l’Espace Public en France, 1960-1995” (Les Belles Lettres, 2012).
Follow @RudeboysReturn, @deanchalkley_, @_Harriselliott, @jphdedieu, and @nytimesphoto on Twitter. We are also on Facebook and Instagram.The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has warned about the privacy implications of a cybersecurity bill |
a complete change of mentality. Before it was seen as completely backward; now it is seen as something that will enrich your personality, or your children's personalities."
Symbolic recognition
A campaign to gain a measure of symbolic recognition for regional languages also resulted in a line being added to the constitution in 2008 acknowledging them as part of France’s heritage. But Louarn said further action was needed to ensure their survival as living languages, rather something belonging to the country's past.
With a majority of Breton speakers now in their 80s and with few young people learning the language, he said the state needed to take urgent measures, including full constitutional recognition and subsequent investment in public education, regional language media and public services, to reverse the decline.
"All regional languages in France are in danger. They could disappear as social languages. Perhaps they can stay in museums, but not in real life. In Brittany in the middle of the 20th century there were a million people who spoke Breton; now there are 200,000. So the number is going down because of the policy of the state," Louarn said.
Alexis Quentin, of the Institute of Occitan Studies in Paris, said France needed to evolve from its centralist foundations towards something "more federalist, more open" and more relaxed about diversity.
"Centralism is like a weight for France nowadays. And I believe that the Republic could evolve like that, and be more democratic with rights for regions and minorities," he said. "It is an important point for democracy in France. And having only one language is more nationalistic."
While French President Nicolas Sarkozy has said that he would not ratify the charter on regional languages, several of his opponents in the April 22 first round vote have expressed support for greater linguistic rights.
On a campaign visit to Corsica last week, Francois Hollande, the Socialist candidate who leads Sarkozy according to latest polls, said he was committed to ratifying the European charter and providing greater support for regional language education, media and cultural activities.
Francois Bayrou, the candidate for the centrist Democratic Movement, who comes from the Pyrenees, even spoke the Occitan dialect of Bearnais in vowing to fight for regional language speakers at a rally in the southern city of Toulouse.
'Die-hard republicans'
But Philippe Marliere said any president or politician who wanted to amend the constitution to recognise regional languages faced an "almost impossible" task in mobilising the required two-thirds majorities in both the National Assembly and the Senate.
"There are still die-hard republicans in France and overall - let's say among politicians, political commentators, journalists - they are still pretty much the majority. If one starts acknowledging that there is not one unitary language but several then it's opening the Pandora's box to all sorts of issues. And, of course, the French fear is that there will be ethnic and religious claims made on behalf of minority groups, and then that will be the end of the French Republic."
Such a campaign would also face opposition from France's Constitutional Council, which blocked previous efforts to ratify the European charter, and the Academie Francaise, the influential institution set up to formalise French in the 17th century, which remains the guardian of the national language and emphatically opposed to any challenge to its supremacy.
"There will always be people against it and I can see a very passionate campaign of people defending the status quo. So no government, no president, left or right, would have the stomach to do that," said Marliere.
But Marliere added that he he could envision a more piecemeal shift in French attitudes, in which greater awareness of regional languages and the benefits of bilingualism combined with external pressure from the European Union would push France towards a more progressive position.
"I think that change will come in practice, but in a very pragmatic way. There will be pressure on France to be more liberal and to accommodate more regional languages, and it will do so, but in a very ad hoc manner and not by revising the constitution."
Davyth Hicks also sees reason for hope in the way that new technology and social media have opened up new spheres for regional languages among a new generation of speakers beyond the traditional domain of the state.
"They key to the future of any language is the young people," he said. "Youngsters have got to see that they can go out there and use their language, and if they can see that it is there on Facebook and on the internet and on their iPhone then we can steal a march."
In the short term, however, responsibility for the survival of France's regional languages hangs heavily on the shoulders of a current generation of speakers determined to pass them on.
"I live in Paris, and come from a family that is both from the north and the south of France. So, speaking Occitan is to claim back one half of me," said Alexis Quentin.
"For me, it means to talk with my grandmother, to talk with my relatives in Auvergne. It is a part of me. It is normal that a state should secure this, and that our heritage should not be lost forever. And it is important for me to give this heritage to my children."Updated June 3, 2015 11:00 AM (see details)
Recently a popular privacy and unblocker application known as Hola has been gaining attention from the security community for a variety of vulnerabilities and highly questionable practices that allow the service to essentially behave as a botnet-for-hire through its sister service called Luminati. Vectra researchers have been looking into this application after observing it in customer networks over the past several weeks, and the results are both intriguing and troubling. In addition to its various botnet-enabling functions that are now part of the public record, the Hola application contains a variety of features that make it an ideal platform for executing targeted cyber attacks.
Let’s start with the basics
Hola markets itself as providing anonymous browsing and an unblocker for accessing any content from any location. “Unblocking” comes in two forms. The first is that an Hola user can pretend to be in any country she wants, enabling access to content that would only be available within the target country. A common example is a Canadian citizen accessing the US version of Netflix. The second is an employee in a company which blocks certain outbound traffic can use Hola to get past the blockage.
The software is available either as a browser extension or a stand-alone application with versions for every major operating system, and Hola claims 46 million users worldwide. Vectra researchers analyzed the Windows 32-bit version of Hola for Windows, and the Android ARM and Android x86 versions of Hola for mobile available prior to May 27, 2015.
Once installed, the service acts as giant peer-to-peer network known internally as “Zon” where a user’s Internet traffic is bounced through other Hola users. In the Zon network, every unpaid user is used as an exit node, meaning that if you were to install the application, you would carry traffic from other anonymous users. Worse still, Hola caches content on user devices, meaning that not only would you carry someone else’s traffic without your knowledge, but you could be used to cache their content as well. These are all things that Hola publicly states on its website and license agreement. While users who have just realized this have expressed shock, the story doesn’t end there.
Our decision to analyze this software was that it triggered a type of detection we call “External Remote Access” in some of our customers’ networks. The algorithm behind this detection finds connections that are established from the inside of a customer’s network to the Internet and the subsequent interaction is clearly driven by a human on the outside of the customer’s network. This pattern is consistent with how a peer-to-peer anonymity network works. The employee computer with Hola installed must use well-known techniques to make a firewall allow the peer’s connection to complete and these techniques effectively make the connection appear – to the firewall and to Vectra – to be initiated from the employee’s machine to the peer who wishes to make use of it. Once the connection is up, the external human controlling the peer drives all the action.
Read a blog on cyber attackers using The Onion Router
Digging deeper
Things get a bit more interesting when you realize that Hola (the company) operates a second brand called Luminati that sells access to the Hola network to third parties. If this sounds to you like a recipe for a botnet, you’re not alone. In fact moderators from the controversial site 8chan claim to have experienced a DDoS originating from the Hola/Zon network.
In addition, third-party researchers have uncovered a variety of vulnerabilities in the Hola software that allow users to not only be tracked, but also can be exploited to run arbitrary code on an Hola user’s machine. It should be noted that vulnerabilities in perfectly legitimate software aren’t unusual – most software publishers are judged by the competence of their programmers in preventing security vulnerabilities as well as the speed with which they react to reported vulnerabilities. The vulnerabilities were publicized on May 29. On June 1, Hola stated the vulnerabilities were patched, and their statement was rebutted by the third-party researchers in an update to their original post.
It also appears that the DDoS mentioned above is not the first time hackers have attempted to use Hola for malicious activity. While analyzing the protocol used by Hola, Vectra researchers found 5 different malware samples on VirusTotal that contain the Hola protocol. The SHA256 hashes for these samples are listed below:
83fd35d895c08b08d96666d2e40468f56317ff1d7460834eb7f96a9773fadd2d
2f54630804eeed4162618b1aff55a114714eeb9d3b83f2dd2082508948169401
65687dacabd916a9811eeb139d2c2dada1cefa8c446d92f9a11c866be672280b
43498f20431132cd28371b80aed58d357367f7fa836004266f30674802a0c59c
59a9fedeb29552c93bb78fff72b1de95a3c7d1c4fc5ad1e22a3bbb8c8ddbfaba
Unsurprisingly, this means that bad guys had realized the potential of Hola before the recent flurry of public reports by the good guys.
Enabling a human attacker
While analyzing Hola, Vectra Threat Labs researchers found that in addition to reports of Hola enabling a botnet, it contains a variety of capabilities that can enable a targeted, human-driven cyber attack on the network in which an Hola user’s machine resides.
First, the Hola software can download and install any additional software without the user’s knowledge. This is because in addition to being signed with a valid code-signing certificate, once Hola has been installed, the software installs its own code-signing certificate on the user’s system. On Windows systems, the certificate is added to the Trusted Publishers Certificate Store. This modification to the system allows any additional code to be installed and run without the user being notified by the operating system or browser.
In addition, Hola contains a built-in console that remains active even when the user is not browsing via the Hola service – it is included in the process that acts as a forwarder for other peers’ traffic. The presence of this console – dubbed “zconsole” – is surprising on its own, as it enables direct human interaction with a Hola node even when the service is not actively in use by the system’s user. So if a human outside the system were to gain access to this console, what could they do?
List and kill any running process
Download any file with an option to bypass anti-virus (AV) checking
Execute a downloaded file and: Run the file with the token of another process Run it as a background process
Open a socket to any IP address, device, guid, alias or Windows name
Read and write content across the socket to the console or to a file
This represents just a small subset of the functionality available in the console. The developers of the console have been gracious enough to include a man page to help someone unfamiliar with the commands.
These capabilities can enable a competent attacker to accomplish almost anything. This shifts the discussion away from a leaky anonymity network enabling a botnet, and instead forces us to acknowledge the possibility that an attacker could use Hola as a platform to launch a targeted attack within any network containing the Hola software.
As a result, we highly encourage organizations to determine if Hola is active in their network and decide whether the risks highlighted in this blog are acceptable. To help with this, we have crafted Yara rules to identify whether Hola is present on a system. For customers that have an intrusion prevention system (IPS) deployed, we have also created Snort signatures to help them identify Hola traffic in their network.
Where there were statements about botnets in conjunction with Hola, clarifications were made that Hola was used to enable a botnet and is itself, not a botnet.
Added information in paragraph three about the specific version Hola for Windows and Hola for mobile analyzed for this blog. This information was already present in the later section entitled SHA256 Hashes of Windows and Android Versions of Hola Software Analyzed.
Added information that became available after our blog was published about Hola patching their software.
Clarified that the samples on VirusTotal indicate malicious attempts to use Hola; evidence of these attacks succeeding is not available
Updated our recommendation to organizations in the final paragraph
Snort signatures to detect Hola or Luminati traffic (link to file)
alert tcp any any -> any any (msg:"VECTRA TROJAN Zon Network Encrypted"; content:"|ac 2e bf 5c|"; offset:0; depth:4; classtype:trojan-activity; sid:500001; rev:2; )
alert tcp any any -> any any (msg:"VECTRA TROJAN Zon Network PCLR"; content:"PCLR"; offset:0; depth:4; classtype:trojan-activity; sid:500002; rev:2; )
alert tcp any any -> any any (msg:"VECTRA TROJAN Zon Network ZCLR"; content:"ZCLR"; offset:0; depth:4; classtype:trojan-activity; sid:500003; rev:2; )
alert tcp any any -> any any (msg:"VECTRA TROJAN Zon Network ZPNG"; content:"ZPNG"; offset:0; depth:4; classtype:trojan-activity; sid:500004; rev:2; )
rule Zon_Network {
meta:
description = "ZON Networks protocol"
thread_level = 3
in_the_wild = true
authors = "Vectra"
date = "5-10-15"
strings:
$s1 = "zconn_new"
$s2 = "zmsg_znatconnect_handler"
$s3 = "zmsg_upgrade"
$s4 = "zmsg_snd_rcv_handler"
$s5 = "zmsg_upgrade_peer"
$s6 = "zmsg_ts_long_cb"
$s7 = "zmsg_write"
$s8 = "zmsg_http_write"
$s9 = "zmsg_http_read"
$s10 = "zmsg_write_handler"
$s11 = "zmsg_read"
$s12 = "zmsg_read received"
$s13 = "zmsg_read_handler"
$s14 = "zmsg_read_invalid"
$s15 = "zmsg_magic_write_handler"
$s16 = "zmsg_magic_read_handler"
$s17 = "zmsg_http_send_handler"
$s18 = "zmsg_zping_resp_handler"
$s19 = "zmsg_route_req_handler"
$s20 = "zmsg_route_get_next_hop_cb"
$s21 = "zconn_son_free"
$s22 = "zconn_write_handler"
$s23 = "zconn_read_handler"
$s24 = "zconn_write"
$s25 = "zconn_read"
$s26 = "zconn_dns_fail"
$s27 = "zconn_http_handler"
$s28 = "zconn_local_handler"
$s29 = "zconn_handler"
$s30 = "zmsg_release"
$s31 = "zmsg_fail_connect"
$s32 = "zmsg_accumulate"
$s33 = "zconn_info"
condition:
10 of them
}
SHA256 hashes of Windows and Android versions of Hola software analyzed
53a2c3ac094b5d2031a96b63d1ce2dc31739fffd07d8241399dc9c444d10b6ec hola_svc.exe
00d8d91f774ede9ab32d515582431eaf7de9ae2c3a8ac62e02b0d6b97935f691 libhola_svc.so
97f5ebe94d94ccf8c42fccca69cd8ca7d50731e598523bf5e73975b6a6e32291 hola.exe
6ad1b7278e17045d9f2ddc208cfb5e92e5c90e153158d80a7e18b3af4831ad60 hola_br.exe
5ab55033c66e7f78d3fb060fb4ff755d335ad9e37cb3e1ddaf22b57c9bb8468a hola_setup.exe
1687cc861c305917deba24c036ef2eb5c2b6f1da531b76ff20473e332431a068 hola_svc.exe
1687cc861c305917deba24c036ef2eb5c2b6f1da531b76ff20473e332431a068 hola_updater.exe
f0c6596601e85f24c7ff9d65b3f3c096bdf02e3d3bb91ce68f6544b84b522a4d libhola_svc.so
9ba0dc7bfc86b2c8eca9edcbc06ac91ba8cf5bb204cb986f0b8278b4d106bc1b libhola_svc_nopie.so
fa61e624e3b2b02e603461d4f804635a2212829a89c76e57cdee598d350cb97e libhola_svc_pie.so
05ceef6118bd079fd750837f2dce22c8457adebfd3507b66a0551e37892ce3da libiomx-ics.so
a847b9a012f4f5f5b3957a80de0c15bd1f2490e27c6d849c0fb657f56cb4d494 libjni_util.so
81e762ea94a8584fbb919de5be656e5ca746e6b7d86d00c2d2ca32c8c8b83d98 libvlcjni.so
Details of code-signing certificate installed by Hola
Certificate:
Data:
Version: 3 (0x2)
Serial Number:
d2:fa:bf:f7:0c:a4:c8:4f:d9:29:e6:d1:83:f1:48
Signature Algorithm: sha1WithRSAEncryption
Issuer:
C=US
O=VeriSign, Inc.
OU=VeriSign Trust Network
OU=Terms of use at https://www.verisign.com/rpa (c)10
CN=VeriSign Class 3 Code Signing 2010 CA
Validity
Not Before: Aug 25 00:00:00 2014 GMT
Not After : Sep 19 23:59:59 2015 GMT
Subject:
C=IL
ST=Netanya
L=Netanya
O=Hola Networks Ltd.
CN=Hola Networks Ltd.
Subject Public Key Info:
Public Key Algorithm: rsaEncryption
Public-Key: (2048 bit)
Modulus:
00:aa:5b:fa:45:a0:65:0b:6d:ad:91:9c:1e:2c:83:
4c:cc:1c:c6:f2:af:bc:ef:69:f5:63:1b:d6:9e:42:
85:12:e6:67:0e:2a:ab:21:43:11:de:72:12:7f:21:
4a:db:00:78:12:21:60:8c:c8:c0:d8:56:2a:9f:ee:
42:5f:02:3a:26:07:6b:28:51:4e:13:ab:55:d4:7b:
7b:05:06:c1:09:2b:98:62:2b:83:8d:7f:bb:ef:39:
49:f0:75:c1:7f:44:3a:9c:3b:81:64:85:5d:b1:2f:
09:bc:e3:e4:21:cd:43:83:50:6c:02:c3:49:0f:94:
4b:6a:95:6b:b8:e3:08:4f:4d:fe:62:de:10:00:8d:
f6:e1:65:8c:26:98:4f:67:84:ad:2b:ee:88:50:5c:
5c:5b:4b:e2:8e:25:b2:d7:52:ea:87:2f:6c:ae:3f:
54:6e:99:55:49:dc:6c:16:7d:17:c8:37:d1:e9:e8:
34:78:3a:07:78:06:88:18:28:f3:0e:77:e1:d1:b8:
dc:d1:b6:d3:12:d7:7a:42:95:3d:20:5f:8f:4f:a8:
c6:b0:51:86:35:b3:95:74:03:5d:27:38:b1:4e:ce:
9b:58:c6:76:ac:7d:64:eb:f0:b7:3e:71:7a:42:b5:
e5:81:aa:7a:a1:f5:1e:9c:68:65:36:6d:cc:45:41:
b0:79
Exponent: 65537 (0x10001)
X509v3 extensions:
X509v3 Basic Constraints:
CA:FALSE
X509v3 Key Usage: critical
Digital Signature
X509v3 CRL Distribution Points:
Full Name:
URI:http://sf.symcb.com/sf.crl
X509v3 Certificate Policies:
Policy: 2.16.840.1.113733.1.7.23.3
CPS: https://d.symcb.com/cps
User Notice:
Explicit Text: https://d.symcb.com/rpa
X509v3 Extended Key Usage:
Code Signing
Authority Information Access:
OCSP - URI:http://sf.symcd.com
CA Issuers - URI:http://sf.symcb.com/sf.crt
X509v3 Authority Key Identifier:
keyid:CF:99:A9:EA:7B:26:F4:4B:C9:8E:8F:D7:F0:05:26:EF:E3:D2:A7:9D
X509v3 Subject Key Identifier:
0F:C8:09:D0:EE:23:9A:F6:24:2A:65:52:0A:28:EA:72:DE:1F:CD:40
Netscape Cert Type:
Object Signing
1.3.6.1.4.1.311.2.1.27:
0.......
Signature Algorithm: sha1WithRSAEncryption
99:45:93:73:0d:cd:56:37:19:41:7f:0a:52:9a:28:6b:ae:3d:
21:27:35:71:51:19:2c:6a:7f:0c:63:a3:ff:37:44:1d:66:0c:
c4:a2:22:fd:10:27:06:ea:d0:e7:4a:80:e2:2e:67:2e:23:48:
8f:7e:50:cd:8b:23:35:27:31:d6:df:1c:5d:eb:fe:7f:c2:4d:
2f:2a:30:a4:bd:94:11:91:b9:85:92:39:0d:a1:8c:13:d3:ef:
37:ee:8a:77:81:de:3a:4b:2b:1f:da:de:a0:30:74:a9:00:8e:
a5:49:80:33:b7:ff:58:c8:f3:18:2e:ed:9c:9e:e3:b0:e6:95:
3b:3b:79:22:f6:ae:9e:6b:a0:8b:bb:20:4a:88:1f:ea:de:a6:
f4:e6:75:50:b4:6c:f7:a4:45:97:60:96:d3:f2:ed:e0:78:26:
51:29:5a:42:cb:5a:42:57:ba:c2:ae:39:2a:b7:c0:e9:15:ea:
4b:3e:61:b5:8e:45:f5:38:92:5d:3c:8a:24:f1:7a:ea:0f:28:
83:6a:4e:c5:4f:bd:b8:f8:5b:a5:48:f8:06:c0:7e:94:ff:75:
86:7c:bb:46:45:03:05:4a:8f:f3:66:6c:70:bb:01:ed:6b:dc:
3e:8f:23:a2:80:c9:41:ce:a3:fe:b8:25:82:78:84:67:29:4a:
ba:ee:69:da
Man page for Hola zconsole
Usage: sha1sum [OPTIONS] FILE
OPTIONS:
--temp: path to temp directory
Example: sha1sum --temp Hola-Setup-1.7.5.exe
calculate sha1 checksum
Usage: reg PATH ATTRIB
Options:
PATH: registry path
ATTRIB: attribute in the registry path
get a registry value
Usage: sh_kill [-f] [-w SEC] PID
Options:
-f: forcefully
-w SEC: wait SEC seconds for termination (default 1 sec)
PID: the pid of the process
kill a process
Usage: sh_file_ver PATH
get file version (win32 metadata)
Usage: sh_ps
list currently running processes
Usage: svc_performance enabel|disable
set svc to performance mode
Usage: get_workdir
Returns client's workdir
Usage: idle [--peek]
OPTIONS:
--peek: query idle on updaters on vista/7
Returns client's idle information
Usage: event_busy_time on/off/reset
set eventloop busy time logging
Usage: exec [OPTIONS] EXE ARG1 ARG2...OPTIONS:
--temp: will execute EXE from temp directory
--bg: will run process in background
--detach: will run process without inherting handles
--token-pid PID: will use the access token from PID to run EXE
--stdin STRING: string which will be used as stdin for EXE
Example: exec_spawn --temp --bg Hola_install.exe --silent
Example: exec_spawn --token-pid 1234 --bg c:/temp/Hola_install.exe --silent
Usage: exec [OPTIONS] EXE ARG1 ARG2...OPTIONS:
--temp: will execute EXE from temp directory
--bg: will run process in background
--detach: will run process without inherting handles
--token-pid PID: will use the access token from PID to run EXE
--stdin STRING: string which will be used as stdin for EXE
Example: exec --temp --bg Hola_install.exe --silent
Example: exec --token-pid 1234 --bg c:/temp/Hola_install.exe --silent
Executes an executable
Usage: dns [OPTIONS] SERVER_IP FQDN
OPTIONS:
--no-rec: send non recursive request
--timeout MS: put a timeout on the requst
--port PORT: destination port
--dev DEVID: send on the specified DEVID
send a dns request
Usage: wget [OPTIONS] URL
OPTIONS:
--file FILE: destination where to copy downloaded file
--temp: downloades to temp directory
--hdrs "hdrs": use these request hdrs as is
--discard: throw away obtained data
--zprotocol: use protocol to speed download
Example: wget --file c:/temp/h_i.exe http://hola.org/hl.exe
Example: wget http://hola.org/Hola_install.exe
wget a url and save to FILE
Usage: idle_checks_update full_screen screen_saver
Example: idle_checks_update 0 1
Usage: force_user_away [idle|active|auto]
force user away status
Usage: test_lexit
test lexit handling
Usage: test_exception
test exception handling
test_exception
Display build information
build_info
Usage: tar [OPTIONS]
OPTIONS:
-z : gzips the resulting tar
Mini tar create implementation
Usage: gzip [OPTIONS]
OPTIONS:
--decrypt : decrypts the file before gzipping
Mini gzip implementation
Usage: ps [OPTIONS]
-s: short format
-v: verbose
-v -v: very verbose
-p: show pointers
-l: allow output >512K
-t: show time
Print etask tasks
Usage: quit [--install]
--install: quit and install (upgrade) afterwards
--restart: quit and restart (external source) afterwards
--ui: send quit to ui
--ui-logoff: quit
Quit application
Usage: echo_spawn [-e|--sleep MS] TEXT...
-e: output TEXT to stderr instead of stdout
--sleep: sleeps MS milliseconds
Echo command just using etask
Usage: echo [-e] TEXT...
-e: output TEXT to stderr instead of stdout
Echo command
Usage: help [OPTIONS]
OPTIONS:
all: show all available commands
-s STRING: search for commands containing the string
Show help for all commands
help
result truncated: see log for full result
session logoff.
--ui-logoff
system/quit_ui
--ui
--
Usage: webserver_timeout ip
cause webserver timeout - works only in unittests!
Usage: ztget_resp_info cid conn
get tunnel ztget resp info - works only in unittests!
Usage: jtest_perr -t type [OPTIONS]
OPTIONS:
-t : perr type
-i : perr info
-b : string that will be used as the context log
create a perr report. works only in unittests
Usage: unblocker_json_set STATUS JSON_FILE_CONTENT
set unblocker json rules
Usage: set_ext_tunnel
set external tunnel as default for unittests
Usage: unblocker_set STATUS WPAD_PAC_FILE_CONTENT
set wpad pac file and enable unblocker
Usage: unblocker_get_port
get port for unblocking a given country string
Usage: unblocker_tunnels_del [all|] OPTIONS
OPTIONS:
--ip: src peer ip to erase specifically [default localhost]
delete tunnels associated with unblocker rules
Usage: test_unblocker CID
test unblocker functionality
Usage: znatconnect OPTIONS
OPTIONS:
--dev: specify device for socket connect
use znatconnect logic to connect to another peer
Usage: get_cookie
return the current cookie from registry
Usage: set_cookie COOKIE
save the supplied cookie to registry
OPTIONS:
empty : call 'pset_qa' with no options resets all settings
-q : set qa type - performance/logic
+ any /svc/conf/protocol/debug/ boolean flag
-a : set qa agents group - ofer/steve/ron/z1/z2/z3/internal/
-p : set qa peers group
-t : set qa tunnels group
Example: pset_qa -q "logic disable_cache" -g "11 12 126" -p 54
Usage: set_enc [--all] IS_ENABLE
set net enc mode
Usage: webserver_write [stop|start]
set whether the webserver should succeed in writing data - works
only in unittests
Usage: delay_get_from_cache [stop |start]
delay read from local cache - works only in unittests
Usage: browser_serving [stop|start]
set whether the browser should process data for serving - works
only in unittests
Usage: jtest_set_multizget <data_rate>
set multizget stats - data_rate, peer, tunnel chunk obtaining time works only in in unittests!
Usage: jtest_get_wait [1 | 0]
new get requests will be blocked until next cli call -
works only in unittests!
Usage: jtest_multizget_best_cp [cid | reset]
set multizget's best cp - works only in in unittests!
Usage: multizget_time_to_complete time
set multizget time to complete - works only in unittests
Usage: ztget_timeout cid conn
cause ztget timeout - works only in unittests
Usage: ztun_timeout cid conn
cause ztun timeout - works only in unittests
Usage: zget_resp_info cid conn
get agent zget resp info - works only in unittests
Usage: zget_info cid conn
get client zget info - works only in unittests
Usage: gid_info cid conn
get client gid info - works only in unittests
Usage: zg_closed cid conn
check agent zg context has closed - works only in unittests
Usage: zget_closed cid conn
check client zget context has closed - works only in unittests
Usage: chunk_timeout fid index cid
cause chunk timeout - works only in unittests
Usage: chunk_check_timeout fid index
check chunk timeout - works only in unittests
Usage: jtest_dnss_hook_cb HOST
simulates dnss network resolution hook callback
Dnss resolution hook callback
Usage: jtest_dnss_cb HOST IP1 [IP2...]
simulates dnss network resolution callback
Dnss resolution callback
Usage: jtest_new_conn PROCESS IP PORT [APK]
returns the newly redirect port on 127.0.0.1
Add new connection
Usage: jtest_max_space
set static max free space as times*dbc_file_size
jtest_max_space
Usage: jtest_torrent_stats
Example: jtest_torrent_stats num_peers=3;num_unchoked=1;
set torrent stats for unittests
Usage: perr [OPTIONS] ptr
Options:
-c - dump client perr (ptr is browser_get_t), default option
-a - dump agent perr (ptr is zget_resp_t)
-t - dump tunnel perr (ptr is ztget_resp_t)
dump the perr information in ptr
Usage: ndfs_flush [--no-reset]
Options:
--no-reset - flush only non active slabs that don't require reset
write all ndfs data to files and remap to volume
Usage: protocol_cache_mode MODE
Set caching mode for protocol
Usage: protocol_db_purge [conf]|[urls|peers|NDFS|bw|analyzer]
- will purge all dbs
conf = takes settings from /conf/protocol/debug/purge/.. urls = erases dbs urls, chksms, strs
peers = erases dbs agents, caches, knownagents, url_peers
ndfs = erases NDFS db
bw = erases dbs bw, bw_peers
analyzer = erases dbs get, zget, zgetchunk, action
delete = delete db files if their size not reduced
Example: protocol_db_purge urls|peers
Purge protocol different data bases
Usage: zsipc OPTIONS CMD
OPTIONS:
--cancel SCID ID: cancel zipc with ID on server SCID
Parameters:
CMD: ipc command
Example: zsipc zcipc 5 protocol_db_purge
Example: zsipc --cancel -2 5
Send ipc command to server
Usage: zroute [add|del] -i --src [src_cids] --dst [dst_cids] --cmd [zmsg] [--reverse] --of_traffic [percent]
OPTIONS:
no options- dumps existing rules
[add|del] - add remove the rule
--src - cids that this rule will apply to ("1 4 5 28")
if omitted works on all clients --dst - cids that this rule will route to ("-7 -11 -57")
must exist - cannot be omitted --cmd - specific msg this rule applies to ("ZGETAGENTS")
if omitted applies to all msgs
--idx - index of rule to delete
--metric - metric of rule to add - default 0
--reverse - apply only to reverse version of this cmd
Usage: prot_restart
restart the protocol task
Usage: zc_timeout [dev]
simulate zc bio timeout - works only in in unittests!
Usage: tunnel_tcp_connect IP PORT
Parameters:
IP: destination IP
PORT: destination PORT
TCP connect and tunnel the ipc to tcp
tunnel_tcp_connect
Usage: tunnel_tcp_listen [--port LOCAL_PORT] ARGV
Parameters:
LOCAL_PORT: local server port of the listen socket
ARGV: argv of a command to execute on the spawned connection
Open tcp listener for zipc tcp tunnel
Usage: zping [--server|--cid ] OPTIONS
OPTIONS:
|
government would meet most of the £100m cost.
Devolution has played a role in recent re-connections. Many of the new lines are in Scotland, Wales or the big cities, which have control over local transport and can push and finance them. In the English shires no single body oversees the process, says Chris Austin, a rail expert. Greg Clark, the secretary of state for local government, visited Wisbech in March and insisted that money for the line was not dependent on East Anglia accepting devolution. Some locals, wary of having foisted upon them the regional mayor that was a condition of other devolution deals, still worry.
With government money tight, other areas are tapping different sources for the cash to re-open lines. In the south-west, Kilbride, a developer, is putting £11.5m towards a rail link into Plymouth as part of a deal to build 750 new homes at Tavistock.
Britain is not expecting another Dickensian railway boom. Perhaps 700-800 miles of lines closed by Beeching will be restored in total, says Mr Austin. But sometimes small amounts of investment can make a big difference.A Nigerian gasoline tanker caught fire on Thursday, killing at least 95 people in Okobe, a town in the oil-rich Niger Delta.
A witness told Reuters that the tanker crashed on a road and then caught fire as people were trying to scoop up the spilled fuel. According to Nigerian television, most of the victims were rushing for "free fuel."
Hundreds of locals "flocked to the site to collect the spilling fuel," according to Agence France-Presse. A photographer for the news agency said many of those killed were motorcycle taxi operators "who raced to fill up their tanks after learning of the crash."
"Then there was an explosion followed by fire," Kayode Olagunju, sector commander of the Federal Road Safety Commission, told AFP. "Ninety-three were burned to death on the spot. Two died later in the hospital and 18 people were seriously injured."
Crashes are common on Nigeria's "pot-holed and poorly maintained roads," Reuters said. "In a region where most people live on less than $2 a day the chance to collect spilling petrol is too much of a temptation, despite the high risk of fires."
Four vehicles, including the tanker, were involved in the crash, police there said. At least 34 motorcycles were destroyed in the fire.
The death toll could rise. Reuters said at least 92 died. According to the Associated Press, a Nigerian government agency said 95 people were killed in the explosion. Nigerian TV reported the same figure. China's Xinhua news agency, citing local police, said 100 people were killed.TaxiForSure is a travel experience provider that helps you book a cab in the simplest way possible. Download our free app to get a safe, reliable cab, anywhere, anytime! Be it airport transfer or just an in-city ride, book a cab from your TaxiForSure app with just a few taps. We make sure a taxi driven by a professional chauffeur arrives at your door on time. No more haggling with rickshaws, no more waiting for your call to be answered. Save time and money with our affordable rates and get quick access to thousands of cars driven by our friendly and informed chauffeurs across India. All taxis can be requested for immediate or future pickups. Simply choose the taxi you like, instantly receive your driver details, track the taxi to your address, and pay after completion of the trip. You can view your travel history, modify or cancel trips, save your favorite locations and even go cashless with our wallet options. Share the tracking link through SMS/ Whatsapp/ Email and let your loved ones track you through your journey. The in-trip SOS alert facility helps you notify emergency contacts and local authorities if required. Now the TaxiForSure App also allows you to book an Ola Micro, available at just Rs. 6/km. It also allows you to link and use you Ola Money wallet for Micro rides booked on the TaxiForSure app. Advantages of Using the App: Easy Booking Process Wide range of car categories Most affordable rates Cashless travel with wallet Airport transfers, City rides. Save money and time Trained chauffeurs Booking a taxi has never been easier!deleted from /r/The_Donald immediately upon posting a guest May 23rd, 2017 322 Never a guest322Never
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rawdownloadcloneembedreportprint text 2.46 KB https://www.reddit.com/r/The_Donald/comments/6cvk8t/steemit_could_be_the_donalds_best_bet_to_be/ Steemit could be The_Donald's best bet to be Reddit free Please hear me out on this, as I am not invested in the project and I simply see the tremendous opportunity for this community to use a better uncensored platform. We all know that Reddit is manipulated and as much as I would like to support Voat.co, they really just aren't at a level to handle a large amount of users (among other things). There is a site called Steemit (https://steemit.com) that is like Reddit, but when you upvote a post the OP get's a small payment incentive and I think upvoters get a small percentage of all of the votes added up. Tags and topics are not moderated, but created by the community and uncensorable by design (block chain technology like bitcoin). It's actually a cryptocurrency at its deepest level but that's not my focus. Reddit can still be a home base until the tentacles are spread, but we really need to deeply consider a new platform to be truly free from people who think they have the right to tell us what to believe or what is real. I ask you to look inside yourself and really think about what Reddit is, what it has become, and its effects on the minds of many especially the young. How does that make you feel? I don't know about you but it enrages me. The internet is the new Hollywood...we need to take things to a new level and prove that our opinions exist, prove that the past cannot be changed and show that our words cannot be taken away. You can't produce our thoughts or edit them. In the future, speech is no longer censorable and the future is now. I ask you again to think about how toxic Reddit is to our society and politics, and channel that towards an actual viable solution like Steemit.com. I am not sure if the sub is ready to think about the seriousness of our reality that we are facing with the mind manipulation, corruption of internal regulators and politicians, and the poor management of our nation's currency. I'm not sure because some people have only finally started moving away from their TVs only to be stuck in The Web. I beg of you to give it a thought, give it a try...you have nothing to lose. One centipede after another adds up, especially at the rate of this sub. It is literally a platform ripe for the taking that even offers you an incentive to take it. Good luck because we really need it. (more info: https://steemit.com/faq.html#What_is_Steemit_com)
RAW Paste Data
https://www.reddit.com/r/The_Donald/comments/6cvk8t/steemit_could_be_the_donalds_best_bet_to_be/ Steemit could be The_Donald's best bet to be Reddit free Please hear me out on this, as I am not invested in the project and I simply see the tremendous opportunity for this community to use a better uncensored platform. We all know that Reddit is manipulated and as much as I would like to support Voat.co, they really just aren't at a level to handle a large amount of users (among other things). There is a site called Steemit (https://steemit.com) that is like Reddit, but when you upvote a post the OP get's a small payment incentive and I think upvoters get a small percentage of all of the votes added up. Tags and topics are not moderated, but created by the community and uncensorable by design (block chain technology like bitcoin). It's actually a cryptocurrency at its deepest level but that's not my focus. Reddit can still be a home base until the tentacles are spread, but we really need to deeply consider a new platform to be truly free from people who think they have the right to tell us what to believe or what is real. I ask you to look inside yourself and really think about what Reddit is, what it has become, and its effects on the minds of many especially the young. How does that make you feel? I don't know about you but it enrages me. The internet is the new Hollywood...we need to take things to a new level and prove that our opinions exist, prove that the past cannot be changed and show that our words cannot be taken away. You can't produce our thoughts or edit them. In the future, speech is no longer censorable and the future is now. I ask you again to think about how toxic Reddit is to our society and politics, and channel that towards an actual viable solution like Steemit.com. I am not sure if the sub is ready to think about the seriousness of our reality that we are facing with the mind manipulation, corruption of internal regulators and politicians, and the poor management of our nation's currency. I'm not sure because some people have only finally started moving away from their TVs only to be stuck in The Web. I beg of you to give it a thought, give it a try...you have nothing to lose. One centipede after another adds up, especially at the rate of this sub. It is literally a platform ripe for the taking that even offers you an incentive to take it. Good luck because we really need it. (more info: https://steemit.com/faq.html#What_is_Steemit_com)WASHINGTON, DC – In the wake of the newly unveiled Distinguished Warfare Medal, the Department of Defense intends to relax standards on the nation’s oldest military decoration – the Purple Heart. Under the expanded interpretation, the award will now be available to any disgruntled service member suffering from disillusionment and shattered expectations.
“Acute Rectal Inflammation, colloquially known as ‘butthurt,’ is a serious and grossly underrated epidemic plaguing our military,” Lieutenant Jimmy Chang, Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine, told Duffel Blog. “Essentially, psychological or emotional trauma, stemming from either internal or external stimuli, manifests itself and eventually begets anal trauma. In severe cases, butt cells can become so hurt that they become malignant. In fact, butthurt is the leading cause of colon cancer among service members.”
Established by George Washington in the aftermath of the Revolutionary War, the Purple Heart is awarded to service members wounded or killed by enemy action. The Pentagon exercised “great prudence and foresight” in redefining “enemy action” to accommodate the majority of service members who never have and never will see combat.
“Startling new data reveals that up to 98 percent of service members are dissatisfied with their lives and hold resentment of some sort towards the system and their superiors,” continues Chang. “Conversely, the remaining two percent experience unparalleled levels of enthusiasm and job satisfaction. We call them ‘lifers.’ They suffer from an irreversible condition of their own.”
According to osteopathic theory, the “feel good” sense of self-importance, accomplishment and long-overdue justice evoked from the receipt of the Purple Heart will cause negativity and ill-will to subside by engendering warm and fuzzy feelings of appreciation and self-esteem.
Butthurt service members can apply for their Purple Heart online by clicking on advertising banners posted on Facebook and can expect it to arrive within six to eight weeks after filling out a brief grievance questionnaire for any slight, real or perceived, and paying for shipping and handling.
“It’s really our way of patting our guys on the back and saying, ‘We’re not going to change anything, no matter how much you bitch, but thanks anyway,’” said a Pentagon spokesperson in an official statement. “If you don’t feel better after you get your Purple Heart, then maybe the military just isn’t for you.”
The first one thousand applicants will also receive a free suppository.RENO — The head of the government’s $70 million wild-horse management program warned last summer that it is headed for financial collapse unless “drastic changes” are made in the decades-old roundup policy she said could be setting U.S. rangeland-improvement goals back 20 years.
In a strongly worded internal memo to an assistant director of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, Wild Horse and Burro Division Chief Joan Guilfoyle recommended suspending all roundups until thousands of mustangs currently in federal corrals are sold or adopted.
Guilfoyle also said sterilization should be considered, and she recommended for the first time euthanizing wild horses on the range “as an act of mercy if animals decline to near-death condition as a result of declining water and forage resources.”
Those are among the few realistic alternatives given a crippling combination of congressional budget cuts, spiraling costs, lingering drought, a record 49,000 mustangs in long- and short-term holding, and an on-range population that doubles every four years and is expected to surpass 60,000 in 2015, Guilfoyle said.
It’s “nearing the point of financial insolvency due to undesirable trends in every aspect of the program,” she said in the August memo to Greg Shoop, assistant director for renewable resources and planning.
“Drastic changes in course are mandatory to remain financially solvent and reverse trends” undermining the Bureau of Land Management’s goals, she wrote. “Considering the circumstances, on-range management goals may not be achieved for another 20 years.”
Labeled “Internal Working Document,” the Texas-based Wild Horse Freedom Federation obtained the memo under the Freedom of Information Act and first posted it on its website Wednesday. The Associated Press also independently obtained a copy Wednesday but couldn’t confirm its authenticity until Friday.
Bureau of Land Management spokesman Tom Gorey said it was a “preliminary discussion document” produced in “recognition of the tight fiscal climate” and based on projections Congress would cut more from the agency’s budget than it ended up doing last fall.
“It explores a range of interim measures that could be implemented until more sustainable actions are available, such as the development of longer-acting, effective contraceptives and the reduction of holding costs,” Gorey said in an email.
The three-page memo offers a candid look at the political and public pressure fueling the controversy that has raged for decades but intensified since the number of animals in holding first exceeded those on the range two years ago. Last fiscal year, holding costs topped $46 million — 61 percent of the horse program’s overall budget.
Guilfoyle noted “heightened and increasing interest” in policy changes among conservationists, ranchers, horse activists and Congress. She said things “we can’t do” include “remove animals,” ”new research” and “reduce or curb on-range population growth.”
“Funding and space prohibit the removal of any animals in the near future. Euthanasia of near-death animals is the only responsible alternative,” she said.
While Guilfoyle’s assessment was unusually frank, it echoes the General Accounting Office’s conclusion in a 2008 report to Congress that there was no end in sight to rising holding costs. A year later, then-Interior Secretary Ken Salazar warned “the current path of the wild horse and burro program is not sustainable.”
In June, Rep. Raul Grijalva of Arizona, the ranking Democrat on a public lands subcommittee, and 29 colleagues including Rep. Dina Titus, D-Nev., told Interior Secretary Sally Jewell the program’s soaring costs had created an “untenable situation” for both the mustangs and taxpayers.
The Bureau of Land Management suspended roundups shortly after Guilfoyle’s memo and has not formally scheduled any this year. But it awarded two helicopter contracts in January that could be used for gathers.
The Nevada Farm Bureau Federation and Nevada Association Counties argue roundups are necessary to cull overpopulated herds competing with livestock for forage. They filed a lawsuit in December trying to force BLM to sell some older horses deemed unadoptable without the usual prohibition on resale for slaughter — an idea the agency has opposed.
Ginger Kathrens, executive director of the Colorado-based Cloud Foundation, said euthanizing or sterilizing mustangs would violate the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act. The foundation is dedicated to the preservation of wild horses on public lands.
“It would be unconscionable to even consider use of these strategies,” she said.The video will start in 8 Cancel
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A bouncer smacked a woman in the face, sending her head flying backwards, after she swung for him outside a bar in Liverpool.
The woman, wearing high heels and a tight dress, marches towards the burly bouncer before swinging a windmill punch towards his head on Sunday.
The bouncer ducks to avoid the flying arm and immediately hits her hard in the face, causing the woman to stumble backwards away from the bouncer, as her knees start to buckle.
She eventually regains her composure and walks further away, as another female starts to remonstrate with the bouncer whilst passers by start to stop and stare at the unfolding drama.
The woman in the grey dress then swings back round and seems to come for the bouncer once again, whilst another doorman tries to calm the situation down.
(Image: Deadline News)
(Image: Deadline News)
The video, filmed on Mathew Street in Liverpool on Sunday, has divided opinion since it was posted on Twitter, with some viewers claiming it's self-defence and others branding the incident "disgusting".
The shocking footage, posted online by Kirsty - who said she was sent the clip - has already been retweeted over 1,600 times with a further 2,100 likes and countless more comments.
Merseyside Police confirmed they are looking into the incident close to Hardy’s Bar in Mathew Street at around 6.50pm.
User Ketwigkaiser wrote: “He was in the right. She wanted to try and attack him and he landed a naughty right, good on him.”
Whilst Josh Coyne commented: “She literally swung for him. Act like a man get hit like a man.”
(Image: Deadline News)
Jay Young commented: “No wrong doing in my opinion. If a lad tried to spark a bouncer we'd get the same treatment.”
Naomi wrote: “Serves her right. Throw a punch at a bloke, you best be ready to take a punch back.”
And Scott Haime added: “She deserved that. I don't advocate hitting women, but if someone swings at you, you hit them back. Simple.”
But others feel it is never acceptable to hit a female.
John wrote: “As an ex-doorman myself this is f * g disgusting, not enough characters to go into it as it's just shocking. Hope she's ok. Just no need.”
(Image: Deadline News)
Whilst a user known as Tweety added: “How can anyone say he is in the right here? Even if a bloke swings for a bouncer he should show restraint and defend himself.”
And Heidi wrote: “That's shocking. He should be able to handle that situation without hitting and retaining her and called the police. Not lamp her.”
Keith O’Brien commented: “Bad form regardless of what she did.”
And Trish added: “Size of him he could've held her off. Lucky she didn't fall back and smack her head or he might've been on a manslaughter charge.”
Merseyside Police confirmed they received a report of an assault in Liverpool city centre on Sunday, April 16.
A spokesman said: "At about 6.50pm, a report was received that a woman had been assaulted by a man close to Hardy’s Bar on Mathew Street.
"Officers attended and enquiries into the matter are ongoing."
Anyone with information can contact Merseyside Police on 101 or contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.Elizabeth Warren, making her “pay up” face. Photo by Steve Pope/Getty Images
This week Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who has made student loan reform a personal cause since arriving in Washington, outlined her plan to help more Americans graduate from college “debt-free.” The gist: Make loans themselves cheaper (some kids are inevitably going to borrow), give more money to colleges to keep tuition down, and then heap on accountability measures to make sure schools don’t waste all that taxpayer cash.
All of this is potentially smart policy. But while many of Warren’s individual proposals sound promising, many of them are very light on details, which makes it hard to figure out exactly what her final vision is. For instance, much like presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, she wants the federal government to help states fund their university systems the way it helps them “build and maintain interstate highways.” Does this mean that, like Sanders, she wants Washington to spend enough that tuition drops to zero? Probably not, but she doesn’t specify.
Nevertheless, Warren is an key figure to watch on this issue. Making college affordable is shaping up to be a major piece of the Democratic agenda heading into 2016. And on top of the loyal following she commands among American progressives, Politico reports that Warren’s advisers on higher education seem to have Hillary Clinton’s ear as well. Whatever the Senator says now could end up as the party consensus.
With that in mind, there’s one piece of the Warren plan that I think deserves especially close attention. It’s called “risk sharing,” or, sometimes, “skin in the game.” The idea is that when students can’t pay their loans, their colleges (who encouraged them to borrow in the first place) should pay a fine—preferrably some not-insignificant percentage of the borrower’s balance. The theory is that colleges would work to keep costs down, or avoid loading up students with debt they can’t pay back, if their own financial health were at stake. Right now, the notion seems to be generating bipartisan enthusiasm. Along with fellow Senate Democrats Jack Reed, Dick Durbin, and Chris Murphy, Warren introduced legislation on the issue in 2013. But some of risk sharing’s biggest boosters have been conservatives policy wonks like Andrew Kelly at the American Enterprise Institute.
The skin-in-the-game approach is appealing because it would help fix the bizarrely and obviously misaligned incentives that have helped make the student loan market such an unholy mess. Today, colleges can admit students and encourage them to borrow. But if the students eventually default, however, the schools typically don’t suffer any consequences. Instead, taxpayers take the financial hit. That convenient setup has allowed predatory for-profit education companies to gorge themselves on federal student loans, building an entire business model around freighting students with debt in return for worthless degrees without having to worry much about what happens the day those students leave campus. Traditional private and public colleges haven’t been as ruthless about it, but many have still turned a blind eye to whether their students are actually capable of repaying their loans.
There are some regulations in place to keep colleges from throwing responsibility entirely to the wind. They’re just not very effective. If too many of its former students default, a school can lose access to federal aid. The problem is that the thresholds are extremely high. A college’s “cohort default rate“—the fraction of students who stop paying their loans within three years of starting repayment—has to hit 30 percent for three years in a row or 40 percent for one year before the feds cut the institution off. As long as the school stays under that high bar, it’s in the clear. Moreover, colleges have become very good at gaming their default measures by nudging students into temporary deferment or forbearance programs so that they’re technically current on their debts, even if they’re not repaying them.
Making colleges pay when their former students run into loan problems could fix this situation. Instead of being incentivized to keep defaults below an arbitrary bar, they would have a vested interest in every former student’s financial wellbeing.
Designing an effective version of risk sharing wouldn’t be be simple. For instance, student default rates naturally tend to rise in recessions. It’s not clear colleges should be held responsible for the effects of a poor economy. Some colleges have high default rates even though they charge modest tuition because they serve low-income students who often borrow for living expenses. We don’t necessarily want to punish those institutions. There’s also a possibility that, if they did have skin in the game, schools would try to keep their default numbers low by admitting fewer poor and minority students, who tend to be larger credit risks.
It’s also not clear that default rates are the best way to measure whether schools are pushing students to overborrow. Many undegrads with high debt loads enroll in income-based repayment programs that cap what they owe each month as a percentage of their earnings. This all but guarantees that they won’t fall into delinquency. But some end up making payments that are too small to even cover their interest, leaving their balance to grow. Since borrowers who choose an income-based plan now become eligible for debt forgiveness after 20 years, the government will likely end up on the hook in many of those cases where an individual fails to make a dent in what they owe, even if they never technically default.
There are also solutions to these dilemmas. As Kelly has suggested, the government could offer schools a bonus for each low-income Pell Grant recipient they graduate, to balance out the risk that some low-income students won’t be able to pay their debts. It could also adjust the penalty formula to account for downturns. Instead of defaults, the government could track the amount of progress students make repaying their loan, and hold schools responsible for a percentage of the balance after, say, a standard 10-year repayment period.
Whether risk sharing works in practice will come down to these sorts of details. But the higher education market is broken in fundamental ways. Most reasonable people acknowledge that by now. And making colleges put skin in the game when students borrow might realign some of the perverse incentives that have led to spiraling education debt loads. Given that both a liberal favorite like Warren and conservative thinkers can agree on the idea, it just might have legs.by Paul Kennedy @pkedit, Sep 8, 2017
Seven months into its first season and six weeks after originally scheduled, Atlanta United will open its $1.5 billion Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Sunday against FC Dallas.
No MLS team ever moved into a new stadium so large because no MLS stadium -- even the NFL stadiums in which Seattle and New England play -- has a capacity as large as Mercedes-Benz Stadium's 75,000 seats.
Arthur Blank, owner of Atlanta United and the NFL Falcons, for whom the stadium was built, considered starting an MLS team a decade ago but would have had to build a (smaller) soccer-specific stadium.
Waiting allowed Blank to launch his MLS team as the new domed football stadium was being finished -- and save the money for a soccer stadium and spend it on building the most exciting team an MLS club has ever put on the field, and the first since the Seattle Sounders in 2009 with a shot at making the playoffs.
Waiting a decade also allowed the soccer interest build to the point that Atlanta United averaged 46,318 fans for nine games at Bobby Dodd Stadium, putting it on course to shatter the MLS season record held by the Sounders. The soccer capacity at Mercedes-Benz Stadium will be 42,500, and Atlanta United won't have any problem filling that.
An open house drew 40,000 fans, and Sunday's opener has been sold out for weeks. The full stadium (capacity: 75,000) will be open for games on Sept. 16 match against Orlando City and Oct. 22 against Toronto FC -- the season finale -- putting the MLS record crowd for a stand-alone game -- 69,275 for the LA Galaxy's opener at the Rose Bowl in 1996 -- in danger of being broken.
Getting the football stadium to fit for soccer required some engineering feats.
Retractable seats. Retractable seats in the corners will be pushed back, allowing the width of the field be expanded from football dimensions of 53 1/3 yards -- 160 feet -- to 75 yards for soccer.
Mechanized curtains. Assuming Atlanta United won't sell out the full stadium, the upper deck -- 31,000 seats -- will be closed off with retractable panels.
What engineering couldn't solve was the turf. The height of the stadium -- 305 feet -- made it impossible for grass to grow sufficiently, so Atlanta United will play on FieldTurf.
$60 million training center. Leaving nothing to chance, Blank spent $60 million on Atlanta United's training center in Marietta -- Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta Training Ground -- which includes a full-level field with the same FieldTurf and same dimensions (115 yards by 75 yards) on which the team will play at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.Some game shows are great. Jeopardy! is a classic test of knowledge. The Price Is Right was the best part about staying home sick from school growing up. Not every game show idea can be a hit, though. In fact, some of them are just downright frightening.On June 25, Boom! premieres on Fox. It’s an adaptation of an Israeli game show on which contestants have to diffuse a (thankfully fake) bomb before it detonates. What’s inside? “ Mystery slime,” which could be anything from maple syrup to guacamole. The goop explosion is reminiscent of Nickelodeon’s glory days, but the whole bomb premise has been catching heat for making light of the serious threat of IEDs that members of the military face every day. Also, would getting covered in guacamole really be so bad?Boom!’s explosion of bad press sent us searching for other infamously tone-deaf game show premises. From the hilariously awkward to the horribly insensitive, these are the worst game shows of all time.Michael Buerk's famished Ethiopia of 1984 has become a nation achieving 93% GDP growth in six years, finds study
"Dawn. And as the sun breaks through the piercing chill of night on the plain outside Korem it lights up a biblical famine, now, in the 20th century. This place, say workers here, is the closest thing to hell on earth."
That television news report by the BBC's Michael Buerk in 1984 framed Ethiopia for a generation as a place of famine and in need of salvation.
Almost 30 years later the country is hailed by pundits as an "African lion" after a decade of stellar economic growth.
Now further evidence of its turnaround has arrived with research showing that Ethiopia is creating millionaires at a faster rate than any other country on the continent.
The number of dollar millionaires in the east African nation rose from 1,300 in 2007 to 2,700 by September this year, according to New World Wealth, a consultancy based in the UK and South Africa.
That figure puts the country well ahead of Angola, up by 68%, and Tanzania, which had a 51% increase. Zambia and Ghana completed the top five.
The study finds that the rise in millionaires has been closely tied to GDP growth, in which Ethiopia has also fared best over the past six years achieving 93%, followed by Egypt (81%) and Angola (61%).
The authors note, however, that Ethiopia started from a very low base, and its per capital wealth is still just $470 (£287), compared to $3,187 (£1,948) in Egypt and $7,508 (£4,588) in South Africa.
Andrew Amoils, a senior analyst at New World Wealth, said: "The economic and wealth growth in Ethiopia over the last five or six years has been really strong. There has been a lot of privatisation and certain sectors are growing well. It's a huge upswing but it started from a low base."
As in other parts of Africa, however, the growth is not necessarily shared.
"The millionaires are growing at a faster rate than the middle class, which doesn't really exist in a lot of African countries, including Ethiopia," Amoils said. "Angola, for example, has had massive millionaire growth in the last 10 years but that hasn't spilled through to the average Angolan."
But whereas much of Africa's boom has been driven by mineral resources, leading sectors for millionaires in Ethiopia include agriculture, manufacturing and transport.
The richest Ethiopian is said to be the businessman Mohammed Al Amoudi, who divides his time between Ethiopia and Saudi Arabia, where he now has citizenship.
A construction boom is underway in the capital, Addis Ababa, but Amare Abebaw, a social entrepreneur, said the rest of the world does still did not appreciate the country's extraordinary transformation.
"When I go home and watch TV I still see the famine from the 80s and I wonder how do they still show this on the BBC when things have improved here? It is painful for us. We know it is part of our history but we want to focus on the present."
Nevertheless, while the number of millionaires is definitely increasing, they remain a fraction of the population.
"There are a few at the top but the majority of people are at the bottom, like in other countries," Abebaw said. "There are self-made millionaires and people are proud to know them. There are others where you don't know where they got the money from, and suspicions may arise from the population."
South Africa is the top African country for millionaires with 48,700 in 2013, followed by Egypt with 22,800 and Nigeria with 15,700.
Richard Dowden, director of the Royal African Society, said he had witnessed the rise of tower blocks, traffic jams and people now "walking with a purpose" in Addis Ababa.
He added: "You don't see many Ethiopians in flashy cars, like you do with Luanda or Lagos [citizens in their respective countries]. Flaunting your wealth is not part of the culture."
The Ethiopian government claims credit for the growth but is criticised as authoritarian by human rights groups; there is only one opposition MP.
In a recent blog post, Dowden noted that the former prime minister Meles Zenawi once observed: "There is no connection between democracy and development."The BBC has announced a new series of Doctor Who Adventure games. How does this fit in with where video game and TV technology are heading?
The BBC has announced that it'll be releasing four Doctor Who Adventure Games to tie in with the latest series of the hit sci-fi show. Mac and PC owners will be able to download each episode from the Doctor Who website, starting in June.
Fans worried about the authenticity of the titles should be impressed by the involvement of senior Doctor Who staff. Steven Moffat, the head writer and executive producer on the show will also be one of the executive producers on the games, and they'll be scripted by Phil Ford (co-writer of the Waters of Mars episode) and James Moran (Severance, Torchwood Children of Earth). Plus, Matt Smith and Karen Gillan have provided full voice-overs, as have other members of the cast. The games will be developed by Sumo Digital, the Sheffield-based studio behind the likes of Outrun 2006 and F1 2009. Hmm, a Doctor Who racing game, then?
Don't be silly. Charles Cecil the founder of Revolution Software is also onboard as a producer. He created the excellent Broken Sword series of twisty, engrossing adventure games, suggesting the Doctor Who titles will work within a similar genre. It also looks as though story threads will run between the TV episodes and the games, so narrative is clearly going to play a major part of the interactive editions.
As Piers Wenger, head of drama at BBC Wales put it: "There aren't 13 episodes of Doctor Who this year. There are 17 – four of which are interactive. Everything you see and experience within the game is part of the Doctor Who universe: we'll be taking you to places you've only ever dreamed about seeing – including locations impossible to create on television."
And to further excite Timelord fanatics, the press release adds, "The exact titles of the four episodes are being kept secret for the time being, but the four original stories will take players on a journey throughout time and space, including one location from the Doctor Who series which has never been seen before on screen. Players will encounter new and original monsters, in stories which form part of the overall Doctor Who canon."
Of course, the BBC hinted in January that it would be looking at creating interactive content around its key brands, appointing ex-EA bigwig, Robert Nashak as EVP of digital entertainment. Back then, however, it seemed that it would all be about the corporation's commercial arm, BBC Worldwide, investigating the revenue-generating possibilities of games based around Dr Who, Top Gear, etc. But the Doctor Who Adventures titles will be free.
Whatever the financial model, it's reasonably impressive that the BBC, usually rather conservative with such technological initiatives, has leapt in to the emerging arena of cross-platform entertainment. But it does have some catching up to do...
The concept of movies and TV shows that cross over into the online interactive space is nothing new. A growing range of digital media agencies and non-traditional development studios have been creating experiences like this for the last decade. Channel 4 is hugely active in this space, and has been since running the experimental interactive show, Dubplate Drama in 2005, which allowed viewers to vote on the outcome of each episode. Nowadays, alongside its E4 Games site, it has a dedicated cross-platform development team that commissions interactive content to accompany its TV shows.
A key example is Misfits, the teen-orientated super hero comedy, which had a major online presence orchestrated by London developer, Six To Start. "It was obvious to E4 that they should do something online," says chief creative, Adrian Hon. "It's a young audience – the Skins audience – and a genre show. If you want to engage with these people and get them excited, you have to do it online. We worked with E4 to figure out the sort of community and experience that would really get people engaged, and to get fans of the show doing more stuff.
"The core of it was a website where you could get exclusive content and play games related to that week's episode. The element that people were really interested in was the social stuff where we tweeted as the characters both during the show and between shows. Simon had a Facebook feed where he put up content – it was the first time a UK broadcaster had done that."
Channel 4 Education is also a major experimenter with interactive content. Commissioning editor, Alice Taylor, has overseen a range of fascinating projects, including the cautionary social networking adventure, Smokescreen – also by Six |
since ‘Queer As Folk’.Two accidents in less than one week led to one of the biggest shakeups in the Railways Ministry. Ashok Mittal, Chairman of the Railway Board, has already tendered his resignation and Minister Suresh Prabhu has offered to resign.Further, three top officials were sent on leave, four local-level officials were suspended after the department found lapses in maintenance work that led to the major derailment on Saturday.On Wednesday, the Centre appointed Air India CMD, Ashwani Lohani, as Railway Board Chairman.When was the last time that the Railways saw such turbulence? For that, you have to go back all the way to 1956 when Lal Bahadur Shastri, the then Railway Minister, resigned after taking moral responsibility for a train accident in Tamil Nadu which caused 150 deaths.Again, in 1999, when Nitish Kumar resigned over an accident which claimed over 200 lives. But Nitish was back as the Rail Minister in 2001 and by this day, Kumar’s tales of flip flops are legendary.Mamata Banerjee had also offered to resign in 2000 after two train disasters, but her offer was rejected by then Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee.Mittal was appointed Chairman of the Railway Board in 2014, and was given a two-year extension in 2016. But never in the history of the Railways have both the Minister’s and the Chairman’s jobs looked as precarious as this day.The reasons are not difficult to understand. Two major train accidents in less than seven days put a major dent in the reputation of the Indian Railways and Suresh Prabhu.The Utkal Express derailed near Khatauli in UP’s Muaffarnagar district on August 19, leading to at least six deaths. The report on the Utkal Express derailment wasn’t even out when another major rail accident happened.At 2.50 am on the intervening night of Monday and Tuesday, the Azamgarh-Delhi Kaifiyat Express hit a dumper on the tracks, leading to ten bogies getting derailed. Around 74 passengers were injured, including four seriously.There have been over 20 rail accidents, including minor ones, since November 2014, when Prabhu took office. The total count of “consequential accidents” since 2014-15 stands at 346 accidents. In at least nine of these cases, casualties were reported.As a consequence, the government has moved quickly to reassure people that it intends to bring things under control. On Wednesday, in a big shakeup, Ashwani Lohani, the former head of Air India, was appointed to the top bureaucratic job in the Railways. He brings with him a reputation for efficiency.The real-life Django: The legendary African-American Wild West marshal who arrested 3,000 outlaws and killed 14 men
Bass Reeves was born a slave in 1838 and later broke from his owner to live among Native Americans
Reeves became a Deputy U.S. Marshal in 1875 at the age of 38
During his 32-year career as a Deputy Marshal he arrested 3,000 felons, killed 14 men and was never shot
Bass Reeves, one of the first African Americans to become a Deputy U.S. Marshal west of the Mississippi River, could have been an inspiration for Quentin Tarantino’s fictional character Django.
Reeves, who was born a slave, arrested 3,000 felons, killed 14 men and was never shot throughout his 32-year career as a federal lawman.
The fearless solider was born into slavery in 1838 in Crawford County, Arkansas, and eventually broke from his owner, George Reeves, to live among the Creek and Seminole Indians.
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Real-life Django: Bass Reeves, born a slave, later became a Deputy U.S. Marshal and arrested 3,000 felons and killed 14 men Appointment: Reeves became a Deputy U.S. Marshal in 1875 at the age of 38, after 'Hanging Judge' Isaac C. Parker was made the federal judge of Indian Territory
During his time with them, he learned their customs and languages and became an adept territorial scout.
Reeves later procured his own land in Van Buren, Arkansas, where he married his wife, Nellie Jennie, built an eight-room house with his bare hands, and raised ten children as the first black settler in the region.
He became a Deputy U.S. Marshal in 1875 at the age of 38, after ‘Hanging Judge’ Isaac C. Parker was made the federal judge of Indian Territory. Under President Ulysses S. Grant, Parker appointed Confederate Army General James Fagan a U.S. Marshal and ordered him to hire 200 deputies.
Among them was Reeves.
Fagan knew of the former slave, his ability to negotiate Indian Territory and his ability to speak their languages, and so Reeves was named the first black Deputy Marshal west of the Mississippi.
In that role he was authorized to arrest both black and white outlaws.
Legendary soldier: Reeves was authorized to arrest both black and white outlaws
Over the years Reeves gained a reputation for persistence, fearlessness. incredible marksmanship and the ability to outsmart lawbreakers, according to historical records.
In 1882, Reeves arrested outlaw Belle Starr for horse theft. According to some accounts, Starr turned herself in when she heard that the legendary Reeves was looking for her.
In 1889, after Reeves was assigned to Paris, Texas, he went after the Tom Story gang for their infamous horse theft operation.
Reeves reportedly waited along the route that Tom Story used, and surprised the gang leader with an arrest warrant.
Story panicked and drew his gun, but Reeves shot him dead before Story could fire.
The rest of the Tom Story gang disbanded and were never heard from again.
Fictional Reeves? Actor Jamie Foxx, right, plays Django, a character very similar to Reeves, in Quentin Tarantino's new movie 'Django Unchained'
Reeves later killed two of the murderous Brunter brothers and arrested the third.
In 1887, the black Deputy Marshall was arrested himself and charged with murdering his posse cook, William Leach.
Brought to trial before Judge Parker, Reeves testified that he shot Leach by accident while cleaning his gun, and was acquitted.
Reeves later became became an officer of the Muskogee, Oklahoma, police department at the age of 68. He died of Bright's disease on January 12, 1910, at the age of 72.
'Bass Reeves', a fictionalized film of the lawman’s life and military career was produced and released by Ponderous Productions of San Antonio, Texas, in 2010.
Actor Morgan Freeman has spent more than five years attempting to get the story of Reeves to the big screen, according to the film news site IndieWire.com.
Open land: As a Deputy U.S. Marshal, Reeves patrolled 75,000 square miles of Indian Territory
32-year career: Reeves retired from Federal service in 1907The governor of Ankara, Turkey, banned a German-government-sponsored LGBT film festival, arguing that it would attract “terrorist activity” and “incite hatred.”
It is the latest in a series of crackdowns against gay and lesbian pride events in what used to be considered among the most liberal Muslim nations in the world regarding sexual identity before President Recep Tayyip Erdogan began cracking down on the nation’s LGBT pride parades and imposing an Islamist social agenda.
The Ankara governor’s office explained in a statement Wednesday that the LGBT Film Days festival, hosted by the group Pink Life QueerFest and assisted by the German embassy in Turkey, could not go on despite being scheduled to begin on Thursday. The statement cited “clear and imminent danger” of a terrorist attack by groups “with certain social sensitivities.”
“Considering that the content could incite grudges and enmity towards a part of society … and the intelligence reports that terror organizations are seeking to attack dissident groups or individuals, it is evaluated that this film screening could be provocative and draw reactions,” the statement concluded.
Event organizers protested in a statement that they had “constitutional rights” to hold the event and felt their rights violated. “Suggesting that these screenings could be provocative or targeted by terror groups only serves to legitimize those people and institutions that produce hate speech towards us and see our existence as a threat,” they argued.
Erdogan and his Islamist Justice and Development Party (AKP) have championed the de-secularization of a nation that, for nearly a century, prided itself on the secularist philosophy of its founder, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. As president, Erdogan has expressed disgust with moderate Islam – “There is no moderate or immoderate Islam. Islam is Islam and that’s it,” he once protested.
Erdogan once described the use of birth control as “treason.” He has encouraged Muslim families to have many children and travel abroad, particularly to Europe, to change its demographics and make the world more Muslim. He has also repeatedly asserted that Muslims discovered America before Columbus and revamped Turkish school curricula to include more Islamic education.
Multiple cases of individuals trying to destroy statues of Atatürk have occurred in the past two years.
Erdogan’s government has also cracked down on public displays of LGBT identity. Istanbul’s LGBT pride parade, once the largest in the Muslim world, has been shut down or attacked by riot police the last three years. In 2017, the governor’s office refused to grant a license for the parade “considering the safety of tourists.” The parade occurred in 2016, but police abruptly ended it by firing tear gas and water cannons into the crowd.
The same incident occurred for the first time in 2015. “We thought this was going to be a ‘normal,’ peaceful pride walk, but the police welcomed us with tear gas,” one witness said at the time. Police argued that they had to shut down the parade that year because it fell during the Muslim “holy month” of Ramadan.
The BBC speculates that shutting down the Ankara film festival may be about LGBT representations as much as it is a slight against Germany. Relations between Erdogan and Chancellor Angela Merkel deteriorated rapidly in the past year as Germany officials refused to allow the AKP to hold political rallies on German soil. In response, Erdogan claimed Germany had used “Nazi tactics” to prevent an AKP takeover of Turkish neighborhoods and has accused the nation of “mercilessly supporting terrorism.”
Erdogan has engaged in similar disputes and used similar insults against Austria, Denmark, and the Netherlands, all nations that refused to allow large AKP election events to occur within their territory.
Follow Frances Martel on Facebook and Twitter.When you think of great college football rivalries in the new millennium, Alabama-LSU has to be at or near the top of the list for the most important game in the sport. The Tide and the Tigers have consistently been at the top of the national title picture with the SEC’s run of dominance through much of the early 2000’s. In fact, the two programs have combined for six national titles since 2003 with the rivalry culminating in the two schools representing the only intra-conference National Championship Game in the BCS era in 2012, won by Alabama.
However, in recent years (and especially since that title game clash) this great rivalry has become rather one-sided. You may recall that LSU beat Alabama during the regular season that year, but the Crimson Tide beat the Tigers in the championship game in New Orleans. That victory has kicked off a seven game winning streak for Alabama against LSU, which continued this past weekend with a relatively straight-forward 24-10 victory in Tuscaloosa.
At least according to the TV ratings, the Alabama-LSU rivalry isn’t quite what it used to be. According to Sports Media Watch, the game drew a 3.7 overnight rating on CBS, down a whopping 38% versus last year’s rating. That number was the lowest for the game in 11 years, dating back to 2006. Additionally, and even more peculiar, it was the lowest SEC on CBS primetime game period in that same timespan as well. Given Alabama is in the national championship chase pretty much by default these days, it’s surprising that ratings would be trending downward. Just two years ago, a #2 vs #4 showdown brought a 6.4 rating for the SEC on CBS for the Alabama-LSU rivalry game.
While it still beat the rest of the competition this weekend, it might be a sign that college football fans aren’t giving too much credit to Alabama’s competition in the SEC these days and that the LSU matchup isn’t an automatic primetime lock anymore. Just take a look at how Alabama has manhandled its biggest conference rivals recently…
LSU – Won 7 straight gamesAuburn – Won 5 of 6 games (the only exception being the infamous Kick Six Tennessee – Won 11 straight gamesFlorida – Won 6 straight gamesGeorgia – Won 3 straight games (dating back to 2008)
While many of those teams also won championships in the last 15 years, they have all struggled to maintain a standard of excellence that is pretty much now a guarantee at Alabama. Florida just fired their coach, Tennessee’s is next out the door, and LSU fired Les Miles last year. The only SEC teams to beat Alabama in the last five years are Ole Miss (twice), Texas A&M, and Auburn on the Kick Six.
Of course, this all comes when the college football playoff committee has done Nick Saban’s dirty work for him by placing Georgia at #1 in the first rankings release and the Tide at #2. Given Alabama’s dominance over the SEC and over all of college football, pretty much everyone should be taking a wait and see approach to see whether or not the Bulldogs can actually compete with the Tide if and when they reach the SEC Championship Game.
But therein might lie the dilemma with Alabama and Nick Saban’s rule over college football with an iron fist. Their competitive advantage over pretty much everyone on their schedule means there’s not a lot of drama until the SEC Championship Game and playoff. Alabama could suffer a loss at any point this season and still safely be in the top four because they have that much respect from the playoff committee. It would take a supernatural series of events to take them out of the top four. As crazy as it sounds, Alabama might just be too good for the SEC, and it may be showing in the ratings.Dictionaries, Maps, and Hash Tables in Python Need a dictionary, map, or hash table to implement an algorithm in your Python program? Read on to see how the Python standard library can help you.
In Python, dictionaries (or “dicts”, for short) are a central data structure: Dicts store an arbitrary number of objects, each identified by a unique dictionary key. Dictionaries are often also called maps, hashmaps, lookup tables, or associative arrays. They allow the efficient lookup, insertion, and deletion of any object associated with a given key. To give a more practical explanation—phone books are a decent real-world analog for dictionaries: Phone books allow you to quickly retrieve the information (phone number) associated with a given key (a person’s name). Instead of having to read a phonebook front to back in order to find someone’s number you can jump more or less directly to a name and look up the associated number. This analogy breaks down somewhat when it comes to how the information is organized to allow for fast lookups. But the fundamental performance characteristics hold: Dictionaries allow you to quickly find the information associated with a given key.
Python Dictionaries, Hashmaps, and Hash Tables The dictionary abstract data type is one of the most frequently used and most important data structures in computer science. Because of this importance Python features a robust dictionary implementation as one of its built-in data types ( dict ). Python even provides some useful syntactic sugar for working with dictionaries in your programs. For example, the curly-braces dictionary expression syntax ( {} ) and dictionary comprehensions allow you to conveniently define new dictionaries: phonebook = { 'bob' : 7387, 'alice' : 3719, 'jack' : 7052, } squares = { x : x * x for x in range ( 10 )} Python’s dictionaries are indexed by keys that can be of any hashable type. A hashable object has a hash value which never changes during its lifetime (see __hash__ ), and it can be compared to other objects (see __eq__ ). In addition, hashable objects which compare equal must have the same hash value. Immutable types like strings and numbers work well as dictionary keys. You can also use tuples as dictionary keys as long as they contain only hashable types themselves.
✅ Built-in dict type For most use cases you’ll face Python’s built-in dictionary implementation will do everything you need. Dictionaries are highly optimized and underlie many parts of the language, for example class attributes and variables in a stack frame are both stored internally in dictionaries. Python dictionaries are based on a well-tested and finely tuned hash table implementation that provides the performance characteristics you’d expect: O(1) time complexity for lookup, insert, update, and delete operations in the average case. There’s little reason to not use the standard dict implementation included with Python. However, specialized third-party dictionary data structures exist, for example skip lists or B-tree based dictionary implementations. >>> phonebook = { 'bob' : 7387, 'alice' : 3719, 'jack' : 7052 } >>> phonebook [ 'alice' ] 3719 Interestingly, Python ships with a number of specialized dictionary implementations in its standard library. These specialized dictionaries are all based on the built-in dictionary implementation (and share its performance characteristics) but add some convenience features:
✅ collections.OrderedDict – Remember the insertion order of keys A dictionary subclass that remembers the insertion order of keys added to the collection. While standard dict instances preserve the insertion order of keys in CPython 3.6+ this is just a side effect of the CPython implementation and not defined in the language spec. If key order is important for your algorithm to work it’s best to communicate this clearly by using the OrderDict class. OrderedDict is not a built-in part of the core language and must be imported from the collections module in the standard library. >>> import collections >>> d = collections. OrderedDict ( one = 1, two = 2, three = 3 ) >>> d OrderedDict ([( 'one', 1 ), ( 'two', 2 ), ( 'three', 3 )]) >>> d [ 'four' ] = 4 >>> d OrderedDict ([( 'one', 1 ), ( 'two', 2 ), ( 'three', 3 ), ( 'four', 4 )]) >>> d. keys () odict_keys ([ 'one', 'two', 'three', 'four' ])
✅ collections.defaultdict – Return default values for missing keys Another dictionary subclass that accepts a default value in its constructor that will be returned if a requested key cannot be found in a defaultdict instance. This can save some typing and make the programmer’s intention more clear compared to using the get() methods or catching a KeyError exception in regular dictionaries. >>> from collections import defaultdict >>> dd = defaultdict ( list ) # Accessing a missing key creates it and initializes it # using the default factory, i.e. list() in this example: >>> dd [ 'dogs' ]. append ( 'Rufus' ) >>> dd [ 'dogs' ]. append ( 'Kathrin' ) >>> dd [ 'dogs' ]. append ( 'Mr Sniffles' ) >>> dd [ 'dogs' ] [ 'Rufus', 'Kathrin', 'Mr Sniffles' ]
✅ collections.ChainMap – Search multiple dictionaries as a single mapping This data structure groups multiple dictionaries into a single mapping. Lookups search the underlying mappings one by one until a key is found. Insertions, updates, and deletions only affect the first mapping added to the chain. >>> from collections import ChainMap >>> dict1 = { 'one' : 1, 'two' : 2 } >>> dict2 = { 'three' : 3, 'four' : 4 } >>> chain = ChainMap ( dict1, dict2 ) >>> chain ChainMap ({ 'one' : 1, 'two' : 2 }, { 'three' : 3, 'four' : 4 }) # ChainMap searches each collection in the chain # from left to right until it finds the key (or fails): >>> chain [ 'three' ] 3 >>> chain [ 'one' ] 1 >>> chain ['missing' ] KeyError :'missing'
✅ types.MappingProxyType – A wrapper for making read-only dictionaries A wrapper around a standard dictionary that provides a read-only view into the wrapped dictionary’s data. This class was added in Python 3.3 and it can be used to create immutable proxy versions of dictionaries. >>> from types import MappingProxyType >>> read_only = MappingProxyType ({ 'one' : 1, 'two' : 2 }) >>> read_only [ 'one' ] 1 >>> read_only [ 'one' ] = 23 TypeError : "'mappingproxy' object does not support item assignment"J. in California tells Consumerist that he liked Best Buy. He was a loyal customer until he attempted to buy a laptop there for a friend, and ran up against a brick wall of strangeness and dysfunction, all in the name of… Geek Squad optimization.
He copied us on his EECB to Best Buy. Here’s what he wrote:
I would like to share with you an experience I have with Best Buy Store
[redacted] today ([adddress redacted]). Before this incident,
I have a perfect relationship with best buy and have been a happy
customer. In fact, I have been trying to make the company I work for to
shop at a newly opened Best Buy instead of another large nearby retailers.
I am an IT personnel at a networking equipment manufacturer, so I’m
usually the person that gives advice to my friends regarding hi-tech
items. Today, my friend told me that he needed to buy a laptop before
his upcoming trip on Sunday. I asked him to join me at Best Buy during
lunch time so that he can take a look at the selection of laptops and I
can give him some advice. He narrowed his choices down between an Asus
or Acer and told me that he’d let me know later that day which one he’d
prefer. Close to end of my working day, he called me and told me that he
prefers the Asus that he sees at Best Buy. Since I work near a Best Buy,
I decided that it’d be better for me to order it online with the option
for in-store pickup, then he can reimburse me later. That way, he
doesn’t have to go out of his way to get the laptop. As extra perk, I
also get some points on my rewards card.
I made the order at 7:08pm and got the confirmation email almost
immediately. Since I have confirmed that the store have everything in
stock, I assumed that it’d be a very quick before I get my pickup
notice. I left the office around 7:25 and reached Best Buy around 7:30.
I checked in at the customer service desk and asked if my order has
turned up. The lady at the cashier (K.) told me that she can’t find
my order and would check with the inventory team. She came back and told
me that the inventory team is on break and I’m early for the pickup.
That’s understandable and I told her that I’d browse the store before
going to go back to the service desk and get my item.
I received my pickup notice on my email at 7:49 which was earlier than
the 45 minutes time limit. I probably checked my email around 7:50-7:52,
and approached K. again. Once again she was courteous and friendly.
She was apologetic that it took so long to get my item. I hang around
the service desk area while she went to the inventory room to check on
my order. At 7:55, I received a call from H. (Store Operator) that
my item is ready for pickup. I told her that I was already at the
service desk already. She stepped out from the room behind the service
desk and found me. She then told me that the laptop is currently being
optimized and it would be ready soon.
This is where the trouble start. I told her that I am comfortable
working with computers and don’t want an optimized laptop. I also
requested if she could stop the procedure. She then asked me to wait for
a minute while she checked on it. She went to the inventory room and I
followed her up to the door to the inventory room. She then came back
and told me that the laptop HAS already been optimized. I told her that
I’d like a non-optimized laptop, preferably an unopened one. She told me
that both of the laptop currently in stock have been optimized. I either
have to pay for the optimization or wait for it to be unoptimized and
have it reset to default. I told her that I need the laptop fast because
I need to go back home and help my wife with the children. She told me
that she needs to talk to the manager and it should be about 5 minutes.
I waited around the service desk for a while, but I didn’t see her
anymore. I ask several other employee (F. and S.) to get me
H. because I can’t wait too long. When I saw her walking toward the
service desk, I stopped her and asked her if she knows how much longer
it would take for me to get the laptop. She told me that she’s working
on my case and would appreciate it if I stop bothering her.
At this point I make the following observation:
1. She started telling me that they’re optimizing my laptop, but later
told me that both in-stock laptops are already optimized and I have to
get it optimized or wait for it to be restored to default. If both are
already optimized, then by the time I arrived one of the laptop should
have been optimized already, why didn’t she offer to give me that one
instead of optimizing the other one?
2. Wouldn’t selling an optimized laptop to a buyer that doesn’t want the
laptop to be optimized at non-optimized price would make a better
business sense than having to have Geek Squad spend time and restore it
to default? By doing this, unneeded resource is being used to restore it
to default.
3. Why must they optimize all of their inventory? Is this a way to force
a sale for the Geek Squad service?
4. Or, is this a way to make sure that we can’t return the laptop
without being charged restocking fee? Opened laptop carries 15%
restocking fee; thus by optimizing it, the laptop is already opened.
What if my friend decided to change his mind? Will I still be charged
restocking fee?
5. Is this also a way to hide returned item from being marked “open box”?
I just need an ETA because I’m working with schedule. By this time, it’s
already 8:10-8:15. This is starting to feel like negotiating with a used
car dealership. She then told me that it’d take more than 1 hour and if
I can’t wait that long then I should just cancel the order and buy it
elsewhere. After she told me that she just walked inside. I know she’s
busy, but you can’t leave a customer hanging. I also find that it is
definitely unacceptable schedule. It’d be 9:15-9:30ish by the time I
walk out of best buy. I had only a small lunch because I had to go to
Best Buy during lunch, and I was hungry. Additionally, I’d have an
unhappy wife because no one is helping her to take care our preschooler
and newborn. I also had a long day and have WAY too much time at Best
Buy. I also find that her attitude is rude and unprofessional. I decided
to draw the line and cancel the purchase. I might just take her advice
and buy it elsewhere.
I asked F. to page H. and tell her that I want to cancel my order.
He told me that she’d be right with me and help me with the order
cancellation. I waited, but she never came out. I saw Charles, the store
manager, nearby so I waited for him to finish talking to another
customer. I then told him that I’d like to cancel the order. I also
explained to him what happened and asked him my concern #4 regarding
optimized laptop. He told me that Best Buy have a way to make sure that
customer haven’t use the laptop, so optimized laptop which later
unoptimized at customer’s request can still be checked if the customer
used it already or not. He told me about a mechanism to check the uptime
of the computer and usage timer. Honestly, this doesn’t sound right at all.
1. He make a generalization that all vendors have this functionality
2. My 6 years working in IT, I haven’t heard or seen something similar
3. My 20 years experience using computer, I haven’t meet something
similar to this
4. He has no idea what I’m purchasing. I didn’t tell him what item I
purchased and/or show him my receipt.
This definitely sounds like a tactic to make me not buy an unoptimized
laptop and keep the inventory for people who want it to be optimized. I
don’t know if this is true or not, but I can feel a difference in
treatment between the first time I came into the store and after I
indicated that I don’t want optimization. I feel ignored, brushed and
scammed. I told him if he could help me cancel the order so that the
hold on my card can be reversed earlier. He told me that he can’t do
that and I just have to wait until the 8 days past. He added that NO ONE
can do it. This is where he is wrong. I know this for sure. I canceled
another online order earlier because I’d rather pick up the laptop near
my office than the one near my house. All it take is a phone call.
Beside, if Shelly knows that the store can’t cancel the order, why
didn’t she told me about it rather than making me wait for nothing?
I left the best buy with a real bitter taste in my mouth. I told my
friend what happened that told him to purchase the computer I have
confirmed available from Amazon.com. He is an Amazon prime member so 1
day shipping is only $3.99. He will receive his laptop on Friday and I
can help him set it up when it arrive. Now I am pondering if I should
stop shopping at Best Buy. My experience so far with Best Buy has been
positive, but it seems that Best Buy slowly becoming Worst Buy. It’s one
thing to try to sell optimization and extended service plan, but it is
another thing to force the optimization service down my throat. Worst
thing that they can do is ignoring and brushes your customer away.
Best Buy already lost this purchase and may lose me as customer
permanently. One thing definite is that I will not shop at store [redacted]
anymore. I will give other Best Buys another chance to keep me as
customer, but if this continues on, Best Buy in general will lose
another customer and all other customer that I might recommend to shop
at Best Buy. Best Buy used to be geek paradise, but it slowly transform
into a place that try to profit from ignorant general public and drive
away geeks who are already familiar with technology.
Thank you for your time. I have attached confirmation email and pickup
notice into this email. I hope you take this issue into consideration
and hope to hear from you in regards to this matter. In case that you
can’t open the attachment, my order number is [redacted].A new release of mGBA, version 0.3.2, is available. This version is a bugfix release. An extensive list of changes follows after the cut.
Bugfixes:
ARM7: Fix STRT/STRBT
ARM7: Implement undefined STRH/LDRH/LDRSH/LDRSB versions
ARM7: Fix bank switching with LDR[B]T/STR[B]T
Libretro: Fix problems with rumble not turning off
GBA: Fix idle skip state being retained between games
GBA: Initialize uninitialized pristineRom and pristineRomSize members
GBA BIOS: Fix CpuSet on 0x01XXXXXX addresses
GBA BIOS: Fix Sqrt sign
GBA BIOS: Fix misaligned RLUnCompReadNormalWrite*
GBA Hardware: Fix Game Boy Player rumble in Pokemon Pinball
GBA Memory: Fix DMA behavior for SRAM accesses
GBA Memory: Fix Store8 to OBJ VRAM
GBA Memory: Fix alignment of LDM/STM on SRAM
GBA Memory: Fix unaligned out-of-bounds ROM loads
GBA Memory: Fix timing of DMAs
GBA Video: Fix _mix for 15-bit color
for 15-bit color GBA Video: Fix OAM and palette initialization
OpenGL: Fix fast-forward on some OpenGL drivers where it may block early
Qt: Use safer isLoaded check in GameController
Qt: Fix a race condition in PainterGL that could lead to a crash
Qt: Fix clear button/analog buttons in gamepad mapper on some platforms
Qt: Fix font size in memory viewer
Qt: Fix a crash in the memory viewer
Qt: Add additional checks in CheatModel to prevent crashes
Qt: Fix race condition with setting sample rate
Qt: Fix crash when closing multiplayer windows
Qt: Fix resetting while paused
Misc:
GBA Audio: Implement missing flags on SOUNDCNT_X register
register Qt: Add mute option to menu
Get it now in the Downloads section. Binaries are available for Windows, Ubuntu and OS X, and the source code is available for all other platforms.Ten players showed up for the 5th round of the league. We are now halfway down the league.
Two new players joined the play group. This means that our legacy players base is made of 17 people.
Here are the standings following the 4th round of swiss:
Rank Player Points 1 Van Der Beek, Laurens 12 2 Gentile, Giorgio 9 3 Van Der Geest, Leo 9 4 Zee, Carl 9 5 Hoekstra, Walter 6 6 Sieben, Gijs 6 7 Van Tol, Maarten 3 8 Repetto, Fabio 3 9 Arindrarto, Wibowo 3 10 Groeneveld, Bart 0
As always, here are the top8 decklists!
Van Der Beek, Laurens Creatures Lands 4 Simian Spirit Guide
3 Pia and Kiran Nalaar
3 Stormbreath Dragon
2 Eternal Scourge 20 Snow-Covered Mountain
2 Scrying Sheets Planeswalkers Spells 4 Koth of the Hammer
1 Chandra, Torch of Defiance 3 Anger of the Gods
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Skred
1 Magma Jet
4 Relic of Progenitus
1 Batterskull
4 Blood Moon Sideboard 4 Red Elemental Blast
3 Molten Rain
2 Sudden Shock
2 Goblin Rabblemaster
2 Shattering Spree
1 Grafdigger’s Cage
1 Pithing Needle
Gentile, Giorgio Creatures Lands 4 Monastery Swiftspear
4 Delver of Secrets
3 Stormchaser Mage
2 Bedlam Reveler 4 Volcanic Island
3 Polluted Delta
1 Wooded Foothills
1 Mountain
2 Island
4 Flooded Strand Planeswalkers Spells 4 Lightning Bolt
4 Force of Will
4 Daze
4 Brainstorm
4 Ponder
4 Gitaxian Probe
4 Chain Lightning
2 Price of Progress
1 Fireblast Sideboard 2 Spell Pierce
2 Smash to Smithereens
2 Pyroblast
1 Pithing Needle
1 Invasive Surgery
1 Tormod’s Crypt
1 Price of Progress
1 Electrickery
1 Grim Lavamancer
1 Winter Orb
1 Dismember
1 True-Name Nemesis
Van der Geest, Leo Creatures Lands 4 Deathrite Shaman
3 Baleful Strix
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Shardless Agent 2 Bayou
2 Creeping Tar Pit
1 Forest
1 Island
3 Polluted Delta
1 Swamp
1 Tropical Island
3 Underground Sea
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Wasteland Planeswalkers Spells 1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
4 Liliana of the Veil 4 Brainstorm
2 Inquisition of Kozilek
4 Abrupt Decay
4 Hymn to Tourach
3 Toxic Deluge Sideboard 1 Leovold, Emissary of Trest
2 Ancestral Vision
3 Engineered Explosives
3 Grafdigger’s Cage
2 Thoughtseize
1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
3 Force of Will
Zee, Carl Creatures Lands 4 Street Wraith
4 Bridge from Below
3 Balustrade Spy
4 Phantasmagorian
4 Nether Shadow
4 Ichorid
4 Golgari Grave-Troll
4 Gitaxian Probe
4 Narcomoeba
4 Stinkweed Imp
4 Prized Amalgam
3 Chancellor of the Annex
2 Flayer of the Hatebound
4 Golgari Thug Planeswalkers Spells 4 Cabal Therapy
4 Dread Return Sideboard 4 Mindbreak Trap
2 Tormod’s Crypt
2 Contagion
4 Sickening Shoal
1 Ashen Rider
1 Chancellor of the Annex
1 Unmask
Hoekstra, Walter Creatures Lands 4 Deathrite Shaman
4 Delver of Secrets
4 Tarmogoyf
2 Dark Confidant
1 True-Name Nemesis 4 Misty Rainforest
2 Tropical Island
2 Bayou
3 Underground Sea
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Wasteland Planeswalkers Spells 1 Liliana of the Veil 4 Abrupt Decay
4 Brainstorm
3 Force of Will
4 Hymn to Tourach
4 Daze
4 Ponder
1 Dismember
1 Thoughtseize Sideboard |
it's that time where I say my thanks and take that last step into the fandom and let that world envelop me as I continue to support the show and the fans that have changed my life. Thank you for everything you've done, everything you're doing, and everything you continue to do. Thank you.
And yes, I do think #KevinLives. In all of our hearts :)
Reply · Report PostImplantable microrobots: Manufacturing intricate biocompatible micromachines
A team of researchers led by Biomedical Engineering Professor Sam Sia at Columbia Engineering has developed a way to manufacture microscale machines from biomaterials that can safely be implanted in the body. Working with hydrogels, which are biocompatible materials that engineers have been studying for decades, Sia has invented a new technique that stacks the soft material in layers to make devices that have three-dimensional, freely moving parts. The study, published online January 4, 2017, in Science Robotics, demonstrates a fast manufacturing method Sia calls “implantable microelectromechanical systems” (iMEMS).
By exploiting the unique mechanical properties of hydrogels, the researchers developed a “locking mechanism” for precise actuation and movement of freely moving parts, which can function as valves, manifolds, rotors, pumps, and drug delivery systems. They were able to tune the biomaterials within a wide range of mechanical and diffusive properties and to control them after implantation without a sustained power supply, such as a toxic battery. They then tested the payload delivery in a bone cancer model and found that the triggering of releases of doxorubicin from the device over 10 days showed high treatment efficacy and low toxicity, at 1/10th of the standard systemic chemotherapy dose.
“Overall, our iMEMS platform enables development of biocompatible implantable microdevices with a wide range of intricate moving components that can be wirelessly controlled on demand and solves issues of device powering and biocompatibility,” says Sia, also a member of the Data Science Institute. “We’re really excited about this because we’ve been able to connect the world of biomaterials with that of complex, elaborate medical devices. Our platform has a large number of potential applications, including the drug delivery system demonstrated in our paper which is linked to providing tailored drug doses for precision medicine.”
Most current implantable microdevices have static components rather than moving parts and, because they require batteries or other toxic electronics, have limited biocompatibility. Sia’s team spent more than eight years working on how to solve this problem. “Hydrogels are difficult to work with, as they are soft and not compatible with traditional machining techniques,” says Sau Yin Chin, lead author of the study, who worked with Sia. “We have tuned the mechanical properties and carefully matched the stiffness of structures that come in contact with each other within the device. Gears that interlock have to be stiff in order to allow for force transmission and to withstand repeated actuation. Conversely, structures that form locking mechanisms have to be soft and flexible to allow for the gears to slip by them during actuation, while at the same time they have to be stiff enough to hold the gears in place when the device is not actuated. We also studied the diffusive properties of the hydrogels to ensure that the loaded drugs do not easily diffuse through the hydrogel layers.”
The team used light to polymerize sheets of gel and incorporated a stepper mechanization to control the z-axis and pattern the sheets layer by layer, giving them three-dimensionality. Controlling the z-axis enabled the researchers to create composite structures within one layer of the hydrogel while managing the thickness of each layer throughout the fabrication process. They were able to stack multiple layers that are precisely aligned and, because they could polymerize a layer at a time, one right after the other, the complex structure was built in under 30 minutes.
Sia’s iMEMS technique addresses several fundamental considerations in building biocompatible microdevices, micromachines, and microrobots: how to power small robotic devices without using toxic batteries; how to make small biocompatible moveable components that are not silicon, which has limited biocompatibility; and how to communicate wirelessly once implanted (radio frequency microelectronics require power, are relatively large, and are not biocompatible). The researchers were able to trigger the iMEMS device to release additional payloads over days to weeks after implantation. They were also able to achieve precise actuation by using magnetic forces to induce gear movements that, in turn, bend structural beams made of hydrogels with highly tunable properties. (Magnetic iron particles are commonly used and are FDA-approved for human use as contrast agents.)
In collaboration with Francis Lee, an orthopedic surgeon at Columbia University Medical Center at the time of the study, the team tested the drug delivery system on mice with bone cancer. The iMEMS system delivered chemotherapy adjacent to the cancer, and limited tumor growth while showing less toxicity than chemotherapy administered throughout the body.
“These microscale components can be used for microelectromechanical systems, for larger devices ranging from drug delivery to catheters to cardiac pacemakers, and soft robotics,” notes Sia. “People are already making replacement tissues and now we can make small implantable devices, sensors, or robots that we can talk to wirelessly. Our iMEMS system could bring the field a step closer to developing soft miniaturized robots that can safely interact with humans and other living systems.”
The study, “Additive manufacturing of hydrogel-based materials for next-generation implantable medical devices,” was supported by an NSF CAREER award, NIH R01 grant (HL095477-05), and NSF ECCS-1509748. Chin was supported by the National Science Scholarship (PhD) awarded by the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (Singapore). The researchers have a patent pending.
If you enjoyed this article, you may also enjoy:
See all the latest robotics news on Robohub, or sign up for our weekly newsletter.Express News Service By
HYDERABAD: Seventy three years since preliminary excavations were first carried out at the Phanigiri hillock in Nalgonda by the Archaeology department of the then Nizam government in 1941, the efforts of excavators have borne fruit on Tuesday with the most valuable discovery till date.
For the first time in Telangana, excavators unearthed a relic container from the Mahastupa containing belongings of the chief monk or an important person of Buddhism making it the most important Mahastupa in the region. On Wednesday, they found a dull redware earthen pot with a silver container consisting of 11 miniature beads, three silver and three thin flower petals from the north-eastern corner of the Mahastupa, at base of drum portion.
Following this discovery, it can be confidently assessed that this Mahastupa may be considered as Paribhogika stupa (containing the personal belongings of Buddhist monks) flourished right from the period of Ashoka to 4th century AD. Further, a Potin Coin (alloy of copper and lead-weight 1.3gms dia 1.5 cms) is also collected from the surface. On the coin, a bust of a male figure (King) and on the reverse a ship with a legend of 3rd century AD characters are depicted. Preliminarily, it is deciphered as Mahakshtrapa, said officials.
“The Buddhist findings are pertaining to 3rd century AD. First time we have a Buddhist cascade with material in it and this puts Phanigiri area as an important Buddhist heritage site,” said BP Acharya, principal secretary, Tourism, Telangana. According to him, it is the culmination of efforts since 1941. After the primary excavations conducted in 1941-44, further excavations were conducted in 1979 and 2002 when the Mahastupa and Chaityagrihas were exposed and a number of panels, articles, inscriptions, coins inscribed pillars, coins of Satavahanas, Romans, Ikshvakus, Kshatrapas etc were recovered.
With the ruins of congregation halls, viharas, apsidal chaityagruhas and sixteen pillar hall discovered, the department is eyeing at preservation and conservation of the site to transform it into a Buddhist heritage tourism place. “Excavation will continue and simultaneously restoration of the site will be taken up. Structures will be covered with lime mortar and in future, it will be one of the important tourist spot in the region,” said B Srinivas, director in-charge, Department of Archaeology and Museums.
The 16 acre site on the hillock of Phanigiri in Tirumalagir mandal of Nalgonda dates back between 3rd century BC and 3rd century AD. It is believed to be an important Buddhist learning centre with presence of Viharas and Chaityas. Only about 4 acres of the entire site has been explored till date.
“Usually we get only bodily remains of Buddha or of any important monks. The fact that gold, silver and beads were preserved here, indicates the importance of the personality,” explained J Vijayakumar, deputy director (excavations).
Three Types of StupasHot beverage powerhouse Starbucks has released an updated version of its iOS app in response to reported security issues that could cause the disclosure of sensitive customer information.
The vulnerabilities, first reported on a security mailing list by researcher Daniel Wood, affected the the company’s popular app, which allows users to participate in the company’s loyalty program, as well as purchase and use in-store credit. As it turns out, the app saved several bits of personal customer information—including, it seems, their credit card numbers—in a clear-text file that is stored, unencrypted, on the device.
This is not quite as bad as it sounds; under normal circumstances, iOS’s sandboxing prevents the information from leaking outside of the app’s own storage, which means that it is reasonably secure as long as it stays on the user’s device. Backing up the phone to iTunes without encryption, however, would potentially leave the plain-text information up for grabs to anyone who has access to your computer. And, if your device happens to be jailbroken, the operating system’s sandboxing won’t be quite as secure.
For these reasons, it’s considered good practice to encrypt all the sensitive information that an app generates—in fact, iOS even provides several easy-to-use programming interfaces that make implementing this level of protection easy for developers. That’s probably the reason why Starbucks, after initially downplaying the significance of the problems reported by Wood, decided to backtrack, issuing a press release on Thursday and quickly moving to release an updated version of its app.
In the end, it’s telling that, despite the fact that this issue has probably affected Starbucks’s iOS app for years, there have been no reports of any information being stolen or otherwise leaked. And now that the update has been released, you can return to ordering your half-caf double-whip soy vanilla spice latte in peace.Jim DeMint thinks this ad shouldn't be allowed on the air:
Why?
DeMint calls the ad "both false and misleading" because it says that he doesn't have a health care plan, when he has in fact advanced one.
DeMint's "plan" is to give uninsured Americans vouchers of $2,000 per year (or $5,000 per family) to buy health care insurance. How would he pay for this? By requiring all TARP loans be repayed within five years, and using the repayments to pay for the vouchers.
Problem is, once the TARP loans are repayed, DeMint has no plan to pay for the vouchers. So not only would his plan be woefully inadequate and do nothing to control costs, it wouldn't even last more than a few years.
As the DNC said, that's "no plan at all."
"We don't concede at all that he does have a plan," said DNC communications director Brad Woodhouse, saying Demint's plan would "do nothing to address the questions of access and cost. That's not really a plan in our view."
Amazingly, the cable operators sided with DeMint and refused to air the ad, leaving the DNC with no choice other than to slightly change the ad's wording so that it would comply with the demands of cable company censors. (Imagine what Sarah Palin would be saying about the First Amendment at this point.)
According to the DNC, the revised ad still makes the same essential point: that Jim DeMint is putting politics ahead of doing anything meaningful on health care.
In the end, not only did Jim DeMint help draw attention to the DNC's ad, but he also let us know something that we might not have otherwise figured out: he's a thin-skinned bully who thinks the best way of dealing with political criticism is to have it taken off the air.
Jim DeMint is the one who waded into the conversation with his "Waterloo" insanity. Now that it's backfiring on him, he can't take the heat.Statistics – sometimes they can be the source of a collective, "Huh?" but if you look hard enough, a narrative often emerges. In the case of our list of the most overvalued and undervalued housing markets, that narrative is jobs, or the lack thereof.
Connecticut, which has two metro areas among our five most undervalued markets, is on the negative side of the jobs equation; Texas, where employment has been booming, boasts the two most overvalued.
"The overarching story here is a macroeconomic shift in employment and in industry and what jobs people want and where they can find them," said analyst Marc Gilbert with Fitch Ratings U.S. RMBS group.
Texas has been at the forefront of that shift, gaining manufacturing and tech jobs as companies have sought lower-cost places to do business. Texas' growth engine may have lost one cylinder as the energy boom has gone bust, but the Austin and San Antonio metro areas are still adding jobs and population.
Since home prices bottomed out in Austin (July 2011) and in San Antonio (Jan. 2012), their economies have expanded strongly, with gross metro product rising 18% in Austin and 9% in San Antonio through the end of 2014. But home price appreciation appears to have overshot that growth, rising 41% in Austin from the price trough through the end of 2015 (current median price: $278,000) and 21% in San Antonio (median price: $190,400). Homes in both metro areas are currently overvalued by 19%, by Fitch's estimation, making them the most overvalued markets in the country.
Fitch compiled a list for FORBES of the five most overvalued and undervalued housing markets in the country based on its first-quarter 2016 Sustainable Home Price model, which compares home prices in the 50 largest metropolitan statistical areas against those MSAs' economic fundamentals, including unemployment, income, population and mortgage rates. When home price growth outpaces the rest of the local economy, housing is deemed overvalued. If home prices come in lower than the local economy can sustain, housing is considered undervalued.
The most undervalued metro areas are largely places that have struggled with a loss of industry, leaving fewer employment options for residents. Case in point: Connecticut, where General Electric announced in January it was pulling up stakes after four decades and moving its headquarters to Boston following a battle with the Connecticut General Assembly over business tax increases. As Forbes contributor Patrick Gleason wrote earlier this year, "It is obvious a state’s business tax climate is in bad shape when it chases away a major employer to a neighboring state whose longtime nickname has been Taxachusetts."
Employment in Connecticut is expanding, but the state still hasn't gained back all the jobs it lost in the Great Recession. Job growth from 2011 to 2016 in New Haven (5.59%) and Hartford (4.26%) has slightly outpaced the state overall (4.05%), but with millennials holding off on home purchases, baby boomers out-migrating to cheaper areas of the county, and a job market not strong enough to make up the difference, demand is not high enough to boost prices to where they should be. The New Haven metro area's housing is 23% undervalued -- according to Fitch, tops in the country -- with a current NAR median sales price of $207,600. Hartford is in third place at 21% undervalued with a current NAR median sales price of $211,400.
In the tech boom town of San Francisco, where homes are 14% overvalued, fifth-most on our list, blame for the increasingly unaffordable rents and skyrocketing home prices have often been laid at the feet of low inventory. While Gilbert said the Bay Area's home prices, up 7.9% year over year to a median home price of $770,300, are a function of supply and demand, he added, "You cannot isolate income from it. If you look at the income numbers, the income growth over the past three years – that is what's driving a lot of the demand."
On the other hand, the city of Detroit has so much inventory, an improvement in the fundamentals is a long way off, with the number of jobs in the metro area down 3% as of the end of 2015 since 2008. "It takes a long time to build houses and when the market contracts they don't go away, which is what you see in the Detroit story. When you have a decrease in demand, the supply will hold constant or will hold steady for the long run unless you do what they're doing and raze houses." According to The Detroit News, since May 2014, the city has demolished more than 7,500 blighted properties as part of a plan to get rid of 40,000. Detroit ranks second on our undervalued list, with home prices that are 23% below fair value.
Phoenix and Las Vegas, our No. 3 and No. 4 most-overvalued housing markets, are in the midst of growth spurts. The Phoenix median home price is $223,100, up 8.2% from the first quarter of 2015, and Las Vegas is up 8.1% to $222,500. Phoenix, said Gilbert, can chalk up its rising population to "real non-cyclical industry," unlike the leisure and hospitality business growth in Las Vegas, but, in both cases, the root of their overvaluation is that demand is currently outpacing housing supply. The important takeaway here, said Grant Bailey, managing director at Fitch Ratings U.S. RMBS group, is that robust economic growth started the demand and momentum in these markets, as well as the other top-five "overvalued" markets on the list. "A lot of the price increase is reasonable and explainable. It just looks like the momentum that started with real drivers has just overshot a little bit," he said.
Full List: The Most Undervalued And Overvalued Housing Markets
If you haven't noticed by now, the undervalued and overvalued markets have fairly distinct geographical breakdowns – overvalued in the West and Southwest and undervalued in the Northeast. Job growth is one common thread, but the other is a throwback to the housing crash and how different states handle foreclosures. Bailey said the West and Southwest were able to clear out the backlog of distressed properties rather quickly and saw the last of its boom-bust fatalities a few years ago. However, in the Northeast, foreclosures, even renter evictions, are a lengthy court process, and this is affecting the supply side of many Northeastern markets.
So the big takeaway from this latest market data? "I think the underlying factors are, once again, the good jobs and where those companies are going to set up shop," Gilbert said. "People will follow that."Authorities have busted a major ring of criminals who stole more than 50 million litres of crude oil from a major oil base in the Indian state of Rajasthan over a six-year period. Several arrests were made on Friday, 21 July in connection with the theft.
Drivers were authorised to fill tankers with water, a byproduct in oil exploration at the Cairn India oilfield. They were supposed to dump the water elsewhere. Instead, they used to fill the tankers with crude oil extracted from India's largest onshore facility. Media reports say the oil stolen from the field, operated by the subsidiary of British mining giant Vedanta Resources, could be worth up to $7.75m. The field produces about 175,000 barrels of oil per day.
At least 25 people have been detained by the police and more arrests are likely to follow as the law enforcement agencies continue their crackdown on the sophisticated network. Police are on the hunt for as many as 75 people including high-profile figures, local dealers and drivers.
Of the 44 tankers authorised to transport water from the field, 39 were used to smuggle crude oil by the accused. As many as 33 tankers have been seized by the authorities, and they are on the lookout for more.
The smugglers stockpiled the oil and then sold it to contractors engaged in road construction and for making diesel.
"The company suspected something fishy was happening and complained to us, and during investigations we found this was an organised ring," police officer Gangandeep Singla told the AFP news agency.
Massive oil tankers with a capacity of up to 40,000 litres are usually used to transport fluids like oil, water, and milk across India. Between 15,000 and 20,000 litres of crude oil is estimated to be illegally transported on a daily basis.It was the biggest day of his life. After dating for years, Jon Halapio tied the knot with his long-time girlfriend Sierra. Family and friends joined the two for their special day and Halapio ensures me that I was invited to the nuptials; my invitation was just lost in the mail.
After a busy but quick weekend, that included everything from getting a tuxedo, a bachelor party, rehearsals and the wedding itself, Sierra joined Jon in California for two weeks before he left for the NFL Combine.
What was the ceremony like?
“It was cool. The wedding was cool it was just a lot happening as soon as I landed. Friday night I landed, and then pretty much went straight to get my suit and then we went to rehearsal and rehearsal dinner and we had my bachelor party that night. The next day we got married and the day after that we flew back to Cali and Sierra stayed out here for two weeks. It was a really, really short weekend because we were so busy the whole time.”
Which teammates did you have there?
“Just two. It was Jonotthan Harrison and Kyle Koehne. My cousin was my best man and my best friend was in the wedding as well.”
What was the reception like?
“It was a lot of people, there was a lot of people. During the ceremony, I was looking around the church and I didn’t feel like there was a lot of people but as soon as we got back to her house, her backyard is pretty big; there were a lot of people there. We just had a lot of fun. That was probably the best weekend of my life, from the bachelor party to the wedding night and being together.”
What is your best memory from the whole weekend?
“Just walking in as we were getting introduced at the reception. Our favorite song, “Let’s Get it On” by Marvin Gaye was on in the background, everybody was cheering and stuff. That was pretty cool. Her mom and her sister did a great job of planning everything.”
Did anything crazy happen at the reception?
My cousin actually did a Tongan dance for everybody. Just to show her side of the family my culture. Other than that we were pretty much just hanging out, there was a lot of food and it was the first time that a lot of our extended family had the chance to meet. That was good, they meshed pretty well. I was surprised that a lot of my friends from Gainesville came down. It all turned out really good.”
Back to California, Back to the Grind
You had a quick turnaround from wedding day to getting back into training, how was that?
“When I left, I left early Friday morning, I had it in the back of my mind that no matter what I do this weekend I still have to come back and get back to where I was before the weekend.”
“So even though I was drinking and partying and stuff I watched what I ate and how much I drank. It wasn’t that hard to get back into everything, honestly. I just knew and kept telling myself that the combine was two weeks away ad that I didn’t want to do anything to ruin that. I still had fun with I guess you could say the limited amount of alcohol that I had.”
Your agent sent you and Sierra to Disney how did that go?
“It was really fun. I’ve only been to Disney World once, back in Orlando. But it was in high school; my sophomore year and I don’t remember it too much. We didn’t ride any of the rides, obviously because Sierra’s pregnant. So we just walked around, watched the shows and bought souvenirs and stuff. “
How did your search for Mickey go?
“We went to Disneyland, it was cool, and it was a lot of fun. The whole entire time I was there I was trying to take a picture with Mickey but we only saw him twice.”Why is the simmering batch of election fraud accusations against the Conservatives 2015 campaign team not making more of an impact in the mainstream media? It’s a good question and conspiracy theorists everywhere have already come up with their default answer. It’s a plot.
With an eye-catching fresh allegation around on Wednesday – it’s untested but has caught my attention – all this may be about to change. No, I don’t mean the coroner’s suicide verdict on the young Tory activist Elliott Johnson, though that would be a wholesome development too.
Part of my theory as to why coverage has been low-key is that when one media outlet is making much of the running – Channel 4 News and Mike Crick this time, plus the Mirror – other mainstream media are reluctant to take up a rival’s campaign or seek to rubbish it. We’ve seen that at the Guardian over issues such as phone hacking and Edward Snowden’s revelations about data mining surveillance. It’s common enough, as journalists know. At least the Tory election story has been picked up by the system, as Private Eye’s paedophile stories were not in the 90s.
There’s another obvious explanation this spring. There’s been a lot of news about and even sophisticated and well-funded newspapers, radio and TV companies (they’re all under the financial cosh) can only handle one or two big stories at a time. Tax fraud, terrorist attacks, immigration and people smuggling, the rise of Trump, and of course Britain’s own Brexit debate, it’s been pretty lively.
Here’s C4’s latest update from its website. Here’s a very fair Guardian summary of the story so far and why media treat it warily: fear of libel. Plus a recent update.
As you can see (and may already have known), the allegations – now being investigated by dozens of overstretched police forces – centre around that boring but important discipline, accountancy. The Tories are fighting it.
Should those battlebuses full of eager party “volunteers” sent to key marginal seats the Tories needed to win for that slender 5 May majority have been charged (their hotel bills too) to the constituency’s election expenses tally rather than to the national campaign, as they were in 2015?
That’s pretty serious.Investigations could lead to prosecutions and possibly byelections. The Tories could lose their majority. What a turn-up in a turbulent world.
Tory HQ insists that the volunteers’ expenses were part of the wider national campaign so all is well, though David Cameron is – too late – starting to send out uneasy vibes, see his Robert Peston interview on ITV. I stress that the police, who have been given extra time by the Electoral Commission, are only at the investigation stage with no charges laid, let alone proved.
Wednesday’s instalment, billed as an exclusive by the Canary news website, opens up what looks like a significant new front, by claiming that people acting for the party also broke election law in regard to the private polling they are allowed to do during campaigns within strict limits about how they do them.
What’s at issue here is known as “push polling,” the US Republican-pioneered technique whereby you seek to influence the result of a poll by the way you frame the question. “Do you favour Britain leaving the EU to become a proud, sovereign state again instead of a puny province of Europe run by crooks and toadies?” would be one example of the genre.
I emphasise that I can’t vouch for what Canary’s whistleblower is saying here – he’s said to be a man who worked on the highly targeted polling and says it breached guidelines – but it looks a solid piece of work, worthy of examination and explanation.
Whether or not the cost of the disputed work was all declared on the party’s overall election expenses is a further sub-plot which just may be above a young whistleblower’s pay grade. But what his bosses told him to say probably isn’t.
Ex-Tory Ukipper Mark Reckless, now a Welsh assembly member, made similar claims after he was defeated in Rochester last May. The Canary investigation has dug into assorted expense claims and activities in several such seats crucial to Cameron’s success.
It’s worth noting in passing that polling firms linked to Jim Messina, the American political consultant who worked for Obama but was hired by Cameron, are in the frame here. That too may or may not prove significant. His former colleague, the more idealistic David Axelrod, who did a bit of work for Ed Miliband, calls Messina a hired gun.
On the radio silence dimension, the New Statesman set out a reasonable explanation here as to why this has not been bigger news. It has been reported and the Daily Mail is periodically on the case in its savage way. It doesn’t like Lord Feldman, Dave’s Oxford and tennis pal who is also party chairman. Nor does the Mirror.
I would add two modest further points of explanation. One is that political parties nowadays are run from the centre as permanent campaigns, poll-driven and slick. Most of those in charge are young and relative newcomers, not the old sweats of legend in all parties who knew the rules inside out, what you could get away with or not.
So Cameron’s crew may be calculating rascals. They may also prove to be more hapless innocents. We’ll find out, though no sensible police force will rush to overturn an election result. Playing politics has already cost the Police Federation, the coppers’ union, much grief.
There’s another possible explanation. Jeremy Corbyn is famously not keen to play the man rather than the ball. This is admirable and evident at PMQs where Flashman Dave plays both at once when he kicks Labour’s man in the balls.
Russia Today (RT) is understandably keen on the story, retaliation for the unkind things we say about the Putin way of winning. So if Corbyn doesn’t make a fuss and leaves it to the SNP, Mike Crick and Russia Today, who will take up the charge?
Ed Miliband perhaps, it was his election defeat after all so it should be personal. It might even provide a welcome respite from Brexit madness.At Mobile World Congress 2014, Samsung didn't just double-down on its investment in wrist wearables, it tripled-down, with the unveiling of the Gear 2, Gear 2 Neo and Gear Fit.
Of the three products, the Gear Fit is the most interesting — not just in terms of its design — but in terms of its positioning and functionality. With the right marketing and the right set of features, the Gear Fit could be the type of of mass-market wearable Samsung needs to wash away the taste of the Galaxy Gear.
State of the Gear Family
Samsung dropped the "Galaxy" moniker from its wearable line — ostensibly because it wants to keep "Galaxy" focused on tablets and smartphones. The name change isn't the only strategic shift.
Even though the Galaxy Gear was unveiled only about six months ago, it has already been replaced with a better-designed Gear 2 and Gear 2 Neo. Mashable Editor-at-Large Lance Ulanoff argued Gear 2 is everything the original Gear should have been, and I totally agree with his assessment. Genuinely, its hard to look at the original Galaxy Gear and see it as anything other than a stopgap that was released with the hopes of capturing some holiday wearable dollars.
The difference with the Gear family in 2014 — aside from a better design and more refined components — is that there are now multiple products available.
The Gear 2 is being positioned as the high-end smartwatch. It's the flagship. The Gear 2 Neo is a cheaper smartwatch for the everyman. The Gear Fit has a lot of smartwatch-like functionality built-in, but it's clear Samsung is using it to target the burgeoning fitness band market.
Interestingly, it's the fitness market — a place Samsung hasn't been actively focused in the past — that may provide the best path to mainstream success.
Can the Smartwatch and Fitness Band Converge?
The market for fitness trackers and health bands — let's just call them smart bands — is growing. Fast. Canalys reportes that 1.6 million smart bands shipped in the second half of 2013, up 700% from the first half of the year.
Canalys predicts 8 million smart bands might ship in 2014 and that by 2017, the shipments might be as high as 45 million units. Right now, the dominant players in the field include Fitbit, Jawbone and Nike — but there's plenty of room for newcomers, especially with a recognizable name like Samsung.
Smartwatches might be mainstream in the future, but smart bands are encroaching on mainstream now. Most of my friends don't have a smartwatch, but I'd say nearly 75% have a Fitbit or a Nike Fuelband.
The Gear Fit isn't Samsung's first crack at this space. During the Galaxy S4 launch last year, Samsung showed off an S Band) fitness tracker. I don't think the S Band was ever actually released (and if it was, it was in very limited quantities), but the press images and samples we saw looked a lot like the original Fitbit.
And while the S Band was basically a pure fitness tracker, the Gear Fit is much more of a smartwatch/smart band hybrid.
The Gear Fit has all the typical fitness-tracker accoutrements: It can monitor exercise and sleep, it has a built-in pedometer and heart-rate monitor, and it has a stopwatch and a timer.
The real plus, however, is that it can also talk to your phone.The Gear Fit can display calls, e-mails, app alerts and get push notifications. It can also act as a media controller.
With notifications and alerts, the Gear Fit is edging into smartwatch territory.
Right now it's not clear how Samsung will open up the Gear Fit to outside developers. Unlike the Gear 2 and Gear Neo — which use the Samsung-backed Tizen mobile platform — the Gear Fit runs a proprietary Samsung embedded OS. That said, even without broad third-party support, support for app notifications might be enough for some users.
I have long expected the smart band and smartwatch markets to converge. We treat the two as separate categories, but there is no reason that your smartwatch shouldn't be able to track your steps or that your smart band shouldn't be able to let you change the station on Pandora.
We'll have to use the actual product to be sure, the Gear Fit looks like the first real hybrid device — and that's a good thing.
The Smartwatch Pause Button
Much of the hesitancy with smartwatches, at least with individuals I talk to, revolves around two issues: use case and looks.
Having the fitness-tracking abilities gives a solid use case to wary users. This is one of the reasons the Pebble/Runkeeper partnership made so much sense, and why Pebble remains focused on working with fitness app developers.
After starting with tracking a run or a step count, a user might just find that she enjoys getting app notifications, seeing call alerts and having the ability to control her headphones.
Hands On With the Samsung Gear Fit
The second issue, the one of design, is an area where smart bands are far more advanced than the smartwatch. The smartwatch is still trying to decide how it looks and what it does. Trying to compensate for the size of the screen, the shape of the face, the design of the band, all comes with compromises.
I really like the smartwatch space, but if I'm being honest, none of the major players are particularly beautiful. I really like the design of the Pebble Steel, but it's still much more suited for a man.
The Nike Fuelband SE on the other hand — or the Jawbone UP24 —are attractive and inconspicuous. The whole recall notwithstanding, the Fitbit Force is a very attractive accessory.
The Gear Fit isn't perfect, but it's a very good first attempt at this space.
A Design That Makes Sense
The Gear Fit has a curved Super AMOLED display, which Samsung says is the first for a device like this. The immediate benefits are that it is both bright and vivid — and the touch sensitivity in my tests was spot-on. Having touch support helps the Gear Fit stand apart from some other fitness trackers that rely on buttons.
The band itself was comfortable — and available in a variety of colors. I might quibble with the radius of the screen's curve — it's still a bit big for my wrist — but for someone who isn't built like a tiny child, it will look great.
Even better, I found the way the interface was designed to make tons of sense. Tech Editor Pete Pachal and I discussed the orientation of the icons on the device. Pete thinks it might serve better to be vertically stacked, rather than horizontal.
I disagree. Orientation is a difficult thing to manage on these types of devices, because you will literally read the text and information from the side, regardless of what wrist you use — but I think the left-to-right motif that matches what Nike does with the Fuelband works quiet well.
I also think that this orientation works well for activities such as controlling media.
The curved Super AMOLED screen really does make a ton of sense. I'll also pass on another suggestion from Pete Pachal — one I agree with this time — Samsung should look at using flexible displays in the band. that way, the curve could be more contoured to a bigger or smaller wrist.
I don't really get the point of a flexible phone. A flexible screen on a smart band or smartwatch, however, is a great idea.
Iterate, Iterate, Iterate
One of the things I admire most about Samsung as a company is that it isn't afraid to try, fail |
we thought, that doesn’t mean families need less child care — they just aren’t paying for it. That might mean they’re relying more on free “informal care” arrangements — leaving children with relatives, for example. The SIPP data only includes families who pay some amount for child care, so we can’t get a good estimate from the survey of families who may be relying on grandma.
Alternatively, it could be that “the expansion of the child care benefit system is actually doing its job,” Herbst said. Perhaps fewer families pay out of pocket for child care, thanks to the expansion of government-funded child care assistance — like Head Start and state pre-kindergarten programs — which provides families (especially low-income ones) with a place to have their children looked after. As Herbst writes in his paper: “It appears that greater utilization of school-based services … could be an important explanation for the declining share of families paying for child care.”
“That is the optimistic interpretation,” Herbst said. The pessimistic one: “For a non-trivial subset of low-income families who aren’t using Head Start or pre-K, they are purchasing child care of increasingly low quality.”From the familiar purple decor to the signage encouraging guests to re-use their towels, if you stepped into the immaculate bedroom at Derwen College, you’d be forgiven for thinking you were actually in one of the thousands of Premier Inn hotels up and down the UK. In fact it is a fully functioning replica bedroom that has been cleaned and prepared by learning disabled students.
Although not used by guests, the room’s purpose is to allow students to prepare for real work placements at one of six hotels in the area. The specialist residential college in Oswestry, Shropshire, which each year takes 273 learning disabled students of all different needs from across the UK, hopes that a student will soon be employed by one of the national chains it works with, after graduating from the college and going back to their home towns.
The college’s first Premier Inn success story could be Claire Brunt, 24, from Worcester, who is famous on campus for setting the room to precise and perfect standards. Brunt has Down’s Syndrome and has been training one day a week at a Premier Inn nearby for the last two years.
‘We are not scroungers or superheroes’ | Saba Salman Read more
Now back home in Worcester, she is preparing to move out of her parents’ home and into a supported living flat. She has just started a summer placement at a local Premier Inn and hopes to land a job when it finishes. Her parents can’t get over her confidence. Helping their daughter to become more independent when she reached adulthood was important to them. She gained a place, and local authority funding, to go to Derwen aged 19 and completed the initial educational programme three years later. She chose to stay for a further two years on its live and work programme, designed to build vocational skills.
Brunt laughs when asked about her perfect bed-making. “I do it all by myself. I have to work hard,” she says. “I really enjoyed my first day [on a previous work placement] and wasn’t nervous.” She says she wants to continue working for the company because it’s just great.
There are, of course, challenges. Rooms at the hotel have to be set to an exact standard in a very short timeframe – just 27 minutes. In order to help students reach the standard, tutors from the college, along with the college housekeeper, were trained by Premier Inn staff so they could pass the skills on. The hotel chain now hosts 11 students on placements across six hotels, working not just in housekeeping but also on reception and in the hotel restaurants. Tutors and hotel staff stay in close contact to monitor the progress of the students.
Simon Birch, work placement and transitions manager of Derwen college says: “We want to build independent skills and improve their employability to ensure there is an outcome at the end of it all. Ideally, the outcome would be paid employment – that’s what we’re always pushing for – but for some students the best result may be voluntary work [for a charity].”
But is the college being ambitious enough? Birch admits that not all students will want to find work in hotels or supermarkets and on campus they can learn everything from beekeeping to filmmaking. The demand for arts and media work placements is high, for example, but Birch and his team struggle to find suitable placements in these sectors.
‘They come in so shy but soon become part of the team. It also helps develop staff as leaders’ Tracey Bishop, Premier Inn general manager
It is not just the students who say that they benefit from the partnerships. Tracey Bishop, cluster general manager for Chester and Wrexham Premier Inn agrees: “I was so inspired when I first went to Derwen. I couldn’t stop thinking about it. We had been approached by one of the team and were invited to visit. We were all blown away by the passion and commitment of the college staff. We all came away determined to help.”
Setting up the replica room last summer was a turning point that has enabled 11 students to be trained to Premier Inn standards (a further 14 will be trained in the next academic year). Says Bishop: “It has helped enormously with their confidence and helped increase their speed in an environment that they are comfortable with. We know the college wants more students to come to us. They are thinking big.”
“It’s not just about the job for the students, it’s about the interaction they have with the other members of staff. They come in so shy but soon become part of the team, attending staff meetings and celebrating birthdays. It also helps with the development of my staff as leaders in the business.”
The scheme is just one of several initiatives pioneered by Derwen, which was founded in 1927, and featured on Tuesday in a BBC3 documentary, Life Begins Now. The Premier Inn training has won praise from disability campaigners for showing that learning disabled people can learn skills and work alongside non-disabled people.
Kaliya Franklin, who co-founded People First England, an advocacy organisation for people with learning disabilities, thinks this is just the start. “Only 7% of people with learning disabilities have had paid work. There’s a lack of both ambition and opportunity for people with learning disabilities when it comes to paid work and the government making people with learning disabilities poorer will only increase their barriers to work, not help them find employment.”
Peter Beresford, professor of social policy at Brunel University, and co-chair of Shaping Our Lives, a service user-led organisation and network, says: “If we were living in an ideal world, it would be great if companies like John Lewis and Waitrose had careers for everybody but the real world has a very discriminatory job market. What Derwen is doing is a really positive building block for people with learning disabilities.”It might seem like every other person in Colorado is hiking a fourteener on any given summer Saturday. While it might not actually be that crowded, the state’s highest peaks do count about 260,000 summit-scrambling trips every year.
All those feet headed to the 54 highest points in Colorado each year deliver $70.5 million in economic impact, with some hikers spending twice as much daily as a business traveler to Denver, according to the first study of the role fourteeners play in the state’s economy.
The most highly trafficked peaks closest to the Front Range deliver some of the biggest bumps, according to the hiking impact report compiled by the nonprofit Colorado Fourteeners Initiative, which works to protect and maintain trails reaching up the state’s highest mountains.
“I think now we have a much more compelling case to take to local governments and trailhead communities that benefit from all these fourteener hikers,” said Lloyd Athearn, the executive director of the 22-year-old Colorado Fourteeners Initiative. “There is a lot of money to be gained from people on these peaks, and just recognizing that helps us build these trails so we can continue to have these peaks as a great resource for people to come out and experience nature and find themselves and test themselves.”
The Colorado Fourteeners Initiative set up 10 compact infrared trail counters on the trails accessing seven of the state’s busiest peaks in 2015, up from five in 2014. This year the group added 10 new trail counters on trails accessing 10 peaks. A fourteener checklist compiled by more than 14,000 hikers on the wildly popular 14ers.com website helped calculate hiking trips on every other peak.
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July 20, 2016 Colorado breaks tourism record with 77.7 million visitors spending $19.1 billion The results show a large portion of those annual trips are split among a handful of Front Range peaks — Mount Bierstadt, Grays Peak and Torreys Peak — that each saw from 20,000 to 25,000 hiking days last year. Mount Democrat and Quandary Peak near Breckenridge each hosted from 15,000 to 20,000 user days. The most trafficked high point in Colorado also is the state’s highest point: Mount Elbert. The study shows the 14,439-foot peak above Leadville hosted more than 25,000 mountain hiking days in 2015.
That doesn’t surprise Laura Downing, who owns the Mount Elbert Lodge and Cabins in Twin Lakes. For 22 years, Downing has seen a steadily increasing flow of hikers on Mount Elbert on the north end of the Sawatch Range, the 15-fourteener strip of the Continental Divide that hosted about 95,000 hiking days last year, the most of any region in the state.
“We have people coming to climb it year round,” Downing said. “The fact that it is the highest peak in Colorado is a huge draw, and the fact that is attainable by an average Joe from Kansas City because it’s not that difficult to climb makes it very approachable.”
Downing also isn’t surprised that hikers spend close to $275 for every trip up a fourteener. That’s more than double the daily spending of a business traveler to Denver and close to the daily spending by the highly treasured out-of-state tourists coming to Colorado to ski.
“If you are going to hike a fourteener, you typically want to start early and oftentimes that means you want a place to stay the night before,” Downing said. “You are starting early, so you want to stay close to the trailhead.”
Chaffee County, the three-town home of 12 of the fourteeners in the Sawatch Range, harvested $82.4 million in spending from overnight visitors in 2015, according to research commissioned by the Colorado Tourism Office. That’s up from $44.9 million in 2000.
Not surprisingly, the study showed hikes are most popular on weekends from June to August, especially on the fourteeners closest to Denver.
“It was eye-opening to me to see how many people climb the Front Range peaks on Saturdays,” Athearn said. “You can still, on so many of these high-traffic peaks, go up midweek and have a much more solitude-like experience. I guess I was surprised more people weren’t taking off during the week to beat the crowds.” Related Articles September 19, 2015 Mountain biking on Colorado’s 14ers
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The study, which should be twice as rich next year when the data from 20 trail counters are compiled, is part of a growing trove of research compiled by the Colorado Fourteeners Initiative. Last year the group released its first-ever “Fourteener Report Card,” a three-year inventory of trails accessing 39 fourteeners. That report card showed the state’s fourteeners in failing health, with trails in dire need of at least $24 million in repairs and reconstruction.
With the usage numbers, Athearn and his team can really nerd out on trail data. Already they are seeing that trail conditions are not necessarily tied to increased traffic. For example, a well-built trail can handle thousands of additional hikers, whereas a user-created trail trampled in by decades of climbers can quickly deteriorate with only a small increase in traffic.
“Now we can see how trails change based on the positive work we are doing and we can see how use correlates with impact,” said Athearn, noting that the more precise numbers make it easier to solicit donations to support trail construction and maintenance. “Now we can say, if you give us money, we can do this and this on a particular route that needs work and sees this much annual traffic.”
For the state, the latest research not only buttresses support for trail building but reveals mountain hiking as a viable draw for visitors worthy of promotion and investment.
“These reports help me not only with raising awareness but identifying ‘sector crossover,’ meaning fourteeners were never looked at a significant tourism driver, but with numbers like this, it’s pretty clear,” said Luis Benitez, the head of the Colorado Outdoor Recreation Industry Office.El Salvador today is not a good place to be a woman. In 1998, the government passed a new Penal Code creating a complete ban on abortion. No exceptions. And now with the pregnancy police combing hospitals, even women with miscarriages are going to jail.
El Salvador today is not a good place to be a woman. In 1998, the government passed a new Penal Code creating a complete ban on abortion. No exceptions. This was a shift from an earlier law which allowed abortions in cases of threats to the health or life of the woman, as well as for rape, incest, or severe fetal abnormality. Passage of the ban made El Salvador one of only five countries in Latin America–including Nicaragua, Honduras, Dominican Republic, and Chile–that maintain an absolute ban abortion.
And now women’s groups are fighting it. Today, the Center for Reproductive Rights joined with local Salvadoran organization Colectiva de Mujeres para el Desarrollo Local to file a petition with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights protesting the current law and based on the case of a woman who died in prison after being jailed for a miscarriage.
Reading the words of the ban underscores just how draconian it is. Chapter II of El Salvador’s reformed Penal Code, dealing with “Crimes Against the Life of Human Beings in the First Stages of Development,” penalizes women who induce their own abortions; give their consent to someone else to induce an abortion; doctors, pharmacists or other health care workers who practice abortions; persons who encourage a woman to have an abortion or provide the financial means to obtain an abortion; and persons who unintentionally cause an abortion. According to an October 2010 shadow report to the United Nations Human Rights Committee, Report on Violations of Women’s Human Rights Due to the Complete Criminalization of Abortion:
El Salvador’s restrictive abortion laws were further solidified in 1999 with a constitutional amendment defining a human being “from the moment of conception. Get the facts, direct to your inbox. Subscribe to our daily or weekly digest. SUBSCRIBE
For good measure, and to make sure these laws were strictly enforced against apparently dangerous women trying desperately to control their lives, the country established a policing apparatus to prosecute, investigate and denounce any suspicious activities in public hospitals and other places in the country.
El Salvador’s ultra-conservative Catholic Church hierarchy played a leading role in passing the new law banning abortion under any circumstance. A human rights analysis conducted in the years after the new penal code was put in place underscores how the shift in the Church’s leadership and philosophy, from the seventies when it focused on social justice and organizing peasants to the nineties, when things changed dramatically, contributed heavily to passage of the ban. According to the analysis, the Roman Catholic Church and right-wing Catholic groups in countries like El Salvador… “exert direct influence on regulatory changes that limit the exercise of women’s rights, counter to international agreements.”
The Catholic Church’s role as a protector of social justice and human rights, and its impact on social issues changed… with the appointment of the new Archbishop of San Salvador. He is a member of the right-wing Opus Dei and has the support of the ruling class as well as close ties with right-wing nongovernmental organizations. This change has influenced the stance of both the Church and the government with regard to social issues that affect women in particular.
In 1997, the Church and right-wing Catholic groups joined with others in a full-on campaign against abortion, mobilizing students from Catholic schools, campaigning through the media and using other means of pushing for the passage of the new penal code and the complete ban until it was passed.
Since its passage, according to CRR, “the ban has resulted in tragic and often fatal consequences” for the women living in the country, resulting in “the arbitrary imprisonment of women suffering from miscarriages and complications in their pregnancies.”
Such was the case of “Manuela” (a pseudonym). According to CRR, Manuela was a 33-year-old Salvadoran mother of two who was convicted of murder and sentenced to 30 years in prison after suffering an apparent miscarriage and severe complications giving birth. No trial, no appeal. Thirty years.
From the moment Manuela arrived at the hospital seeking emergency health care, slipping in and out of consciousness and hemorrhaging, doctors treated her as if she had attempted an abortion and immediately called the police. She was shackled to her hospital bed and accused of murder. Manuela was sentenced to 30 years in prison without ever having a chance to meet with her lawyer, without an opportunity to speak in her own defense, and without the right to appeal the decision. Shockingly, the judge overseeing her case said that “her maternal instinct should have prevailed” and “she should have protected her child.” After several months in prison, it was discovered that the visible tumors Manuela had on her neck for which she sought medical care several times without being accurately diagnosed, was advanced Hodgkin’s lymphoma — a disease that likely lead to the severe obstetric emergency she suffered.
“Tragically,” continues CRR, “Manuela did not receive the appropriate treatment for her disease and died in prison in 2010, leaving behind her two young children.”
Her illness could have been caught earlier if she had received adequate medical attention when she consulted about her tumors in years prior, and if medical officials treating her during her emergency paid any attention to her condition, rather than focusing on reporting her to authorities.
This case exhibits all the most draconian aspects of already-draconian anti-choice laws, many of which are in now in force in various parts of the United States. Profound and fundamental mistrust of women. Abusive laws that remove from women any choice in whether, when, with whom, and under what life or health circumstances to have a child or another child. Policing of maternity wards. The criminalization and arrest of women who have had miscarriages. Disregard for the right to life of living, breathing women.
“El Salvador’s laws have turned emergency rooms into crime scenes,” said Nancy Northup, president and CEO of CRR, “forcing pregnant women to live under a dark cloud of suspicion. The international community must come together to demand an end to this cruel treatment of women and make a commitment to safeguard fundamental reproductive rights.” Like Manuela, many women in El Salvador who miscarry or experience emergency obstetric complications are charged with aggravated murder, for which they can be imprisoned for up to 50 years, and subsequently spend decades behind bars.
Is this just? Is this what is meant by “right to life?”
The legal campaign by CRR and Colectiva de Mujeres marks the first time an international judicial body will hear the case of a woman imprisoned for seeking medical care due to obstetric emergencies, as a result of a total abortion ban. The case argues that El Salvador’s absolute ban on abortion violates a number of human rights, including the right to life, right to personal integrity and liberty, right to humane treatment, and the right to a fair trial and judicial protection.
“Salvadoran women have been unjustly persecuted by their government for far too long,” said Mónica Arango, CRR’s regional director for Latin America and the Caribbean. “We are bringing Manuela’s case before an international human rights body so women won’t suffer the same tragic fate, and El Salvador can finally be held accountable.”
“Liberalizing restrictive abortion laws, like El Salvador’s, is essential to saving the lives and protecting the health of millions of women across the globe every year,” said Northup. “Study after study has shown there are no positive outcomes to banning abortion outright.”
A recent study by the World Health Organization and the Guttmacher Institute underscores what has been shown before: Restrictive abortion laws are not associated with lower rates of abortion. According to the study, the 2008 abortion rate in Latin America—a region where abortion is highly restricted in almost all countries—was 32 per 1,000 women of childbearing age, while in Western Europe, where abortion is generally permitted on broad grounds, the rate is just 12 per 1,000.
Apart from the very real, though largely invisible tragedies of women like Manuela imprisoned for miscarriage or those who may have been arrested for thwarting a law that assigns absolutely no value to their lives, there is another critical issue here as well.
The proliferation of abortion bans and other such laws at the state level in the United States, the efforts to eliminate access to contraception for a large share of women in this country, the heavy involvement of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops in laws and policies governing women’s rights, the increasing degree of degrading speech about women used by politicians together underscores just how much closer we are every day to a theocratic/right wing state like El Salvador. How far will we let things slide before the lives and health of ourselves and our daughters mean nothing? And how long will we stand by while the “religious right” abuses women, whether they live here or in El Salvador?Just discovered, Comet Heinze (C/2017 T) will zoom by Earth in January and may just show up in your binoculars.
Ah, 2017. A year busy with binocular-bright comets has been on the quiet side lately. But the recent discovery of Comet Heinze (C/2017 T1) by the University of Hawaiʻi's Ari Heinze gives comet watchers hope for a bright and fuzzy start to the new year.
Heinze searches for near-Earth asteroids with the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) project, and came across the comet in images taken on October 2nd. The survey uses two telescopes, one at Mauna Loa Observatory on Hawaiʻi Island, and a second on the summit of Haleakala on Maui, about 100 miles to the northwest. Among other benefits, two widely-spaced "eyes" allow for distance determination using parallax, which also helps in calculating a new object's orbit.
When first spotted on October 2nd, Comet Heinze was an 18th-magnitude crumb in Hydra with a 7″-wide coma and 10″-long tail pointing southwest. A preliminary orbit seemed to indicate that the object was an Aten-type, near-Earth asteroid spouting dust, an unprecedented discovery! To find out the truth, Heinze manually examined another set of images taken on September 28th that the computer had missed because of light from a nearby star. With the additional positions, he nailed down a better orbit and confirmed the object as a comet.
Perihelion occurs next February 21st at a distance of 87 million km, but prior to that, on January 4th, the comet will pass just 33 million km from Earth. Despite its intrinsic faintness, it's predicted to peak at magnitude 8.8 (JPL Horizons and Seichi Yoshida), putting it within range of small scopes and 50-mm or larger binoculars.
Heinze's proximity to the planet and steep orbital inclination of 97° makes the comet a well-placed, fast-moving object for northern hemisphere skywatchers prior to perihelion. Post-perihelion, Heinze makes a mad dash south, when it becomes accessible to southern hemisphere viewers only. Coming and going, we'll all get a shot at seeing this comet.
During November and early December, Heinze is a morning object, slowly moving north through the head of Hydra. Come mid-December, it crosses into Cancer and cracks the 12th-magnitude barrier, then picks up speed and rapidly brightens, vaulting from Cancer to Cassiopeia by January 6th. When closest, the comet will be traveling about 7° a day, or ~17′ per hour, fast enough to see movement in real time. During the first half of January, it will be circumpolar from mid-northern latitudes and visible all night.
On another note, the series of Moon-Aldebaran occultations that began in 2015 will soon be wrapping up, at least for U.S. observers. Two remain in 2017: The first occurs during early evening hours on November 5th (Sunday night) for the eastern 2/3 of North America; and the last on December 30th, again during evening hours for the eastern United States. The next series won't begin until 2033,16 years from now!
We're entering a particularly dry period for bright star occultations. After the final Aldebaran occultation on September 3, 2018 (visible in Greenland and the Arctic), no first-magnitude star will be occulted by the Moon for most U.S. locations until August 25, 2023, until Antares steps into those shoes. Catch 'em while you can!The Challenge has ended, though there are a few less finished maps than expected.
You may access and vote on maps here: Here
If you think you may enter but are unsure, I urge you to do it anyways. Some people might not think they can finish in time, but they can still try.
You may get noticed for even a partial map.
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After a long wait, us crazy people (and the few remaining sane ones) over at QMC are running another event.
Your goal is to create a Complete map, which is visually appealing and Fun To Play in 30 days.
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You need a sound layout that encourages interesting a fun game-play,
good weapon and spawn placement to complement the layout,
proper lighting and texturing and adequate map details, to keep people interested.
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We are allowing solo entries and teams of two.
For those who wish to enter, create a post Here,
following the layout stated in the Application Template thread.
Please read the Rules and Regulations before entering.
There is additional information in the same page as well.
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There will be two weeks to sign up, and then the challenge will
officially start on April 16th and run for 30 days.First things first: No, Björk is not coming back. But Day for Night will return to Post HTX, the 1.5 million square foot repurposed downtown post office, for an expanded three-day festival December 15-17 that continues to defy traditional labels. It's not a "music festival," although, for the 2017 edition, everyone from Nine Inch Nails to Tyler, The Creator to St Vincent to Solange to Thom Yorke to James Blake will descend upon Houston. It's not an "arts festival," but there will be loads of site-specific art from folks like Ekene Ijeoma, Kyle McDonald and Ryoji Ikeda. The three-year-old festival—a partnership of Free Press Houston and New York-based creative agency Work-Order—is just itself, a welcome sensory overload prepared to inject the festival-fallow winter season with some much needed heat.
For 2017, the Day for Night folks decided to tack on an auxiliary event billed as a "summit," collecting a hodgepodge of artists and activists for a Friday speaking series. Naturally, it's wall-to-wall heavy hitters: LGBTQ activist Chelsea Manning; avant garde artist and musician Laurie Anderson; Putin-hating musician and activist Nadya Tolokonnikova (Pussy Riot); and tech artist Lauren McCarthy. Special performances by angelic souls such as Solange and Earl Sweatshirt will cap off the Friday summit. The speaker portion is a separate ticketed event, but the lineup makes it just as impressive as the "regular" festival; after all, as the press release puts it, "At the Day for Night Summit, we will all be participants in shaping our collective future," which is definitely something you want to be part of.
The release also described the expanded 2017 festival as the "beginning" of a longterm plan to explode Day for Night to become a multi-venue, five-day event. Considering the sprawling, impressive lineup listed below, we're curious to see how they'll manage to one-up themselves in years to come. Tickets are available here, with 2-day passes starting at $205.
Musical Acts
Nine Inch Nails, Thom Yorke, Justice, St. Vincent, Tyler, The Creator, James Blake, Pretty Lights, Jamie XX, Phantogram, Pussy Riot, The Jesus Lizard, Laurie Anderson, REZZ, Nina Kraviz, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Cashmere Cat, Cardi B, Perfume Genius, Sky Ferreira, Gas, En Vogue, Lil B, Of Montreal performing Hissing Fauna You Are The Destroyer, Venetian Snares X Daniel Lanois, Princess Nokia, Kimbra, Mount Kimbie, Corbin, Shlohmo, The Album Leaf, G Jones, Forest Swords, Babyfather, Dj Tennis, Tim Hecker, Shabazz Palaces, Andy Stott, Jessy Lanza, Jlin, Priests, Bjarki, Roni Size, Demdike Stare, Saro, Rabit x House of Kenzo, B L A C K I E, Marcus Marr, Hoodcelebrityy, Faten Kanaan, True American, Pearl Crush, Deep Cuts, Tyler Barber, N N O A, Santa Muerte, Kona Fm, Anitra, Narcons, Acid Jeep, XLX, Miguel Flaco, Collin Hedrick, Saul Williams, BOOTS, Jenny Hval, and Saint Heron Presents: “Soul Cleansing” Featuring Solange, Earl Sweatshirt, and Kaytranada
Visual Artists
Ryoji Ikeda, Matthew Schreiber, Conditional Studio + Processing Foundation, James Clar, Felicie D'Estienne D'Orves, Kyle McDonald, Ryoichi Kurokawa, Radio Soulwax, VT Pro, The Mill, Hovver, Playmodes, Theodore Fivel, Ekene Ijeoma, Cocolab, Sam Cannon, Vincent Moon and Priscilla Telmon, and Lina Dib
Summit Speakers
Chelsea Manning, Laurie Anderson, Nadya Tolokonnikova (Pussy Riot), Lauren McCarthyI watched the video with some trepidation. Stonewall (the campaigning gay and lesbian equality organisation) had just sent me the YouTube link. This was to a short film of the dinner that Stonewall’s founders attended last year to celebrate the quarter-century anniversary of our existence; and most of us had been there. Now we were but wrinkled reminders of the young revolutionaries we had once been.
So this could have been a rather mellow occasion. We had started the organisation as a defiant response to what came to be known as ‘Section 28’: a small measure that was part of a sprawling local government bill and intended to stop the ‘promotion’ of homosexuality in schools and by local authorities. In trying to mobilise opposition to the measure we’d been encouraged by the sense of purpose we’d found — and by a good deal of public sympathy and support. So we had determined not to let the momentum be lost.
That was 25 years ago and it’s fair to say our cause had succeeded beyond our wildest early hopes. An anniversary dinner could have been the occasion for celebration, reflection, some mutual backslapping and a little dash of discreet self-regard. That’s what anniversary dinners are for; and that’s the impression conveyed skilfully by the video: cordial, uplifting and faintly worthy.
But, oh my goodness, that isn’t the dinner I recall. The whole thing bristled with submerged hostilities. I won’t bore you with them, they’re too tedious for words, they don’t matter, and anyway I played some part in stirring them. Suffice it to say that when I accused a colleague I actually like and admire of gassing on for too long, there was a small explosion. We both calmed down and climbed down but the incident (beautifully excised from the video) was indicative of other tensions — not all of which I understood at the time — beneath the surface. Some of us were reeling by the time we left; and life is too short to analyse why.
But not too short for a wider question. What is it about voluntarism, what is it about organisations composed of public-spirited people giving of their own time and money for some purpose larger and nobler than themselves, that breeds the poisonous atmosphere that so often chokes their deliberations? Why do volunteers become so nasty to each other?
I’ve spend what seems a lifetime negotiating these perilous waters. Voluntary Conservative politics has been my nursery, and a more sulphurous, spitting, clawing, feuding and backbiting introduction to the spirit of voluntarism you couldn’t hope to find. Except you could. I’m told Labour activism is even worse. Liberal Democrats do little but gossip maliciously about each other. And Ukip’s local organisations are said to be at all times no more than one gunshot away from a civil war.
Nor is the problem peculiar to politics. Ask any charitable group. ‘Internecine’ doesn’t do justice to the undercurrents of resentment. It’s commonplace, come the annual general meeting, for nobody to want their name to go forward when nominations for (say) hon. secretary are sought, for somebody finally to be persuaded to concede that, well, OK, if nobody else will do it, he or she will — and then for members to spend the rest of the year complaining about the way this volunteer does the job. The levels of resentment against other persons, and the levels of righteous fury in disputes about policy and purpose, are phenomenal. Thus people working for a wage in a bomb factory are likely to be far less aggressive than people working for nothing in a disarmament charity.
Why? Here are three possible candidates for an explanation. The first is that cantankerous and self-righteous individuals are disproportionately attracted to voluntary societies. According to this theory, people actually join in order to find themselves an arena in which to be disputatious. We can all think of friends who qualify for this description, but I cannot believe it’s the only explanation. We can equally all think of friends who are sweetness and light in every sphere of their lives except volunteering — when something dreadful seems to come over them, and a committee room becomes a snake-pit just when calm is needed.
The second theory, not unrelated, is one of which C. Northcote Parkinson would have approved, and is an example of the old saw about disputes between academics: vicious because the stakes are so small. To vary Parkinson’s Law, spite expands to fill the time available. Many who join voluntary organisations have time on their hands and nothing else to do. The Devil then makes work to fill the lacunae: they squabble and intrigue about nothing as a kind of recreation, but one with the added advantage of being (so they tell themselves) public-spirited. There’s plainly some truth in this theory but, again, it cannot explain the vitriol that can infuse a voluntary body even when its work is urgent and demanding, everyone’s very busy, and cooperation is critical to its success.
It’s to my third possible explanation that I particularly draw your attention because I think it has been overlooked: that when we are ‘giving up our own free time’ for no advantage to ourselves, we become very difficult to command. The disciplines of a management structure, concepts of professionalism, the unifying simplicity of the pursuit of profit, all lose their purchase when we are not being paid to work. We are working for our beliefs — our beliefs, not somebody else’s. Thus we are released from the usual rules of the workplace.
Samuel Johnson never spoke truer than when he said that a man is never more innocently employed than in the pursuit of money. The pursuit of principle is an infinitely more corrupting thing.Karen Danczuk has vowed to “take complete control” of the life of her scandal-hit former husband, the MP Simon Danczuk.
Mr Danczuk has been suspended suspended from the Labour party while an investigation takes place into his conduct, after it was revealed he had sent sexually explicit texts to a 17-year-old.
He is also facing a police investigation after a rape allegation was made against him. The Rochdale MP described the claims as “malicious, untrue and extremely upsetting”.
Appearing on ITV’s Loose Women, Mrs Danczuk vowed to stand by him despite their marriage collapsing last year.
"I am so behind him,” she told the panel, including new host model Katie Price. “I won't let him fail. I've told him 'Listen, this is what we're going to do'.
"Literally, I'm going to take complete control over his life. I have to."
Photo: Tim Stewart News
Asked about recent revelations, Mrs Danczuk, who is known as the ‘selfie queen’ said: "I think he'll always have a thing for younger women, to be honest with you."
But she added: "There's a massive difference between liking younger women and children, with all due respect.
"You can't say that just because I'm even 16 years younger than him that he can't say that he likes younger women. I like older men. What am I? Am I someone trying to cop off with an OAP? It's not fair to even have that link there."
Photo: Mercury Press
Mr Danczuk has apologised and blamed a drink problem for the messages he sent to Sophena Houlihan when she was 17.
She went on: "I will always have feelings for him because he is the father of our boys.
"I can't just leave him. I was there before he was an MP... I was there when he was working 20 hours in some days just so he could become elected.
"He needs help and I'm going to help him. I couldn't look my two boys in the eye and just say 'I'm leaving your dad out to hang'."Lessons learning Haskell
Purity
Clean Syntax for Static Types
boo :: Map Integer String -> String -> Integer
Container Operations
What's Changed
It's often claimed that learning Haskell will make you a better programmer in other languages. I |
and perhaps build up for an even greater load. She’s expected to compete in three more events: the 4×200-metre freestyle relay on Wednesday, Thursday’s 100-metre freestyle, and the 4×100-metre medley relay on Saturday.
“My expectation coming into the Olympics was to hopefully make one final,” said the 6-foot-1 speedster known as ‘The Child’ by her teammates. “I was kind of gunning for a medal in 2020. But to get two here means so much to me.”
And if she can win another one, or two, or three — all the better.
I feel like I’m slouching all the time when I’m wearing them, which sucks
“I’m just for the rest of the week setting my sights on finals,” she said. “I’ll see if I can make a final and get a lane. That’s what I’m really happy with. If I’m in a final, I have a chance for whatever’s going to come up. But I’m not super nervous.”
While she’s not super nervous, she admits that she could be in a state of shock, with the last 72 hours feeling like a bizarre dream.
The medals don’t seem real. The number at the top of her Twitter page also seems unreal, with her followers doubling to more than 5,500 from 2,500 between Sunday morning and Monday night.
“I don’t really keep count, but it’s gone up quite a lot,” Oleksiak said. “It’s a little overwhelming. Sometimes the apps will crash and stuff. But I mean it’s pretty fun, too.”
Once she finally put her phone down in the wee hours of Monday morning, Oleksiak gingerly placed her medals on the bedside table and closed her eyes.
“I couldn’t fall asleep,” she said. “I had to hold them while I was sleeping, which is kind of lame.”
Come September, Oleksiak plans to resume “normal life” back home in Toronto where she likes to eat a lot of junk food — mainly pizza — and hang out at Tim Horton’s with her smart-phone toting friends.
As for the rest of the Olympics, the pressure is non-existent for an athlete who already has exceeded all expectations, including her own.
“I’m for sure happy with two medals,” she said. “If I don’t get another one, I can’t complain at all just because I already have two of them. But If I get another one, that will be pretty amazing.”MILWAUKEE — The Milwaukee Police Department’s Financial Crimes Unit, working with the Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Office, secured felony embezzlement charges against two officials from the Tripoli Shrine Center.
47-year-old Michael Geiger of Colgate and 71-year-old Reider Hoff of Brookfield each face one charge of theft/embezzlement (Value Exceeding $10,000).
According to the criminal complaint, Geiger, the Center’s former director, “conducted numerous unauthorized bank transactions for his personal gain.” The complaint indicates he stole more than $200,000 during a two-year period between 2009-2010. The money that was embezzled was intended to go to the Shriner’s Hospital for Children.
Hoff, the Center’s former treasurer and a Certified Public Accountant, is charged with covering up the theft. Approximately $70,000 in cash and checks were found in the desk Hoff used at the Tripoli Shrine Center. Through withdrawals and unauthorized checks payable to himself, it’s estimated that Hoff stole more than $24,000.
If convicted, Geiger and Hoff both face up to ten years in prison and $25,000 in fines.2016 is a year we will remember for quite some time and damn was it a good one for hip-hop and R&B. While we lost some of the greats including Prince, David Bowie and Phife Dog, we also received some truly incredible bodies of work from amazing artists, both new and old.
Hip-hop continued to evolve and be stronger then ever, showing there are so many sides to the ever-expanding genre. With artists like Anderson Paak coming out of nowhere and becoming one of our favorites to watch, to hip-hop legacy act A Tribe Called Quest losing a member while creating their first new album in over 15 years, there's so much to take in.
Travis Scott and Young Thug fully utilized auto-tune and managed to truly craft it as their instrument of choice. Mac Miller and Childish Gambino decided to jump on the soul train and release albums that took a great detour from what we expected. Gambino didn't even have a single rap verse…
We've decided to rank the top 20 best hip-hop / R&B albums of 2016 from 1 to 20. While the decisions were difficult to make, you'll read why we thought each one deserved it's spot as we factored in the entire team's opinions over here. Hopefully you have something to say in either applause or uproar, or even excitement about discovering your new favorite artists. Either way, share what you think below at the very bottom in the comment section. Enjoy!
1. Anderson.Paak – Malibu
Wow. What a year for Anderson.Paak. After stealing the show with the most features on Dr. Dre's Compton album last year, the 30-year-old Oxnard, CA native capitalized on the spotlight by dropping our favorite hip-hop / R&B album of 2016. Malibu is an incredible 16-track project that blends hip-hop with soul, funk and R&B in a way we haven't heard before. The album has been on repeat for us all year. The LP's production isn't your typical hip-hop instrumentals, however. It is entirely filled with live instrumentation inspired by soul and funk while maintaining hip-hop percussion. The raw, uplifting instrumentals allow.Paak to fully harness his hybrid sound, mixing numerous musical styles into one cohesive sound. His passionate, buttery-smooth vocals carry emotion you can feel in every song as he effortlessly transitions from singing to rapping without ever skipping a beat.
Once.Paak started to gain attention from Malibu, there was no slowing down. He became the go-to act to get a feature from. His TV performances were next level and accelerated his rise. He established himself as an all-around incredible performer who could sing, rap and play drums, all while carrying a fun-loving charisma that could win anyone over. He went from one of the best kept secrets to becoming everyone's new favorite artist. If you haven't listened to Malibu yet, do yourself a favor and check it out. It's grabbed our well-deserved #1 spot for best hip-hop / R&B album of the year. Hopefully you like it as much as we do.
Standout tracks: "Come Down", "The Season | Carry Me" and "The Waters"
2. Chance The Rapper – Coloring Book
This installment of Chance The Rapper's mixtape series did not disappoint. Coloring Book came as a long-awaited follow-up to his breakout Acid Rap mixtape and delivered an evolved, gospel-inspired sound. Chance selflessly put his next mixtape on the back burner to work with his good friend & longtime collaborator, Donnie Trumpet, on his critically-acclaimed album, Surf. On this project, we begin to hear a new sound from the rapper. Over the course of the three years between his official projects, Chance matured as both a person and artist. Coloring Book came after Chance became a father. You can hear how his lyrics reflect this new chapter in his life as the content becomes deeper and more uplifting than his past releases. Coloring Book finds a new sound from Chance as well. He successfully takes a different direction incorporating gospel influences into his songs for a hybrid hip-hop sound building on his already great discography.
Coloring Book skyrocketed Chance The Rapper's career. The incredible, not to mention free, project was so impactful that it lead to the Grammys organization changing their age-old qualifications to allow free releases to be considered for an award. Chance raised the bar with his latest release and changed the entire industry's perception on independent artists. Coloring Book proves you can be an independent artist who releases free music, tours the world and sells out your own music festival while grabbing seven Grammy nominations.
Standout tracks: “No Problem” “Summer Friends” and “All Night”
3. A Tribe Called Quest – We got it from Here… Thank You 4 Your service
Hip-hop legends A Tribe Called Quest lost their beloved member Phife Dawg this past spring. To celebrate his life, his fellow ATCQ members gave him the ultimate tribute by dropping We got it from Here… Thank you 4 Your service as their first album in 18 years. As someone who grew up on Tribe’s music, I was pleasantly surprised by the finished product. The star-studded album included contributions from Phife, as well as guest appearances by Andre 3000, Kanye West, Elton John, Kendrick Lamar, Anderson.Paak, Jack White, Talib Kweli, longtime collaborator Busta Rhymes and more. They built on their signature jazzy, boom-bap instrumentation with a modern adaptation, making their latest album just what we wanted to hear from A Tribe Called Quest in 2016.
Standout tracks: "We The People" "The Space Program" and "Solid Wall of Sound"
4. Frank Ocean – Blonde
Frank Ocean’s follow-up to channel ORANGE was one of the most hyped albums in recent history. The surprise release was teased for several years and came with a new musical direction. Not only was Blonde a bizarre album rollout, the music itself was much more experimental for Ocean. For the first time, we heard him play with vocal pitching and new sounds. He even rapped a bit. Once again, Ocean placed emphasis on his songwriting as his dense lyrics take multiple listens to fully digest. Each song is different from the next and feels incredibly unique. Not only did he sound amazing throughout the project, but each guest really stepped it up. Even Andre 3000 made an appearance on the interlude-type track, "Solo", in which he rapped in double time for two minutes.
Standout tracks: “Nikes” “Nights” “Self Control” and “White Ferrari”
5. Mac Miller – The Divine Feminine
Mac Miller took a big step as an artist on his latest album, The Divine Feminine. His maturation is evident as the 24-year-old’s latest release is an uplifting LP focused on love. Mac became sober this year and said he’s much happier now than he’s been in years. You can tell it through his music, too. The production places importance on live instrumentation as we hear a combination of jazzy layers focused on live horns, guitars and keys, as well as hazy electronic elements. Mac sings quite a bit on the album and it sounds great. All in all, he delivered an incredibly chill product about love that makes for a smooth listen from start to finish with standout features from Anderson.Paak, Kendrick Lamar and Ty Dolla $ign, among others.
Standout tracks: “Dang”, “We” and “Stay”
6. Travis Scott – Birds In The Trap Sing McKnight
Travis Scott’s Birds In The Trap Sing McKnight showed an incredible amount of artistic growth for the Houston rapper and producer. While we knew he could make hits, we were still skeptical of his abilities as an album artist. Birds changed that. The rapper showed a keen ability to craft a cohesive project without a skippable song. He further progresses his talents of setting a mood as he expertly captures a nighttime aesthetic throughout. Travis uses auto-tune like a shape-shifting instrument, carrying the album’s infectious melodies that we find stuck in our head for days at a time. The production is top-notch and has made Birds my go-to whenever someone passes the aux cord. Andre 3000, Kid Cudi, Kendrick Lamar, The Weeknd, and Bryson Tiller are among the featured artists on the 17-track output.
Standout tracks: “Coordinate”, “Through The Late Night” “Goosebumps” “Pick Up The Phone”
Kendrick Lamar is the type of artist who records 70+ songs and then narrows it down to 16 for an album. This kind of work ethic is what resulted in his latest album, untitled, unmastered. The recording sessions for his GRAMMY-winning album To Pimp A Butterfly spawned a collection of raw tracks that didn’t make the cut, but were still great songs. Instead of pushing his To Pimp A Butterfly singles at his TV performances, he debuted a few of these previously unreleased songs with no intention of releasing them on a project. Thankfully he decided to gift us with eight of these gems. That’s what we hear on untitled unmastered. He essentially dropped an LP of throwaway tracks (in his eyes) that he didn’t even name or finish mixing, and it was still one of the best hip-hop albums of the year.
Standout tracks: “untitled 02”, “untitled 07” and “untitled 03”
8. Gallant – Ology
Gallant quickly bursted on the scene with with his otherworldly voice, capturing not only our attention, but earned him a major co-sign from Elton John. The genre-blending project brings a modern approach to soul and R&B. The poetic songwriting on Ology put’s his emotional, crooning vocals at the forefront of the project. Gallant has one of the most stunning voices I’ve ever heard and puts his incredibly raw talent on full display throughout Ology.
Standout tracks: “Weight In Gold” “Talking To Myself” and “Bourbon”
NxWorries' debut album has made the duo one of our favorite new hip-hop groups. It's no surprise that Anderson.Paak makes his way into our top hip-hop albums post once again. This time, it’s for the Yes Lawd! collaborative LP alongside powerhouse producer Knxwledge that's under their NxWorries joint venture. Knxwledge’s impressive production credits include works with Kendrick Lamar and Joey Bada$$ among others. He’s proved to be a natural fit alongside.Paak with his silky smooth foundations. You can tell both artists had a lot of fun with this release as some tracks showcase hilarious, random samples while others such as "Lyk Dis" were some of the most exciting hip-hop tracks of the year. At 19 tracks and 48 minutes in length, Yes Lawd! has a raw feel to it that makes the listening experience similar to a mixtape. The genre-blending project is filled with fun surprises and takes inspiration from.Paak’s idols in soul music. The LP fittingly dropped on Stones Throw Records and delivers skillful sample-based production that would make J Dilla proud.
Standout tracks: “Scared Money” “Lyk Dis” and “Suede”
10. Young Thug – Jeffery
Aside from being one of the most interesting personalities in rap, Young Thug released some of the most eccentric hip-hop projects of the year. He actually had two releases this year that we considered for this list, but decided to only include Jeffrey due to its ability to stand the test of time. Depending on the day, I could say either Slime Season 3 or Jeffrey is better as both projects are incredible in their own way and explore different sounds from Thugger.
Leading up to Jeffrey’s release, Young Thug explained he would be tapping a new sound on the project to make it more accessible, which led to the project having the most crossover-friendly music. "I never had a street mentality," he said before Jeffery dropped. "I always had a Michael Jackson mentality. I really am Jeffery." This was apparent as he mostly ditched the hard-hitting hip-hop tracks for a hybrid sound centered on his uncanny melodic tendencies. Jeffery fully displayed Thug’s flamboyant, unconventional sound that keeps listeners on their toes for each song. His elastic vocals hop along the beat while he shifts his flow and rhythmic patterns in a way that only Young Thug can make work.
Standout tracks: “Wyclef Jean” “Floyd Mayweather” “Harambe” and "RiRi"
11. ScHoolboy Q – Blank Face
ScHoolboy Q’s second major label release, Blank Face, brought a more refined sound and persona from the TDE rapper while bringing on several strong guest appearances. He previously bounced back and forth between party rap and more aggressive, dark rap, but took on an ominous “Groovy Tony” alter-ego with Blank Face. Q’s hilarious personality is present on the project while the on-point production ranges from abrasive and hard-hitting to bouncy and funky. The body of work grabs features from Kanye West, Kendrick Lamar, Anderson.Paak, SZA, Miguel, Vince Staples, Jadakiss and more.
Standout tracks: “THat Part” “Groovy Tony / Eddie Kane” and “By Any Means”
12. Kanye West – The Life of Pablo
Kanye West took the album rollout process to another level on The Life of Pablo. He teased the project for months, changing its name several times and going as far to call it the best album of all time. TLOP has a raw, chaotic and unpolished feel to it, but still manages to capture a singular, cohesive sound throughout its 19 tracks. Kanye has a way of making sure he's always relevant. The album only builds on this as recorded some all-time ridiculous moments, including his line about making Taylor Swift famous which put the media in a frenzy. The LP is littered with features from Kendrick Lamar, Frank Ocean, Chance The Rapper, The Weeknd, Rihanna, Kid Cudi, Young Thug, Desiigner and many more. Kanye called it a “living breathing changing creative expression” and went on to make additions to the LP. In typical Kanye fashion, he quietly updated songs over a month after its release without making an announcement.
Standout tracks: “Ultralight Beam” “No More Parties In LA” and “Fade”
13. 6LACK – Free 6LACK
Atlanta-based artist 6LACK is one of our favorite newcomers of 2016. The 24-year-old recently escaped a bad label deal that had lasted five years, and dropped the fittingly-titled Free 6LACK to celebrate. The 11 track debut doesn't bring any features as 6LACK flexes his impressive singing and songwriting talents. This hybrid sound of hip-hop / R&B has been a growing trend while 6LACK finds a way to stand out by delivering his music in an artistic, meaningful manor. The vibe is a nod to early music from The Weeknd as he finds a similar dark and moody sound. His catchy vocal melodies and memorable lyrics compliment his uniquely coarse voice that carries hip-hop leaning R&B vocals over the dark, somber trap productions. Free 6LACK was one of the best surprises of 2016 and is someone to keep on eye on down the road.
Standout tracks: “PRBLMS” “Ex Calling” and “Free”
14. Isaiah Rashad – The Sun’s Tirade
The addition of Top Dawg Entertainment’s Isaiah Rashad was the first time the prestigious label expanded beyond its core original members: Kendrick Lamar, ScHoolboy Q, Jay Rock, and Ab-Soul. He became a fan-favorite following his incredible Cilvia Demo mixtape a couple years ago and followed it up in a big way with his debut studio album, The Sun’s Tirade. For those unfamiliar, we have you covered with a catch up guide on the talented rapper.
During the time between these releases, Rashad developed and then kicked a drug and alcohol habit. This shows in his 17-track LP which shares the honest subject matter of self-reflection and maturation. He builds on his hazy, yet slick, signature sound across the versatile, melodic project with a warm, relaxed vibe to kick back to. Once again, Rashad and SZA show amazing chemistry on their duets. Moreover, we hear great contributions from TDE members Kendrick Lamar and Jay Rock.
Standout tracks: “Free Lunch” “Wats Wrong” and “Stuck In The Mud”
15. Logic – Bobby Tarantino
Logic is an artist we’ve been supporting for years and it’s been exciting to watch him grow. The longtime TSIS regular dropped his surprise mixtape Bobby Tarantino this past summer, marking his first mixtape since he made the leap to studio albums in 2014. Bobby Tarantino, produced by Logic and 6ix, was delivered as a gift to fans so they had something to tune into in between albums. His last mixtape was Welcome To Forever in 2013 which was actually presented by TSIS. Logic delivers his technical rapping abilities and fast flows over Bobby Tarantino's smooth instrumentals.
Standout tracks: “Flexicution” “Super Mario World” and “The Jam”
16. Domo Genesis – Genesis
After years of consistent quality releases, Odd Future affiliate Domo Genesis impressed us with his debut studio LP, Genesis. We didn't really know what to expect on the project and were pleasantly surprised by its soulful, funky nature. Domo was always the “stoner rapper” of Odd Future, but is able to maintain a level of seriousness in his raps while keeping things groovy and mellow. The project shows growth from Domo as he takes his laid-back vibe to a new level with bouncy, soulful production paired with jazzy live instrumentation. Genesis has a similar vibe to Anderson.Paak and Mac Miller’s new albums so it makes sense he grabbed stellar features from both artists, in addition to Tyler, The Creator, Wiz Khalifa, Juicy J, King Chip and more.
Standout tracks: “One Below” “Dapper” and “Coming Back”
17. dvsn – Sept 5th
Toronto-based, OVO-affiliated duo dvsn (pronounced division) first appeared as a mysterious R&B act, but have since revealed themselves as the incredibly talented producer Nineteen85 and vocalist Daniel Daley. Their strong introductory album Sept 5th is sex-fueled R&B body of work that highlights Daley’s insane falsetto vocals and Nineteen85’s slick electronic R&B production (alongside fellow executive producer and Drake’s right hand man Noah “40” Shebib). Sept 5th progresses the contemporary trap-inspired R&B sound forward with 10 tracks, beautifully balancing the production and vocals.
Standout tracks: “Hallucinations” “With Me” and “Too Deep”
A$AP Mob’s first installment of their cozy tapes has their fearless leader A$AP Rocky on 7 of the 12 tracks with each featured artist stepping up to the plate. Cozy Tapes: Vol. 1 Friends' art pays tribute to the late A$AP Yams, their co-founder and creative director who tragically lost his life to a drug overdose. The feature-heavy project brings appearances from members of A$AP Mob including A$AP Ferg, A$AP Nast, A$AP Ant, and A$AP Twelvyy. Tyler, The Creator, Wiz Khalifa, BJ The Chicago Kid, Skepta, Lil Yachty and Madeintyo also bring their talents to the release.
Standout tracks: “Crazy Brazy”, “Telephone Calls” and “Bachelor”
19. Majid Jordan – Majid Jordan
Majid Jordan’s self-titled debut album Majid Jordan is an enjoyable listen from start to finish. The Toronto duo was first put on the map after appearing on Drake’s “Hold On We’re Going Home”. They ended up grabbing a feature from Drake himself on their album hit, “My Love”. The forward-thinking duo provides a modern take on 80's R&B and has established themselves as one of the more promising new acts. The OVO-released album finds groovy, dance-friendly production with catchy, crooning vocals.
Standout tracks: “My Love” “King City” and “Something about You”
20. Spark Master Tape – Silhouette Of A Sunkken City
Mysterious rapper Spark Master Tape is one of the most enigmatic personalities in hip-hop and continues to grow a cult-like following with his ambitious 22-track album, Silhouette Of A Sunkken City. Spark raps from the perspective of a fictional, comic book villain-type character who boasts a life of crime while using entirely pitched-down vocals. For those unfamiliar with his work, check out our catch up guide on him. After amassing a dedicated fanbase from his first two mixtapes, Spark seemingly disappeared without any explanation. Then he returned with this project that's filled with booming production, combining trap-leaning hip-hop and experimental electronic production. He interestingly constrasts dark aesthetic with uplifting samples and instrumentation. Spark’s distinct sound captures both menacing and soulful moods with each track sounding different than the last.
Standout tracks: “Livin Lavish”, “Tenkkeys” and “Run Em Dry”
Honorable Mentions:
Kid Cudi – Passion, Pain, And Demon Slayin’
Kid Cudi’s sixth studio album brought back the signature sound we know and love from him. The LP is a long, enjoyable journey with excellent production and amazing guest appearances from Andre 3000, Travis Scott, Willow and Pharrell. This is an album that will take some time to digest, but is definitely one you should check out.
Childish Gambino – Awaken, My Love
While Childish Gambino’s Awaken, My Love album isn’t necessarily a hip-hop / R&B album, we felt it wouldn’t be right to not mention it. His latest project is one of our favorites of the year. He went an entirely new direction channeling a 70’s funk / soul sound, and did not disappoint. While it’s a very different sound from his previous releases, we highly encourage everyone to give it a listen.
J Cole – 4 Your Eyez Only
J Cole blessed his fans with a surprise release just before the end of the year. His latest project delivers 10 new tracks as he once again showcases his talents without any features.
The Weeknd – Starboy
The Weeknd’s latest endeavor was an enjoyable addition to his discography and brought features from Kendrick Lamar, Lana Del Rey, Future and Daft Punk, the last of which makes two appearances on the project.
Run The Jewels – RTJ3
Run The Jewels dropped their album after we made this list but are very deserving. Their third project is great as they continue their amazingly consistent output of music.
Young Thug – Slime Season 3
Young Thug had an incredible year. Slime Season 3 is as good as Jeffrey and captures Thug’s street rap sound. SS3 is filled with bangers that truly showcase his bizarre delivery and unconventional sound.
Mick Jenkins – THC
Chicago rapper Mick Jenkins’ debut LP showcases his passion and talent over a collection of smooth beats from artists such as BADBADNOTGOOD and frequent collaborator Kaytranada.
Drake – Views
Drake's latest album Views didn't necessarily show artistic growth from the Toronto artist, but is still an enjoyable project we recommend listening to if you haven't yet.
Cool Company – Slice Of Paradise
We were sent Slice Of Paradise this year without hearing Cool Company’s music before and were pleasantly surprised. The silky smooth production seamlessly combines funk and soul influences with live instrumentation and a touch of electronic production.
Joey Purp – iiiDrops
Joey Purp is one of most exciting rising artists in the Chicago hip-hop scene. He developed his sound and grabbed great contributions from Chance The Rapper and Vic Mensa.
Post Malone – Stoney
After some delay, Post Malone’s debut album came on Dec. 9th. His music doesn’t have the deepest lyrical messages, but he does a good job of capturing a chill vibe on Stoney.
D.R.A.M. – Big Baby D.R.A.M.
28-year-old Virginia singer and rapper D.R.A.M. successfully put together a versatile debut album bursting with joy. The album is as bright and colorful as his larger-than-life personality.main | contact | curriculum | bookstore | library | newsletter |
Brent E. Turvey
June, 1995
Title :
" AN OBJECTIVE OVERVIEW OF AUTOEROTIC FATALITIES "
Turvey, B., "AN OBJECTIVE OVERVIEW OF AUTOEROTIC FATALITIES," Knowledge Solutions Library, June, 1995, Electronic Publication, URL: http://www.corpus-delicti.com/auto.html
Note: Brent E. Turvey, MS is a full partner of Knowledge Solutions, LLC.
He can be reached for comment or consultation by contacting:
Knowledge Solutions; 61535 S Hwy 97, #9-148; Bend, OR 97702
Phone 541-318-8293; Email: bturvey@corpus-delicti.com
There is an abundance of literature on the subject of autoerotic fatalities. Unfortunately, the largest portion of the early literature, circa. 1970, is terribly subjective and interpretive of morality (note: much of the early literature is still footnoted and built upon). However, some excellent work on the subject has been done since then. The purpose of this author's work is to give an objective overview of autoerotic fatalities with an emphasis on the myths, criteria, and issues faced by a Medical Examiner or Coroner.
DEFINITIONS/ APPLICATIONS
The following are the central terms defined according to Holmes[6]. It cannot be ignored that Holmes[6] demonstrates a schizophrenic attitude towards human sexuality in some of his definitions, to recall what was stated earlier about literature being interpretive of morality. For example, Autosexuality, the same thing as autoeroticism, is defined as "perversions performed on oneself, including masturbation,". It must be assumed that shared sexuality, by inference, would be defined by Holmes as perversions performed on others. Holmes, and others who engage in the autoerotic debate, often suffer from such failures to resolve conflicts between public and private views on sexuality. This tendency often brings poorly defined morality to the debate, and detracts from the purposes of the Forensic Sciences.
Regardless, the author capitulates to these particular definitions as objective.
Autoeroticism: Masturbation and other forms of self gratification.
Autoerotic fatality: Any death that occurs as a result of behavior that is performed as a form of self-gratification.
Example: "The victim, a twenty-six year old white male, died while suspended by leather wrist restraints from a hook in the ceiling. When found, he was wearing a commercially produced 'discipline Mask' and a had a bit in his mouth. A length of rope was attached to each end of the bit and ran over his shoulders, going through an eyelet at the back of a specially designed belt he was wearing. The pieces of rope ran to eyelet's on both sides of his body and were connected to wooden dowels that extended the length of his legs. The ropes were attached to two plastic water bottles, one on each ankle. The bottles were filled with water and each weighed 7 pounds. The victim's ankles had leather restraints about them. A clothespin was affixed to each of the victim's nipples. The victim's belt had a leather device that ran between his buttocks and was attached to the rear in front of his belt. This belt device included a dildo that was inserted in his anus and an aperture through which his penis protruded. His penis was encased in a piece of pantyhose and a toilet-paper cylinder. A small red ribbon was tied in a bow at the base of his penis."(Hazelwood, Burgess, & Dietz[5])
This case demonstrates a blatant, undeniable autoerotic fatality, that is complete with props. But not every case will look like it, or even be as overt. Each autoerotic fatality is as different or as similar in its engagement as the personality of the individual who orchestrates it. Every autoerotic death has its own personal script. That is due in part to the fact that masturbation is a deeply personal, sexual act. This is a critical notion that is often dismissed by even the most seasoned death investigators. Failure to accept this notion will assist in the pathologist's failure to recognize autoerotic fatalities when they are so confronted. Again, autoerotic behavior is a kind of masturbation, and masturbation is a personal and dynamic behavior.
Specific circumstantial elements that can help a forensic pathologist distinguish an autoerotic fatality will be discussed later on.
WHY?
The general appeal of autoerotic behavior is fairly straightforward; sexual gratification.
There are dangerous autoerotic behaviors that individuals find similarly appealing. Of these, perhaps the most prevalent is autoerotic asphyxia.
An important question surrounding autoerotic asphyxia, for those who are not familiar with the term, is why. Why is engagement in autoerotic asphyxia pleasurable? Where does the pleasure come from?
The pleasure can be generally understood as arriving from two distinct sources (distinct but not exclusive). The first source of pleasure is physical, and the second is psychological. Both are equally potent pleasure sources on their own. Put them together and the combination can easily provide the foundation for a dangerous habit.
The physical pleasure from autoerotic asphyxia comes with the reduction of oxygen to the brain, or Hypoxia, which just means partial oxygen deprivation (DiMaio & DiMaio[3]). This is simple euphoric asphyxia. Less oxygen to the brain equals a semi-hallucinogenic, lucid state. It is pleasurable enough on its own to be engaged in without bondage or genital manipulation. It can be performed while entirely clothed.
Dietz[2] gives us an example of a death by sexual asphyxia (classified as an autoerotic fatality), with all of the classic earmarks, yet little sexual obviousness at the scene:
"A 42 year-old Asian man was found hanging by the neck, suspended by a rope attached to the raised shovel of a John Deere Model JD410, diesel powered, backhoe tractor...The decedent was suspended in a semi-sitting position by a cloth safety harness strap wrapped around his neck and clipped to a rope that was hooked to the raised shovel of the backhoe tractor. A towel was between the loose fitting strap and the victim's neck. A long piece of plastic pipe was connected on one end by conduit tape to the hydraulic control lever of the shovel in the operator's compartment of the tractor. A broom stick was taped to the other end of the pipe and was partially under the decedent's buttocks. The hydraulic shovel could be easily raised or lowered by slight pressure applied to the broomstick. The decedent was fully clothed, and his genitals were not exposed. No pornographic materials, women's clothing items, or mirrors were at the scene...He had no known psychiatric illness."
Determination of autoerotic death was made from decedent history and circumstantial indicators. The victim kept a journal of love poetry dedicated to his tractor that he had named "Stone," outlining his desire for them to "soar high" together. The victim was unmarried and lived with his parents on their farm. He also had a reasonable expectation of privacy for an extended period, as he engaged in this behavior in the late evening down by the barn. Cause of death was determined to be accidental autoerotic asphyxiation with carbon monoxide intoxication as a contributor.
The psychological source of pleasure from autoerotic asphyxia is personal, and therefore difficult to generalize. The pleasure is best understood as residing in the fantasy. It is widely accepted that the fantasy is fueled by the masochistic/ cordophilic aspect of the behavior. The sexual pleasure associated with binding oneself up in a restrictive and/or complex fashion can have a twofold effect; 1) Self-restriction, and 2) Pain/ pleasure. The psychological pleasure derived from either of those fantasy behaviors is sufficient reason for many individuals to engage in that form of sexual activity. Bondage and masochism are widely practiced without the element of Hypoxia.
An individual involved in dangerous autoerotic behavior of any kind generally has a rich and intense fantasy life. The most accurate way to understand that form of fantasy and pleasure, on an individual basis, is to have the individual explain it to you themselves, in their own words, or to read about it in a journal of love poetry they wrote in honor of their backhoe tractor.
What can be seen and understood of the fantasy, by the pathologist, is the object. Every fantasy requires an object to fulfill it. In the above case it was the backhoe tractor. In other cases it may be complex ligature, pornographic paraphernalia, women's undergarments, or perhaps some other masochistic element. All of these objects assist the fantasy and accelerate sexual arousal. If the pathologist or death investigator can identify the object of the decedent's fantasy, the autoerotic behavior will begin to explain itself.
Additional explanations include masochistic sensations when approaching death and backing off at the last possible second. Prevailing over that brush with mortality is often perceived as empowering. On that note, many individuals who engage in autoerotic asphyxia may do so in concert with genital masturbation and insertion of objects into their body's orifices for further sexual stimulation, although not necessarily.
Combining all of these elements together, it becomes clearer as to why some extreme types of autoerotic behavior (including autoerotic asphyxia), although dangerous, are a behavior of choice for certain individuals. Individuals of all ages and social strata find behaviors akin to autoerotic asphyxia pleasurable. This is not disputed.
MYTHS
There are many common myths surrounding autoerotic fatalities. This is largely the product of social fear and social ignorance which girdles the issue. It is widely documented that parents or loved ones alter the scene of victims in such cases[5] in order to mislead investigators. They wish to avoid embarrassment. They wish to hide the truth of their loved ones demise and put it away where no one can see it. In addition, investigators and pathologists have their own problems with the issue. Some have problems because they consider the behavior perverse, others because they simply do not recognize it for what it is.
Autoerotic asphyxia is, as discussed earlier, a form of masturbation. Masturbation is one of the few cultural taboos that older society pretends to hold on to. There is also a great deal of cultural evidence to suggest that we are still very publicly ashamed of our sexuality. It is therefore no great wonder that bad and often judgmental information can lead the way to investigating or even discussing autoerotic fatalities.
In discussions on this topic with colleagues, the author has noted that several individuals labor under the impression that the deceased in these cases should be regarded as criminal. Holmes[6] lists Erotic Asphyxiation under the heading "Dangerous Sex Crimes", along with others including Lust Killers, Pyromaniacs, and Necromaniacs. That classification is |
ansen told the publication. "I looked at hundreds of pictures of live ostriches, dead ones, skinned ones to try and figure out what its body looked like. I had to then fit the skin around it and found that in some places I had too much foam and in others not enough. The skin then got a bit mildewy and I had to take it back to the taxidermist to treat it."
Jansen and Beltman were at it again in 2014, giving a schoolboy's dead rat the Orville treatment.
"When I learned he had cancer and the vet had to put him to sleep I was very upset," 13-year-old Pepeijn Bruins said of his pet "Ratjetoe." "I had seen Bart and Arjen and their flying cat, and I asked my dad if it would be possible to have the rat fly." Jansen was only too happy to oblige, transforming the deceased rodent into a remote-controlled flying machine.
Jansen had another project in 2014 that saw less media attention than the others, but was no less impressive. He calls it the "sharkjet," and it's exactly what it sounds like.
Jansen managed to get his hands on a juvenile white tip reef shark from a local aquarium that had died of a bacterial infection, and the enterprising Dutchman strapped wings and a jet engine to the animal before sending it soaring through the air.
Now Bart Jansen's at it again. When a friend offered him a dead badger, he immediately accepted, and soon settled on a use for it: a submarine. The project is called "Das Boot," a play on the famous German U-boat film "Das Boot," as well as the Dutch word for "badger" — "das."Hi there! I’m Erika, the social media coordinator at BioWare. I sat down with Jesse Houston yesterday to ask him some of the burning questions fans had about Mass Effect 3, the co-op addition, and the new features we are all excited to hear more about. Check out the full interview below:
Will decisions made in ME1 & ME2 affect Galactic Readiness level?
In the Galaxy at War system, the Galactic Readiness Level is affected by multiple things. The choices from ME1 and ME2 will have an effect of the overall Galaxy at War system, but not directly on the Galactic Readiness level.
Does Multiplayer affect the success of my Shepard in the main story?
Absolutely. Multiplayer will definitely have an effect on your SP experience through the Galaxy at War system, so as you play the MP and the Co-Op and the more successful you are, the more that will affect your Galactic Readiness level which will then affect your end game result.
How do SP and MP work together/complement each other?
They complement each other really well in that the Galaxy at War System takes the actions played in MP and pushes them to your SP achievements. The SP elements will dovetail really nicely into those and both those actions will allow your Shepard to have a different ending depending on those actions. That said, SP can still be played all by itself without any kind of multiplayer or third party and you can still get the absolute best ending. This just gives you new options to be able to get that ending.
Which classes/races can you play as? Can you be a geth?
We haven’t given the full list yet. But as an example, you can totally play as a Krogan, as a Drell, as an Asari. Beyond those, I can’t give away all of the details, but I can say there will be a lot of interesting races that you may not expect to be able to play as because they wouldn’t normally be looked upon as characters who are for the fight normally. That said we’ll be releasing more and more characters through DLC later.
How does leveling up work in MP?
As you complete objectives inside of the co-op experience you are going to be leveling up similar to how you would in an RPG. You gain experience points and those experience points go toward your level and you spend points exactly how you would as a SP and each character is its own so you could theoretically have 10 or 20 characters going, each leveling up independently.
Will player-kicking be supported to deal with any idiots you may team up with?
We will have systems in place to deal with “griefers.” The nice thing is that the overall design isn’t conducive to griefing so there isn’t much value in doing kicks. How and when you’ll be able to do the kicks is still being worked on so I don’t want to talk too much about it. But just know that we are putting systems in place that will let you deal with people that you don’t want to be playing with.
Will Kinect still work in MP, and will using a headset to talk with teammates cause any interference?
The overall and general design of Kinect is such that it is about squad command and interacting with the world. Contextually speaking that doesn’t work as well with MP because those squad commands are your friends so we’d want you to yell at them and not your TV. So with that in mind, Kinect will not work in MP and therefore will not cause any interference.
If it’s a separate story campaign, are our multiplayer characters playing their part in dialogue scenes or is it more of an environmental storytelling?
While it is separate to the main story they will never be involved in the actual campaign of the main story. It’s more like a side mission to the SP. We don’t want to create situations where MP players have something that SP players couldn’t otherwise see.
Will there be dialogues, and how will they be handled?
All dialogue is done ambiantly, for instance the commander will be giving you orders through your headsets.
Will there be any form of in-game communication system (ie quickchat) with team mates?
All the main communication systems that we are putting in will allow you to speak to your team mates through the normal communication systems like your headsets.
Exactly who will we be fighting for? Citadel Defense Forces, Mercenary Groups?
At a high level, Shepard is marshaling the troops on behalf of the Earth Alliance so you are technically fighting for the Earth Alliance. From a story perspective, a lot of these groups have come together as a loose fighting force to stop the reapers therefore they don’t fly the same type of banners that would have existed in pre- reaper invasion days.
Will there be a match-making service, or a generic waiting room in which players can assemble and then form teams? Or will they have to plan out the teams in advance?
Given the general theme of us giving you the choice, we like you to plan your teams out in advance or if you prefer you can go in a quicker custom match and it will find people who are of similar skill levels to you.
Will there be leader boards?
Yes!
Will there be squad banter?
Yes!
Can friendly fire from powers/weapons be an option?
When we ship, we don’t believe it will be in there as an option but possibly at a later release. In the context of co-op we didn’t believe it added a lot to the co-op experience. You have a lot of pressure to succeed in the co-op and accidentally shooting your friends didn’t seem like a good experience. Maybe later as some sort of modifier to the game, but not at release.
Will we be able to further customize the armor and/or weapons on MP characters through in game challenges that award points or credits?
Why yes you will! We have slightly different armor and weapon customization system in MP. It still feels along the same vein, but in many ways there are more customization options for the MP armor side and it’s very similar on the weapon side. They are structured differently so stats don’t play the same way, so SP guys have something that feels better for SP and MP guys have something that feels better for MP.
Will co-op have its own disk, and/or executable? If not, how much space will it take up?
It will be included on the main disk. As for how much space, I’m not sure at this point. It’s mainly content so it is somewhat sizable but not so much that it affects the SP experience.
Will MP achievements be separated from SP achievements, or will they all combine together into the overall score?
Each game in general is assigned a certain number of achievements that they are allowed to give. We are required to have a broad selection of achievement types so there will be some MP achievements, there will be some SP achievements. What the ratio is, we are still trying to work out. And they ultimately accumulate to that 1000 point score or that platinum trophy.
Will BSN track co-op statistics? ie: classes played, enemies killed, wins, losses etc?
We are investigating this right now. There will definitely be a lot of BSN integration. What the final list of things is, we don’t really know yet.
Will co-op have its own disk, and/or executable? If not, how much space will it take up?
It will be included on the main disk. As for how much space, I’m not sure at this point. It’s mainly content so it is sizable but not so much that it affects the SP experience.
Will ME3 require an internet connection for each launching of the SP game, or will it retain ME2’s single verification method?
Mass Effect 3 PC will require the internet connection when you initially launch and authorize it but then you will no longer require the connection.
How does earned experience work with the different class choices?
Experience is gained through objective gathering not necessarily class choices. Each class earns achievements at the same pace, but separately. So if I play a soldier, the soldier earns the experience and my vanguard won’t until I play that vanguard. If I got to level 10 as a soldier, my vanguard would still be at level 1.
Will local co-op be supported? (ie local split screen, PC-LAN)
At the time of release, no. However it is definitely on the table as something we might add.
Is there a sunset plan after you decide to take the servers down in a couple of years.
Yes, absolutely. We won’t be taking the servers down until we realize that there aren’t enough players playing to warrant keeping them up and when we do take them down, we will make sure there are options so the players who are playing don’t feel abandoned. If anything is a good example, you can see today that Never Winter Nights is still supported and we’ve kept a lot of our servers live on it. So I wouldn’t be too worried about us taking down the servers anytime soon.
Can we create our own server (or do offline co-op), especially important for those in bandwidth-poor countries?
Because of a lot of the match making systems are quite server intensive, we have no plans anytime soon to allow the creation of an offline server. However, our servers themselves are quite bandwidth friendly and most of the MP elements involved in that are peer to peer based. So if you are in a bandwidth poor country, and you are playing with your friends you are still going to find it to be a relatively good experience.
Thank you so much for your time, Jesse!
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TumblrIt’s November and aspiring writers are plugging away at their novels for National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo, an annual event that encourages people to churn out a 50,000-word book on deadline. But a hundred or so people are taking a very different approach to the challenge, writing computer programs that will write their texts for them. It’s called NaNoGenMo, for National Novel Generation Month, and the results are a strange, often funny look at what automatic text generation can do.
The developer and artist Darius Kazemi started NaNoGenMo last year, when he tweeted out an off-the-cuff idea.
Hey, who wants to join me in NaNoGenMo: spend the month writing code that generates a 50k word novel, share the novel & the code at the end — Darius Kazemi (@tinysubversions) November 1, 2013
"I got a ton of people responding saying ‘Oh my god, I’d totally do that,’" Kazemi says. The next day, he opened up a repository on Github where people could post their projects.
Nick Montfort’s World Clock was the breakout hit of last year. A poet and professor of digital media at MIT, Montfort used 165 lines of Python code to arrange a new sequence of characters, locations, and actions for each minute in a day. He gave readings, and the book was later printed by the Harvard Book Store’s press. Still, Kazemi says reading an entire generated novel is more a feat of endurance than a testament to the quality of the story, which tends to be choppy, flat, or incoherent by the standards of human writing.
"Even Nick expects you to maybe read a chapter of it or flip to a random page," Kazemi says.
Pride and Prejudice, but with dialogue taken from Twitter
Narrative is one of the great challenges of artificial intelligence. Companies and researchers are working to create programs that can generate intelligible narratives, but most of them are restricted to short snippets of text. The company Narrative Science, for example, makes programs that take data from sporting events or financial reports, highlight the most significant information, and arrange it using templates pre-written by humans. It’s not the loveliest prose, but it’s fairly accurate and very fast.
NanNoGenMo, Kazemi says, "is more about doing something that is entertaining to yourself and possibly to other people."
For last year’s NaNoGenMo Kazemi generated "Teens Wander Around a House." He made a bunch of artificial intelligence agents and had them meander through a house at random, his program narrating their actions. When two characters ended up in a room together, he pulled dialogue from Twitter. One tweet could be a question — "What’s for dinner tomorrow?" — and the next, a statement that also contained the word "dinner" — "Dinner is my favorite meal of the day," for example. "The result was a conversation that sort of stayed on topic but didn’t make much sense," he says.
This year he’s designing a program that interprets an online step-by-step guide to novel writing extremely literally. "It starts with ‘establish a day-to-day routine’ then ‘show the characters’ wants and dreams’ then ‘give them a call to action,’ all that stuff," Kazemi says. "It reads like crap but it actually does have a forward sense of narrative.
"The comics that come out give me chills sometimes"
Another participant, Michelle Fullwood, made Twide and Twejudice: Pride and Prejudice but with each word of dialogue substituted for a word used in a similar context on Twitter. The result is delightfully absurd, a normal-seeming Austen novel where characters break out in almost-intelligible gobbledegook. For instance, here is Mr. Bennett telling Mrs. Bennett that plenty more wealthy young men will move to town for their daughters to marry.
"But I hope you willl get ovaaa it, whereby live to see manyy young snowmobilers ofthe four karat a yearrr comeeee into tje neighbourhood."
And in an earlier version:
"But I hopee yiou willllll gget ovaaa itttttttttt, aand livee to seee meny peppy cyborgs ofv umpteen luft awhole mnth coem intoo tthe neighbourhood."
Liza Daly made her own version of the Voynich Manuscript, a 15th century codex written in an unknown script and illustrated with elaborate and perplexing diagrams. Daly wrote a program that took words from the codex, randomized them, and placed them on a page along with old alchemical and botanical images from the Internet Archive. The result is quite beautiful, and no more or less bewildering than the source codex.
Then there’s Greg Borenstein’s Generated Detective, a noir comic. Borenstein’s program searches old detective novels on Project Gutenberg for sentences that include a series of words.
[:question, :murderer, :witness, :saw, :scene, :killer, :weapon, :clue, :accuse, :reveal]
He then searches Flickr for each sentence plucked by the program, runs the resulting image through a manga app, and ends up with an eerily inscrutable noir story. Borenstein does the Flickr search himself, but he’s working on automating the whole process, as well as incorporating image recognition so that the program can add dialogue bubbles.
"The comics that come out give me chills sometimes," Kazemi says. "It’s a very disjointed, dream-like narrative, like most NaNoGenMo narratives."
Ultimately, Kazemi says, the point is to have fun, to flex your coding muscles a bit, and maybe leave thinking about text a little differently. He points to the strange cadence of Definition Book a program that parenthetically defines a word from an initial eight-word sentence, and defines a word from that definition, and so on, recursively for 50,000 words. The first half of the book is all the beginning of sentences and the second half is the end. "I’ve never thought about a text that way," Kazemi says. "It sort of turned on a lightbulb in my head."
UPDATE: Borenstein has automated Generated Detective's sentence and image selection, as well as modified the script to pull sentences from different genres, including sci-fi,romance, and horror.Dear Reader, As you can imagine, more people are reading The Jerusalem Post than ever before. Nevertheless, traditional business models are no longer sustainable and high-quality publications, like ours, are being forced to look for new ways to keep going. Unlike many other news organizations, we have not put up a paywall. We want to keep our journalism open and accessible and be able to keep providing you with news and analysis from the frontlines of Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish World.
Israel agreed to extend the current cease-fire for another 24 hours, Reuters reported on Monday night.
"On's request the ceasefire shall be extended by 24 hours to allow further negotiations," said Israeli official and security source in Jerusalem.
Palestinian sources reported on Monday that a cease-fire with Israel was expected to be announced just before midnight on Monday.A Hamas official said that the Islamist group had agreed to prolong the cease-fire by another 24 hours so as to allow for more negotiations with Egyptian officials in Cairo. Israeli officials, meanwhile, are denying that an agreement is in place.Palestinian News Agency Ma'an reported that the Israeli delegation had left Cairo and was set to return to Israel and present the cabinet with the cease-fire agreement to be approved.The reported deal comes after significant progress was made in Egyptian-mediated cease-fire talks between Israel and Hamas, according to Palestinian sources.While there is no word regarding the nature of the discussions, a number of web sites affiliated with Islamic Jihad as well as independent Palestinian sources say that there has been greater movement by both sides toward a deal.“There is optimism, and it seems as if the chances of reaching an agreement are better than they’ve ever been thus far,” said a Palestinian source currently in Cairo.Sources in Cairo told the Ma’an news agency that the Egyptian government has presented a two-tiered plan – one security-oriented, and the other political – which includes a mechanism that could lead to a lifting of the siege on Gaza.“A six-hour negotiating session today, as well as a nine-hour session on Sunday, led to agreement in a number of areas,” a Palestinian source is quoted as telling Ma’an.Earlier Monday, an Egyptian official told the US-backed Arab-language station Radio Sawa that “until the afternoon, there was no progress in talks between the sides.”Tarek Fahmi, the head of the Israeli Unit at the Egyptian National Center for Middle East Studies, said that “the goal of the talks today is to neutralize the main crisis points, particularly [the question of] the Gaza airport and Israeli concessions regarding the sea, as well as the issue of the tunnels.” Fahmi said that the negotiating sessions that took place on Monday were “critical.”“Israel insists on demilitarizing the Gaza Strip from rockets and missiles, and the declaration of a cease-fire that would last between five and seven years,” he said. “The Palestinian side has yet to compromise on any of the key questions.”Fahmi added that there was an American proposal to bring the talks before UN mediation if the Cairo discussions fail to produce a deal.Throughout Monday and over the weekend, Egypt pressured both Israel and Hamas to reach an agreement on a long-term cease-fire before the current truce expires at midnight local time.According to official reports, Cairo has proposed a cease-fire that would see Palestinian Authority personnel supervise the border crossings. The two sides would then resume discussions for a long-term agreement next month.Future negotiations would tackle thorny issues, including Hamas’s demands to permit the operation of a seaport and an airport in Gaza. Israel is adamantly opposed to this.Officials in Jerusalem are reportedly demanding that Hamas return the bodies of two IDF soldiers who were killed during the Gaza ground incursion and whose remains are believed held by the Palestinian Islamist group.There has been no mention of whether the issue of lifting the blockade has been discussed or will be discussed in future talks.Israeli officials have reportedly tried to insert “improvements” into the Egyptian initiative. Jerusalem is also seeking to put off negotiations on the most contentious issues until a later date.“The bad, negative corrections proposed by the Israeli team have made the situation worse,” said Qais Abd al-Karim, a member of the Palestinian delegation.“If Israel once again insists on demilitarization of the Gaza Strip, then their corrected document will be deemed unacceptable,” the Palestinian negotiator told the Turkish news agency Anatolia. “This issue needs to be addressed in talks for a long-term settlement that will yield the end of the occupation and the establishment of a Palestinian state.”Earlier reports indicated that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas was scheduled to depart for Qatar on Friday, where he will meet with the Hamas political bureau chief, Khaled Mashaal. On Saturday, Abbas is due in Cairo for talks with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.“The Palestinian-Egyptian summit will be held for the purpose of bringing about a cease-fire,” the Palestinian embassy in Cairo said in a statement.Reuters contributed to this report.
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Trixie's Waltz
NOTE: This short story is written around a song by Makkon06, please read the description to listen to the song before or during the story, as it was written with that song as the focus.
Enjoy.
"Trixie, you are a talent." The Great and Powerful Trixie closed the door to her trailer behind her. She had just finished another show in Trottingham, and it had gone over spectacularly. She sat down in front of her mirror and removed her hat and cloak.
Those were her most prized and most beloved treasures, under them she was somepony great, somepony that everyone wanted to see and laugh with and be amazed by. She felt invincible under that hat, like she could take on the world, but more importantly, she felt something else under that hat and cloak.
She felt loved.
Trixie went over to her gramophone, another of her prized possessions. It was one of the few things she always took with her on her travels as she roamed Equestria, a restless soul looking for a place to find love.
Slow music startedPreston North End are on the brink of making Cork City left-back Kevin O’Connor their second summer signing.
Having already done a deal for team-mate Sean Maguire, the Lilywhites are set to make it a double deal with the former Republic of Ireland Under-21s international full-back also Deepdale bound.
Sources in Ireland say a deal between the two clubs is done, with the 22-year-old on the verge of signing.
Like Maguire, who has scored 19 goals in 20 games so far this season, O’Connor is a key part of the Cork side that sits 18 points clear at the top of the table.
An attack-minded full-back, he can play in a back four, in front of a conventional left back or as a wing back.
O’Connor is also known for his excellent set-piece delivery. A good friend of Maguire’s and PNE midfielder Alan Browne – a former Cork City man himself – his arrival would see North End sign another League of Ireland pair.
Daryl Horgan and Andy Boyle are already firm fan favourites after their moves from Dundalk in January.
O’Connor would also create further competition down the left.
Greg Cunningham is expected to return in time for pre-season from his fractured tibia, while Tommy Spurr will be entering his second season at Deepdale.
Defensive reinforcements are needed though, with captain Tom Clarke set to be out until well into 2018 with his ruptured Achilles tendon.
PNE will be looking to build on their 11th place in the Championship last season without their captain.
And the Lilywhites’ success has not gone unnoticed, manager Simon Grayson being strongly linked with the vacant managerial post at Sunderland yesterday. Odds tumbled on the Lilywhites boss moving to the North East but the Post understands the Mackems have not made any contact in a bid to secure Grayson’s services.
The North End boss has already been linked with the managerial vacancies at Hull, Middlesbrough and Leeds this summer, with plenty of sides on the lookout for a new boss.
A successful four years at Deepdale, Grayson having taken over with Preston 17th in League One, have certainly caught the eye.
Sunderland remain on the lookout for someone to replace former Lilywhites boss David Moyes following his resignation after their relegation from the Premier League.
Aberdeen’s Derek McInnes remains favourite for the job but the odds of Grayson heading to the Stadium of Light tumbled from 40/1 seven days ago to as short as 7/4 with SkyBET at one point.1 of 5
USA TODAY Sports
Settling the quarterback debate will be at the top of everyone's list this offseason. Jerrod Heard and Tyrone Swoopes will battle it out, and the current clubhouse leader might surprise you.
Heard has considerable upside in the uptempo offense Texas is looking to implement. He's a much more explosive athlete than last year's starter, Swoopes, with comparable arm talent.
It would make a lot of sense for Heard to be taking over even before the official start of spring practice. But Scout.com's Chip Brown is reporting the opposite, stating that Swoopes is still way ahead of the redshirt freshman:
If you put [Heard] on the white board right now and told him to diagram a pass play and why that play is set up the way it is and what to look for from the defense in the way it could/should defend the QB's first and second read, Heard is confused, and is still far behind Tyrone Swoopes.
Brown, who is as plugged into the Horns as any beat writer for any team in the country, went on to say that Heard is being flat outworked:
Bottom line is Swoopes is leading the drills in offseason workouts and is working harder than ever to learn the nuances of the offense. Basically, Swoopes is outworking Heard, and if there was a game tomorrow, Swoopes would be the starter - and it wouldn't be close.
It's great to hear Swoopes has rebounded from his disastrous finish to last season. However, it's far more disappointing to hear that a player like Heard, who was so impressive throughout his high school career, has lacked a sense of urgency.
Texas needs a playmaker and a leader to emerge at this position. Whether Swoopes surprises everyone by bouncing back or Heard gets it in gear, the best possible outcome is that one of them takes control before the summer.Ghostbusters is unprecedented. But we only need to take a look at the unfortunate reality of Gamergate to recognize the cold and uninviting truth of the matter: in certain circles of culture, women are still a long way from being seen as equals. It would be nice to say that the controversy around the forthcoming remake of the 1984 classicis unprecedented. But we only need to take a look at the unfortunate reality of Gamergate to recognize the cold and uninviting truth of the matter: in certain circles of culture, women are still a long way from being seen as equals.
The controversy, which has been brewing for a handful of months, initially reared its repugnant head when the first trailer (seen above) for the film became the most “disliked” movie trailer in YouTube history. The thumbsdown campaign, some have reported, was a co-ordinated attack against the film — one that participants claimed was based solely on the merits, or lack thereof, of the trailer.
Things got a bit more heated recently when Cinemassacre’s James Rolfe posted a video pre-emptively refusing to even see the new Ghostbusters movie, let alone review it. In the video, Rolfe claims that Paul Feig’s “female Ghostbusters” throws everything that made Ivan Reitman’s version great out the window by keeping the same title and recasting the original Ghostbusters (Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, and Ernie Hudson — Harold Ramis passed away in 2014) in cameo roles instead of letting them reprise their iconic characters.
But this is where the logic stops — if it ever was logic in the first place.
To be clear: there is, of course, absolutely nothing sexist about thinking that a trailer for a comedy that happens to star women isn’t any good. And the first trailer for Ghostbusters admittedly left a lot to be desired. But things took a nasty turn with the dialogue surrounding the film became vitriol. The backlash from a small pocket of fans was overwhelming. Sure, some of the criticism made no attempt to hide its abhorrent thoughts on women taking over a man’s movie. But so much of the Internet’s howl claimed that the film simply looked bad, bad enough for people to be angry and feel as though Hollywood had forsaken their childhood.Senator Roméo Dallaire, a member of the Senate Liberal caucus, says he's retiring from the Senate.
CBC News Network's Evan Solomon reports Dallaire is retiring because of a combination of issues: His desire to spend more time on post-traumatic stress disorder research and public speaking on international causes, ongoing struggles with PTSD, and frustration with the continuing Senate scandals.
At a news conference Wednesday, Dallaire said he's been asked to spend a year at the University of Southern California studying PTSD. He's also been tasked by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to visit conflict zones. As well, he's in the process of writing two more books.
"I couldn't do everything," Dallaire told a room packed with reporters. "I'm 68 years old and I have an awful lot of work ahead of me."
That work, he explained, is now mostly international. The project in Canada he will continue is his crusade for the rights of veterans, especially those with PTSD, whom he refers to as "the walking wounded."
Dallaire mentioned May 9, the national day of honour for the 160 killed in Afghanistan. "It was a fine gesture," he told reporters. "But, you know, that's not the whole story. People were dying by their own hands due to that campaign."
Not mentioning them at the ceremony is "not showing the whole breadth" of the story, he said.
Dallaire came to prominence after leading Canadian troops in Rwanda during the 1994 genocide.
His repeated warnings to the UN and to Canada went seemingly unheeded as Rwanda went through 100 days of killings.
Dallaire's struggles with PTSD
Dallaire has also spoken publicly about his struggles since 1994 with PTSD. He has publicly revealed his four suicide attempts and battles with alcoholism, all brought on from not only what he saw in Rwanda but by the sense of futility and powerlessness he felt after trying to bring world attention to the massacre.
In his book Shake Hands with the Devil, Dallaire tells a horrific story of having to walk over a bridge held aloft by bloated human bodies.
"On the far bank, soldiers were trying to pry them loose for fear that their weight would pull the bridge apart... My stomach heaved and I struggled for composure. I couldn't bear the movement of the bridge, up and down on the slaughtered hundreds," he wrote.
Prominently displayed on his personal website are the words he wrote to describe the effect of the Rwanda experience on his psyche:
“Rwanda will never ever leave me. It’s in the pores of my body. My soul is in those hills, my spirit is with the spirits of all those people who were slaughtered and killed.”
Just before Christmas he fell asleep at the wheel of his car on Parliament Hill, jumping a curb and hitting a lamppost. Unhurt, he later explained to the Senate that he was unable to sleep as the 20th anniversary of the Rwanda crisis drew near.
At the time, he also said the suicides of three Canadian soldiers were reviving memories of his own hopelessness and despair after he left Rwanda.
At his news conference he said, "I live every day what I lived 20 years ago, and it's as if it were this morning." He noted he takes nine pills a day and is in his 14th year of therapy.
'I can't believe I work here'
Dallaire was named to the Senate by Paul Martin in 2005. He wasn't set to retire until 2021. He grew up in the east end of Montreal, he told reporters, in a district that had seven oil refineries. "We never saw the leaves on the trees", he said as he related the outsides of the houses were made of asbestos.
Coming to Ottawa to work in the Centre Block of Parliament, which houses the Senate, was something he's never gotten over. "I can't believe I work here."
During his time in the Senate, he worked on his Romeo Dallaire Child Soldier Initiative, as well as being a voice for veterans. He is also an inspiring public speaker in huge demand, and his workload was becoming intolerable, he said.
He told Solomon he will retire on June 17, a significant date, he explained, as it is the day he learned the French intended to send in a force to stop the genocide in Rwanda.
Dallaire stressed he is not leaving the Senate because of the scandal over senators' expenses, nor the ongoing forensic audit of all senators' expense claims, including his own. He told reporters he believes the Senate is "essential."
Dallaire spoke up for Pamela Wallin
Dallaire told Solomon the process whereby senators voted to suspend three of their colleagues without pay because of inappropriate expense claims bothered him, especially in the case of Senator Pamela Wallin, who chaired the Senate defence committee, while he was deputy chair.
"I mean, it was like a charge sheet, right? Oh and on the charge sheet we already got your sentence. It was an erroneous methodology
"I fought for Pamela because I felt she was going through a process that was unfair. And I still believe how that was done was unfair," he said.
"There's only a few of us who spoke up to defend her in particular," he added.
Conservative Senator Hugh Segal is the only other senator who has publicly gone to bat for Wallin.
When Solomon asked if he would say the same about about senators Mike Duffy and Patrick Brazeau, who were also suspended without pay, Dallaire replied, "I really didn't pursue very deeply those two files. They were coming from different angles, different dimensions.
"I don't think they were treated any more fairly."A Russian naval intelligence ship sank Thursday after colliding with a merchant freighter in foggy conditions on the Black Sea near Istanbul, the Turkish coast guard said. All 78 crew members on the Russian vessel were rescued.
The crew of the freighter Youzarsif H, a Togo-flagged ship traveling from Romania to Jordan with a cargo of 8,800 sheep, was unharmed, and the ship suffered slight damage to its bow, according to local media reports.
In Moscow, Russia’s Defense Ministry issued a statement confirming that the vessel, the Liman, went down after the collision tore a hole in the hull below the waterline.
[Russian jets keep crashing, and it may be an aircraft carrier’s fault]
Russian officials did not immediately provide any information about the Liman’s mission. The Russian state-run Sputnik news agency reported in 2016 that the Liman had been deployed in the Black Sea to monitor the Sea Breeze naval exercises involving Ukraine and several NATO countries, including the United States. Russian officials had complained that the exercises were a provocation.
Members of the Turkish coast guard help Russian sailors. (Turkish Armed Forces General Staff Press Office/European Pressphoto Agency)
Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim called Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev to express “sadness,” Turkey’s semiofficial Anadolu news agency reported.
Russia and Turkey have developed increasingly warm ties over the past year, putting aside bitter differences over the war in Syria to cooperate on brokering a political solution to the conflict. The relationship reached a low point in 2015, when Turkey shot down a Russian warplane that Ankara said had crossed the Syrian border and entered Turkish airspace.
[Russia and Turkey, joined by Iran, announce intention to halt war in Syria]
The collision Thursday occurred about 20 miles northwest of the Bosporus, one of the world’s busiest waterways, which connects the Black Sea to the shipping lanes leading to the Mediterranean.
At the time of the accident, the Bosporus was closed because of poor visibility, the Reuters news agency reported, citing the shipping agency GAC.
The Liman had also previously been deployed for three months to the Mediterranean near Syria, where Russia is in the second year of an intervention backing President Bashar al-Assad against a wide array of rebel groups, including Islamist fighters and others with U.S. backing.
Ship spotters in the Bosporus photographed the ship traversing the strait near Istanbul under heavy snow in January.
A member of the Turkish coast guard, left, helps a Russian sailor. (Turkish Armed Forces General Staff Press Office/European Pressphoto Agency)
It is not clear whether the ship was headed toward Syria on Thursday.
The Liman was built as a hydrographic survey vessel in the Gdansk shipyards in Poland in 1970 and was converted for military service in 1989, shortly before the fall of the Soviet Union. The ship is outfitted to capture electronic-signals intelligence using an array of Soviet and Russian-made sensors for which the ship was retrofitted.
Roth reported from Moscow.
Read more:
Russia sends warships toward Syria via the English Channel — and with them, a message
How Russia’s lone aircraft carrier will change the fight in Syria
Opinion: |
carries. It was his second 100-yard receiving game in three weeks, and is on pace for more than 1,000 yards.
“It’s been what we expected really from Mo when we took Mo [in the draft],” Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis said. “He and Marvin [Jones] have always jockeyed for position. He’s got it back and he’s taking advantage of the whole thing. It’s great.”
Sanu set up Andy Dalton’s game-winning touchdown run with a 53-yard reception, had a 48-yarder to set up their first touchdown of the game, and added a 26-yard reverse. Coupled with his ability to throw the ball, he’s become a multipurpose threat for the Bengals which should serve them well whenever Green returns.Tamim Iqbal became Bangladesh's highest Test run-scorer when he made seven runs on the fourth morning against India, crossing Habibul Bashar's 3026 runs. The record was broken more than eight years after Bashar ended his Test career in 2008, but Tamim, who is also Bangladesh's highest run-getter in ODIs, said he would have been happier had he reached the milestone earlier.
Aminul Islam was Bangladesh's highest scorer till their first two Tests. Bashar overtook him in the country's third Test in Harare. Aminul made just two in the second innings which took him to 260 but Bashar followed him with 76, which took him to 265 runs in Test cricket. From that point onwards, Bashar held the highest scorer's position for more than 14 years.
In the third over of the fourth morning in Fatullah, Tamim clipped India pace bowler Ishant Sharma towards fine leg for two off the eighth ball he faced to reach the milestone. There was no celebration from Tamim, nor was there any announcement at the ground. Since the giant screen at the stadium also does not work, there remained very few people at the ground who knew about the landmark.
"Actually it took around 7-8 years for me but in this time I have played only 40 Tests and I achieved the stat 10 Tests before [Bashar]," Tamim said. "If I could have reached the mark a few Tests earlier, it definitely would have been good. And those who are close to this record, had they achieved this before it would have been good thing for all of us in terms of quality."
Bashar, who arrived in Fatullah earlier than usual to ensure he was there to witness his own record being broken, said he was happy to see Tamim cross him and wanted the batsman to score 10,000 Test runs.
"I came to the ground early today hoping to see Tamim cross my record," Bashar told ESPNcricinfo. "I told him before the Test match that I wanted to see him do it in this game. I didn't want to wait for too long.
"It is good to see Tamim cross me. It was a long-standing record. I was the highest scorer for a long time actually. But I want Tamim to score at least 10000 runs. I always thought that it would be Shakib or Tamim who would take over my run-scoring record."
Tamim, however, said that at the rate Bangladesh played Tests every year, it would be hard for him to reach that mark. The Fatullah Test against India was his 40th game while Bangladesh is playing their 42nd Test during his Test career. Bangladesh have played the second lowest number of Tests during this time. There are 47 players who have played more Tests than him during his Test career.
"It looks difficult because on an average we play 3-4 Tests a year. So if I play for ten years I will be able to play just around 40 Tests if things go that way. It is difficult to achieve that mark, not just for me but for any top player to score 10000 runs in 60 to 70 Tests But if we play more Tests, at least 7-8 Tests then it is possible. It depends on my form and fitness so maybe it is possible.
"Scoring 10,000 runs is anybody's dream. But we don't play enough matches. Even if I average at 50 at this current frequency of matches, it won't be enough."
Tamim predicted that someone like Mominul Haque is most likely to surpass his haul in the near future, at a faster rate. "I never think that the record will stay for a long time. If you see Mominul's average… he should overtake this score 5-6 matches before me. And the way he is playing I think he and other young players can do this. Maybe I have overcome Shumon [Bashar] bhai's record 10 matches before him, others may do it 5-6-7 matches before me," he said.
Bashar played 50 Tests during his eight-year Test career, scoring at an average of 30.87 with three hundreds and 24 fifties. Tamim has a better conversion rate, with seven centuries and 17 fifties from 40 Tests. Bashar felt he had missed out on plenty of runs in his career due to the poor facilities around the senior team during his time.
"I could have scored six to seven thousand runs had I been a player these days. Facilities now are so much better from the start. I also missed out on a number of hundreds," Bashar said. "I wish I converted those 24 fifties into more centuries. In my day there was not much competition too for places in the team. Only [Mohammad] Ashraful was around."
When Bashar's career ended in early 2008, Tamim had played only three Tests and Bangladesh's Test batting line-up looked unsafe without their only consistent scorer at the time. Tamim has been part of the change, and that has pleased Bashar, who is currently a selector.
"[Habibul Bashar] Shumon bhai had come to the dressing room to congratulate me and that was very nice of him," Tamim said.
Mohammad Isam is ESPNcricinfo's Bangladesh correspondent. @isam84
© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.Luis Suárez has angrily criticised the supporters who targeted him for sustained abuse during Great Britain's match against Uruguay, accusing them of a "total lack of respect".
Suárez also received the public backing of his Liverpool and Uruguay team-mate Sebastian Coates, who said the crowd had "gone too far" after another night when Suárez was repeatedly booed.
The jeering interrupted the playing of the Uruguay national anthem after Suárez was shown on the big screen and the striker hit out after a 1-0 defeat that meant his team were eliminated.
"I think they jeer me and they boo me because they must be scared of facing a player like me," he said. "They fear me, but that doesn't affect me. I'm just hurt because we lost and we are going home. I can take the abuse … but I think it was a total lack of respect from the crowd to boo when we were trying to sing our national anthem. I think those things should not happen."
Suárez's unpopularity with opposition crowds can be traced back to his altercation with Patrice Evra last season and the Football Association hearing that ruled he had racially abused the Manchester United player. Suárez was banned for eight matches and has been one of the more reviled players in the Premier League ever since.
"I'm tired of this situation with Luis," Coates said. "I think it has gone too far and I don't like to see him treated like this. I know the kind of person he is and I think the abuse he gets is very unfair. He knows all his team-mates and a whole country are fully behind him and I think fans over here should leave him alone."A special and unique filter system in the search engine excludes forbidden content from its search results such as pornography, nudity, gay, lesbian, bisexual, gambling and other anti-Islamic content.
A Muslim search engine that blocks forbidden content as per Islamic law has been launched.
The press release said that 'Halalgoogling' gives results from leading search engines such as Google and Bing.
It added that the search engine has a built-in advanced special filtering system that blocks Haram content according to the Law of Islam.
According to the Express Tribune, a special and unique filter system in the search engine excludes forbidden content from its search results such as pornography, nudity, gay, lesbian, bisexual, gambling, anti-Islamic content.
The system has been designed to respect Muslim culture, the report stated.Loyal readers of this column may recall – at a stretch – last fortnight's blog on the way some Premier League obsessions are slowly creeping into the Bundesliga discourse. But a quick look at the table as well as the "it would never happen in a proper league" regulation thrashing of the weekend – Bayern's 7-0 Reiberdatschi walkover sorry SC Freiburg – makes one wonder why another, equally serious matter, one at least on a par with net spend calculations, shirt sponsorship contract values and the precise running order of a highlights show that's rather shamefully biased towards matches with actual highlights, is not discussed at far greater length in ye olde Vaterland of Fussball. We are of course talking about the secret, dark machinations of the Bundesliga fixture list.
German football supporters still – rather naively, of course – believe that the pairings are actually fabricated by an incorruptible computer on Bundesliga chief executive Christian Seiffert's desk. This almost blind faith is undoubtedly underpinned by the extremely efficient manner in which the 17 first-half of the season fixtures are simply repeated one after the other, on opposing grounds, after the winter break. This neat, objective-looking symmetry is only ever broken up in extreme circumstances, when matches are abandoned, for example. Fans of proper "big" Premier League clubs would not be fooled by this veneer of objectivity, however. They'd subject the Spielplan to the kind of rigorous, forensic analysis that can detect the true anti-insertyourteamhere bias hiding in plain sight. And they'd soon see through this season's conspiracy: it's all fixed, in a literal sense, in Bayern's favour.
Can you handle the truth? Braunschweig (in the cup). Gladbach at home. Wolfsburg, Felix Magath's jumble-sale-monstrosity, away. Zürich in the Champions League play-offs. Zürich! Chelsea Reserves (aka HSV) at home, Kaiserslautern away, Freiburg at home. Not even a Manchester United Champions League group can cram in such an absurd amount of no-hopers. No wonder Jupp Heynckes's men have scored 22 goals and conceded only one in eight games in all competitions – embarrassingly, they were still not quite good enough to avoid defeat in their curtain raiser against Gladbach. This was not so much an opening programme as an invitation to jump the queue. Of course they're top of the table, singing about the championship. Who wouldn't be in their shoes? It all smacks of a cynical ploy by the Bundesliga to stop the Bayern board banging on about a better TV deal. Uefa and Fifa are no doubt involved, too: they've patently caved in to Bayern chief executive Karl-Heinz Rummenigge's incessant demands for an improved calendar.
It's hard to believe that Mario Gomez, to name but one beneficiary, could have scored eight goals already under normal circumstances. Half of them came on Saturday, when he had little more to do than "stand in front of goal" in his words, waiting for another tap-in or a lucky deflection. Franck Ribéry, too, is looking suspiciously like the player whom Bayern Munich refused to sell, if Bayern president Uli Hoeness is to believed, "for €80m" to a Premier League club a couple of seasons ago. "I feel 100% for the first time in two years," said the Frenchman, who really did accelerate past hapless defenders like it was 2007 and scored one of his two goals with a lovely backheel. The substitute Nils Petersen completed the rout.
Heynckes, who had his doubters not long ago, looks like a genius all of a sudden, the man who has been able to fuse late-Ottmar-Hitzfeld-era rotation and defensive rigour with the attacking verve of Louis van Gaal's heydays. Everyone's having fun, even the rifts between defence and artists seem to have disappeared in the midst of all this fish-in-the-barrel-merriment. "It's great to see how pressing from the strikers unsettles teams," Gomez said, while Philipp Lahm made a point of praising the front four's back-tracking. Arjen Robben, just to be clear, wasn't on the pitch.
As a man who knows his way around the corridors of power, Rummenigge refused to buy into the hype, however. "We should file this result away very quickly, there'll be more headwind in future weeks," he said. And that must be right. Surely Villarreal will offer more in El Madrigal on Wednesday night than the mild and pleasant breeze that Freiburg produced in the Allianz Arena. The good thing for Bayern is that they've effectively got their excuses in already. Should they fail in Europe, the favouritism by Frankfurt (the Bundesliga HQ) will swiftly be declared an elaborate double-bluff. Expect something along the lines of an indignant "we were afforded a false sense of security domestically" when Rossi, Agüero, Dzeko and Cavani add a few to the "against" column.
Talking points
• The 2010-11 champions fared rather less well than Bayern before their meeting with Arsenal on Tuesday night. Dortmund huffed and puffed to a 2-1 home defeat by Hertha BSC who absorbed the pressure and hit them with some simple but effective counterattacking moves. Jürgen Klopp was eager to down-play the poor performance ("it's not a downward trend," he said) and felt that only patience and one or two creative solutions in the final third were missing. But Süddeutsche Zeitung was a lot nearer to the mark when it identified four specific players with the malaise: a) without the individual class of Mario Götze (suspended in the league) Dortmund had no one to paper over the cracks in their collective game. b) Shinji Kagawa, Götze's sounding board, is out of form, too. c) striker Robert Lewandowski is not a natural target man, unlike the injured Lucas Barrios and d) Sahin-replacement Ilkay Gündogan is struggling to dominate the game in central midfield. In fairness, almost every player is well short of their best at the moment, which makes the return to the Champions League against the fragile Gunners all the more intriguing.
• Leverkusen, on the other hand, have travelled to London in jovial mood. Robin Dutt's team beat new boys Augsburg 4-1 on their own pitch on Friday night – the winger Sidney Sam scored twice – and solved a massive problem in the process. Michael Ballack started alongside the captain Simon Rolfes for the first time this season; Dutt had strictly adhered to an "either or" policy before. The 34-year-old played rather well next to the fabulous Renato Augusto – the one to watch – and will undoubtedly be given a chance to prove Fernando "our midfield is slow and old" Torres right in the most ironic of ways on his return to Stamford Bridge.
• Rather mundane issues in comparison are troubling Hamburg, sadly. The Rothosen (red trousers) were exposed yet again in the northern derby away to Bremen. Claudio Pizarro scored a brace to underline Werder's renaissance; the visitors, however, remain rooted to the bottom like something unspeakable that needs a shot of vasoconstriction drugs. "We were better than in the games before," the beleaguered coach Michael Oenning said. "We are too nice in the box, we cannot keep saying 'next week, next week'," warned the midfielder David Jarolim. The most hard-hitting comment, however, came from Jens Lehmann, who is threatening to give TV punditry a good name. The sporting director Frank Arnesen obviously "didn't know any German players", quipped the former keeper, "that's why he only bought Chelsea players and Scandinavians". Ouch. "If they keep getting negative results, " he added, "it's perhaps an advantage for Oenning that Arnesen doesn't know any German coaches either." Double ouch.
Results: Augsburg 1-4 Leverkusen, Bayern 7-0 Freiburg, Dortmund 1-2 Hertha, Mainz 0-4 Hoffenheim, Stuttgart 3-0 Hannover, Bremen 2-0 Hamburg, Gladbach 1-0 Kaiserslautern, Nürnberg 1-2 Köln, Wolfsburg 2-1 Schalke.
Latest Bundesliga tableIn an exclusive interview to TOI, quota warriortellsthat he is proud of his success in bruising BJP’s ego.I am satisfied as due to my hard work, the Congress, which was serving as an extremely weak opposition for the last 25 years, has now become strong. I take pride that I was successful in demolishing the ego of a party that said it would win 150 seats in Gujarat.BJP has been wiped out in most rural areas especially in Saurashtra. In cities too, the victory margin of BJP has shrunk. This shows that the agitation has eaten into their support base. But more effort is required from our side, which we will put in. I firmly believe that BJP won 10 to 12 seats by EVM tampering. If BJP is confident, counting of VVPAT trail should be allowed.We should not isolate Radhanpur seat won by Alpesh Thakor. I named many seats in Surat, Rajkot and particularly seats of Dabhoi and Dahod. After my warning, tampering was done skilfully to keep to a majority of 99 seats. Otherwise, they would have won 125 seats backed by EVM rigging.I will soon file a petition in the high court. I didn’t approach the EC as it would be meaningless, and as EC is not trustworthy. This is the reason why I have urged all political parties to unite and insist that 2019 polls are not conducted through EVMs but through ballot paper.I’ll campaign against BJP in both the states and expose anti-poor policies of BJP government. I will not rest until 2019 Lok Sabha polls.Development was missing as BJP’s poll plank. Even PM Narendra Modi had to refer to Khilji, Aurangzeb and Pakistan to stoke communal sentiments. People in rural areas did not respond as they want ‘roti, kapda aur makan’. But polarization still seems to work in urban areas.We are in constant touch and will jointly raise issues of quota, unemployment, minimum support price for farmers and other issues. We have plans for a national agitation to highlight the plight of farmers and unemployed youths.I was referring to opposition by any and all OBC leaders against the Patidar demand for OBC quota. It was not meant for Alpesh.We three are fighting for issues plaguing the common man. I trust Jignesh Mevani more as I like him and his leadership style.Her’s was a courtesy call related to elections. I have personal and political relations with many CMs including Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal.People are mature and sufficiently aware not to allow such tactics to influence poll politics.It’s a myth that such utterances created sympathy for him. The PM has his followers as I have my supporters. Personal comments do not make any impact in polls.Rahul Gandhi has improved vastly as a leader, who is trustworthy and does not spew lies. People will definitely accept him in coming years.Anyone but Modi.BY: Follow @DavidRutz
Former President Barack Obama released a statement Thursday criticizing the Trump administration for withdrawing from the Paris climate agreement, writing the U.S. is joining a "small handful of nations that reject the future."
Obama wrote that "steady, principled American leadership on the world stage" had made the Paris agreement a reality.
"The nations that remain in the Paris agreement will be the nations that reap the benefits in jobs and industries created," Obama said in the statement. "I believe the United States of America should be at the front of the pack. But even in the absence of American leadership; even as this administration joins a small handful of nations that reject the future; I'm confident that our states, cities, and businesses will step up and do even more to lead the way, and help protect for future generations the one planet we've got."
Statement from Barack Obama on the Paris Climate Agreement pic.twitter.com/SQc6kQV0Ah — Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) June 1, 2017
Obama considered the climate change deal, a global agreement to curb greenhouse gas emissions, one of his administration's crowning achievements. According to the Washington Post, "more than 190 nations agreed to the accord in December 2015 in Paris, and 147 have since formally ratified or otherwise joined it, including the United States—representing more than 80 percent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions.
The U.S. joins Nicaragua and Syria as the world's sole countries to not be part of the agreement.
As expected, President Trump announced the withdrawal of the U.S. from the accord on Thursday in the Rose Garden, saying it was costing the country a "fortune" and that he would try to negotiate a fairer deal for American workers.
"The Paris Accord is a BAD deal for Americans, and the president's action today is keeping his campaign promise to put American workers first," said a White House memo to supporters explaining Trump's decision. "The accord was negotiated poorly by the Obama administration and signed out of desperation."(OTTAWA) – Thousands more people may now be eligible to donate blood thanks to recent changes to a number of Canadian Blood Services’ deferral policies and donor restrictions. The changes are an important step being taken to broaden the pool of eligible donors in the country. This year alone, about 100,000 new blood donors are needed to support the national blood supply.
The following notable changes are now in effect across the country:
The upper age limit for donating has been eliminated. Further, donors over the age of 71 no longer need to have their physician fill out an assessment form before donating blood.
Donors who have a history of most cancers (such as breast cancer, thyroid cancer, and prostate cancer) will now be eligible to donate if they have been cancer free for five years. This change does not apply to those with a history of hematological cancers (such as lymphomas and leukemia).
Donors who have recently received most vaccines, such as a flu shot, will no longer need to wait two days before donating blood.
Donors who were born in or lived in some African countries (Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Niger, and Nigeria) are now eligible to donate blood. HIV testing performed on blood donors can now detect HIV strains found in these countries.
Geographic deferrals affecting Western Europe have been revised based on scientific evidence that indicates the risk of variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (vCJD), or mad cow disease, has decreased since January 2008. Donors who spent five years or more in Western Europe since 1980 are deferred from donating blood, but we are now including an end date of 2007. Donors who reached the five year limit in Western Europe after 2007 will now be eligible to donate blood.
“Canadian Blood Services regularly reviews the criteria used to determine if someone is eligible to donate blood, including geographic and age restrictions based on new scientific information,” says Dr. Mindy Goldman, medical director of donor and clinical services with Canadian Blood Services. “These restrictions are no longer necessary. We estimate that about 3,000 people who try to donate each year but cannot will now be eligible to donate due to these changes.”
Canadian patients routinely count on fellow Canadians to roll up their sleeves and do their part to help meet the demand for blood. Canadian Blood Services hopes that these changes will contribute to bringing more donors to clinics, enabling more Canadians to save lives.
The complete policy changes are available at www.blood.ca/en/blood/recent-changes-donation-criteria.
Donors who were turned away in the past due to the former restrictions but would like to return are invited to visit a clinic or call 1-888-2DONATE to book an appointment. Canadian Blood Services is currently updating its digital systems and online bookings are temporarily unavailable for some of these donors. New donors who have never been screened before are invited to book an appointment online, call 1-888-2DONATE, or visit a clinic.
Canadians can visit blood.ca or download the GiveBlood app to discover multiple ways they can give life, assess their eligibility and to book an appointment.“DON’T be evil” is Google’s corporate motto. If only it were so simple. The online-search giant is in a tricky spot after an employee published a long, anonymous memo online about why women are under-represented in the technology industry. The main reason may not be sexism, asserted James Damore, the young Harvard-educated software engineer later revealed to be the memo’s author, but biological factors. Women are more interested in people and emotions, he wrote, and tend towards “neuroticism”, meaning they are more anxious than men and worse at handling high-stress jobs.
The ten-page memo also lamented liberal Silicon Valley’s new willingness to “discriminate to create equal representation” and its reluctance to hear opinions that clash with the mainstream view on diversity. On August 7th Mr Damore told Bloomberg, a news service, that he had been fired by Google. Sundar Pichai, the company’s boss, said that portions of the memo violated its code of conduct and made its work environment hostile for female employees.
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Mr Damore may have believed he was voicing what many people in the tech industry privately think. Silicon Valley has been plagued by allegations of sexism at startups, notably Uber, a ride-hailing company, as well as at venture-capital firms, which help set the male-dominated cultures of the young companies they finance. In July a handful of prominent venture capitalists, including Dave McClure, the general partner of 500 Startups, admitted to treating women inappropriately and resigned from their positions.
But Google has much more to lose. It is under investigation by the Department of Labour for discriminating against women by paying them less than men. Men occupy four-fifths of its directly technology-related roles, according to the firm (see chart). It needs to show its female employees and workers from ethnic and sexual minority groups that it does take diversity seriously. At the same time, Google’s search engine and its online-video site, YouTube, must remain platforms for free expression. But as Mr Damore’s sacking shows, there are limits to what its employees may say in public.
In the end, Google decided it was better to be labelled intolerant than complicit. “This isn’t a question of legality or policy. This is a question of virtue-signalling,” says the boss of a prominent tech startup, reflecting the view of many in the Valley.
Mr Damore has indicated that he may sue Google for infringing on his right to free speech. The company may become more of a target for those who accuse Silicon Valley’s firms and bosses of being intolerant of politically conservative opinions. American universities, which are supposed to encourage diversity of thought, are also criticised for catering to identity politics by, for example, excluding conservative thinkers. Google may be trying hard not to be evil. But unfortunately for the firm’s executives, evil, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder.
Correction (September 13th): This piece originally misspelled James Damore’s name in one instance. This has been corrected.LONDON GAA's senior football and hurling GAA finals will be broadcast live on TV for the first time this weekend.
New channel Irish TV will cover both games from The Emerald GAA Grounds in Ruislip.
Saturday’s clash between Kilburn Gaels and Sean Treacy’s in the Senior Hurling Championship and the following day’s Senior Football Championship match between Tír Chonaill Gaels and Fulham Irish will be televised.
The show will begin at 5pm on both days and will include analysis and discussion with commentary from several GAA stars.
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Irish TV say the live coverage will also focus on the "dedication of local GAA clubs in the capital and explore recent immigration trends in the UK."
Irish TV can be viewed on on Sky 191, Freeview 400, all free-to-air boxes, and online.July 3, 2017
Play Episode Download Episode
Edgar Wright’s Cornetto Trilogy!
This week is as good as any to discuss Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz and The World’s End.
Plus we get into Wonder Woman’s box office, the Inhumans trailer, more Fox comic book movies and trailers for Death Note, Rick and Morty and Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle.
Plus news of The Batman, Peter Parker’s first appearance in the MCU, Superman Red Son getting a movie and the clarifications about the relationship between Sony’s Venom and the the Marvel films.
Thanks for listening!
Update: This week’s Caravan of Garbage available now on Patreon – Chuck in a buck for early access!
Good Vibes & Great Banter on YouTube!
Links Breakdown & Timecodes
Wonder Woman 2 & Box Office – 2:11
Current Wonder Woman Stats – Box Office Mojo
Inhumans Trailer – 3:45
More Fox Comic Book Movies – 12:18
Release Dates & Rumours – Article
Death Note – 16:36
First Trailer (Netflix) – YouTube
Original Versions – Wiki
Rick and Morty Air Date – 19:35
Season 3 Trailer – YouTube
Howard the Duck HOT SCOOP – 20:36
Do We Need a Howard the Duck Movie? – Mr Sunday Movies
Last Week’s ‘Hot Scoop or Lie’ – The Weekly Planet
There is NO Howard the Duck movie at the present time. There are a lot of comic characters I love but I'm not making films of them all. https://t.co/IYNzo9R2hq — James Gunn (@JamesGunn) June 28, 2017
Batman: Noir & Superman: Red Son Rumours – 22:12
The Dark Knight’s “Brick Bullet” Scene – YouTube
Superman: Red Son – Wiki
DC/Looney Tunes Crossover – Article
Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle – 30:16
New Trailer – YouTube
Zathura – YouTube
Polar Express – YouTube
Marvel/Sony Clarification – 36:54
Original Story & Video – Article
Peter Parker in Iron Man 2 – 38:36
Iron Man saves Peter Parker Scene – YouTube
Edgar Wright’s Cornetto Trilogy – 43:12
What is it? – Official ‘Three Flavours’ Featurette – YouTube
Edgar Wright – IMDB
Spaced: Paintball Showdown – YouTube
Spaced: (Phantom) Menace to Society – YouTube
Shaun of the Dead Trailer – YouTube
Shaun of the Dead: Oblivious to Zombies – YouTube
Shaun of the Dead: The Plan – YouTube
Shaun of the Dead: Opposite Group – YouTube
Hot Fuzz Trailer – YouTube
Hot Fuzz: Kill the Messenger (Church Murder) – YouTube
Hot Fuzz: Old Lady Fly Kick – YouTube
Hot Fuzz: A Great Big Bushy Beard! – YouTube
Hot Fuzz: Battle For Sanford Begins – YouTube
Hot Fuzz: Good Luck Nicholas – YouTube
Hot Fuzz: Cast – IMDB
Paul Trailer – YouTube
World’s End Trailer – YouTube
World’s End: The Bathtroom Fight – YouTube
World’s End: To Err is Human – YouTube
Cornetto Trilogy Sequels? – Article
What We Reading/What We Gonna Read – 1:19:10
Secret Empire – Wiki
DC/Looney Tunes Crossover – Article
Neil Blomkamp’s Firebase – YouTube
Neil Blomkamp’s Rakka – YouTube
Superman: Secret Identity – Wiki
Movember Campaign plus Q&A Access – Website
Letters & ‘Goldbluming’ across the Globe – 1:26:41
Jeff Goldblum’s Menulog Ads – YouTube
Jeff Goldblum’s Apartments Ads – YouTube
Alec Baldwin’s Latitude Ads – YouTube
Alec Badwin’s BT Ads – YouTube
Jeremy Renner’s BT Ads – YouTube
Ryan Reynolds’ BT Ads – YouTube
Matt Stewart’s M&Ms Commercial – YouTube
#IgniteTheGreen – Twitter
Return of the Jedi (Blue Lightsaber) Trailer – YouTube
Liam “The Chattertron” Chatterton – Twitter
#MulletForSuperman – Twitter
Tremors TV Show Reboot – Article
#WeeklyPlanetPod – Twitter
The Weekly Planet Tattoos!
Grab Tat Gem! by Cody Rodgers – Twitter
Grab Dat Gem Tattoo by Andrew aka FreeCheesyBread – Twitter
Hope this Isn’t Weird by Kyle Jones – Twitter
Extra Trilogies & Crossovers:
A Comedy Crossover & The Horribleness of Space w. Nick Mason – ‘Three’ in the Think Tank
NEW: Updates from Marvel’s Secret Empire & the DC/Looney Tunes Crossover – Serious Issues
The Lord of the Rings Trilogy & Behind the Mind of Middle-Earth – Do Go On
NEW: Prequels Strike Back w. Chris Gore & Screen Junkies’ Jenny Nicholson – Steele Wars
Talkin’ about Tarkin’ with Sunday & Maso for both Star Wars Trilogies – The Weekly Planet
That’s the Show for this Week…
Check out Wackadadoo Matt’s adventures at Denver Comic Con while he represents the show with Weird Al, Jean Grey & Luke Cage!
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A small percentage goes our way at no extra cost to you. Or something.
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Caravan of Carnage: Maximum Garbage
Update: New episodes every Tuesday but you can also “Chuck in a Buck” for early access – This week’s show available now on Patreon!It should be just in time for the next Avengers film and Han's first solo Star Wars outing.
Magic Lantern Theatres says it plans to open its modern movie theatre in Saskatoon's east-end Brighton development in early May 2018. The multi-screen theatre will be south of the intersection of College Drive and McOrmond Road.
"We don't have a hard date yet but a general date," said Tom Hutchinson, president of the Edmonton-based theatre chain.
"It also depends somewhat on what Hollywood releases, because we want to open with a strong slate of pictures."
Tentpole blockbusters Avengers: Infinity War and Solo: A Star Wars Story bow on May 4 and May 25, respectively.
The digitally-equipped Brighton theatre will have seven stadium-seating auditoriums with comfy chairs like those in Cineplex's VIP rooms.
"They're all going to be recliner or rocker seats with the leatherette covering, big black ones," said Hutchinson.
The general admission ticket price hasn't been determined yet, but Hutchinson points out a recently opened theatre in North Battleford charges $11.
D-Box gets F grade
Magic Lantern Theatres also owns the independent-minded Roxy Theatre on 20th Street in Saskatoon, and the more traditional but aging theatre on Eighth Street, run under the Rainbow Cinemas banner.
Roxy Theatre, one of two operating theatres in Saskatoon owned by Magic Lantern Theatres. (Guy Quenneville/CBC)
"When I built Centre Cinema [since sold to the company now known as Cineplex] and Rainbow Cinema, those theatres were reasonably state of the art," said Hutchinson.
"But they are no longer state of the art. They're worn out. They're old. So you ask, why does Saskatoon need a new theatre? Because those are 25 years old, and it's time."
Hutchinson draws the line at D-Box seats, though — those that rumble with every swoosh of a Transformer dinosaur's tail.
"No!" he exclaimed when asked if those are part of the Brighton cinema plan.
Soil conditions delay opening
So why the Brighton area?
"The road access is excellent," said Hutchinson. "And the other thing is that it has wonderful free parking.
"There are issues in other parts of the city with parking, and being a new suburban area, we'd hoped that some of the issues that occur in older areas of town don't follow out to the new one."
The new Brighton cinema is located in the area marked at 'Brighton Marketplace,' in the upper-right of this concept plan map from developer Dream. (Dream)
The revised May 2018 opening date is several months later than the originally planned fall 2017 premiere.
"Soil conditions accounted for the delay," said Hutchinson. "The soil in the area is overly plastic and special fill had to be engineered and brought in before the concrete work could begin."
It's hoped the Brighton area will be home to over 15,000 people, according to an April 2014 concept plan.Drivers sit in traffic on the Kennedy Expy. View Full Caption Scott Olson/Getty Images
CHICAGO — Like many Chicagoans Tuesday morning, Tony Boylan watched buses jam-packed with commuters whiz by him, so he searched for an alternative way to get to work — only to find that Uber was charging five times the normal amount.
Boylan and many Chicago commuters fell victim to the rideshare service's notorious "surge pricing," which hikes up the cost per ride when demand is high.
And on Tuesday morning, demand was high. A bus caught fire on Lake Shore Drive, ensnaring traffic. In an unrelated incident, a former elementary school being redeveloped into condos also burned, halting Brown and Purple Line trains during the morning rush hour.
"It felt like one of those mornings of a blizzard where there's three times the normal amount of people at a bus stop," said Boylan, 49, who works as a public relations consultant in River West.
"I looked at an Uber. It was 4.9 times the [usual] pricing," he said.
Bo |
to the heart of the issue in a way that I’d simply been unable to do. When I read his new draft, I realized that I’d tried too hard to bridge the difference between his opinion and that of another justice in order to hold our majority. His changes strengthened the argument but also, I feared, risked putting us in the dissent. But Justice Scalia didn’t compromise his principles, even on the smallest issues.
He knew his own mind, and taught me the importance of knowing my own.This week in Sex Tech reveals Facebook content violation policies, while Reddit is backed into a corner over sexualized images of children.
Also, an Iranian developer is about to be executed over suspected porn website work, Pinterest gets porn clones, Sears goes NSFW, YouPorn goes Redis, we see data from a year in adult apps and more.
Facebook's sex and violence guidelines leaked
Like other social media giants, Facebook outsources its content guideline enforcement to low-paid workers in other countries.
Turns out, the news that Facebook is worth piles of money didn't sit well with one of the men that makes $1 an hour to delete Facebook users' breastfeeding photos.
Angrily, he has leaked Facebook's guidelines to Gawker, who has followed up with more investigation into the company that polices content for both Facebook and Google.
The sex and violence guidelines are hypocritical (as expected), much more specific than Facebook has been willing to admit previously, and I think you'll agree that the $4-a-day these workers make is appalling.
Iranian developer set for execution over internet porn
Last night came news that web developer Saeed Malekpour (sentenced to death in Iran for allegedly building and maintaining porn websites) has been fast-tracked for execution.
Despite opposition, Iran has set to schedule Malekpour’s execution and it is in the final stage within the Iranian court system.
This is despite the fact he did not work on a porn website (as per his accusation and charges).
His case has just been transferred to Iranian’s judicial arena that is responsible for following through with death sentences (The Circuit Court for Execution of sentences).
This news is being called “a lethal abuse of the law.” According to his attorneys Malekpour’s death may happen “at any moment.”
YouPorn now all-Redis
The online porn business, when successful, knows a thing or two about scaling.
Yesterday on the Google Groups Redis DB forum, Eric Pickup announced,
Youporn.com relaunched two weeks ago with Redis as our primary database. With @100 million page views per day, our cluster of Redis slaves are handling over 300k queries per second.
As one commenter put it, "That's porn for database geeks."
Are Twitter users sexier than Facebook's?
The relative sexiness of Facebook users versus Twitter users is the stuff that cheap pageviews are made of.
Nonetheless, it's the kind of junk food that some of us like to consume now and again, even though we know it'll make us feel icky afterward.
The results of a marketing survey with 1,000 users doesn't mean a lot - but at the very least, it indicates that Twitter users definitely think they're freakier than Facebook's.
Sears hotlinks porn images for its online catalog
A very NSFW Reddit thread pointed out that Sears, a notoriously wholesome American catalog for department store goods, had very racy images for some surprisingly saucy lingerie items.
But the images were not just racy; some were porn images.
What's more, it appeared that whoever was in charge of getting images for the Sears items had hotlinked the images - meaning the images were being pulled from other websites.
Not surprisingly, some of the original sources had found out and swapped prank images for the lurid bikini and lingerie shots. Hilarity ensued.
Adult app data by state and country
When Apple shut out several thousands of app developers from the IOS market in 2010, then-fledgling adult app company MiKandi went to work and became the leading adult app maker - with its own third-party app market.
This week they posted a fun infographic comprised of app data from 2011.
The accompanying post talks a bit about being an indie app market. It includes tidbits such as,
DC ranked highest in the entire year for greatest number of searches and requests for “deep throat” related apps. Perhaps they are still looking for the true secret informant in the watergate scandal?
A Year In The Business of Adult Apps (MiKandi Blog, infographic text NSFW)
Pinterest porn clones
Pinterest gets popular, Pinterest goes way mainstream... and Pinterest gets porn clones. I'm sure no one saw this coming...
Two new porn sites have copied the Pinterest model, with mixed results. The cluttered looking Snatchly calls itself a "pornboard" while Pornterest is a no-frills experience.
Reddit policy gets serious about pedophilia
This week Reddit cracked down on images that sexualize underage people, engaging in an active campaign to remove subreddits such as r/jailbait.
The move came in reaction to a thread published to SomethingAwful.com, where a member of that community started what became a huge outcry against spaces on Reddit that sexualized images of kids.
The thread appeared three months after SomethingAwful's first campaign against the material that was followed by coverage by Anderson Cooper.
Reddit's statement expressed a clear ban on the offensive (and illegal) content, appealed to users to help admins find content to be removed, and acknowledged that some Redditors might see the new policy as a “slippery slope” which might lead to “banning other types of content.”Story highlights Raymond Felton arrested on initial charges of criminal possession of a weapon
Police: Felton illegally had firearm, loaded ammunition magazine
Arrest came hours after Knicks' loss to Mavericks at Madison Square Garden
New York Knicks point guard Raymond Felton, who was arrested on felony weapons charges, posted $25,000 bail Tuesday.
Felton's wife, Ariane, accompanied by her attorney, turned his high-powered FNH 5.7 x 28mm semi-automatic handgun over to police Monday, claiming she didn't want the weapon in the couple's Upper West Side Manhattan apartment, a law enforcement official said.
The weapon, similar to the one Maj. Nidal Hasan used in the Fort Hood shooting rampage in 2009, was loaded with 18 high-velocity bullets, the official said.
The Feltons are in the process of divorcing, the official said. Though Felton's wife said he never threatened her with the gun, she told police that he held the gun during arguments in their apartment. She also told police that he owns other guns in North Carolina.
A judge Tuesday issued a temporary restraining order against Felton, who is to appear in court June 2.
Felton, accompanied by his attorney, left court without comment.
According to LinkedIn, Ariane Felton is a Cornell University graduate now studying law at Fordham University.
The point guard was arrested a couple of hours after the Knicks lost to the Dallas Mavericks at New York's Madison Square Garden.
The Knicks have not commented on the arrest.
Felton, 29, who was arrested at 12:50 a.m. Tuesday, had been held on charges of criminal possession of a weapon in the second, third and fourth degrees, New York Police Sgt. John Buthorn said.
Those counts relate to allegations that Felton illegally had a firearm and a loaded ammunition magazine, police said.
Felton played 33 minutes, scoring 8 points, in the Knicks' 110-108 loss to the Mavericks on Monday night.
Felton returned to the Knicks in July 2012 as a replacement for popular point guard Jeremy Lin.
New York has some of the strictest gun laws in the country.
Former New York Giants wide receiver Plaxico Burress was sentenced to two years in prison after a plea deal on a firearm charge in 2009. Burress was shot in his thigh when his gun accidentally went off in a club.And with 16 iterations of the 20K house now built, the studio is getting ready to bring some of the plans to market.
Since 1993, architecture students at Alabama's Auburn University have designed and built striking, low-cost buildings through the renowned Rural Studio program. To participate, the students move off campus and across the state to rural western Alabama, where they work with clients in one of the nation's poorest regions. The program has resulted in dozens of structures that improve the lives of individuals and whole communities: an animal shelter, park facilities, a Boys and Girls Club, and a series of houses targeted to cost about $20,000.
"Each year, the studio would look at a previous version and figure out ways to improve upon it or challenge it," says Natalie Butts, the studio's manager of communications and the 20K program. They honed designs for sustainability, replicability, and cost. "It became a new mission for the studio to develop this project into a product that others can have access to," Butts says.
In 2005, students built the studio's first 20K house, designed with the goal that the cost for materials and labor would total no more than $20,000. (The cost of land is not factored into the budget.) This became an annual exercise.
"It's a resource that could be used and replicated in rural communities, that could be affordable housing or supportive housing," says Katrina Van Valkenburgh, a managing director at CSH, a nonprofit focused on supportive housing. Her husband's work as an architect has resulted in the Chicago-based couple visiting the Rural Studio at least once a year for project reviews.
Rural Studio was then ready to move forward with three budget-friendly, one-bedroom house plans: Dave's, MacArthur's, and Joanne's. (Each home is named after the first client for whom it was built.) The studio shared the plans with Landon Bone Baker Architects in Chicago, who vetted them and ensured they conformed to building codes and standards.
The next step is for partners to field-test the designs. Rural Studio has talked to a variety of groups in the South about building them, including nonprofit housing corporations, parks and recreation departments, and an artist community. "We're interested in seeing how different groups respond to the plans based on their needs, their funding, their siting," Butts says. Three prototypes in the new product line will break ground shortly.
Rural Studio hopes to start selling the plans soon, although Butts can't say exactly when. The price hasn't been finalized, but the aim is to keep them highly affordable. Earlier 20K houses give us an idea what to expect: They'll be small (under 1,000 square feet) and reminiscent of traditional Southern shotgun houses, with gabled metal roofs and generous porches.
"Whether you're building it in Alabama or you're building it in Illinois, it'd still have the basic standards you'd be looking for."
"Some of the features of [the 20K house] … are particular to where it's been developed," Van Valkenburgh says. "Thinking about air movement and really warm summers, all of those kinds of pieces that come into play." She thinks the plans should prove adaptable to other regions, though. "Whether you're building it in Alabama or you're building it in Illinois, it'd still have the basic standards you'd be looking for... and that makes a tremendous difference."
The 20K target is based on the smallest loan amount that a person living on Social Security could afford through the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Section 502 rural housing loan program. It translates to a payment of about $100 a month. The $20,000 breaks down roughly as $12,000 for materials and $8,000 for labor and contractor profit. Rural Studio has asked Regions Bank to create a mortgage for the homes.
The homes have involved more than 180,000 research hours—input that wouldn't be financially viable outside of an academic setting.
Because they're replicable, the new home plans could add an important new avenue for affordable housing in rural and even, one day, suburban and urban areas where land is not too expensive. Whereas trailers depreciate in value, these houses will better suited to becoming assets for low-income owners. And their benefits extend to the community, Van Valkenburgh says, by creating local construction jobs. "Trailers don't have that same piece. It doesn't impact the money where you live in the way that building does," she says.
"We could probably make houses that cost less money, honestly," says Rural Studio's associate director, Rusty Smith, who notes that the homes have involved more than 180,000 research hours—input that wouldn't be financially viable outside of an academic setting. "But the affordability of it is just one component which we don't compromise on. The dignity and nobility that we expect for a house is uncompromised as well."US states have overwhelmingly rejected a request for sensitive voter information from the group in charge of investigating President Donald Trump's claims of voter fraud.
The bipartisan Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity sent a letter to all 50 states on Wednesday requesting an overwhelming amount of information on individual registered voters.
As of Friday night, at least 27 states, including Arizona, California, Kentucky, New Mexico, New York, Oklahoma, Texas, and Wisconsin have denied the commission's request.
The bipartisan commission is led by Vice President Mike Pence and Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach.
The letter dated June 28 and signed by Kobach asks for registered voters' names, addresses, dates of birth, partial social security numbers, political party, a decade's worth of voter history, information on felony convictions, and whether they have registered in more than one state.
The letter was followed by a separate one from the US Justice Department, which asked states to reveal how they maintain their voter rolls. The commission said all voter data submitted by the states would be made public.
President Donald Trump listens as Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi speaks in the Rose Garden of the White House, Monday, June 26, 2017, in Washington. AP Photo/Evan Vucci
The group was formed in response to Trump's claims that nearly three million unlawful votes were cast in the 2016 presidential election, causing him to lose the popular vote. He first made the claim in November and has repeated it many times since. That claim has been widely debunked.
Experts say they are concerned about the voter-fraud commission's activities. Some said the request appeared to be politically motivated, ProPublica reported on Thursday night. One expert, according to reporter Jessica Huseman, was especially skeptical of Kobach, who has spent years focusing on voter fraud in his current role as Kansas' secretary of state. Dale Ho, director of the American Civil Liberties Union's Voting Rights Project, said of Kobach:
"I have every reason to think that given the shoddy work that Mr. Kobach has done in this area in the past that this is going to be yet another boondoggle and a propaganda tool that tries to inflate the problem of double registration beyond what it actually is."
Vanita Gupta, head of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, torched the commission Thursday night: "Pence and Kobach are laying the groundwork for voter suppression, plain & simple," Gupta said.
Voters fill out their general election ballots at a polling place Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2016, in Bradfordton, Ill. AP Photo/Seth Perlman
How US states are responding
Election officials and lawmakers from at least five states called out Kobach's request.
California Secretary of State Alex Padilla said it is his duty to ensure election integrity and protect voters' privacy. "I will not provide sensitive voter information to a commission that has already inaccurately passed judgment that millions of Californians voted illegally," a statement from Padilla said.
Kentucky Secretary of State Alison Grimes also pushed back, saying "I do not intend to release Kentuckians' sensitive personal data to the fed. gov't." Grimes also offered a sharp rebuke of Trump in her statement, calling the president's voter-fraud claims a "lie."
Denise Merrill, Connecticut's secretary of state, said she would provide "publicly available information" to the commission, but sharply criticized Kobach, who she said "has a lengthy record of illegally disenfranchising eligible voters in Kansas." Given that history, Merrill said, "we find it very difficult to have confidence in the work of this Commission."
Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe said, "I have no intention of honoring this request."
Massachusetts Secretary of State William Galvin told Commonwealth Magazine, "They're not going to get it. It's not a public record."
Mississippi Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann released a statement on Friday that told the Presidential Advisory Commission to "go jump in the Gulf of Mexico" and that Mississippi residents had a "right to protect the privacy of our citizens by conducting our own electoral processes."
Rhode Island Secretary of State Nellie Gorbea called Kobach's authority "deeply troubling" and criticized his credentials in her statement: "Secretary Kobach was fined for misleading the courts in his own state of Kansas, where his attempts to disenfranchise Kansas voters have been overthrown by the courts."
Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf called the request "problematic for several reasons," and said he held "serious reservations about the true intentions of this effort in light of the false statements this administration has made regarding voting integrity."
The Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity will hold its first meeting in Washington D.C. on July 19, a statement from Pence's office said.This gun was left in a bathroom stall inside the Senate office portion of the Capitol Visitor Center on Jan. 29, according to a source. (Photo obtained by CQ Roll Call)
Updated 3:20 p.m. | When a member of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's security detail left his Glock and magazine stuffed in the toilet seat cover holder of a Capitol Visitor Center bathroom stall, a CVC worker found the gun, according to a source familiar with the Jan. 29 incident and two other disturbing instances when Capitol Police left loaded firearms in problematic places. A 7- or 8-year-old child visiting the Capitol with his parents found the next loaded Glock lost by a dignitary protection officer, according to the source. A member of the security detail for John A. Boehner, R-Ohio, allegedly left the firearm in the bathroom of the Speaker's Suite on March 24.
A third Glock was found the night of April 16 by a janitor cleaning the Capitol Police headquarters building on D Street NE. The weapon was left in plain sight, sparking additional concern about the department charged with protecting one of the world's most important and frequently visited complexes.
On Friday, CQ Roll Call spoke with members who called for a full investigation into firearms regulations. House Rules Chairman Pete Sessions, R-Texas, said he wanted Capitol Police to "retrain everyone that carries a gun."
Unlike a gun with a traditional safety, a Glock will fire if the trigger is pulled — making the young boy's alleged discovery of a gun in Boehner's office particularly concerning. The gun lost by McConnell's detail was left in a CVC bathroom within the Senate office space portion of the complex, lowering the likelihood it would be found by a tourist or visitor.Beijing: Prominent Australian artist Guo Jian has been detained in China amid a heightened security operation in central Beijing aimed at preventing the commemoration of the 25th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre.
Concerned friends and fellow artists say the 52-year-old Chinese-born Australian, a former soldier and Tiananmen Square protester, was taken away on Sunday night from his home in Songzhuang, an art colony on the eastern fringe of Beijing.
Guo sent two short text messages to friends on Sunday night saying he he had been taken away by police.
One friend, artist consultant Melanie Wang, said she was able to reach Guo on the phone shortly afterward. Guo said police had told him he would be released in 15 days and that he was being taken to a detention centre.The petition requires 315,654 signatures to make it onto the 2018 ballot
The Michigan Board of State Canvassers has approved a proposed ballot effort that would legalize cannabis within the state. The measure, proposed by Abrogate Prohibition Michigan of Midland, would change the state constitution to nullify all laws prohibiting or regulating cannabis, and prevent the state from levying any fines, penalties, or taxes on cannabis use. The measure would allow the state to tax and regulate cannabis sales, but would not require any such legislation.
"I call it the Second Amendment of cannabis," sponsor Timothy Locke said. The board voted unanimously to allow Locke to begin petitioning to get the measure onto next year's ballot. Because he is proposing a constitutional amendment, Locke must collect 315,654 signatures. Another pro-cannabis proposal, the Coalition to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol, only requires 252,523 signatures because it would only change state laws. This petition has already collected over 100,000 signatures.
Locke, a laborer who has used cannabis to treat chronic back pain for decades, said that his proposal would boost Michigan's economy by generating new business. Locke said that his proposal would also be retroactive to around 1970, when cannabis was criminalized on the state level. This would allow anyone imprisoned solely for state marijuana offenses to be released from prison and have their criminal records expunged. However, the amendment would not help anyone arrested on federal drug charges.
Josh Hovey, spokesman of the Coalition to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol, said that his organization “just can't imagine Michigan voters supporting” Locke's proposal. "The public expects responsible marijuana regulation that includes licensing, quality control and assurances that minors will not be able to access it."
Locke said that he will operate his campaign in a grassroots fashion, without paid signature collectors, and will begin collecting signatures next week.You've no doubt seen the news that Carl Icahn has taken a decent sized stake in Apple. And that he tweeted that he had done so and the storck zoomed. Just in case you haven't, here's Forbes staff writer Abram Brown's report on it:
Icahn revealed that he controls a large position in the Cupertino, Calif.-based company and considers the stock to be “extremely undervalued.” In addition, Icahn says he spoke with Apple CEO Tim Cook today, and true to form, he wasted no time in sharing his thoughts with Cook. “Discussed my opinion that a larger buyback should be done now,” Icahn writes in a new Twitter message, the latest medium used by the activist investor in his continued efforts to shakeup corporate America. “We plan to speak again shortly.” Shares of Apple immediately spiked following Icahn’s comments. The stock rose 3.8% to $485.03 in early afternoon trading.
The thing that interests me here is the rather out of favor economic theory called the efficient markets hypothesis. This theory has been blamed for all sorts of things, up to and including the recent financial crash. Indeed, there are those who insist that the very existence of that crash means that the EMH must therefore be wrong.
The problem with that idea is that it rather misunderstands what the EMH is actually saying. It isn't, for example, a statement that markets are always efficient: always efficient in the sense that we should only ever use markets to do things. It's also not saying that a market economy is the only way to organise things. All it is in fact saying is that markets are efficient at processing information.
More specifically, that markets are efficient at processing the information about what prices should be in a market. It also comes in three flavors, weak, semi-strong and strong. Roughly speaking the weak says that all generally known information is already in prices, the semi-strong that all public information is, the strong that all information is. Generally speaking all economists would sign up to the weak and a few to the strong.
As to how useful the EMH is really the major point being made is that it's extremely unlikely that you'll be able to beat the market. For any piece of information you've got is already in stock prices: thus a low- or no-load index fund is the place to save for your retirement.
And now we can test the EMH against this revelation from Carl Icahn that he's bought a decent piece of Apple stock:
Shares of Apple immediately spiked following Icahn’s comments. The stock rose 3.8% to $485.03 in early afternoon trading.
That's new information being presented to the market, it gets incorporated into the stock price pretty quickly, yes, I think we probably can say that markets are efficient at processing information. And do recall, that's all the EMH is trying to aver: not that markets are necessarily the most efficient way of doing things, not that we absolutely must have a market economy, only that markets are efficient at processing the information about what prices should be in a market. A test they seem to have passed yesterday afternoon.CLOSE Reading mammograms is about picking out malignant abnormalities from a sometimes confusing field of patches and threads and spots. In up to 1 in 2 women, dense tissue makes it even more difficult. Detroit Free Press
Buy Photo Dr. Renee Wayne Pinsky, who specializes in breast imaging, takes a break from examining scans at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center in Ann Arbor. She helped with language in the law that notifies women of dense breast tissue. (Photo: Kimberly P. Mitchell, Detroit Free Press)Buy Photo Story Highlights Mammograms remain the gold standard for breast cancer detection, but they're not perfect.
Tumors can hide in dense breast tissue - something that up to 1 in 2 women have.
The first step: Talk to your doctor about your risk.
Women with dense breast tissue — the sort that can hide potentially deadly tumors from routine mammograms — must be notified in writing and encouraged to consider additional tests under a new state law that is effective Monday.
While mammograms remain the gold standard for detecting breast tumors, they're less reliable in almost half of women with dense breast tissue. Dense or fibrous tissue shows up as splotches of white on a mammogram — so do tumors.
That will likely surprise many of the millions of women who rely on mammography for catching the earliest signs of cancer, said Nancy Cappello. The Connecticut woman was shocked in 2004, when her gynecologist found a lump — advanced cancer that had already spread to her lymph nodes — just months after a mammogram deemed her cancer-free.
"I'm thinking, 'Why do you think I'm getting my breasts squeezed every year and getting radiation (from mammograms) every year? It's supposed to find my cancer," she said.
Ca
ppello has been fighting for years for mandatory notification laws across the U.S. and established the www.AreYouDense.com web site to raise awareness about the limits of mammography in dense breast tissue. Inspired by Cappello's efforts, Grand Rapids attorney Teresa Hendricks-Pitsch, pushed for the new Michigan law. She even wrote out arguments for the law in 2011 while hooked up to a chemotherapy drip to fight cancer that had spread to her lymph nodes.
Buy Photo “We’re not going to diagnose all cancers on mammography,” says Dr. Renee Wayne Pinsky, a radiologist who says finding cancer in a mammogram can be like searching for a cotton ball in a snowstorm. (Photo: Kimberly P. Mitchell/Detroit Free Press)
Hendricks said a surgeon who excised her tumor told her it most likely had been growing for years. Hendricks-Pitsch's annual mammograms also missed the cancer.
Teresa Hendricks-Pitsch (Photo: Hendricks-Pitsch)
If women know about the limitations of mammograms in dense breast tissue, they can opt for follow-up screenings — ultrasounds or an MRI, for example, the women said.
Both said their health care providers knew about the presence of dense breast tissue, but no one told them or suggested additional testing or follow-up exams.
"My radiologists knew about it. My doctor knew about it," said Cappello. "Everybody seemed to know about it but me."
In Michigan, Hendricks-Pitsch said some have suggested she file a lawsuit. A change in law makes more sense, she said: "I want other women to have the information I didn't."
Buy Photo A woman gets a mammogram at the U-M center on Friday. (Photo: Kimberly P. Mitchell/Detroit Free Press)
Exams aren't perfect
Perhaps the first step in understanding is knowing this: Finding cancer in a mammogram is a matter of interpretation — the ability to discern an abnormality from a canvass of threads and splotches and spots in black and white and shades in between.
Dr. Renee Wayne Pinsky, a radiologist at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center, likens it to searching for a cotton ball in a snowstorm.
In a breast with fatty, less-dense tissue, the whiteness is more scattered against a gray and black landscape. An anomaly — such as a cotton ball — is easier to spot, said Pinsky.
But trying to read a scan of a dense breast tissue is more like peering through a fierce blizzard, trying to glean from a mostly white background a malignant whiteness.
"We're not going to diagnose all cancers on mammography," said Pinsky, who helped fine-tune some of the language in the law, which was introduced by Sen. Dave Hildenbrand, R-Lowell, who represents Hendricks-Pitsch's district.
Though some lawmakers and health providers raised concerns about the extra time demands on doctors, about insurance coverage and about causing unnecessary worry among patients, Michigan approved the bill in December. Gov. Rick Snyder signed it Jan. 10.
Michigan is among 22 states now with some law addressing raising awareness among women about the limits of mammograms in dense breast tissue.
Buy Photo The Medio-lateral Oblique scan on the left shows a fatty breast compared to the breast on the right, which shows a more dense breast seen at the University of Michigan Cancer Center in Ann Arbor, Mich. on Friday, May 22, 2015. (Photo: Kimberly P. Mitchell DFP)
Mammogram reports sent to doctors routinely contain information about breast density, but — without a law — its importance in screening is not always passed along to patients or discussed in a way that it's easily understood, said U-M's Pinsky.
And women with extremely dense breasts may face a twofold increased risk of breast cancer than they would if they had less-dense breasts. But Pinsky and other experts also say dense breast tissue doesn't necessarily justify more testing. On its own, dense tissue is not a cause for alarm.
"If you get the letter, the first thing I would tell you is not to worry (about dense breast tissue). It's a common factor," said Dr. Murray Rebner, chief of breast imaging at Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak and a past president of the national Society of Breast Imaging.
Rather, it's one of many variables that are sifted into a woman's breast cancer risk calculus, he said. Others include family history, age, the age when a woman began menstruating, and the age when she first gave birth.
If a patient's level of risk warrants more testing, there are several options, including ultrasounds, that use sound waves to peer inside the breast, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), which uses magnetic fields, or molecular breast imaging, which uses a higher dose of radiation than mammograms but has a high rate of cancer detection.
However, unlike routine mammograms, which are free under federal health reform because they're considered a preventive service, insurers differ on how they cover those tests. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan and Health Alliance Plan, two of metro Detroit's largest insurers, say they cover such tests on a case-by-case basis, for example.
Cappello said the cost shouldn't discourage women from talking to their doctor. It is the doctor, she said, who can help them better understand the risk, sort through pros and cons of follow-up exams and help them work with insurers.
Risk factors for breast cancer
A notification that you have dense breast tissue shouldn't cause you to panic. But it is reason to consider more testing if you have other risk factors for breast cancer.
The National Cancer Institute has developed a tool for determining your risk based on what researchers currently know. This calculation changes periodically. Among the variables:
■ Age
■ Age at first period
■ Age at the time of first child's birth (or has not given birth)
■ Family history of breast cancer (mother, sister or daughter)
■ Number of past breast biopsies
■ Dense breast tissue
■ Number of breast biopsies showing atypical hyperplasia, a benign breast condition in which the cells appear abnormal under a microscope
■ Race and ethnicity
For more information about the risk assessment tool, go to www.cancer.gov/BCRISKTOOL. For more information about breast density and risks associated with it, go to www.densebreast-info.org or www.areyoudense.org.
Options for women with dense breast tissue
Ultrasound: Using sound waves to image the breast, this test does not emit radiation like mammograms. It has been shown to detect invasive cancers that mammograms miss, but they also may generate false positives that lead to unnecessary biopsies. Ultrasound is readily available.
Magnetic Resonance Imaging: Known more commonly as an MRI, this exam uses a magnetic field to detect blood concentrations around tumors. Like ultrasound, it is effective in cancer detection but also may generate more false positives. MRI is generally recommended for women with the highest cancer risk. Investigators are looking into the possibility of doing fast breast MRI screening scans — about 5 minutes rather than the usual 20-30 minutes — to boost the number of exams and reduce the cost.
Tomosynthesis: Also known as 3D mammography, this type of x-ray exam increases detection of invasive cancers over traditional digital mammogram and reduces the number of women who are called back for more additional mammograms. Not all providers offer this option.
Molecular Breast Imaging: Known as an MBI or Breast Specific Gamma Imaging, this test uses a radioactive contrast agent and is highly sensitive in detecting cancer. It generates less false positives, but it also exposes more of the body to radiation. Not all providers offer this option.
Read or Share this story: http://on.freep.com/1Hxs7sZAiden Jude enters the spotlight with ‘Tonight’
Age is irrelevant in the mind of Aiden Jude, the 10-year old electro house producer who’s opening for Mobb Deep in Hollywood and already has gigs lined up at Lure and LAVO NY. Born and raised in New York City, Jude credits his father and his uncle DJ Coleman for introducing him to the genre he now calls home. “My dad is a musician and an endless ball of energy,” the young producer reflects candidly, noting that in addition to his family his greatest idols are Sebastian Ingrosso, Tiësto, Avicii and Hardwell. Focusing his attention on electro house, he acknowledges that he is only at the start of his journey, dabbling in Logic and Ableton to hone his craft. At the forefront of the next wave of electronic producers who have been inspired by the EDM boom, Aiden Jude is paving the way for more producers like him, but he’s still just a kid enthralled to be experiencing everything he has thus far;
I’m a regular kid. I play sports. I like computer games. I like everything kids like. Most of all, I like life. I sincerely enjoy living. I got to see and experience a lot from very early on with traveling around the world and very active family. I just love life and that I would say is my inspiration.
Like Hardwell and A-Trak before him, Aiden Jude may be young, but for what he lacks in years he more than makes up for in passion. His lead single “Tonight” marks his first official release into the festival house circuit, pairing a big room top line with a thunderous break. An inspiration to aspiring producers still in grade school, Jude’s debut is now available on Beatport.
Purchase: Beatport
Like Aiden Jude on Facebook.
Follow Aiden Jude on Twitter.
Categories: MusicGingerbread (the Android 2.3.2 version) has been leaked for the Samsung Galaxy S i9000. Users at XDA Developers are saying that it includes Touchwiz 4, and download mode is still available. It also looks like Samsung is now using the ext4 file system, which should bring performance boosts much like the ones on the Nexus S.
Remember, this is a beta build -- at best. I wouldn't recommend anyone run and flash it, but in the hands of developers it's like 24 karat gold -- possibly leading to things like CyanogenMod 7 for Samsung Galaxy S phones. What this means for US customers who are tied to a carrier for upgrades is unknown, but at least Samsung has Gingerbread in the works. Check the source link for download locations. [XDA-Developers] Thanks everyone who sent this in!
Update: Supercurio, of Voodoo fame, has had a look and verifies that this does not enable the ext4 file system. His word is good as gold when it comes to the Galaxy S -- blame excited users and bloggers for the mix-up.Image caption Karl Lang brainwashed his vulnerable victims, Newport Crown Court was told
A psychic is facing jail after he was found guilty of duping young women into performing sex acts.
Karl Lang, 49, was convicted of 12 counts of causing women to engage in sexual activity without consent at Newport Crown Court.
Lang, of Newport, targeted two women in their 20s who sought him out in the belief he could contact dead relatives.
The judge said jail was inevitable. Lang, who denied the charges, will be sentenced at a later date.
The court heard that both women were encouraged to perform sex acts in front of him and pressed to act more and more outrageously as his influence increased.
This involved a very serious breach of trust and an immediate custodial sentence is, it seems to me, absolutely inevitable Judge Patrick Curran QC, Newport Crown Court
One woman told the trial she was conned into acting like a "porn star" in the belief that it would boost her own spiritual powers.
The court was told that Lang generally sat watching, fully clothed, but would occasionally take his clothes off and join in.
His manipulative behaviour lasted nearly four years and covered a period from November 2005 until September 2009, the court heard.
A jury found him guilty of all 12 charges, dismissing claims that he was an innocent spiritualist instructor. All 12 counts were majority verdicts.
Judge Patrick Curran QC agreed to grant Lang bail to "get his affairs in order" until a sentencing hearing some time in July.
'Cynical exploitation'
He said: "This involved a very serious breach of trust and an immediate custodial sentence is, it seems to me, absolutely inevitable."
He described Lang's activity as "systematic conduct and a breach of trust involving two very vulnerable young women".
He added that they were "vulnerable in the sense that they were bere |
Muslims of the Indian subcontinent.
Rare win
Amazingly in its first season in the Calcutta League in 1934, Mohammedan Sporting won the title. In 1936, the club achieved the rare double of winning both the League and the IFA Shield, becoming only the second Indian team after Mohun Bagan to win the Shield.
Only three British teams - Royal Irish Rifles, the Gordon Highlanders and the Calcutta Football Club - had achieved this distinction.
The euphoria over Mohammedan Sporting's victories spread like wildfire.
Every match played by the club drew a huge crowd. The nationalist English daily, Amrita Bazar Patrika, reported that the "popularity of the team increased with every match" and the gates would have to be closed long before the match began.
Image copyright Ronny roy Image caption The club's big following has little to cheer these days
The crowds that thronged to watch Mohammedan Sporting play comprised young men as well as older people, including clerics.
In 1935, for instance, some 60,000 people turned up to watch Mohammedan Sporting defeat Mohun Bagan at the Calcutta Football Club ground.
After the victory, as a newspaper reported, "fireworks were lit, balloons sent up, pigeons released and the Mohammedans of Calcutta made merry till late in the night".
Inspiration
There were good reasons for Mohammedan Sporting's success.
The club broke with the practice of its main Calcutta rivals, Mohun Bagan and East Bengal, by recruiting players from outside Bengal.
In this it had a significant advantage over its city rivals since it could recruit Muslim players from all over the subcontinent. Indeed, the club recruited players from as far afield as Quetta and Peshawar in modern-day Pakistan.
The club also decided its players should wear boots when it was wet. This was enormously important for its success since it was the practice of the major Calcutta clubs to play barefoot whatever the weather.
In 1933 six Mohammedan Sporting players donned boots for the first time on a wet day and thrashed a local side by an incredible 16-0 margin.
The impact of the club's astounding success was hardly limited to the football pitch. Muslim poets like the great Kazi Nazrul Islam were inspired to compose poetry in honour of the team.
Image copyright Ronny roy
Image copyright Ronny roy Image caption Happier days - when Mohammedan Sporting was winning tournaments
At the same time, Muslim leaders claimed the victory as a signal event for the community. A prominent regional Muslim leader and future premier of Bengal, Fazlul Huq, noted that Mohammedan Sporting had "earned a name for Muslims in the sporting world, of which the community may justly be proud".
After Mohammedan Sporting won another major trophy - the Rovers Cup held in Bombay (now Mumbai) in 1940 - the Muslim League leader and founder of Pakistan Muhammad Ali Jinnah told Muslim students that the "discipline which sports teaches must be harnessed for the benefit of the Muslim community as a whole".
Indian independence, the partition of the sub-continent and the migration of many patrons of Mohammedan Sporting to East and West Pakistan dealt a blow to the club.
Tough decisions
The most notable aspect of Mohammedan Sporting's evolution in independent India was the composition of the club's team.
In the 1950s the team was still composed primarily of Muslims. From the 1960s, however, non-Muslim players joined the club in greater numbers.
In the early 1980s, bankrolled by a Calcutta Muslim businessman, the club managed to attract players from the Mohun Bagan and East Bengal teams and win several tournaments.
Mohammedan Sporting won the Calcutta League in 1981, after a gap of nearly 15 years, with as many as eight Hindus - including upper-caste Brahmins - turning out for the side.
That legacy counts for little now.
The club has had funding problems over the past several years and was relegated to the second division of India's premier football competition, the I-League, in 2013-14.
Though this is not the end of the road for the 123-year-old club, its administrators will have to take some tough decisions and provide astute leadership to keep Mohammedan Sporting afloat.
The writer teaches at the National University of Singapore. He is the co-editor of Being Muslim in South Asia: Diversity and Daily Life (2014).About
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To accomplish our goal, first had to be able beat hackers at their own game, using their own tools. To do this, we reverse engineered several commercially available automated password cracking programs to understand these programs methodologies.
Our Pledge To Serve Those Who Protect Us
As a thank you to you and the Kickstarter community for supporting us, for every reward pledge we receive for our DataGateKeeper software during this campaign. We will award a complimentary lifetime subscription of our 768-bit First Responder DataGateKeeper Software including 500GB of our SafeDataZone in your name to one of the organizations listed in our post campaign survey, tending to the people who protect our lives and our liberty. They should not have to worry about data theft when their mission is far greater.
DataGateKeeper™ — Outclassing the Market on Price & Security
Why settle for inferior data protection and Cloud storage?
The chart below compares the highest MSRP of our DataGateKeeper Total Data Protection Software™ & integrated SafeDataZone™ versus the competitors lowest available published price, and security solution, for data ‘at-rest’ and ‘in-motion’. Not one competitor offers 512-bit plan that is like or similar to the DataGateKeeper.
You Deserve Better.
DataGateKeeper Software Integrates into Other Cloud Providers
If you have already paid your annual subscription for "one of the other guys", don't fret, the DataGateKeeper fully integrates to those platforms so you can protect your private and confidential files with our powerful data security software.
Our 64GB Flashdrive
Our limited edition 64GB 3.0 USB flashdrive comes with the DataGateKeeper™ software pre-installed. Oh... and it is hardened and waterproofed up to 100 meters! Now you can have the ultimate in convenience and data security. Use the DataGateKeeper solely on the USB, all encryption and decryption can be performed on the flashdrive using the DataGateKeeper browser. When you eject the USB you take your secured files with you anywhere. If you travel this is a wonderful solution for making sure your documents are always secure. When using the hotel computer to print out your flight itinerary pop in your DataGateKeeper Flashdrive, print from the your secure DataGateKeeper browser, eject and your footprint is virtually eliminated. The Building of an Superior Data Security Solution & Cloud Our goal was to purposefully design and engineer an easy to use, mathematically superior data protection solution where users could control the security of their data, at point-of-use, on their device, prior to transmission or storage. The R&D Plan To build the DataGateKeeper, we disassembled and reverse engineered several automated password cracking software programs. This was to understand their procedural sequence and methodologies related to code acquisition, code cracking, or as it is known, hashed access to code and source. Additionally, we decompiled these programs to gain insight on hacking software's proclivity to exploit weakness in cycle rates, including their integrated and powerful automation multipliers, and natural GPU processor affinity. Following months research we had what we needed to protect you. FIPS Validation Plan Now that our DataGateKeeper cryptographic module is complete, we plan to submit our module for independent validation the sooner of; official final publication of the NIST pronouncement on the Federal Register seeking comment to portions of 19790 (deemed 19790:2014), to update 140-2, or, the official abandonment of such update. We plan to use Underwriters Laboratory (UL), however, there are several other certified laboratories performing FIPS certification. Following validation and patent (currently we rely on trade secret to protect our algorithm) we will release our algorithm to select members of the cryptographic community for further development and analysis under a very specific set of guidelines which we will solely determine. Open Source We have no plans to release any portion or portions of our code as Open Source. Those of you in the software community who are Open Source advocates are welcome to invest your time, effort and capital to develop a competitive data security solution and release it as Open Source...we encourage it. Go get em champs. Vulnerability Coordination & Bug Bounty Platform We are currently coordinating efforts to provide the DataGateKeeper, under strict guidelines, to one or more vulnerability coordination platforms, such as Hackerone. Our plan includes inviting predetermined, preselected software testers to leverage their skills and creativity to undertake periodic reviews of our data security solution to inspect for vulnerabilities and assist us with future updates. We will use this form of Bug Bounty Platform to provide independent testers a forum to aid us in future developments and testing before updates are published. Next Steps Complete the stress testing and subscriber (license) verification call-backs, which includes obfuscation of our DataGateKeeper code for Windows, Android and Apple platforms. Clearly, we would not release our software absent robust licensing controls and obfuscation, given the community we are targeting to put out of business. The DataGateKeeper Total Data Protection Software™ is materially complete absent the above licensing call-backs, obfuscation and stress testing. B2B Solution: FIPS Validation of our cryptographic module for the SMB market. We anticipate market sensitivity to FIPS validation for the Small and Medium Business (SMB), and enterprise sector. While we have a unique 'permission based solution' for these sectors, prior to making the DataGateKeeper Total Data Protection Software™ and SafeDataZone™ available, we will submit our cryptographic module to independent validation as described in our FIPS Validation Plan above. We believe the B2B market is an important market to target for the DataGateKeeper cybersecurity solution, given the continued and growing failures of current data security protocols, methods and procedures. We believe current data security and its patchwork of mitigation patches and updates has reached functional obsolescence, however, failed and stale dogma still is the predicate in this sector. The B2B cybersecurity market spends billions of dollars in post breach analysis, akin to closing the barn door after the horse has left the barn. Once our cryptographic module (Deterrence_V1.1) completes validation, we will look to develop a market in this sector for the DataGateKeeper Total Data Protection Software™ and SafeDataZone™. Additionally, we will look to partner and/or license our cybersecurity solution for submission to the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP®) as a compliant solution. Choose the the DataGateKeeper Total Data Protection Software™. Notes:
http://www.nytimes.com/1994/06/12/magazine/battle-of-the-clipper-chip.html
http://www.theguardian.com/world/interactive/2013/nov/01/snowden-nsa-files-surveillance-revelations-decoded#section/1Fall is coming! Or at least there was a hint of fall approaching last Friday. The sky was overcast, the sun went down early, and there was a chill in the air. I spent the afternoon mourning the loss of summer, and by 5 o’clock, I was ready to bundle up in a blanket in front of the fireplace to watch a movie while sipping a mug of hot cocoa. With a dollop of whipped cream on top. I’d gotten used to the idea of fall weather. Convinced myself that it wasn’t all that bad. I mean, there are lots of great things about fall. Best of which are the endless possibilities for pumpkin desserts. So we marked the change in seasons with a heaping bowl of Trader Joe’s pumpkin ice cream Friday night, followed by these freshly baked pumpkin pie muffins in the morning.
Signs of fall were all around as the weekend began. The Monterey Market received this year’s enormous pumpkin for their annual guess-the-weight contest. The aisles of Safeway donned cheesy turkey-themed decorations. The fenced-in urban pumpkin patch opened its doors in Emeryville. An orange leaf floated into my picture frame from the tree above. By Saturday afternoon, we were dreaming of Thanksgiving over these fluffy spiced pumpkin pie muffins. And by evening, we’d caved to the teasing of the season and pulled our electric blanket out of storage. And then BOOM! Just when you think fall is here to stay, summer barrels back through, wiping out any signs of autumn. Yesterday reached a record-breaking sweltering 95ºF. Our tiny air conditioner-less apartment turned into a sauna as it soaked up the heat coming in from our west-facing sliding glass door. Interrupting my reading to stick my head in the freezer, I thought, “at least I have these muffins to console me.”
For one tiny moment in time, these muffins transported us to the coming season. Imagine all the spices of your favorite Thanksgiving pumpkin pie mixed up into a moist fluffy morsel. Each bite (slightly) healthier than a sugary cupcake, but loaded with just as much flavor pizaz. Yummy! They were also the perfect excuse to pull out my new baby blue cake stand from Collete @ Just for Foodies. With these muffins for breakfast, I’ll happily let go of summer.
PrintThe US expressed horror on Friday over the release by Pakistan this week of Hafiz Saeed, the mastermind of the November 2008 terrorist attacks in the Indian city of Mumbai whose targets included Nariman House, the local Chabad center.
“The United States is deeply concerned that Lashkar-e-Tayyiba (LeT) leader Hafiz Saeed has been released from house arrest in Pakistan,” a statement from the State Department declared on Friday. “LeT is a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization responsible for the death of hundreds of innocent civilians in terrorist attacks, including a number of American citizens. The Pakistani government should make sure that he is arrested and charged for his crimes.”
The statement noted that in May 2008, “the United States Department of the Treasury designated Saeed as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist.”
“Since 2012, the United States has offered a U.S. $10 million reward for information that brings Saeed to justice,” the statement continued.
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On November 26, 2008, ten LeT operatives entered Mumbai by sea and launched a coordinated gun-and-bomb assault on multiple sites in India’s most populous metropolis, killing 166 people — including six Jews at Nariman House.
Saeed had been under house arrest in the Pakistani city of Lahore since January. A Lahore court this week ordered his release, rejecting the Pakistani government’s arguments that he was a threat to public safety. Dozens of cheering supporters greeted Saeed as he exited the court.
In an interview with the BBC, Saeed said the court’s decision was proof of his innocence with regard to the Mumbai attacks. “India has always leveled allegations of terrorism…but (Lahore) High Court decision has proved that all of India’s propaganda are false,” Saeed said.
Speaking to a crowd of followers, Saeed declared, “I am not struggling for any personal gains. My struggle is aimed at safeguarding the interests of Pakistan. I want Kashmir’s freedom from India and this is my crime.”
India reacted to Saeed’s release with fury, describing it as “an attempt by the Pakistani system to mainstream proscribed terrorists.”
“Pakistan has not changed its policy of shielding and supporting non-state actors and its true face is visible for all to see,” an Indian government spokesperson said on Thursday.DAMASCUS -- President Bashar al-Assad has announced an ambitious new government program to import more cousins from Iran owing to recent shortages in children of his aunts and uncles.
"It's true. Because of the Zionist-CIA-takfiri conspiracy on Syria, we are now running low on cousins," special presidential advisor Bouthaina Shaaban said in a press conference today. "And surface-to-air missiles."
In the last two weeks, three of President Assad's male cousins have been killed in the family's ancestral home of Latakia. Hilal al-Assad, the head of the National Defense Forces, a militia constructed by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, was martyred in clashes with terrorists in the border town of Kasab. Sources close to the Guard have said that Hilal's death was his own fault, caused by his decision to skip an important guerrilla warfare seminar on offensive maneuvers held in Tehran in early February.
"Instead of learning how get the drop on al-Qaeda in an intense one-day exercise that began at 8 a.m., Hilal chose to stay up partying the night before with three very friendly ladies from Shiraz," one high-placed Qods Force military trainer official said. “So he slept in and missed the whole thing. The women were executed as Saudi spies."
Hilal’s raucous lifestyle rendered him ill-equipped for negotiating Israeli-trained jihadists. His body was discovered shot once through the heart, though an early autopsy indicates that he may have been passed out before he was killed.
Two more of the president's cousins -- Ali and Kifah al-Assad -- also died in Latakia in the last week. However, their deaths may not have been caused by fighting the enemy but rather each other. Eyewitnesses say the boys had a heated dispute which turned violent over the remaining balance in a Credit Suisse joint checking account in Dubai. Both were discovered with multiple neck and head stab wounds in a mountain valley.
Qassem Suleimani, the Qods Force commander who has generously helped Syria eradicate imperialism, has indicated in an interview with the Fars news agency that he will use surplus Iranian cash recently made available by relaxed Western sanctions to export more cousins to Damascus. “There goes the new Maserati we were planning to give Bashar. Now Obama’s generosity will send Faisal and Zahran al-Assad to Latakia. Faisal’s IQ is 83.”
“I’ve seen Pakistani centrifuges with more staying power than these Assad boys,” Suleimani said.
Editor’s Note: Please note that this is a satirical piece.Christchurch City Council approves last minute changes to its 2016-17 annual budget.
The Christchurch City Council will spend $1 million supporting Cantabrians with mental health issues after approving last-minute changes to its annual budget.
Children from low income families will get a 25 per cent discount at all council-owned swimming pools and $400,000 will be spent establishing a City Foundation to promote philanthropic and investment opportunities for community projects.
The council also put $500,000 aside to convert the Mona Vale gatehouse and a building at Halswell Quarry Park into cafes, subject to staff advice.
An additional $1.7m was found to fix footpaths and $428,000 would be spent finishing the Mt Pleasant War Memorial Community Centre. Councillors also decided to contribute $20,000 toward a $400,000 pedestrian bridge and wharf on the lower Heathcote River – an idea mooted by Tannery developer Alasdair Cassels.
The last-minute changes to the 2016-17 annual plan were unanimously approved by the council on Tuesday following community consultation.
The council was now expected to approve the annual plan, with a 4.9 per cent rate increase, on Thursday, once auditors had a chance to look over the changes.
The rate increase was slightly lower than the 5 per cent increase proposed in the draft plan. It would take the average weekly rates bill in the city to about $44 in the 2016-17 year, up from $42.
Dalziel said the changes picked up on what was important about living in Christchurch and the Banks Peninsula.
"I think what the amendments have done [on Tuesday] is capture the essence of what local government is all about."
She defended the council's decision to spend money on mental health, after the council came under fire for funding something that was not core business.
The opportunity to partner with the Government to establish a fund to support community-led psychosocial wellbeing and resilience was a "fantastic opportunity", she said.
"Why wouldn't we want to work with central government to achieve better outcomes for our city?
"We are still a city that has requirements for psychosocial wellbeing."
Cr Yani Johanson said the council already spent money on mental health through its community grants and he worried about the precedent the move would set.
Dalziel said the money would replace the $1m the previous council took from the Christchurch Earthquake Mayoral Relief Fund to help fund the earthquake memorial.
She criticised the former council's decision, saying she could not understand it.
"It doesn't make sense to me."
People from all over the world donated to the fund after the earthquakes to help rebuild the social wellbeing of the community, not to fund a memorial, she said.
Dalziel said she started working last year to get the money reinstated to the fund, but it had already been transferred.
The council was now proposing to take the $1m from the participatory democracy budget.
In other late inclusions into the annual plan, the council would spend $250,000 to enable Akaroa Museum to complete the fit out of its exhibition spaces. It would also put another $40,000 into the council's learn to swim programme and asked staff to bring forward options on improving the intersection of Cashmere, Hoon Hay and Worsleys roads.In the latest update to Apple Maps, public transit directions have been added for Ireland. Steve Troughton-Smith wryly commented that the update had arrived just in time for the weather to shut down public transport in the country …
NordVPN
Whee Apple Maps public transit added to Ireland just in time for the hurricane to shut it all down
A red weather warning was issued for Ireland as the remnants of Hurricane Ophelia hit the country, with gusts of more than 100mph off the coast, and around 120,000 homes without power.
A more positive interpretation of the timing might be just in time for construction workers to make their way to the site of Apple’s new Irish data center, approved last week after a 2.5-year delay.
Sample Irish journeys in Apple Maps show both bus and rail services (above). DART is the Dublin Area Rapid Transit, an electric rail system.
For those travelling by car, iOS 11 brought lane guidance to Apple Maps in CarPlay, along with new route recommendations.
Check out 9to5Mac on YouTube for more Apple news:The list of powerful men accused of wielding their influence to abuse, harass, and rape women keeps growing.
After the dust settles, many of the alleged abusers, like comedian Louis C.K. and Hollywood executive Harvey Weinstein, will face irreparable professional damages. But their careers won’t be the first they’ve derailed.
Many of the women who have come forward over the last several months say they’ve suffered devastating repercussions as a direct result of the abuse. Some have lost jobs and promotions; others have changed their entire career trajectory in an attempt to mitigate the possibility of another assault.
Their stories point to a troubling pattern for survivors who speak out of against workplace mistreatment — according to one study, 75% face some form of retaliation.
Here’s how some high-profile sexual assault cases have shaped the careers of the women thrust into them.
Dana Min Goodman and Julia Wolov
(l-r) Dana Min Goodman; Julia Wolov Getty Images (2)
Five women have accused comedian Louis C.K. of sexual misconduct, all who worked with C.K. on comedy events or production sets. Goodman and Wolov, a Chicago-based comedy duo, told the New York Times that an unwanted sexual encounter with the comedian, and their decision to speak about it openly, sullied their professional reputation.
“Guys were backing away from us,” Wolov told the Times. A day after the incident, “We could already feel the backlash.”
In a statement, C.K. confirmed the allegations.
“I have been remorseful of my actions. And I’ve tried to learn from them. And run from them. Now I’m aware of the extent of the impact of my actions,” he wrote.
In the Times story, Goodman and Wolov also allege that Dave Becky, C.K.’s manager, urged their management team to keep the encounter under wraps. As a result, the duo have worried Becky (who manages superstar comedians like Aziz Ansari and Amy Poehler) has knowingly blocked them from projects.
On Monday, Becky issued an apology for his behavior.
“I profoundly regret and am deeply sorry for not listening to and not understanding what happened to Dana and Julia,” he wrote. “If I had, I would have taken this event as seriously as it deserved to be, and I would have confronted Louis, which would have been the right thing to do.”
Tara Subkoff, Mira Sorvino, and Rosanna Arquette
(l-r) Mira Sorvino, Tara Subkof, Rosanna Arquette Getty Images (2)
At this point, numerous women have accused movie producer Harvey Weinstein of rape, assault, or harassment — and reporting from the New York Times and the New Yorker suggest there could be others.
For many of Weinstein’s victims, speaking out against the executive, or rebuffing his advances, has caused significant career damage.
In an interview with Variety, actress Tara Subkoff — who made her film debut in the 1994 thriller When the Bough Breaks — says her professional life never fully recovered after she turned down a sexual advance from Weinstein at a premiere party around the same time.
“My reputation was ruined by false gossip, and I was called ‘too difficult to work with,’” she says. “It became impossible for me to get work as an actress after this.”
Actress Mira Sorvino told the New Yorker that an encounter with Weinstein may have blacklisted her from job opportunities.
“I definitely felt iced out and that my rejection of Harvey had something to do with it,” she says.
Rosanna Arquette, another actress who spoke to the New Yorker about alleged harassment from Weinstein, says the producer told her she was making a mistake by rejecting him.
“He made things very difficult for me for years,” she says.
In a statement to the Times, Weinstein admits that his actions have “caused a lot of pain,” but in a second statement to the New Yorker, denies “any allegations of non-consensual sex.”
Juliet Huddy
Juliet Huddy and Megyn Kelly on Monday, October 23, 2017 Nathan Congleton/NBC—NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images
Bill O’Reilly made multiple sexual advances towards Huddy, a former Fox News employee, in 2011, according to a January report in the New York Times. When she refused, O’Reilly “began to retaliate against her both on and off air,” her lawyers write in a letter to Fox News. Here’s an excerpt:
Mr. O’Reilly “nitpicked her work” and would “berate Ms. Huddy for minor mistakes,” according to the letter. Mr. O’Reilly stopped preparing her for segments and would surprise her with story angles that they had not discussed. In 2013, Ms. Huddy was replaced on one segment of his show. Another segment that she was featured in, called “Mad as Hell,” was canceled. She did not complain, fearing retaliation, she told current and former Fox News employees at the time.
In October, Huddy appeared on an NBC News segment hosted by Megyn Kelly, her former Fox News colleague, to talk about the challenges harassment victims face when going against powerful companies like Fox News.
“You know that you’re just this one person that’s about to go up against literally a machine,” she said.
In April, O’Reilly was forced out of his anchor position at Fox News.
Last month, the Times reported that O’Reilly paid $32 million to settle new sexual harassment claims at the beginning of the year.
O’Reilly has continuously denied all allegations against him — in a radio interview with Glenn Beck a few days after the news broke, O’Reilly called the Times reporting “a malicious smear,” and has also said he was “mad at God” for his current situation.
Gretchen Carlson and Kellie Boyle
(l-r) Kellie Boyle; Gretchen Carlson courtesy of Kellie Boyle
In 2016, Carlson, another former Fox News host, sued Roger Ailes, the network’s president and longtime political consultant, claiming he fired her for rebuffing his sexual advances.
In the weeks following, more than 20 other women came forward with allegations against Ailes, leading to his eventual resignation.
Kellie Boyle, a former political communications consultant who says she was harassed by Ailes in 1989, says the incident “soured” her dream of working in politics. Today, she runs a marketing firm with her husband.
“I was really lost for a few years,” Boyle tells Fortune. “I had my career taken away from me.”
Ailes denied all of the allegations against him before his death in May 2017.
Andrea Constand, Helen Gumpel, and Barbara Bowman
(l-r) Helen Gumpel, Barbara Bowman, Andrea Constand AP (1)
At least 60 women have accused actor Bill Cosby of rape or sexual assault, and many say the experience dealt a blow to their careers.
Andrea Constand, former director of operations of the women’s basketball team at Temple University, switched to massage therapy after Cosby assaulted her in 2004, according to reports. So did Helen Gumpel, a former model and actress who says Cosby made sexual advances towards her during an audition for The Cosby Show in 1988.
“I never thought of myself as a victim because I refused his advances,” Gumpel said in a 2015 press conference. “But my career was a victim.”
In a 2014 column for the Washington Post, Barbara Bowman says Cosby drugged and rape her in 1985, when she was an aspiring actress. She told her agent, and a friend’s lawyer, but neither offered to make her story public. Today, she works as an artist in Phoenix.
“I was a teenager from Denver acting in McDonald’s commercials,” Bowman writes. “He was Bill Cosby: consummate American dad Cliff Huxtable and the Jell-O spokesman. Eventually, I had to move on with my life and my career.”
Cosby denies the allegations, and has sued some of his accusers for defamation. His criminal trial ended in June with a hung jury; a retrial is set for March 2018.
Anita Hill
Anita Hill testifies before Senate Judiciary Committee on Oct. 14, 1991. Laura Patterson/CQ Roll Call—Getty Images
In 1991, Hill stepped into the spotlight when her private allegations accusing Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas of sexual harassment were leaked to the press. (Thomas was confirmed later that year.)
Hill, who was working as a law professor at the University of Oklahoma at the time, stepped down after republican politicians attempted to shutter the school’s law program. Conservative pundits, for their part, famously deemed her “a little bit nutty and a little bit slutty.”
Thomas denies the allegations. In 2010, his wife left a voicemail on Hill’s answering machine asking her to recant her decades-old accusation, according to the New York Times.
In the years since the scandal broke, Hill’s had no trouble finding work as a professor, speaker, and author. But after the Weinstein news broke, she spoke candidly about the professional challenges sexual harassment victims face to Variety.
“You don’t want to have this become you or your brand,” she says. “In some ways, the higher the profile of the person you’re accusing is, the more likely that is to happen.”NRA Wastes No Time: 2016 Elections Will Be "The Fight Of Our Lives For American Freedom" November 10, 2014 3:02 PM EST ››› Blog ›››››› TIMOTHY JOHNSON
National Rifle Association executive vice president Wayne LaPierre warned that "all we've worked for" with regard to "our freedom since the founding of the country could be in jeopardy" in the 2016 elections while also stating that "every American owes NRA members and gun owners a debt of gratitude" for the 2014 election outcomes. The NRA frequently rallies its supporters by suggesting each election cycle could bring about the destruction of the Second Amendment or even the entire United States of America while baselessly giving itself credit in instances where Republicans do well at the polls. During a November 6 appearance on the NRA's radio show Cam & Company, LaPierre wasted no time turning to 2016, stating, "We've won the first half here of the game, but we won't win the battle until we win all the game and 2016 is a big deal." "I mean if we end up with an anti-Second Amendment president in 2016, I mean all we've worked for in the last 30 years or our freedom since the founding of the country could be in jeopardy," LaPierre added. Arguing that "we need to get NRA stronger," LaPierre went on to describe the 2016 election as "the fight of our lives for American freedom." LaPierre also said in the 2014 elections that the NRA had "beat the Bloombergs, we beat the Clintons, this time, but they're not going away and if they win in '15 and '16 the damage that they can do to the Second Amendment is unimaginable. (Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is a prominent gun safety activist and was the primary backer of an "historic" 2014 ballot initiative to expand background checks on gun sales in Washington state.) LaPierre concluded his remarks by saying, "we are never going to have a bigger challenge than what we have to pull off together in 2016." That sentiment from the NRA is one that observers have heard time and again. Just days ago the NRA warned that the "the future of our Second Amendment rights comes down to one day -- Election Day 2014," which is "the most important of our lifetime" because "[o]ur fundamental right to keep and bear arms has never been in greater jeopardy."
In a 2014 "special two-cover election issue" the NRA's magazine America's 1st Freedom urged supporters to "vote to save us all" because "only pro-gun candidates can confront Obama's last two years." The second cover featured an assault weapon-toting Islamic State militant and urged readers to "vote your guns" because "your Second Amendment freedom has never been more important or necessary."
In his "Standing Guard" column, LaPierre wrote that we were "just days away from the most historic election of our time -- an election that can reverse the collapse in American values that we see all around us today." According to LaPierre, voting with the NRA's slate of candidates was important because Obama is "[d]estroying" America.
Unsurprisingly, in 2012 LaPierre described elections that year as the "most important" in United States history, before comparing the prospect of Obama's reelection to a 2004 tsunami that killed more than 250,000 people in South Asia.
LaPierre wrote (emphasis original), "It might seem like a stretch to compare an election to one of the deadliest disasters in modern history. This year's election could prove the most disastrous in the history of this country. Why? Because this election will decide whether Americans remain free." In a separate release on 2012, LaPierre wrote, "This isn't just the most important election of our lifetimes -- it's the most important election for our children's, grandchildren's and great-grandchildren's lifetimes." (2008 was also "the most important election battle of our lifetime.")
After the 2012 elections -- which featured astoundingly inept election spending by the NRA -- LaPierre said of Democrats who support gun safety proposals, "I predict in 2014, when they are out on that plank, if they walk it with Obama, the American public and the NRA will saw it right off behind him and defend this freedom."
Now LaPierre is attempting to take credit for 2014, saying on the NRA's radio show that NRA supporters "changed the history of this country, it -- they provided the margin of victory, and I'll tell you, every American owes NRA members and gun owners a debt of gratitude."
There is no evidence for the claim that NRA supporters were responsible for the 2014 election outcomes. According to exit polling Americans' biggest concerns were the economy, health care, immigration, and terrorism/ISIS. When asked about "gun policies" -- which would presumably encompass both the NRA and gun safety advocates' agendas -- just one in ten voters selected it as one of their top two concerns.
While analyses are explaining the midterm outcomes in myriad ways, the big story about guns was not a victory for the NRA but rather the passage by Washington state voters of a ballot initiative that expanded background checks on gun sales.
LaPierre's November 6 appearance on NRA News:As it heads into its third year of release, multiplayer online battle arena game Heroes of the Storm finds itself in a moment of transition. Developer Blizzard has announced a massive overhaul of the game’s struggling esports scene, looking to give it a shot in the arm. The game is about to |
Array = ['Varanasi', 'Delhi', 'Mumbai']; stdAddMsg = 'Add Student'; //Property for child component two stdMsg = 'Student Leader Detail'; stdLeaderObj = new Student('Narendra', 'Modi'); //Property used in parent stdFullName = ''; sum = ''; msg = ''; saveData(std) { this.stdFullName = std.fname +'' + std.lname ; } printSum(res) { this.sum = res; } printMsg(msg) { this.msg = msg; } }
import {Component, EventEmitter, Input, Output} from '@angular/core'; import {Student} from './student'; @Component({ selector: 'child-one', template: ` <h3>{{childTitle}}</h3> <b> {{ctMsg}}</b> <ul> <li *ngFor = "let cname of myctArray"> {{cname}} </li> </ul> <b>{{addMsg}}</b><br/> <div> First Name:<input (input)="student.fname=$event.target.value" /> <br/> Last Name:<input (input)="student.lname=$event.target.value" /> <br/> <button (click)="addStudent()">Add Student</button> </div> <br/><b>{{message}}</b><br/> <div> Message :<input (input)="msg=$event.target.value" /> <br/> <button (click)="sendMsg()">Send</button> </div> ` }) export class ChildOneComponent { @Input() ctMsg : string; @Input('ctArray') myctArray : Array<string> @Input('studentAddMsg') addMsg : string; @Output('addStudentEvent') addStdEvent = new EventEmitter<Student>(); @Output() sendMsgEvent = new EventEmitter<string>(); student = new Student(); childTitle = '---Child One---'; message = 'Send Message' msg : string; addStudent() { this.addStdEvent.emit(this.student); } sendMsg() { this.sendMsgEvent.emit(this.msg); } }
import {Component, EventEmitter, Input, Output} from '@angular/core'; import {Student} from './student'; @Component({ selector: 'child-two', template: ` <h3>{{childTitle}}</h3> <p> {{studentMsg}} : {{myStdLeader.fname +' '+ myStdLeader.lname}} </p> <b>{{addNumMsg}}</b><br/> <div> First Number :<input (input)="num1=$event.target.value" /> <br/> Second Number:<input (input)="num2=$event.target.value" /> <br/> <br/> <button (click)="addNumber()">Add Number</button> </div> ` }) export class ChildTwoComponent { @Input() studentMsg : string; @Input('stdLeader') myStdLeader : Student; @Output('addNumberEvent') addNumEvent = new EventEmitter<number>(); childTitle = '---Child Two---'; addNumMsg ='Add Number' num1 : ''; num2 : ''; addNumber() { this.addNumEvent.emit(parseInt(this.num1) + parseInt(this.num2)); } }
import {NgModule} from '@angular/core'; import {BrowserModule} from '@angular/platform-browser'; import {ParentComponent} from './parent.component'; import {ChildOneComponent} from './childone.component'; import {ChildTwoComponent} from './childtwo.component'; @NgModule({ imports: [BrowserModule], declarations: [ParentComponent, ChildOneComponent, ChildTwoComponent], bootstrap: [ParentComponent] }) export class AppModule { }
import {platformBrowserDynamic} from '@angular/platform-browser-dynamic'; import {AppModule} from './module'; const platform = platformBrowserDynamic(); platform.bootstrapModule(AppModule);
<html> <head> <title>Angular 2 Demo</title> <meta charset="UTF-8"> <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"> <script src="node_modules/core-js/client/shim.min.js"></script> <script src="node_modules/zone.js/dist/zone.js"></script> <script src="node_modules/reflect-metadata/Reflect.js"></script> <script src="node_modules/systemjs/dist/system.src.js"></script> <!-- Configure SystemJS --> <script src="systemjs.config.js"></script> <script> System.import('myApp').catch(function(err){ console.error(err); }); </script> </head> <body> <input-output>Please Wait...</input-output> </body> </html>
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This page will walk through angular 2 @Input and @Output example. @Input is a decorator to mark an input property and @Output is a decorator to mark an output property.is used to define an input property to achieve component property binding.is used to define output property to achieve custom event binding.andcan define alias for property names asand. Here on this page we will provide a complete example ofanddecorators. We are creating a parent component and two child components. We will perform component property binding and custom event binding using both the child components. In our example we will usewith different data types such as string, number, array and user defined class.will be used with the instance of. Now find the complete example step by step.Find the software used in our demo.1. Angular 2.3.02. TypeScript 2.0.103. Node.js 4.6.04. NPM 3.10.85. Firefox 50.1.0decorator binds a property within one component (child component) to receive a value from another component (parent component). This is one way communication from parent to child. The component property should be annotated withdecorator to act as input property. A component can receive a value from another component using component property binding. Now we will see how to use. It can be annotated at any type of property such as number, string, array or user defined class. To use alias for the binding property name we need to assign an alias name asFind the use ofwith string data type.Now find array data type withdecorator. Here we are aliasing the property name. In the component property binding, alias namewill be used.Now finddecorator with a property of user defined class type.decorator binds a property of a component to send data from one component (child component) to calling component (parent component). This is one way communication from child to parent component.binds a property of the type of angularclass. This property name becomes custom event name for calling component.decorator can also alias the property name asand now this alias name will be used in custom event binding in calling component.Find thedecorator using aliasing.In the above code snippetwill become custom event name. Now finddecorator without aliasing.Herewill be custom event name.anddecorate input and output properties.can alias input property name andcan alias output property name.To alias input property use an alias as. Find code snippet.Here we are doing property binding.is the property of parent component.is the alias of child component property. Now find the below ode snippet.What we achieve thatis the alias ofproperty.To alias output property use alias as. Find the custom event binding as below.Hereis a custom event name. When this event will invoke,method will be executed. Now find the code snippet.What we achieve here is thatis the alias ofFind the steps for component property binding usingdecorator step by step.1. In the parent component, first create a property. Here we are creating a property of our classtype.2. Create a custom element in parent component that is a selector of one of our child component. Here we will perform component property binding.3. Usedecorator to declare child component property as an input property that will receive value from parent using component property binding. Here we are using aliasing for property name.4. Now we are ready to fetch values from input component property in our child component.Here we will discuss custom event binding usingdecorator step by step.1. Create text box using element property binding in child component.event is fired when there is any change in text box.fetches the current value of text box entered by user.2. Find the method created in child component that will be fired whenevent is invoked on click of button from above (step-1) code snippet.is the method ofclass that emits event payload.3. In the child component, create an instance ofannotated bydecorator. This instance will work as custom event name. Here we are using aliasing for custom event name.4. Now we are performing custom event binding. The custom eventwill be invoked in parent component whenmethod is invoked from child component. The event payload is accessed byobject.5. The eventwill callmethod.We will provide a complete example ofanddecorator using TypeScript. In our example we will create a parent component and two child component. Both child will useanddecorator.In the above code we will observe that we are using question markin constructor parameter. By using question markin constructor parameter, we achieve that while creating instance ofclass, passing arguments are optional. And it is possible to create instance of ourclass aswithout passing any argument. If we do not use question markin constructor parameters,will through error and requires arguments.Find the steps to run the example.1. Install Node.js and NPM in the system if not already installed. Make sure that Node.js version must be 4.x.x or higher and NPM version must be 3.x.x or higher.2. Download the source code using download link given below in the example.3. Go to the root folder of the project using command prompt and runcommand.4. Now runcommand.5. Now run index.html file. Find the print screen of the output.Jacinda Ardern has said Labour will decriminalise abortion in New Zealand if it wins this month’s general election.
In a fiery 90-minute televised leaders’ debate on Monday night in Auckland, Ardern stated unequivocally that abortion “shouldn’t be in the Crimes Act”. Her stance was met with a round of applause and cheering from the 400-strong studio audience of undecided voters.
Has the friendly rivalry between New Zealand and Australia been fatally injured? Read more
“People need to be able to make their own decisions,” said Ardern. “I accept there will be people out there who will disagree with abortion, and I want them to have that as their right, but I also want women who want access to have it as their right too. This is about everyone being able to make their own decision.”
Under New Zealand law, abortion is a crime and legal only in cases of incest, “mental subnormality” or foetal abnormality, or where the physical or mental health of the mother would be seriously impacted by having a child. Other factors that may be taken into consideration but are not grounds in themselves include “sexual violation” and “extremes of age”.
Prime minister and National leader Bill English, who is a practising Catholic, said he thought the status quo was “broadly satisfactory”.
“If the changes came before parliament I would be opposed to liberalising the law,” said English, to silence from the audience. “I support the current law and I would not set out to change it.”
Last week, polling put Labour ahead of the incumbent National party for the first time in over a decade, with a resurgent opposition under Ardern, its new and youngest ever leader, up from 26% to 43%. National was on 41%.
While the usual discussion points were covered – including the economy, the housing shortage and how to deal with US president Donald Trump – Monday’s debate also featured a number of surprising moments, including English announcing that if re-elected his government would stamp out child poverty for up to 100,000 New Zealand children. The policy came as a surprise to Ardern, who applauded what she called the government’s change of heart, saying she had been pushing for such a goal for nine years.
On Tuesday Ardern said a Labour government would pull 100,000 children out of poverty by the year 2020, with the eventual goal of eradicating all child poverty in New Zealand.
She also reiterated her commitment to standing up to Australia, saying if it were to go ahead with plans to raise the cost of tertiary education for New Zealanders in Australia, Australian students could expect the same treatment in New Zealand.
“If they lock us out of tertiary education, we will lock them out of it here,” she said.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Bill English has found himself behind in the polls for the first time. Photograph: Mark Baker/AP
There are growing criticisms that New Zealanders living in Australia are treated as second-class citizens, with dozens dispatched to the Christmas Island detention centre, access to welfare benefits limited and the cost of tertiary study set to triple.
The National-led government has enjoyed a close relationship with Australia, with former prime minister John Key sometimes accused of reluctance to unsettle his “bro-mance” with his Canberra counterpart, Malcolm Turnbull, and English following suit.
Ardern has taken a firmer stance, and directed sharp words at Australia’s foreign minister, Julie Bishop, in August when Bishop accused the New Zealand Labour party of involvement in the revelation that deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce was a dual citizen.
On Tuesday, Ardern repeated her comments on tertiary study, but indicated that she would tackle the negotiations over benefit entitlements more gently.
“On benefits I hold a different view. We’re still fighting for New Zealanders’ rights in Australia. I think we should maintain the moral high ground that it’s only right that if you pay taxes, you have access to those benefits.
“So we’re maintaining them in New Zealand, while we continue to argue for them in Australia.”
Jacindamania: rocketing rise of New Zealand Labour's fresh political hope Read more
Terry Bellamak, national president of the Abortion Law Reform Association of New Zealand, said she felt “very happy” when she heard Ardern’s commitment on abortion during the debate.
“This is the first time we have ever had someone commit to decriminalisation who is so close to the prime minister’s office,” said Bellamak.
“Previously there has been a determinaton to ignore the archaic nature and wording of the law, and that has had a real impact on women’s lives in New Zealand, making accessing an abortion more traumatic and forcing women to lie to their consultants.”
Anyone seeking an abortion in New Zealand must obtain approval from two medical consultants, who must attest that the women’s health is in “serious danger” by allowing the pregnancy to continue, either physically or mentally.
The process also takes a long time – an average of 25 days – with the risks associated with abortion rising as the pregnancy continues.
Bellamak said 98%-99% of the abortions that are granted in New Zealand are done so on mental health grounds. However, the fact that abortion remained under the Crimes Act increased stigma, and made women less likely to access it and less likely to discuss it afterwards, she said.
“The New Zealand landscape is quite rugged, and distances and travel times can be very high, and access to abortion is not good enough for women in New Zealand. There are no abortion services on the west coast for example. Decriminalising abortion would make it easier to tackle issues like access more openly.”Event Date: 14 November 2016
Room 22/26
Senate House
University of London
London WC1E 7HU
The Aristotelian Society presents:
Dr Beth Lord (Aberdeen) – Disagreement in the Political Philosophy of Spinoza and Rancière
Beth Lord is Reader in Philosophy at the University of Aberdeen. She works on history of philosophy in the continental tradition, with a particular focus on Spinoza. Currently she is researching the concept of equality in Spinoza’s texts from its geometrical origins to its metaphysical and political uses. She recently led a three-year AHRC-funded research project that investigated the relevance of Spinoza’s concepts of ratio and equality to housing design. She is co-author (with Peg Rawes, Bartlett School of Architecture) of a short, open-access film on Spinoza and the UK housing crisis, Equal by Design, and editor of the forthcoming collection Spinoza’s Philosophy of Ratio. Her earlier books include Spinoza’s Ethics: An Edinburgh Philosophical Guide, and Kant and Spinozism: Transcendental Idealism and Immanence from Jacobi to Deleuze. She has been at Aberdeen since 2013; prior to that she worked at the University of Dundee (2004-12), and received her PhD from the University of Warwick in 2004.back to news Changelog Update 22.12.2015 (1.55.2.28) Changes in ground vehicles: British ground vehicles received their first 3 camouflages (two desert and one winter).
A bug, whereby the tank-sight grass and foliage option may have been reset when the client was restarted has been fixed.
Armour layout on the Сonqueror Mk 2 has been refined and fixed: in the damage model is now taken into account side skirts and boxes, frontal armour on the turret has been modeled more accurately, armour thickness in the frontal sloped turret profile has been increased from 150 to 250 mm.
The thickness of some armoured parts on the A39 Tortoise has been fixed: hull top plate, thickness of the side skirts, rear parts of the hull, and thickness of the machine gun turret.
The name of the 120 mm cannon of the Сonqueror Mk 2, has been changed from L11 to the correct designation: L1A1 (characteristics of the shells and cannon parameters have not changed).
The sloping frontal armour for the Matilda Mk II has been fixed from 20 to 47 mm.
The number of crew members in the Crusader Mk.II has been fixed - 5 crewmen instead of 4.
For RBT-5 it is now possible to automatically reload the rocket payloads in Arcade Battles. Rockets will be reloaded in 90 seconds.
The errors in the characteristics of the British OQF 6 pdr Mk III cannon (57mm) (Mounted on: Crusader Mk.III, Valentine Mk.IX, Cromwell Mk.I) has been fixed. The characteristics of this cannon were previously corresponding to more powerful cannon Mk V, and the armour piercing parameters of the AP Mk.5T shell were even higher. Now the ballistic characteristics and armour piercing parameters are more closely corresponding to the prototype.
The fire rate of 17pdr. M10 Achilles has been decreased from 9.6 to 9 shots per minute.
The fire rate of SP 17pdr. Valentine Archer has been decreased from 9.6 to 8.7 shots per minute. BR changes: BR for the Cromwell Mk V has been increased from 2.7 to 3.0 in all game modes.
BR for the Cromwell Mk I has been increased from 3.3 to 3.7 in all game modes.
BR for the Centurion Mk 10 has been decreased from 7.7 to 7.0 in all game modes.
BR for 3 inch. Gun Carrier has been decreased from 3.3 to 3.0 in all game modes.
BR for the Churchill Mk III and german Kampfpanzer Churchill has been increased from 3.7 to 4.0 in all game modes.
BR for the Valentine Mk XI has been increased from 2.7 to 3.0 in all game modes.
BR for the 17pdr. M10 Achilles (and its premium counterpart) has been increased from 3.7 to 4.0 in all game modes. Location changes:
Second Battle of El Alamein: The height of the dunes has been adjusted slightly for a less obstructed field of play and the behavioural aspects of the sand has also been changed.
Finer detailing has been added to the desert surface.
The terrain has been smoothed out in areas where ground vehicles could get stuck or damaged.
Some visual bugs have been fixed. Tunisia: Small balance related changes have been applied. Sounds: Dubbing for german localisation has been added.
The audio for the D10-T cannon has been updated.
The audio for the Ho-301 cannon has been fixed. Interface: Soldier Trophies have been changed to the new 'Battle Trophies' in the Item Store. Note: This update applies to PC/Linux/Mac users. PS4 Users will receive the update as soon as possible. The current provided patchnotes reflect the major changes within the game as part of this Update. Some updates and fixes may be not listed in the provided notes. War Thunder is constantly improving all the time and certain fixes may be implemented without the client being updated.
Discuss on the ForumsWhy The New Child Rape Case Filed Against Donald Trump Should Not Be Ignored
An anonymous “Jane Doe” filed a federal lawsuit against GOP presumptive nominee Donald Trump last week, accusing him of raping her in 1994 when she was thirteen years old. The mainstream media ignored the filing.
If the Bill Cosby case has taught us anything, it is to not disregard rape cases against famous men. Serious journalists have publicly apologized for turning a blind eye to the Cosby accusers for over a decade, notwithstanding the large number of women who had come forward with credible claims. And now history is repeating itself.
In covering a story, a media outlet is not finding guilt. It is simply reporting the news that a lawsuit has been filed against Mr. Trump, and ideally putting the complaint in context. Unproven allegations are just that – unproven, and should be identified that way. (Mr. Trump’s lawyer says the charges are “categorically untrue, completely fabricated and politically motivated.”) Proof comes later, at trial. But the November election will come well before any trial. And while Mr. Trump is presumed innocent, we are permitted – no, we are obligated — to analyze the case’s viability now.
No outsider can say whether Mr. Trump is innocent or guilty of these new rape charges. But we can look at his record, analyze the court filings here, and make a determination as to credibility – whether the allegations are believable enough for us to take them seriously and investigate them, keeping in mind his denial and reporting new facts as they develop.
I have done that. And the answer is a clear yes. These allegations are credible. They ought not be ignored. Mainstream media, I’m looking at you.
1. Consider the Context: Mr. Trump’s Overt, Even Proud Misogyny
The rape case must be viewed through the lens of Mr. Trump’s current, longstanding and well documented contempt for women. Men who objectify women are more likely to become perpetrators of sexual violence, just as one with a long history of overtly racist comments is more likely to commit a hate crime.
Mr. Trump has relished calling women “dogs,” “slobs” and “pigs,” and cyberstalked and derided journalist Megyn Kelly for having the temerity to ask him to defend his own words. He threw out the most misogynist of attacks, attempting to undermine her professionalism by accusing her of menstruating. He’s cruelly ridiculed the appearance of a female opponent (Carly Fiorina) and an opponent’s wife (Heidi Cruz). His campaign even openly acknowledged that it disqualified all women for consideration as his vice-president.
Mr. Trump has a long history of debasing women he’s worked with, crossing the line on a regular basis. He’s taken lifelong joy in objectifying women, including hisproclamation: “Women, you have to treat ‘em like shit.”
This cannot be ignored. Decades of abusive language does not make him a rapist. But it does show us who the man is: a callous, meanspirited misogynist who no sane person would leave alone with her daughter. As Dr. Maya Angelou said, “When someone shows you who they really are, believe them.”
2. More context: two prior sexual assault court claims have been made against Mr. Trump
But Mr. Trump has been accused of worse than just misogynist language. Two prior women have accused Mr. Trump, in court documents, of actual or attempted sexual assault. (Mr. Trump denies all the allegations.)
Under oath, Ivana Trump accused Mr. Trump of a violent rape
First was Ivana Trump, Donald Trump’s first wife, who said under oath in a 1989 deposition that he had violently attacked her, ripped out her hair and forcibly penetrated her without her consent. According to the Daily Beast, she claims he was wildly angry that she’d referred him to a cosmetic surgeon who had botched a “scalp reduction” job (to cover a bald spot) and caused pain in his scalp – hence the vindictive yanking on her hair. At the time Ms. Trump said she felt “violated” by the alleged “rape.”
A few years later, after their divorce was settled, Ms. Trump claimed that she did not mean the word “rape” in a “literal or criminal” sense.
Note: virtually every settlement of a case involving a high profile person paying money to a former spouse – or anyone – requires the person receiving the money to agree in writing to ironclad nondisparagement and confidentiality. In plain English: you promise to be quiet and not say anything bad about the party paying you money. This has been the case in hundreds of settlement agreements I have worked on over the years. Ms. Trump was almost certainly contractually prohibited after she signed from saying anything negative about Mr. Trump. And it is also common to attempt to “cure” prior negative statements with new agreed-to language – like, I didn’t mean it literally. (You didn’t mean forcible penetration literally?)
A business acquaintance accused Mr. Trump of sexual harassment and “attempted rape”
A second woman accused Donald Trump of sexual assault, in 1997. According toThe Guardian, then thirty-four year old Jill Harth alleged in a federal lawsuit that Trump violated her “physical and mental integrity” when he touched her intimately without consent after her husband went into business with him, leaving her “emotionally devastated [and] distraught.” The lawsuit called the multiple acts “attempted rape.” Shortly thereafter she voluntarily withdrew the case when a parallel suit against Mr. Trump brought by her husband was settled. When The Guardian reached the woman in 2016 to ask whether she stood by her sexual assault allegations, she responded, “yes.”
In a court filing, according to a report, Ms. Harth alleged that while she and her husband were trying to do a business deal with Mr. Trump regarding a beauty pageant, he repeatedly propositioned her for sex and groped her, culminating in this frightening alleged incident:
Trump forcefully removed (Harth) from public areas of Mar-A-Lago in Florida and forced (her) into a bedroom belonging to defendant’s daughter Ivanka, wherein (Trump) forcibly kissed, fondled, and restrained (her) from leaving, against (her) will and despite her protests.” In the court document, she said that Trump bragged that he ”would be the best lover you ever have.”
Recently Donald Trump issued a statement that women’s claims of sexual harassment, documented in a lengthy New York Times investigation which included Ms. Harth’s lawsuit, were “made up.”
Jill Harth responded angrily on Twitter last week: “My part was true. I didn’t talk. As usual you opened your big mouth.”
In other words, she is standing by her story.
3. The new Jane Doe child rape claim against Mr. Trump is consistent with verifiable facts about Mr. Trump and his friend Jeffrey Epstein, and has a powerful witness statement attached to it.
A third woman accused Mr. Trump of rape very recently. According to the Daily Mail, a woman filed an April 2016 lawsuit claiming that when she was thirteen years old she was held as a sex slave to Mr. Trump and his friend Jeffrey Epstein. The woman claimed to have a witness, “Tiffany Doe,” to the incidents. She filed the casein pro per, that is, without the assistance of a lawyer.
The case was dismissed by the court for technical filing errors. She then obtained a lawyer and the case was modified and refiled in New York federal court, against Mr. Trump and Mr. Epstein.
I’ve carefully reviewed this federal complaint. It is now much stronger than the one she filed on her own, which makes sense because she now has an experienced litigator representing her. Jane Doe says that as a thirteen year old, she was enticed to attend parties at the home of Jeffrey Epstein with the promise of money modeling jobs. Mr. Epstein is a notorious “billionaire pedophile” who is now a Level 3 registered sex offender – the most dangerous kind, “a threat to public safety” — after being convicted of misconduct with another underage girl.
Jane Doe says that Mr. Trump “initiated sexual contact” with her on four occasions in 1994. Since she was thirteen at the time, consent is not an issue. If Mr. Trump had any type sexual contact with her in 1994, it was a crime.
On the fourth incident, she says Mr. Trump tied her to a bed and forcibly raped her, in a “savage sexual attack,” while she pleaded with him to stop. She says Mr. Trump violently struck her in the face. She says that afterward, if she ever revealed what he had done, Mr. Trump threatened that she and her family would be “physically harmed if not killed.” She says she has been in fear of him ever since.
New York’s five year statute of limitations on this claim – the legal deadline for filing — has long since run. However, Jane Doe’s attorney, Thomas Meagher, argues in his court filing that because she was threatened by Mr. Trump, she has been under duress all this time, and therefore she should be permitted additional time to come forward. Legally, this is calling “tolling” – stopping the clock, allowing more time to file the case. As a result, the complaint alleges, Jane Doe did not have “freedom of will to institute suit earlier in time.” He cites two New York cases which I have read and which do support tolling.
Two unusual documents are attached to Jane Doe’s complaints – sworn declarations attesting to the facts. The first is from Jane Doe herself, telling her horrific story, including the allegation that Jeffrey Epstein also raped her and threatened her into silence, and this stunner:
Defendant Epstein then attempted to strike me about the head with his closed fists while he angrily screamed at me that he, Defendant Epstein, should have been the one who took my virginity, not Defendant Trump...
And this one:
Defendant Trump stated that I shouldn’t ever say anything if I didn’t want to disappear like Maria, a 12-year-old female that was forced to be involved in the third incident with Defendant Trump and that I had not seen since that third incident, and that he was capable of having my whole family killed.
The second declaration is even more astonishing, because it is signed by “Tiffany Doe”, Mr. Epstein’s “party planner” from 1991-2000. Tiffany Doe says that her duties were “to get attractive adolescent women to attend these parties.” (Adolescents are, legally, children.)
Tiffany Doe says that she recruited Jane Doe at the Port Authority in New York, persuaded her to attend Mr. Epstein’s parties, and actually witnessed the sexual assaults on Jane Doe:
I personally witnessed the Plaintiff being forced to perform various sexual acts with Donald J. Trump and Mr. Epstein. Both Mr. Trump and Mr. Epstein were advised that she was 13 years old.
It is exceedingly rare for a sexual assault victim to have a witness. But Tiffany Doe says:
I personally witnessed four sexual encounters that the Plaintiff was forced to have with Mr. Trump during this period, including the fourth of these encounters where Mr. Trump forcibly raped her despite her pleas to stop.
Tiffany Doe corroborates, based on her own personal observations, just about everything in Jane Doe’s complaint: that twelve year old Maria was involved in a sex act with Mr. Trump, that Mr. Trump threatened the life of Jane Doe if she ever revealed what happened, and that she would “disappear” like Maria if she did.
Tiffany Doe herself says that she is in mortal fear of Mr. Trump to this day:
I am coming forward to swear to the truthfulness of the physical and sexual abuse that I personally witnessed of minor females at the hands of Mr. Trump and Mr. Epstein... I swear to these facts under the penalty for perjury even though I fully understand that the life of myself and my family is now in grave danger.
Given all this, and based on the record thus far, Jane Doe’s claims appear credible. Mr. Epstein’s own sexual crimes and parties with underage girls are well documented, as is Mr. Trump’s relationship with him two decades ago in New York City. Mr. Trump told a reporter a few years ago: “I’ve known Jeff for 15 years. Terrific guy. He’s a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side. No doubt about it, Jeffrey enjoys his social life.”
Powerfully, Jane Doe appears to have an eyewitness to all aspects of her claim, a witness who appears to have put herself in substantial danger by coming forward, because at a minimum Mr. Epstein knows her true identity.
Jane Doe has not granted any interviews, and we don’t know anything about her background, or Tiffany Doe’s, or the details of their stories. Much information needs to be revealed to fully assess this case. Perhaps they will be discredited on cross-examination. Perhaps they will recant. But if we’re going to speculate in that direction, we should speculate in the other direction as well. Perhaps Jane Doe and her lawyer will have more evidence and witnesses to corroborate her claim. Perhaps witnesses from Mr. Epstein’s notorious parties will come forward. We just can’t know any of that at this point.
But based on what we do know now, Jane Doe’s claims fall squarely into the long, ugly context of Mr. Trump’s life of misogyny, are consistent with prior sexual misconduct claims, are backed up by an eyewitness, and thus should be taken seriously. Her claims merit sober consideration and investigation.
We live in a world where wealthy, powerful men often use and abuse women and girls. While these allegations may shock some, as a lawyer who represents women in sexual abuse cases every day, I can tell you that sadly, they are common, as is an accuser’s desire to remain anonymous, and her terror in coming forward.
What do you call a nation that refuses to even look at sexual assault claims against a man seeking to lead the free world?
Rape culture.UPDATE: It seems the offending piece has now been removed from Dr Hansen’s website. I am posting it here in good faith, as there was no copyright notice to say it was restricted, and so I am assuming it okay to repost it. It may be removed, though, so be warned.
James Hansen China and the Barbarians – click for pdf file
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The NASA scientist at the heart of the global warming fiasco seems set to stir more controversy after declaring in an op ed piece for The South China Morning Post and a personally published follow-up that American democracy is not competent to deal with global warming, and communist China now represents the world’s “best hope”.
In the op ed piece for the Chinese newspaper, which he entitled Chinese Leadership Needed to Save Humanity (published as The Price of Change) Hansen placed the blame for the vast majority of Co2 emissions supposedly causing global warming on his home country of America, and appealed to China not to follow the same path. Hansen said that China was the world’s “best hope” and called for them to “lead the world through the most dangerous crisis that humanity and nature have ever faced”.
In a follow-up article published on his website Hansen calls Americans “barbarians” and slams American democracy, calling for China to raise tariffs on American-made products until such time as America falls into line.
He recalls with some bitterness how the findings on fuel efficiency that he and his “A-Team” (as he calls it) of crack scientists came up with were held up for years by the democratic and judicial process in the United States:
We “won” the court case, yet appeals stretched the time of action for years. I came away feeling that not only is it nearly impossible to get effective legislation through Congress, but that the special interests can prevent implementation almost interminably. Democracy of the sort intended in 1776 probably could have dealt with climate change, but not the fossil-money-‘democracy’ that now rules the roost in Washington. James Hansen, China and the Barbarians.
The declaration that American ‘democracy’ (as he sarcastically refers to it as) cannot cope with climate change, and that the world must look to the Chinese communist dictatorship to “lead” is bound to be controversial.
What is potentially even more controversial is that Hansen goes on to condemn the current democratic system in America as “dysfunctional” as it will not enact the carbon taxes he has been calling for. All is not lost, though, as he advises the Chinese government what to do about Congress in a truly incredible passage in his letter:
However, there is a way around that, which becomes obvious with the realization that an initially modest carbon fee is in China’s own interest. After agreement with other nations, e.g., the European Union, China and these nations could impose rising internal carbon fees. Existing rules of the World Trade Organization would allow collection of a rising border duty on products from all nations that do not have an equivalent internal carbon fee or tax. The United States then would be forced to make a choice. It could either address its fossil fuel addiction with a rising carbon fee and supportive national investment policies or it could accept continual descent into second-rate and third-rate economic well-being.
My reading of this is that Hansen is advising a foreign, communist dictatorship how to circumvent American democracy and “force” (his word) America into either kow-towing over carbon taxes, or “accepting continual descent”. It is truly breath-taking that a federal employee seems able to get away with such seemingly unpatriotic activity without any reprimand or disciplinary action.
Hansen concludes his remarkable personal advice by expressing his hope that China will be able to find “good barbarians” (i.e. compliant Westerners) to help it “participate in effective policy”. As he observes, the great thing about China is that they are not bound by the inconveniences of democracy, such as elections and accountability and can simply impose decisions by diktat:
I have the impression that Chinese leadership takes a long view, perhaps because of the long history of their culture, in contrast to the West with its short election cycles. At the same time China has the capacity to implement policy decisions rapidly.
Hansen also claimed that if no action was taken, and all fossil fuels were burnt, then sea levels would rise by 75 metres (246 feet).
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Additional:
Bishop Hill has pointed out that Hansen’s adoration of the Chinese communist dictatorship seems to be a growing fashion among the climate alarmists.
The popular blog Treehugger has an article which reverently repeats |
syndrome—a congenital disorder in which fibrous bands wrap around the fingers in utero, choking off blood flow and requiring amputation after birth—began downloading and building the Robohand. With the device, some of these kids were able to grasp an object for the first time in their life. As they get older and outgrow their Robohands, the digital files can be adjusted using computer software, and larger hands printed.
The MakerBot Replicator 2 Desktop 3D Printer (AP Photo) (AP Photo) (AP Photo)
Of course, the primary use of 3-D printers will be to create quotidian items: toothbrushes and toilet-paper holders, chess pieces and iPhone cases, wrenches and showerheads, toys, pens, birdhouses, model airplanes. They will no doubt produce a lot of schlock, too. Custom bobblehead dolls have been a perennial favorite since the devices began to go mainstream, and it’s not hard to picture the landfills of the future overflowing with yesterday’s home-printed novelties. Yet researchers have already found that just by producing common household items, a 3-D printer will pay for itself in less than a year. “With the exponential growth of free designs and expansion of 3-D printing, we are creating enormous potential wealth for everyone,” says Joshua Pearce, associate professor of materials science and engineering at Michigan Technological University. Those who work closely with 3-D printers also see potential for the technology in an unexpected area: food. In theory, packets of soy protein, meat, or cookie dough could be loaded into 3-D printers. With recipes programmed from the Internet, you could “print” a finished meal right onto a plate. This may sound about as appetizing as the dehydrated ice cream famously eaten by astronauts. But those nutritional building blocks would be cheap and shelf-stable for decades. With more than eight billion people soon to be vying for Earth’s dwindling resources, 3-D printing could become an important part of feeding future generations.
The age in which a 3-D printer sits in every living room may be here sooner than we think. Last month, Stratasys—one of the largest industrial 3-D printer companies in the world—purchased MakerBot for half a billion dollars. From 2008 to 2011, personal 3-D printer sales averaged an astounding 346 percent growth, according to industry analysts Wohlers Associates. This June, Staples became the first major retailer to carry the machines in its stores. Three-D printers are becoming cheaper by the day; a sophisticated model can now be had for less than a thousand dollars.
This growth foretells drastic changes in global manufacturing: The factories of the 21st century will be our homes. Digital files containing the blueprints for millions of objects will be bought and sold on the Internet, downloaded and printed on our personal machines. Last month, MakerBot released a scanner that lets you create a blueprint of anything you place inside it—a digital file that you can send straight to your 3-D printer. It brings with it the fantastical ability to make a copy of many of the things you see around you.
But when 3-D printers arrive in our homes, will we be ready for them? The Internet has already played havoc with intellectual property—think of all the songs that have been illegally shared. What will businesses do when they no longer hold a monopoly on manufacturing, when the digital blueprints for tangible things are uploaded and downloaded from millions of devices around the world? The number of people employed in manufacturing in the United States has dropped dramatically in the past decade. Will the 3-D printer accelerate that decline? Will it upend manufacturing in developing countries, disrupting economies that depend on cheap mass labor? And, oh, yes, how will we stop every garage from becoming a factory for 3-D printed guns?
To understand why 3-D printers are so revolutionary, one must first understand how they work. Traditional manufacturing is a process of controlled destruction. Lasers, saws, mills, lathes, and drills—the all-stars of industrial machinery—take a big piece of something and whittle it down. Three-D printing flips the process; it is additive instead of subtractive. In the most common 3-D printers, a material—usually a plastic—is heated to its melting point and extruded through a nozzle, like frosting piped onto a cake. The layers build upon one another from the bottom up. Before you know it, the build surface contains a three-dimensional object. Crucially, this process is driven by computer software that designs and manipulates digital 3-D models that can be found on the Internet. Changing designs is as simple as changing a document’s font on your computer.
Three-dimensional printing isn’t new. Chuck Hull, founder of the company 3D Systems, now one of the biggest producers of the devices in the world, invented what became known as “additive manufacturing” nearly 30 years ago. Back then, the machines were prized for their ability to quickly give engineers and designers an object to hold in their hands instead of relying solely on 2-D blueprints. Ford was an early adopter and used the machines to create the negatives for steel-part casting molds. Today, companies like Boeing and General Electric use 3-D printers the size of cars to produce everything from turbines to jet cabins. Many of the non-flight-critical final parts in Boeing’s new 787 Dreamliner were made exclusively using 3-D printers.
Some of the technology’s most remarkable breakthroughs have appeared in the field of medicine. Researchers are loading up animal cells suspended in a bio gel to create rat kidneys capable of filtering blood and producing urine. Stents are printed from bioresorbable plastics that disappear as you heal, and model hearts based on CT scans allow surgeons to perform risky procedures on replicas before attempting them on patients. Researchers are now even printing human cells. Next June, the International Space Station will get its own 3-D printer to build replacement parts in orbit instead of shipping them from Earth—NASA, not surprisingly, also has plans to begin printing astronauts’ food, including pizza.
The small-scale changes the technology has spurred have been equally striking. Dentists are using the devices to churn out tooth crowns and other customized dental work. Architecture firms are transforming blueprints into scale models in minutes rather than days.
The key to the 3-D printer is more than its many applications. Because of the printer’s unprecedented ability for rapid prototyping, the machines allow companies to “fail faster,” in the words of Hod Lipson, associate professor of robotics at Cornell University and founder of one of the first university 3-D printing labs. This, he says, will lead to untold innovations: “It allows people to try new things. A lot of people will fail, but they will fail faster, and the cost of experimentation will decrease.”
For much of their history, 3-D printers were like the computer mainframes of the 1960s and 1970s—very large, very powerful, and very expensive. Then around 2005, expiring industrial patents and a pair of open-source university projects—Lipson’s Fab@Home and a similar project named RepRap at the University of Bath in England—combined to drive down prices to the point that the technology became accessible to everyday consumers. “These two open-source 3-D printers were cheap, but they were also hackable,” Lipson says. “That allowed people to take it apart, improve it, play around with the materials, and that’s where it really took off.”
Materials long thought of as too advanced to manipulate with 3-D printers—ABS plastic and nylon, ceramics, even steel and titanium (“what the big boys use,” as Lipson says)—began to show up in common industrial applications and trickled down to home use. Thingiverse blossomed, allowing owners of 3-D printers to discuss and share what they had created. “It’s been a really wonderful adventure seeing the community grow,” Bre Pettis says. “Being able to develop better and better machines and to get to the place we’re at now where we’re actually having an impact on the way the world thinks about things.”
(Rex Features via AP Images) Architectural designs made from sugar using a 3D printer
Before Shawn Fanning founded Napster out of a Northeastern University dorm room in 1999, the music industry was on top of the world. Pop radio minted money. Revenue for the world’s biggest record labels was $38 billion—more at the time than the combined income of Apple and Microsoft. In two years, Napster devastated the music industry. Illegal file-sharing exploded. Profit margins evaporated. Musicians lost royalties. Post-Napster, all it took to acquire a song was an Internet connection and a computer. An entire generation came of age with the notion that Internet freedom meant downloading anything they wanted for free. Three-D printing is Napster writ large. A factory sitting in your home means that everything normally bought at a store can be searched online, downloaded, and printed with a click of a mouse.
“There will be an industry in the next couple of years that will be fundamentally changed by consumer access to 3-D printing,” says Michael Weinberg of the open-Internet group Public Knowledge. Already, nearly all the objects in our modern offices are made using 3-D printed prototypes. “Your mouse, keyboard, chair, tape holder, coffee cup,” Hod Lipson says, then rattles off a dozen more common items. Combine this with the Internet’s most notorious and effective utility—piracy—and you’ve got a recipe for the widespread reproduction of almost anything—from cheap trinkets to patented industrial components. Take, for example, the much-maligned Crocs shoe, which is made entirely of plastic. As with music piracy pre-Napster, the product is already counterfeited for cheap, resulting in losses to the company of about $10 million a year. But 3-D printing will make this possible on an entirely different scale. It’s likely that someone has reverse engineered that design and 3-D printed a perfect replica already, in his size, for free. All it would take is for that digital file to make it online. Then anyone can have a new set of Crocs without bothering to go to the store—or paying the manufacturers. Even at this early stage, websites are popping up to sell the digital replicas of designer furniture and jewelry, all for fractions of their retail prices, to be printed at home for only the cost of the materials. “I have students who in one hand are carrying a jail-broken iPhone with songs they downloaded,” Lipson says, “and the other hand is raised, and they ask what if somebody steals my design and 3-D prints it?” It’s not just makers of small-scale items who are in trouble. We won’t be printing patented jet engines in our home garages, but can the same be said for companies in developing nations?
The implications for work are just as stark. "It’s difficult to envision how the printer won’t accelerate the decrease in the number of people employed in American manufacturing."It’s difficult to envision how the printer won’t accelerate the decrease in the number of people employed in American manufacturing, which currently stands at 12 million but has dropped by more than 5 million in the past decade. “I can have on operator running ten machines building all sorts of stuff. He’s a highly technical worker making a nice salary, but he’s replacing a whole slew of low-cost workers,” says Michael Hayes, head of advanced research at Boeing.
In the near term, however, some argue the technology could prove to be a boon for Western post-industrial economies. “One of the first impacts this will have is to re-shore some work,” says Scott Paul, president of the Alliance for American Manufacturing. “You’ll find businesses are able to spring up based on the availability of 3-D printing that you would have never expected to return.” These first businesses, perhaps counterintuitively, will produce simple, customized items—bracelets, toys—things that aren’t worth the cost of shipping great distances. Yet they will take advantage of the technology’s unique ability for “mass customization”: a bracelet with exactly what you want to say on it, a toy with your face on it. That will mean less reliance on outsourced manufacturing—which will in turn disrupt the economies of big-exporter nations. “From an American economic perspective, that is a net gain,” Paul says.
Countries like China and India have been able to rapidly grow their economies by keeping down the cost of labor, a cycle that has in turn moved most of our low- and medium-skilled manufacturing jobs overseas. But 3-D printing doesn’t rely on low-skilled labor in the same way. A factory full of the machines can pivot from making one part to a different one overnight and can be managed by a handful of machine operators. It may not happen in the next five years, but manufacturing in the future will be less concerned with the cost of labor and more sensitive to factors like material cost and shipping. This will disrupt the low-wage factory model as global demand for cheap labor reverts back to demand for local production. It should come as no surprise, then, that the Chinese government has pledged to invest $245 million in 3-D printing over the next seven years.
What no one knows, however, is what impact the 3-D printer will have on high-skilled industrial workers. At the end of 2011, skilled-manufacturing jobs in this country commanded 38 percent greater monthly earnings compared to other sectors of the economy. These jobs have only modest barriers to entry—most don’t require a college degree—meaning that the skilled-manufacturing sector is one of the last bastions of true American mobility. It’s these “middle-skill” jobs that may ultimately be most at risk from 3-D printing. “I don’t know anyone in the manufacturing movement who’s a Luddite, who says, ‘No, we don’t want to embrace technology,’ especially if they think it is going to make their company more competitive,” Paul says. Lipson talks about a local business in Ithaca, New York, that had been using 3-D printing technology. When he asked what kind of operators were running its machines—were they Ph.D.s, mechanical engineers?—he received an unexpected answer. “Somebody can show up on time, clean and sober,” the owner told him, “and they can operate this machine.”
Cory Doctorow, the influential futurist and founder of the website BoingBoing, likes to say that our world is now “made of computers.” Three-dimensional printers are just the beginning of an era in which most things will be digitized and connected to the Internet, outside the reach of what their creators and our governments tell us we can do with them. Long before The Anarchist’s Cookbook, information with the potential to do us harm—bomb schematics, instructions for a homemade Saturday-night special—has been available for those looking for it. But the reason Napster was such a seismic force was that it made copying and sharing easy. After Cody Wilson fired the Liberator, the news raced through the media. “We’re facing a situation where anyone—a felon, a terrorist—can open a gun factory in their garage,” Senator Charles Schumer intoned. Headlines from Forbes to The Washington Post warned of the coming threat to gun control. Those who had never even heard of 3-D printing were suddenly aware that it was now possible to download a file and produce a firearm. But the Liberator is only the harbinger of a much larger change.
When I asked Bre Pettis how we could nurture 3-D printing for good and protect ourselves from its dark side, he was ambivalent. “You can look at any technology and there are always challenges,” he says. “We make MakerBots with the intention that they are going to be used for positive and wonderful uses. We make it so if you upload deadly weapons to Thingiverse, the community flags them, and they come down. So that’s how we’re addressing it.”
That’s not really an answer.
"The only real solution is to get away from the technology and focus on what you are really worried about."“The only real solution is to get away from the technology and focus on what you are really worried about,” Michael Weinberg of Public Knowledge says. “If you are worried about printing guns, make it illegal to manufacture guns at home. Or force people to get licensed in some way. Then, if someone creates a gun at home, prosecute them for violating the law.” He admitted this wasn’t a satisfying answer either.
For more than a decade, we’ve struggled with the question of how to tap the Internet’s great potential while safeguarding against its many perils. But it’s also true that a system of responsible control—part regulation and part social conditioning—has emerged, however sheepishly. As Weinberg says, we will need to be practical, passing laws to protect us—regulating undetectable plastic firearms or banning their home creation altogether. But the bigger step will ultimately be to adjust our attitudes about technology’s dangers. It will be about deciding as a culture what we are willing to accept.
Businesses will have to do the same. That much became clear in the aftermath of the last great technological disruption. This year, the record industry grew for the first time in a decade—from $16.4 billion to $16.5 billion. It’s still less than half its size before Napster. The music business fought ferociously to defend its traditional profit models, to challenge emerging technologies instead of learning from them, and for what? In the process, it alienated a generation of potential consumers and put itself at the mercy of digital distributors like iTunes, now the biggest music seller in the world, that saw a market and pounced. In the end, though, the changes were probably inevitable; illuminated manuscripts, by analogy, didn’t stand much of a chance once the printing press came along.
So what of Cody Wilson and his 3-D printed handgun? For now, the government is responding the old-fashioned way. The State Department forced Wilson to pull the file for his 3-D gun from the Internet. Relying on its authority to regulate international arms, the department made the case that because the gun was posted online, anyone in the world could download it, which violated foreign-sale laws. But the State Department has neither the charter nor the manpower to patrol every file across the Web. After being taken offline, the Liberator’s blueprints have popped up on mirror sites across the world, including on the influential file-sharing website The Pirate Bay. “The shit gets downloaded,” Wilson told me. ”I can be the bogeyman forever. But the gun is still out there, and we won.”A brief guide to tech leadership at Foursquare, inspired by Ben Horowitz’s Good Product Manager, Bad Product Manager.
Teamwork
Good tech leads act as a member of the team, and consider themselves successful when the team is successful. They take their share of unsexy grungy work and clear roadblocks so their team can operate at 100%. They work to broaden the technical capabilities of their team, making sure knowledge of critical systems is not concentrated in one or two minds.
Bad tech leads take the high-profile tasks for themselves and are motivated by being able to take credit for doing the work. They optimize locally, keeping team members working on projects that benefit the team at the expense of the engineering organization at large.
Technical vision
Good tech leads have an overall vision for the technical direction of the product and make sure the team understands it. They delegate feature areas to other team members and let them own their decisions. They recognize that their team members are smart, trust them, and rely on them to handle significant pieces of the project.
Bad tech leads resist explaining or clarifying the technical direction and dictate decisions instead. They keep critical institutional knowledge in their heads, failing to multiply their effectiveness by creating and disseminating helpful documentation.
Discussion and debate
Good tech leads listen and encourage debate. When the team is unable to resolve a debate, they describe a process or framework of thinking that would help them resolve it. They don’t enter discussions with foregone conclusions, and always allow themselves to be persuaded by great ideas.
Bad tech leads allow debates to go on for too long without resolution, hampering the productivity of the team. Others cut off debate prematurely, dismissing new discussions by saying the matter is “already settled.” Bad tech leads believe it is more important that they win the argument than that the team reaches the right decision.
Amazing comic courtesy @blackmad
Project management
Good tech leads are proactive. They make sure technical progress is on track. They work with team members to come up with estimates and to establish intermediate milestones. They anticipate areas of concern and make sure they are addressed before they become a problem. They identify technical roadblocks and help the team get around them. They identify areas of overlap where work can be shared, and conversely, find areas that are not getting enough attention and direct resources toward it.
Bad tech leads are reactive. They may delegate, but do not follow up to make sure progress is being made. They don’t set intermediate goals and hope that everything just comes together in the end. They wait until just before launch to do end-to-end tests of complex systems. They allow team members to waste time on interesting but unimportant work.
Pragmatism
Good tech leads are pragmatic and find a balance between doing it right and getting it done. They cut corners when it’s expedient but never out of laziness. They encourage their team to find temporary shortcuts or workarounds to problems that are blocking overall progress, and to build minimum viable infrastructure for launch. To good tech leads, details matter. Code quality, code reviews, and testing are just as important as shipping on time.
Bad tech leads take shortcuts that save time in the short term but cost more in the long term, and let technical debt pile up. They cannot distinguish between situations that call for expediency and those that call for perfection.
Communication
Good tech leads know that their role is much more than writing code, that effective communication is a vital part of their job, and that time spent making their team more efficient is time well spent. They acknowledge that some communication overhead is necessary when working on a team, and they sacrifice some personal productivity for overall team productivity.
Bad tech leads believe that they are most productive when they are writing code, and think communication is a distraction. They do not optimize for overall team productivity, but rather for what works best for themselves. They get frustrated when they have to take time to lead.
Relationship with Product
Good tech leads are in a conversation with product managers and designers about how the product should work. They are not afraid to push back on decisions they disagree with, but keep the product goals in mind and know when to accommodate them. They find creative workarounds to technical constraints by suggesting alternative product formulations that are less technically demanding, and help PMs and designers understand technical challenges so that they make informed trade-offs themselves.
Bad tech leads throw product decisions “over the wall” and do not take ownership of the product. They push back due to technical constraints but do not offer alternatives or explanations.
Resiliency
Good tech leads are resilient to changes to the product specification and react calmly to surprises. They anticipate where changes might take place and design their code to handle them.
Bad tech leads are upset when the specification changes, or prematurely generalize their design in areas where changes are unlikely to occur.
Personality
Good tech leads are easy-going but assertive. Bad tech leads are confrontational and aggressive. Good tech leads emerge naturally and earn respect through technical competence and experience. Bad tech leads think their title confers respect and authority. Good tech leads are always looking for ways to improve.
Bad tech leads get defensive when given feedback. Good tech leads are humble and boost the confidence of everyone else on the team. Bad tech leads are arrogant and take pleasure in making their teammates feel inferior.Voice & Exit 2016 is this November. Tickets are on sale now but will sell out fast!
I write novels and science books, and seasteading changed my life when I realized it’s the most important story I could tell. The technology to create floating eco-nations at sea is rapidly advancing, and 45% of the earth’s surface is unclaimed by existing states. This realization sparked the seasteading movement.
Seasteaders bring a startup sensibility to the problem of government monopolies that don’t innovate sufficiently. We plan to provide technological platforms for anybody with a better idea to try their micro-nation at sea. Floating startup nations won’t have to work within old broken governments, but will get to start afresh with twenty-first century ideas. Better yet, floating nations won’t lay claim over dissenting populations, but must persuade citizens to move there by providing better services. We believe a fluid market of competing services will unleash innovation in governance.
Seasteaders are a diverse global team of marine biologists, nautical engineers, aquaculture farmers, maritime attorneys, medical researchers, security personnel, investors, environmentalists, and artists. We plan to build seasteads to host profitable aquaculture farms, floating health care, medical research islands, and sustainable energy powerhouses. Our goal is to maximize entrepreneurial freedom to create blue jobs to welcome anyone to the Next New World.
We are credentialed, qualified, pragmatic idealists who plan to apply hard economics, evolutionary principles, and business savvy in order to create the first nations not to aggress against any people, and the first cities to restore the local ecology.
The nonprofit Seasteading Institute, where I serve as “seavangelist,” plans to build the first small floating city with substantial political autonomy by 2020. Over a thousand people have donated to the Institute, and hundreds have volunteered their expertise. We need your creativity. To learn more, please check out the 8 Great Moral Imperatives of Seasteading. I’ll see you on the Blue Frontier.
Voice & Exit 2016 is this November. Tickets are on sale now but will sell out fast!A recent “Saturday Night Live” featured a “Weekend Update” skit with Tina Fey playing the role of an undecided, middle-aged female voter from a suburban town in Pennsylvania.
It was a funny sketch, at one point skewering GOP nominee 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 as “a drunk clown on the street.”
But the premise is no joke.
The pivot point of this election was the moment white women settled on Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham ClintonSanders: 'I fully expect' fair treatment by DNC in 2020 after 'not quite even handed' 2016 primary Sanders: 'Damn right' I'll make the large corporations pay 'fair share of taxes' Former Sanders campaign spokesman: Clinton staff are 'biggest a--holes in American politics' MORE.
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In early September, the Washington Post and Survey Monkey had Clinton up 23 points among white women with a college degree. But as of mid-September, Trump was still leading among white women without a college degree.
Now, according to a PRRI/Atlantic poll conducted as the video of Trump’s hostile talk about grabbing women was released, non-college-educated white women are split, with Clinton and Trump each winning 40 percent of their votes.
Keep in mind that white women without a college education preferred GOP nominee Mitt Romney by 20 points over President Obama in 2012. Among all white women, Romney won by 14 percentage points but still lost among women of all races by 12 points — and lost the election.
Trump’s failure to defeat Clinton among white women with no college education, combined with her edge among college-educated white women — as well as her huge advantage among black, Latina and Asian women — has created an overall 33 point advantage for Clinton among all women, according to the PRRI/Atlantic poll.
That is unprecedented, so much so that the poll looks like an outlier.
But a FiveThirtyEight average of national polls done in October still gives Clinton a 15 point lead among women. And that edge among women is the heart of the growing Clinton lead over Trump both in national polls and in swing states.
The Tina Feys of America — white female voters in the suburbs of Philadelphia and Pittsburgh as well as the suburbs outside Cincinnati and Columbus, and Orlando and Tampa — are roaring.
A CBS Battleground poll taken last week found Clinton leading Trump by 8 points in Pennsylvania, 48 to 40. And here’s the real kicker: 53 percent of Pennsylvania women told pollsters that the tape caused them to view Trump in a worse light.
This trajectory is likely to get worse for Trump as Election Day approaches — not least because several women have now come forward accusing him of various kinds of sexual misconduct and assault. The GOP nominee has vehemently denied those allegations.
Women are the majority of voters. They cast 53 percent of the total votes in 2012. This year, it could be higher.
In previous elections, top political consultants, including Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway, did brisk business advising candidates on the best way to reach white women of all economic classes, from “soccer moms,” to post-9/11 “security moms” and post-recession “mortgage moms.”
A year ago, before the primaries, Clinton appeared to have an advantage with women as the likely first female nominee of a major political party. But in the Democratic primaries, she had trouble attracting support from younger women, especially young white women.
And before the disclosure of the lewd tape of Trump bragging about making unwanted sexual advances to women, he was holding the overall advantage among white female voters.
In the stretch run of the presidential campaign, the Clinton camp is not going to stint in its efforts to drive women to the polls.
A devastating new round of television ads is being run by the Clinton campaign aimed at women.
"I fought for my country in Kosovo and Iraq, and I've been a Republican all my life. But I'm the father of three girls,” a male voter says in one of the ads. “I can't stand hearing Donald Trump call women pigs, dogs, and bimbos. And I sure don't want my daughters hearing it. I want my girls to grow up proud and strong in a nation where they're valued and respected.”
The Clinton campaign is getting a major assist from elected Republican officials.
Here’s Sen. Susan Collins Susan Margaret CollinsHouse to push back at Trump on border Hillicon Valley: Senators urge Trump to bar Huawei products from electric grid | Ex-security officials condemn Trump emergency declaration | New malicious cyber tool found | Facebook faces questions on treatment of moderators GOP Sen. Tillis to vote for resolution blocking Trump's emergency declaration MORE (Maine), the most senior Republican woman in the Senate: “Donald Trump's lewd comments are the latest in a series of remarks he has made ranging from inappropriate to reprehensible that demonstrate why he is unsuitable for the presidency.”
Here’s Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (Fla.), the most senior Republican woman in the House. "Trump doesn't represent our nation. I was not with Trump before and I'm not with him now. Trump must withdraw.”
As the most senior elected Republican, Speaker Paul Ryan Paul Davis RyanBrexit and exit: A transatlantic comparison Five takeaways from McCabe’s allegations against Trump The Hill's 12:30 Report: Sanders set to shake up 2020 race MORE (Wis.) announced that he could no longer defend his party’s presidential nominee and instead wanted to focus on preserving the GOP’s majority in Congress. Ryan knew his only hope of achieving that goal was to bring suburban women back into the fold. That meant he had to dump Trump.
Last week on this page, I wrote about how the Clinton campaign was making shrewd use of micro-targeting to depress Republican voter turnout among Florida’s Cuban American community.
As we enter the final three weeks of the campaign, every appeal — including every answer Clinton gives in Wednesday night’s debate — will be targeted to those women in the suburbs of Pennsylvania, Florida and Ohio.
As things currently stand, the odds are strong that female voters — particularly the Tina Feys of America — will be responsible for electing the first female president next month. That’s no joke.
Juan Williams is an author and a political analyst for Fox News Channel.CLOSE At the final presidential debate, Donald Trump refused to commit to accepting the election results. Time
Broward County canvassing board member Judge Robert Rosenberg uses a magnifying glass to examine a disputed ballot at the Broward County Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., in this Nov. 24, 2000, file photo. (Photo: Alan Diaz, AP)
Donald Trump’s refusal to say he'll accept the result of an election he claims is rigged comes 16 years after a presidential election crisis whose conclusion upheld something Trump now questions — the integrity of American democracy.
Trump’s stance has evoked memories of Bush v. Gore and the Florida vote recount, which until now seemed as messy as a national U.S. election could get.
That election is infamous for hanging chads, butterfly ballots and the photo of a judge, glasses on forehead, squinting uncertainly at a ballot. It didn’t end until 37 days after Election Day. Jeff Greenfield, who covered the recount for CNN, called it “a blend of The Federalist Papers and Celebrity Death Match.’’
Some Trump surrogates claim their man’s reservations about this election are no different than Democratic nominee Al Gore’s in 2000, when an automatic Florida recount left him just several hundred votes shy of Republican George W. Bush in a state whose electoral votes would decide the presidency.
Likening Trump to Gore is nonsense, lawyers, journalists and scholars who argued, covered or studied Bush v. Gore said Thursday. They said 2000 and 2016 have many differences and one big similarity: their significance for the legitimacy of the winner and the system.
Differences between then and now:
Election 2000 was about how to count ballots, not widespread voter fraud, as Trump contends will happen this year
“I don’t recall anyone ever alleging fraud,’’ says Mac Stipanovich, a GOP lobbyist who advised Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris. “It was all mechanical and legal issues.’’
John Hardin Young, a trial lawyer who was on a team of Democratic election lawyers (he’s portrayed in the HBO movie Recount) agreed: “That case wasn’t about what happened on Election Day,’’ he said, but rather “an antiquated voting system” that should have been replaced years earlier.
One result of the case: Tens of millions of federal dollars to help states update their voting machinery.
An official ballot for the general election in Palm Beach County, Fla., is shown Nov. 7, 2000. The close proximity of the holes and the numbering system for the candidates caused some confusion for voters. (Photo: James Prichard, AP)
Election 2000 ended in a dead heat; this one looks more and more like a blowout.
"The flaws that exist in all elections only matter when the results are close,’’ said George Terwilliger, who led Bush’s legal team during the recount and later became acting U.S. attorney general. “This is not shaping up to be close."
That’s an understatement, said Larry Sabato, a University of Virginia political analyst who wrote a book on the recount, Overtime!: “The odds of Trump getting that close to Clinton in the popular vote are so long you can’t fit the number on your page.’’
Terrance Jones, a salesman at a store in Orlando, Fla., watches a bank of televisions as George W. Bush comments on the recount of Florida ballots in this Nov. 8, 2000, file photo. (Photo: Joe Burbank, AP)
Election 2000 occurred in a time of what Greenfield called “national rest,’’ and involved two relative moderates who didn’t arouse strong emotions among most voters — a contrast to this year..
The Cold War was over. The economy was booming. The tech bust, homeland terrorism and the Great Recession were all in the future.
Sabato says after waiting for more than a month, Americans just wanted it to end: “They were more exhausted than anything else. We were out of time. It was almost Christmas!’’
Danna Neely, of Lakeland, Fla., dressed as George W. Bush, left, playfully chokes Terra Frie, also of Lakeland, Fla., dressed as Al Gore, during the Tampa Bay Buccaneers game against the Green Bay Packers on Nov. 12, 2000, in Tampa, Fla. (Photo: Steve Nesius, AP)
Election 2000 could have precipitated a constitutional standoff, but the loser conceded and everyone moved on.
The denouement reinforced both parties’ stakes in the status quo: The Republicans' because that was how they’d come to power; the Democrats’ because their concession was worth nothing if it didn’t reflect a belief that democracy was bigger than any one election.
After the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 on Dec. 12 that it was time to stop counting ballots, Gore said, “I spoke with George W. Bush and congratulated him on becoming the 43rd president of the United States.’’ He said he’d called “to offer my concession and accept my responsibility, which I will discharge unconditionally, to honor the new president-elect and to do everything possible to help him bring Americans together.’’
Bush, speaking later at the Texas capitol in Austin, matched Gore’s tone: “I was not elected to serve one party, but to serve one nation. … The president of the United States is the president of every single American, of every race and background.’’
Police separate the supporters of George W. Bush, left, and the supporters of Al Gore, right, in front of the Supreme Court on Dec. 1, 2000. (Photo: Pat Benic, AP)
Contrast them with Trump in Wednesday’s presidential debate, when asked if he’d accept the election result: "I will look at it at the time,’’ he replied, citing the "corrupt media" and claiming that millions of people are registered to vote who shouldn't be and that Clinton "shouldn't be allowed to run" for president "based on what she did with emails and so many other things."
On Thursday, he made a joke of it: “I would like to promise …. that I will totally accept the results of this great and historic presidential election — if I win.”
Some Democrats and Republicans who worked in the 2000 recount battle weren’t amused.
Young, the Democratic lawyer: “What Gore did in 2000 was gracious; what Trump’s doing now is silliness. He’s acting like a spoiled child.’’
Stipanovich, the GOP operative: “Gore did the right thing. … This is classic Trump, throwing stuff against the wall to see what’ll stick.’’
They disagreed on Trump’s potential damage.
“On Nov. 9, Trump will have lost and the nation will go on,’’ Young said. But he noted an impact on less resilient democracies around the world: “Whenever a dictator knows he’s going to lose, the first thing he does is challenge the election. It’s the only thing left.’’
Stipanovich |
NY. On gamedays I would go to the local sports bar and watch the days games. At said bar there was more than one person wearing a Brian Moorman jersey. Fast forward to 2012 when the Bills cut Moorman and my Bills fan friends were contemplating renouncing the team because of such an affront to as "true a Bill as anyone since Jim Kelly."
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Conrad:
We get 3 Super Bowls a year: the game vs. New England, the game at New England, and the NFL draft. We usually lose all three.
Mike:
CJ Spiller had one of the best seasons among RBs in the NFL, was tied in yards per carry with Adrian Peterson, but our coach was too much of a goddamn idiot to actually ever use him properly. Instead, they'd rely on Fred Jackson in the Red Zone, or they'd sit Spiller on 3rd &10 because he's 'winded' so that Ryan Fitzpatrick could overthrow TJ Graham by about 15 yards for the game-losing interception.
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Matt:
The three stock video sequences for every home game commercial break are, have been, and always will be: Buffalo wings, Niagara Falls (the only nice part of which is located in a separate country), and an actual buffalo (which haven't lived in Western NY for about 200 years). Also, the State of New York had to ensure the newly renovated stadium was named after the current, living owner to help keep him from moving the team.
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Matt:
I was in Charlotte in December 2007, and the Bills were taking on the Browns. With a 7-6 record the Bills could boost their playoff chances with a win. With a tightly contested first half I was on the edge of my seat, and as I went to take a piss I noticed a guy in a Bills starter jacket. I was so glad there was a fellow Bills fan at the bar for once! I went to give him a high five and buy him a beer, but was chided by the man seated next to him. I then saw the fan in the Starter jacket had Down Syndrome, and had been brought to the bar with the rest of his group home. The Bills would go on to lose 8-0 in a blizzard.
Kevin:
If you've ever been to a Bills' game you'd know that it is the drunkest place on Earth. The fans there are barely capable of forming sentences and if you walk out of the stadium without being within five feet of puke you've accomplished something.
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Kevin:
Whenever a new Stadium proposal comes up, fans bitch about wanting to continue "playing in the cold". Yet, by November, when the Bills are either around.500 or totally fucked, the games get blacked out because NO ONE WILL FUCKING GO.
Matt:
Jim Kelly and Marv Levy have cancer. Ralph Wilson does not, per his antebellum-era deal with Satan.
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Matt:
For the first time since 1985, the Bills were finally horrendous enough to warrant a franchise-changing draft pick in 2002. They used that pick on the shitacular OT Mike Williams, who noted assclown Gregg Williams loved because in the pre-draft interview, he had trouble fitting through the door jam BECAUSE HE WAS SO GODDAMN FAT. I hope Gregg Williams gets pulled out to sea and raped to death by a pack of mermen.
Josh:
I cannot stress enough how much the average Buffalo Bills fan LOATHES the idiot sect of Bills fans known as the Bills mafia (I won't give them the satisfaction of using their hashtag.) They are the loud minority who make us all look bad. They are basically the Tea Party of NFL fan bases. These are the types of guys who wear camo pants to the stadium, get in arguments over beer pong games while tailgating and blasting Back In Black out of a 1999 Chevy S10 as if they're the first ones ever to think of listening to AC/DC before big games.
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Amos:
Our kids have nothing to look forward to.
Arash:
One time I walked into a Foot Locker and asked if they had Buffalo Bills jerseys, and the clerk asked me if that was a hockey team. This happened in New York!!!!
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D:
Ralph Wilson. Die. Die. Die. Die you old fucking cocksucker so that your daughter can take over the team, somehow run it even more into the ground and then sell it and it can move. The fact that the NFL puts your face out there as such a great guy gives me diarrhea.
Charlie:
Go to a game and count the number of Coy Wire, Paul Posluzny, or Brian Moorman jerseys in the stands. It's insane.
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Matt:
We haven't made the playoffs in 13 years. During that time, our highlights include: 1. Getting beat by the Steelers third stringers in the fourth quarter at home in Week 16, after which my friend punched his dad in the face because he had recently moved to Pittsburgh and become a Steelers fan while I, allegedly, cried in the stands. 2. Getting beat 8 to 0 by the Browns in Week 15 in one of the snowiest games ever, after which I, allegedly, got in a fight with a 70 year old man in a hotel lobby in downtown Cleveland. 3. Beating the Patriots in Week 3 for the first time since I was in high school, after which I, allegedly, chugged a full pitcher of beer and poured another one on my head before peeing on my friend to celebrate.
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Matt:
The tailgates are like the Thunderdome, if you added wings and replaced Tina Turner with a mustachioed out-of-work electrician from Tonawanda with a sleeveless “You Got The Reich One” t-shirt and a skinful of warm Labatt’s.
Dan:
Orchard Park is impossible to get to on game day, it's rife with the most backwards hicks in the world (silly as it is to complain about hicks at a football game), the stadium is the most bare-bones concrete monstrosity I've ever seen, and it somehow gets 30 degrees colder there than in the city itself. Last game I went to I thought my toes were going to fall off. Wilson must be sucking heat out of the atmosphere to keep his deflated-balloon heart from withering away.
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Steve:
Go to any Bills blog over the offseason and read the comments. You have grown men who, without a single ounce of irony, refer to watching YouTube montages of a projected 8th round pick from Purdue as "watching tape", as though Mike McCarthy has user JimKellyNation_69 on speed-dial.
RJ:
The best thing that could happen to this team is for their plane to crash on the way back from an away game. And they still would not make the front headline on ESPN because no one fucking cares about this team outside the cesspool of WNY.
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Bill:
Doug Flutie had one (1) good season in 1998, and then spent the rest of his career being either mediocre or downright fucking terrible. But you wouldn't know it from Bills fans who still, to this day, in Two Thousand Fucking Thirteen say they "miss Flutie" as if he'd still be playing for them if Wade Phillips hadn't been mean and benched him for Rob Johnson.
Tyler:
I live close by, love the NFL, and decided to get season tickets to the Bills last year.
First game against KC: Four obese gentlemen then get seated to my immediate right, one wearing a Mexican wrestling mask and going by "NAAAAACHO" and another wearing a hard hat, proceed to lift their shirts and pretend to lick each other to encourage women above them for three quarters. Doesn't work. Guy behind me leaves after 2nd quarter.
Second game against NE: Took a partner from my law firm who's a Pats fan (didn't wear any pats stuff), never been to an NFL game. Guy in front of us, before kickoff, literally fell over the benches 3 times. Took off his jersey to reveal a large surgery scar. Falls on my boss. After the Bills drop three touchdowns in the third quarter, a woman starts screaming literal death threats at Pats fans. If I hadn't been smart enough to take him up front to see Tom Brady during warmups, I'd probably have been fired. Third game against TEN: Two guys in the section over get in a standing, drunken yelling match after one shouts "OSKIE WEE WEE" and another shouts "ARGOOOOOOOS," chants from CFL teams. Guy attending the game alone in circa 1992 starter hat gets up literally 15 times during game, asks Quebecers next to us why they're speaking Spanish.
Fourth (night) game against MIA: Complete and total drunken shitfest. Hear from a local that Ralph Wilson personally banned night games until the NFL forced him because in the 80's a guy climbed to the top of the field goal posts. Fans turn aerial placard "thank veterans" promo into gigantic cardboard airplanes. Found out the next day a dude from Rochester died, shocked it wasn't more, and supposedly there were 30 DUI arrests. Had three games left. Thank God for Stubhub.
Fake Fake:
I'm from Toronto. Buffalo hates us, and – well, to be honest, we really don’t care. The truth is, they depend on us to fill their stadiums and arenas to root for their shitty teams and drink their wonderfully affordable American beer. We know it. They know it. Go to any Sabres game when they’re playing the Toronto Maple Leafs and you’ll see – it’s always a home game for Toronto. And they get all uptight about this fact. And we laugh, and laugh. And then we drive home to Toronto because why the hell would anyone live in Buffalo.
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Max:
Can't you just post our record for the last 14 years and save your time?
Mike:
They have the lowest average ticket price in the entire league, yet the supposedly rabid fan base can’t be bothered to show up.
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Chris:
In Buffalo, everything is named after William McKinley, an unremarkable, corrupt president whose only connection to the city is that he was assassinated there. How fitting. The only president with any true connection to the city is Millard Fillmore, who served three years after Zachary Taylor died. He was the last Whig and had no vice president. Behind the times and unprepared for disaster. Again, how fitting. We have not had a good QB since Jim Kelly. Our most famous all-time player is a sociopathic murderer. People still talk about winning AFL championships in the 1960s, as if that somehow dulls the pain of never winning a Super Bowl. We have two good running backs, so of course we are pissing them both off so that they will leave as soon as they can. We signed Mario Williams to a 4 billion dollar contract, and the most notable thing he did was threaten to kill himself when his gold digging fiancee dumped him, then sue her to get his ring back.
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Ryan:
You are stepping over rivers of urine as you walk anywhere in the building.
Andrew:
Have you seen Ralph Wilson lately? It looks like there's a very tiny black hole just behind his nose that is slowly sucking his face inward.
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Adam:
You know those "Conference Champions" shirts that teams sell for exactly 10 days after they qualify for the Super Bowl but before they play in it? You always wonder, "Who the hell would buy that?" After all, they're totally useless after the Super Bowl - you either have nothing to celebrate or a more braggadocious shirt to buy. Bills fans wear those shirts (from '90-93) to this day, unironically.
Keith:
The Bills suck because they hired a mildly successful coach from a college known for its basketball team and it's a HUGE improvement. The Bills fanbase is 95% unbearable. Have you ever visited a Buffalo Bills message board or the team Facebook page? It's just a series of increasingly racist comments. Starting with subtle racists longing for the days of some obscure white player from the 60's, and making its way to overt racists calling Stevie Johnson a gang member for wearing a baseball hat backwards.
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Josh:
Wash the sheets all you want, but if you get out your black light you can still see Nix’s DNA all over the organization.
Justin:
While spending the past nine years in central/southwest Florida, I had the pleasure of watching EJ Manuel bumblefuck his way through several seasons at Florida State and somehow manage to not fuck up badly enough for the Seminoles to lose too often. Everything about the kid screamed "fourth-round draft pick" until good ol' boy Buddy Nix showed up to the draft.
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Dave:
Hope dies fast in Buffalo — almost instantly.
Terry:
The worst part about my life is being a Bills fan. Fuck Chan Gailey.
Brian:
The Bills playoff drought has now seen three popes.
Adam:
Probably nothing sums up the entire Bills experience better than a conversation I had once in a San Francisco hotel elevator. A husband and wife walked in with me, wearing full 49ers gear. They asked where I was visiting from, and I said Buffalo. The husband immediately looked at me and said, "I'm so sorry." This was in 2009, when the 49ers were still one of the shittiest teams in football too.
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Jim:
The third preseason game is the most important. So to recap ours, we lost 30-7, our best player's step-grandfather went on a murder spree, and we're working out Matt Leinart and John Beck. The sad thing is, my expression didn't change when I heard about any of this. You come to expect these things when you're closing in on two decades since your last playoff victory and there's a decent chance team officials are employing a Weekend at Bernie's type scheme concerning the owner.
Jake:
Fuck Buddy Nix, fuck Crypt Keeper wannabe Ralph Wilson, and fuck the whole city of Buffalo. I hope Time Warner never brings back CBS so I don't have to watch my favorite team get slaughtered by the end of the 1st quarter every week.
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Kyle:
It's the guy running our team- Russ Brandon: a marketing genius with no football knowledge whatsoever. He previously served as the team's general manager, which again, is extremely troubling considering he knows absolutely nothing about football. He's a former college baseball player who initially worked in the front office for the Florida Marlins, which kind of makes sense. Now he's the President and Chief Executive Officer of an NFL team. How the fuck did this happen?
Seamus:
Hating on Buffalo is like shitting on a guy with terminal bladder cancer who also survived the Rwandan genocide as a kid. There is nothing in Buffalo except very cold, obese people scrounging for the meager scraps of a long-depleted industrial past.
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Nolan:
The date was October 11th, 2009. Derek Anderson completes 2/17 for 23 yards with a pick. Posts a 2.1 QBR. Browns snap 10-game losing streak, beat Bills 6-3. J.P. Losman, Rob Johnson, Trent Edwards, Ryan Fitzpatrick, Todd Collins, Brian Brohm, Alex Van Pelt, Kelly Holcomb, and Drew Bledsoe can all get human centipeded.
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Ian:
Toronto.
Bob:
Last playoff win: December 30, 1995. Two months after OJ was acquitted of murder.
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Jeff:
Our coach's crowning achievement is going to the Pinstripe Bowl. Our QB's crowning achievement is existing.
Reid:
Every game I've ever been to, I've seen someone wearing a Brian Moorman jersey.
Brian:
My family has had season tickets since 1960, the year the team was born. My grandfather (who passed away in 1988) had the seats in his name, so my dad always pretends that he's "just here to pick up the season tickets" in grandpa's name. You know why? Because if the name on the account changes, the team will put my dad at the bottom of the list as a one-year season ticket holder and make him sit at the 2 yard line instead of the 50. Will the Bills ever figure out that my grandfather would have to be approximately 147 years old by now? I doubt it.
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Steve:
People were actually excited that Dave Wannstedt was named defensive coordinator before last season.
UZ:
Fuck Ryan Fitzpatrick in his stupid bearded face with a $24 million dollar gem-encrusted diamond dildo.
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AJC:
Fuck every player drafted/signed after the 1994 season.
Aaron:
The Charlotte HORNETS (the old version, not the new version) have been to the NBA playoffs three times since the Bills made the playoffs, and that's before the Hornets relocated.
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Peter:
First time I saw tits was at a Bills game against the Raiders. Bills were getting gashed (as usual) and the crowd was looking away from the field, up 3 rows behind me at a woman who was flashing everyone.
They were the worst tits in the history of the world. Amateur porn has better tits. One was a baseball, the other a softball, but somehow they both had bologna sized nipples. My first titty experience was ruined.
Aaron:
In mid August of this year, I had lunch across the street from the stadium. I overheard two typical Bills fans (at the bar of course, HARD WORKING FANS!) discussing the quarterback competition. They said the following: "Yeah, it's between Kevin Kolb and that colored guy".
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Shane:
I felt bad that I didn't know who Jeff Tuel was until I found out that Wikipedia didn't either.
Mike:
Fuck Wade Phillips. Were it not for his shitty clock management, the music city miracle forward pass wouldn’t have happened.
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Sunny:
I was at a game a couple of years ago at "The Ralph". A more appropriate name for a stadium there never was. The game was at 1pm as usual (because the Bills in primetime would presumably get beat in ratings by reruns of Dharma & Greg). This young, somewhat well-dressed couple had seats in front of us and had obviously hurried to the stadium from their wedding. Like many of the other louts at the place, they are drinking their faces off and are wasted before halftime. Fast forward to about the middle of the third quarter, and the girl has now done the stadium name proud and has to be carried out of the stadium. Wearing her wedding dress.
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Aziza:
Fucking Jeff Tuel. The kid had 4 wins in his 4 years at Washington State. THREE of them were last fucking year. When he broke his collarbone, he was replaced by a fucking walk on. But hey, at least they won the Apple Cup.
Matt:
An old Bryce Paup jersey is still considered to be church clothes.
Rich:
A kid got so shit-faced last year that he passed out in a creek-bed outside the stadium and died. I was on a message board the other day and instead of applauding a newly passed law that prohibited people from entering this ravine, 90% of the posters complained that they couldn't take their "favorite shortcut" to the stadium. Fat, insensitive fucks.
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Matt:
2,771: the amount that the population of Buffalo decreases by every year. 96 million: the number of actual, non-imaginary American dollars owed to Mario Williams over the length of his fat fucking contract.
$35,000: If you were to divide Mario Williams' contract between the 2,771 people who leave the city every year, that $35,000 per person would be enough to buy each of them their own entire goddamn 3-bedroom house, because Buffalo.
$5.7 million: The combined 2012 base salaries of JJ Watt, Luke Kuechly, James Laurinaitis, NaVorro Bowman, Sean Lee, Bobby Wagner, Patrick Willis, Lavonte David, Cameron Wake and Sean Watherspoon,10 players who are all ranked higher than Mario Williams in defensive player rankings.
$6.5 million: Mario Williams' base salary.
7: Amount of healthy knees at any given time on the entire Bills' roster
1: Number of NFL teams this season who have had the thought "Kevin Kolb's our man, but hey, Jeff Tuel's a good option as a starting quarterback".
0: Number of teams in NFL history - of all of the shitty teams in NFL history! - who have started an undrafted rookie quarterback in Week 1.
Speaking of quarterbacks, I also got a leaked copy of their 2013 QB playbook, attached.
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Wanna be part of the Deadspin NFL previews? It's simple. Just email me and give me ample evidence of why your team sucks: personal anecdotes, encounters with fans, etc. I'll throw any good material into the post and give you proper credit. Next team up: New York Jets. Hoo boy.
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Photo via Getty.Maybe Rick Santorum is helping Mitt Romney after all: Santorum’s wacky statements about college and snobbery, along with his upset stomach over a 52-year-old John F. Kennedy speech, are distracting attention from Romney’s extremist economic ideas.
Yes, Romney needs Santorum to keep doing his exotic fan dance on social issues because the stage act diverts everyone (especially journalists) from examining the reactionary and regressive ideas that Romney is cooking up on substantive questions. If Romneyism is what now passes for “moderation” in the Republican Party, no wonder the authentically moderate Olympia Snowe decided to end her distinguished career in the Senate. There is no room anymore for proposals remotely worthy of the moderate label.
Romney’s plan is simultaneously extreme and very, very boring. It draws on the one and only idea that today’s conservatives offer for solving any and every problem that comes along: just throw yet more money at rich people.
At his moment of triumph Tuesday night after his necessary victories in Michigan and Arizona, a bit of inspiration from Romney would have been nice. Instead, he detailed a list of tax changes that might lift the spirits of accountants and lawyers for wealthy Americans across our great nation, while sending everyone else off to the fridge for a beer.
Romney promised to enact an “across-the-board, 20 percent rate cut for every American,” pledged to “repeal the alternative minimum tax” and said he’d abolish the “death tax” (conservative-speak for the estate tax paid by only the most affluent Americans.) He’d lower the corporate tax rate to 25 percent, “make the R&D tax credit permanent to foster innovation” and “end the repatriation tax to return investment back to our shores.”
It’s not exactly “Ask not what your country can do for you,” but these ideas do appeal to Romney’s most faithful constituency in primaries: Republicans earning more than $200,000 a year. In Michigan, they backed him over Santorum by 2 to 1.
They’re Romney’s base for good reason. That “across-the-board” tax cut sounds fair and balanced. But a Tax Policy Center study in November of the impact of a 20 percent across-the-board rate cut showed that the wealthiest 0.1 percent would get an average tax reduction of $264,000. The poorest 20 percent would get $78, and those smack in the middle would get $791.
And the candidate who says that he’ll eliminate the deficit does not let on, as a new Tax Policy Center report noted Wednesday, that his tax giveaway would add more than $3 trillion to the deficit over the next decade. Romney talks vaguely about closing loopholes to recoup some revenue, but aren’t “moderates” supposed to see deficit reduction as urgent?
There is a terrible bias in the mainstream media that judges “moderation” almost entirely in relation to positions on social issues such as abortion or gay marriage. The media love these issues because they often involve sex, which everyone likes to read about, and do not demand elaborate explanations, charts or tables.
Go right on social issues, and the extremist charge can’t be far behind. But the media rarely peg an extreme economic conservative as “extreme” because doing so requires tedious math-laden paragraphs. Besides, people in pinstriped suits who are driven by money don’t seem “extreme.”
So here’s a counterintuitive argument: These primaries have damaged the Republican candidates’ images in the short run. But in the long run, they may yet help Romney — if he prevails — because by comparison with Santorum and Newt Gingrich, he seems “moderate,” and his supporters are more “moderate” than the voters backing the other guys. And Romney has been on so many sides of so many issues that pundits can arbitrarily imagine their own Romney.
My friend and colleague Matt Miller wrote recently that “everyone knows Romney is basically a pragmatic centrist.” No, “everyone” does not know this. The evidence from his tax plan, in fact, is that he’s an extremist for the privileged.
We’re witnessing what should be called the Two Cadillacs Fallacy: Romney’s rather authentic moments suggesting he doesn’t understand the lives of average people (such as his comment on his wife’s two Cadillacs) are dismissed as “gaffes,” while Santorum’s views on social issues are denounced as “extreme.” But Romney’s gaffes are more than gaffes: They reflect deeply held and radical views about how wealth and power ought to be distributed in the United States. These should worry us a lot more than Santorum’s dopey “snob” comment or his tasteless denunciation of JFK.
ejdionne@washpost.comSenator Grace Poe on Thursday slammed Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II for magnifying fake news “like a troll” and recklessly linking several lawmakers to the crisis in Marawi City.
In a statement, Poe, who chairs the Senate Committee on Public Information and Mass Media, said she was alarmed by the increase of fake news online, which is “adversely affecting public and private interest.”
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“What makes it worse is when the Justice Secretary himself willingly exploits and amplifies such fake news like a troll without a modicum of effort to at least verify the same just to malign political opponents,” she said, referring to Aguirre’s claim that Senators Bam Aquino, Antonio Trillanes IV, and former President Benigno Aquino IV’s political adviser Ronald Llamas allegedly met with political families in Marawi last May 2, right before the Maute terrorist group attacked the city.
READ: Aguirre sees ouster plot vs Duterte linked to Marawi crisis
Poe noted how the Justice secretary “backtrack[ed] and offer[ed] excuses” after making such claims. Aguirre has since apologized to Senator Aquino, saying he was “confused” by the reports he had been receiving.
READ: Bam says Aguirre has apologized, cited ‘confusion’
“I call on Secretary Aguirre to faithfully do his duty to serve public interest and that requires siding with the truth,” Poe said.
“Congress should look into these pernicious acts and hopefully come up with legislation to address this phenomenon and penalize perpetrators, referring to both authors of fake news as well as sites willingly hosting the same,” she further said.
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MOST READThis is part five in a series on “great places.” Read parts one, two, three, and four.
Place enthusiasts (I really need a better term for that) are prone to lapsing into the wonky language of engineers or city planners: transit-oriented development, mixed-use buildings, etc. So let’s not forget, one of the things that makes a great places truly great is simple delight. They aren’t just efficient, effective, and productive; they also surprise us, please us, make us smile or exclaim.
If you’re like me, when you think of delightful places you often think of ornamental or artistic features scattered throughout the more pedestrian, pragmatic structures in which we do our business. For instance, almost every Seattleite has been delighted by the Fremont troll. (That’s him over on the right, lurking under a highway bridge and clutching a real VW bug.)
But there’s no reason function and delight have to be separated, as they have been in American suburbs, where a monocrop of beige shopping centers and cookie-cutter houses has taken over. With some imagination, it is possible, even within the bounds of financial rectitude, to make structures that are functional, sustainable, and delightful.
Consider one of my favorite examples of the last year. Copenhagen is going to replace its 40-year-old Amagerforbraending waste-to-energy plant with a new, bigger, more efficient facility. The Amager Bakke plant, set to open in 2016, will provide the majority of heat and power for Copenhagen with fewer emissions. Still, it’s going to be a huge factory — the tallest building in the city save the Christiansborg spire — and huge factories aren’t typically welcome neighbors.
The winner of the high-stakes competition to design the facility was Danish architectural firm BIG, founded by Danish architect Bjarke Ingels, who once described his ultimate aim as “a pragmatic utopian architecture that takes on the creation of socially, economically and environmentally perfect places as a practical objective.”
OK, that’s heady, but … lasers! There are lasers coming later.
Instead of just reducing the plant’s visual impact (a dreary concept, no?), Ingels endeavored offer something delightful. In this case: skiing. An elevator will ascend nearly 330 feet through the center of the building, from which three slopes will be accessible: a green, a blue, and a black run, each of which return to the bottom of the elevator. The idea is to take advantage of the fact that, as Ingels puts it, “we have the snow but not the hills.”
“When you’re building a big power plant that casts shadows and blocks views in the middle of the city, you normally get a lot of NIMBYs,” Ingels told me. “In this case, we’ve been getting a lot of mail from people asking when it is going to be realized. They are looking forward to it as an addition to their neighborhood.”
(For the record, the snow will not be artificial, but created by capturing rainwater and misting it above an Astroturf-like padding.)
The developer had reserved some money for artistic beautification, but Ingels envisioned something more meaningful. “This power plant will be the cleanest in the world when it’s done,” he says. “It’s going to be blowing very clean, non-toxic smoke. But the smoke will contain CO2. We thought to play with this fact, and be open about it instead of trying to hide it.” So each time the smokestack fills with a tonne of CO2, a disc at the top compresses, releasing a giant smoke ring:
“CO2 emissions are an abstract, uncountable, ungraspable thing,” Ingels says, “whereas now we can make it measurable and visible.”
Here’s where the lasers come in. They will be aimed at the smoke rings, using them to display information about the plant, its emissions, and other energy-related matters. Or, just to make something pretty:
The facade of the building, on the other side from the slope, is also designed for both beauty and function. It will be covered in windows, each ledge planted with with vegetation:
Consequently, the interior will be filled with natural light:
The plant will also contain a visitor center for educational purposes, and be adjoined by open public parks.
Ingels has done other projects to delight the residents of Copenhagen, including a celebrated harbor bath taking advantage of the fact that the city’s industrial port is so clean you can swim in it:
If you head over to BIG’s website, you can see many more such projects (including a killer apartment building for West 57th in NYC) and proposals (including a mindblowing presentation on self-piloting urban cars traveling on solar roadways).
Making places ecologically and socially sustainable “is not a moral dilemma or a political limitation,” Ingels says. “It’s simply a design challenge. We can use sustainability not as a sacrifice, but an upgrade.” He calls it “hedonic sustainability.” I call it making great places.
Bonus TED video from Ingels:Lincoln Alexander had tears in his eyes, touched by the emotional farewell, the kind words and the two standing ovations.
Correction: This article has been edited from a previous version that mistakenly said Lincoln Alexander met Marni Beal in 2001.
That goodbye was more than 30 years ago, when he retired his Hamilton West seat in the House of Commons, having been the first black Canadian to serve as MP, and a cabinet minister.
That day marked an end for the man who commanded one and all to “call me Linc.”
“I feel so sad at this particular time,” he said in his Zeus-like baritone.
He often employed boastful humour, but the quip was not without prescience. Not only was he the first visible minority to serve in the post, but perhaps the most beloved Queen’s vice-regal in the 145-year history of the office.
“This will be the best appointment you’ll ever make,” Linc told the Prime Minister on the phone, bringing deep laughter from the two foghorn-voiced men.
And there was Brian Mulroney’s invitation in 1985 to become Ontario’s lieutenant-governor.
And Linc had a few things left to do, like live another three decades, see three schools, a police station and expressway named after him, receive six honorary degrees and dozens of other honours ranging from the Order of Canada to the National Order of the Lion from Senegal.
No, when Lincoln MacCauley Alexander left Parliament Hill in the spring of 1980 he did not leave the stage. His stature only grew as he became the closest thing to homegrown royalty Ontario has ever had.
Lt. Gov. David Onley’s statement
He has beaten lung cancer, experienced heart failure, and had circulatory and back issues. This spring he had advanced surgery to repair a ruptured aneurysm in his abdomen at Hamilton General Hospital.
While he lamented that his friends kept dying on him, he once said he hoped to live to 100.
Linc lost his wife of 50 years, Yvonne, in 1999. He married Marni Beal last year. He leaves behind a son, Keith, daughter-in-law, Joyce, and grandchildren, Erika and Marissa.
His mother was born in Jamaica, his father in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Linc was born in Toronto on Jan. 21, 1922 and as a teenager lived for three years in the Bronx.
Many places could lay claim to the man; his name adorns buildings in places such as Ajax, Mississauga, and Orillia, he served as Chancellor of the University of Guelph, and as lieutenant-governor presided over the province.
But his heart always belonged to one place: Hamilton. He never stopped professing his love for the city where he grew as a man, a public figure and icon, and that delivered Linc to his beloved Yvonne.
He lived most of his life in a stately home in the east end on Proctor Boulevard. In 2006, he was named the Greatest Hamiltonian Ever in a Spectator poll, an achievement he noted with pride to conclude his autobiography.
“It’s the greatest city in the world,” he once said. “It’s all about the people. I have great faith in them. They are a strong and resilient people.”
There was another place that had great influence on his life: Africa. He and Yvonne went on a tour of 23 countries on the continent in 1960, when Linc was 38. He was already a trailblazer, working as a lawyer in Hamilton — one of the first black lawyers in Ontario — but the African trip awakened him to even greater possibilities.
The trip was, he wrote in his book, a journey of self-awareness.
“I became conscious of my blackness…I had come from a white world. In Africa I was a black man and I was somebody. I started standing tall.”
His parents had been of a generation that rarely had a chance to stand tall. His father, also named Lincoln, was a carpenter by trade but worked as a railway porter. His mother, Mae Rose Royale, was a maid. (She called him “Linnie.”) He had a younger brother, Hughie.
His father, Lincoln — “Big Alex” — was an imposing man physically. As a boy Linc — “Little Alex” — had great respect for him, but it didn’t last. Linc witnessed his father hit his mother when she announced she was leaving him over his infidelity. (“I recall screaming, ‘Daddy, Daddy! Don’t hit her!’”)
He left Toronto to live with his mother in New York for three years before she sent him home to volunteer for service in World War II.
Mae Rose was his hero, and he spent the rest of his life trying to do his mother proud — to be somebody. He achieved that much even as a young man, earning his B.A. from McMaster, law degree from Osgoode Hall, and serving as a wireless operator in the Canadian Air Force.
He never stopped following her advice to get a solid education. One of her exhortations became the title of his memoir, written with author Herb Shoveller: Go To School, You’re A Little Black Boy.
His mother died young, in 1948, at 49, in Hamilton Psychiatric Hospital after suffering from dementia.
His father committed suicide four years later; Linc believed it was because he had finally come to terms with breaking apart their family. He told The Spectator he never could erase from his mind the vision of his father lying in the casket, a mark around his neck where the rope had tightened.
As a young man, Linc first spotted Yvonne Harrison at a dance in Toronto. She was from Hamilton, and her father, too, had been a railway porter. Linc considered her an “untouchable” because of her grace and beauty. (“Who the hell is that?” he said upon seeing her.)
It was his pursuit of Yvonne that brought him to Hamilton. He eventually worked for a law firm in the city before entering politics, running as a Conservative in Hamilton West. He lost in 1965 and won in 1968, bucking the Liberals’ Trudeaumania tide. John Diefenbaker made him his seatmate in the House of Commons.
Linc was a bold voice in the legislature, accusing the Liberals of “flim-flammery” in their dealings and “bamboozling” the public.
But |
.dll,SetSuspendState
Sleep Computer
rundll32.exe powrprof.dll,SetSuspendState 0,1,0
NOTE: You CAN make these shortcuts if it will make you happy but in the case of Sleep, I just close the lid on my laptop.
Pin Internet Explorer 10 Desktop in the Start Menu
Now that you have figured out how to make crazy shortcuts then Pin them. Hopefully this is as empowering to you as it is to me.
As a Web Developer I have a bunch of Web Browsers pinned to both Start and the Taskbar. However, the Internet Explorer icon in the Start Menu goes to the full screen IE10 and sometimes I want the Desktop IE10.
If you refer to this old old old Windows XP Knowledge Base Article you'll see that they show a number of ways you can make Internet Explorer shortcuts. Of course, the easiest one is the one you should do. ;)
NOTE: You can also make a more "real" Internet Explorer link with this "%windir%\explorer.exe shell:::{871C5380-42A0-1069-A2EA-08002B30309D}" as a new Shortcut if you like.
Go to c:\program files\internet explorer and right click on iexplore.exe and pin it. Alternatively you can Copy, then Paste Shortcut, then Rename the shortcut. I named mine "Internet Explorer (Desktop)."
Now I've got two choices! Just like I like it.
Pinning Web Sites and Customizing IE10 Pinned Site Icons
You can pin Web Sites from within IE10 using the menu in the lower right corner. That's also the same context menu that includes Jump Lists. Jump Lists can be added easily with just <meta> keys in your HTML.
If your favicon.ico has a 32x32 version that is the resolution of Icon that will be used for your pinned site. The background color for the icon comes from the main color of the icon.
If you want a different icon or color, you can set those with Meta Tags as well. Hm, my giant head isn't big enough. I'll add a 144x144 PNG.
<meta name="msapplication-TileImage" content="/blog/images/hanselman-144.png" />
There we go. Much clearer. I can also control the background color with msapplication-TileColor if I want using a #rgb color.
I've pinned all sorts of stuff. Apps, Links, Folders, Browsers, Custom Tasks, Libraries and more. No, I didn't actually pin my face. Oh, and that days app is "Save The Date."
Have fun customizing!Abstract The perpetual activity of the cerebral cortex is largely supported by the variety of oscillations the brain generates, spanning a number of frequencies and anatomical locations, as well as behavioral correlates. First, we review findings from animal studies showing that most forms of brain rhythms are inhibition-based, producing rhythmic volleys of inhibitory inputs to principal cell populations, thereby providing alternating temporal windows of relatively reduced and enhanced excitability in neuronal networks. These inhibition-based mechanisms offer natural temporal frames to group or “chunk” neuronal activity into cell assemblies and sequences of assemblies, with more complex multi-oscillation interactions creating syntactical rules for the effective exchange of information among cortical networks. We then review recent studies in human psychiatric patients demonstrating a variety alterations in neural oscillations across all major psychiatric diseases, and suggest possible future research directions and treatment approaches based on the fundamental properties of brain rhythms. Keywords: brain, oscillation, neuron, coding, action potential, assembly, psychiatry
Abstract La perpetua actividad de la corteza cerebral está sustentada en gran medida por la variedad de oscilaciones que genera el cerebro, las que abarcan un número de frecuencias y sitios anatómicos, así como correlatos conductuales. En primer lugar se revisan los hallazgos de estudios animales que muestran que la mayoría de las formas de los ritmos cerebrales se basan en la inhibición, produciendo descargas rítmicas de estímulos inhibitorios a las principales poblaciones celulares, proporcionando por lo tanto ventanas temporales que alternan una excitabilidad relativamente reducida o aumentada en los circuitos neuronales. Estos mecanismos basados en la inhibición ofrecen marcos temporales naturales para agrupar o “fragmentar” la actividad neuronal en conjuntos celulares y secuencias de conjuntos, con interacciones más complejas de multi-oscilación creando reglas sintácticas para el cambio efectivo de información entre los circuitos corticales. Luego se revisan los estudios en pacientes psiquiátricos que demuestran una variedad de alteraciones en las oscilaciones neurales en las principales enfermedades psiquiátricas, y sugieren posibles orientaciones en las investigaciones a futuro y aproximaciones terapéuticas basadas en las propiedades fundamentals de los ritmos cerebrales
Résumé L'activité permanente du cortex cérébral est largement basée sur la grande variété d'oscillations que le cerveau génère incluant un grand nombre de fréquences et de localisations anatomiques, ainsi que leurs corrélats comportementaux. Nous présentons tout d'abord les recherches sur les études animales montrant que la plupart des formes des rythmes cérébraux sont basées sur l'inhibition, produisant des volées rythmiques de signaux inhibiteurs vers les populations cellulaires principales, fournissant alors des fenêtres temporales alternatives d'excitabilité relativement réduites et plus importantes dans les réseaux neuronaux. Ces mécanismes inhibiteurs offrent des cadres temporaux naturels à une grosse activité neuronale ou activité groupée dans des ensembles de cellules et des séquences d'ensembles de cellules, avec des interactions multi-oscillatoires plus complexes créant des règles syntaxiques pour l'échange efficace d'information parmi les réseaux corticaux. Nous analysons ensuite des études récentes de patients psychiatriques qui montrent des altérations variées des oscillations neurales dans toutes les principales maladies psychiatriques. De possibles directions de recherche future ainsi que des approches de traitement fondées sur les propriétés fondamentales des rythmes cérébraux sont proposées.
Overview The initial portion of this manuscript is devoted to a basic introduction to a number of neurophysiological concepts as background to an understanding of neuronal oscillations (used here nearly interchangeably with “rhythms”) in the brain. This initial portion may require some in-depth knowledge in neurophysiology, though we hope to introduce concepts in intuitive ways and by adding a glossary (see Glossary in separate Box) for convenience. We will go on to explain how these oscillatory rhythms interact with each other and allow for information coding, demonstrating that they are central to brain function. Therefore, a knowledge of the role of neural rhythms is critical to a full understanding of brain function and the impact disturbances of brain rhythms can have on patients. With this background in hand, we then move to a larger perspective aimed specifically at findings and future directions in psychiatric disease.
Introduction: a system of brain rhythms Computation in the cerebral cortex of all mammals has two essential features: local-global communication and persistent activity.1-3 Due to the bidirectional and highly branched connectivity of neurons throughout the mammalian brain, the results of local computations are broadcast to widespread areas so that multiple structures are informed simultaneously around any given local activity. The inverse is also true: local circuits are under the continuous control of global brain activity, usually referred to by terms such as “brain state,” “top-down” or “attentional” control.4,5 The second fundamental feature of the cerebral cortex is its persistent activity, ie, an ability to ignite and maintain a long-lasting trace after the initial input has already vanished.6 For example, a transient perturbation, such as hearing someone's name in a particular context, can trigger internally generated brain activity for several minutes. In the case of sleep, which is an extreme example of persistent activity, since activity is maintained free of external inputs, a transient perturbation can have a lasting impact. Both local-global communication and persistent activity require special structural and dynamic organization. Local-global interactions and persistent activity can be maintained by the interactive systems of brain oscillations.7 The cerebral cortex is perpetually active as reflected by the ever-changing landscape of the electroencephalogram (EEG). Traditional quantitative investigation of the EEG is performed by calculating the spectral power distribution of long-duration recordings, ie, the relative amplitudes, or “energies” of the various frequencies comprising the EEG or other extracellularly recorded signal. ( ). A striking aspect of the extracellular signal is its self-similarity (“fractal” nature) in both space and time, wherein the fundamental features of the extracellular signal recorded by microelectrodes or large scalp electrodes over different cortical structures are the same, even though the recorded volume of neurons differs in orders of magnitude. Thus, certain fundamental aspects of function are maintained across location and scale.8,9 Such a distribution is telltale of complex (or “pink”) noise,10 which led many investigators to suggest that brain dynamics are essentially chaotic, driven by noise fluctuations.11 However, this conclusion is valid only when brain activity is surveyed over very long periods of time. However, many of the most interesting brain-related phenomena from perception to action occur in relatively short time windows such as subseconds rather than minutes or hours; therefore, these short windows are the most relevant for the investigation of brain dynamics involved in cognitive activity. Examined from such a temporal perspective, the brain patterns that characterize these cognitive moments may have some nonoscillatory or irregular components, but are typically largely oscillatory in nature and return reliably to the same states after the information is processed. Even in such short time windows several rhythms and nonrhythmic patterns can coexist. Most often the frequencies of the various rhythms have a noninteger relationship with each other and the resulting interference patterns lead to the appearance of “noise.” Neuronal networks in the mammalian forebrain support several oscillatory bands (families of oscillations) that span from approximately 0.05 Hz to 500 Hz (Figure 1). Importantly, there are a number of boundary lines drawn to delineate cortical oscillations which have been empirically found to act relatively independently. The frequencies occupied by these bands have relatively constant relationships to each other on a natural logarithmic scale (Figure 1) and tend to have constant ratios between any given pair of neighboring frequencies (Figure 1). Constrained largely by the slow axon conduction velocity of the neurons, when the available time is short, as is the case of higher frequency oscillations, the participating neurons are confined to a small volume of nervous tissue. In contrast, during slow oscillations many neurons in a large volume of tissue can be recruited to the rhythm. Mainly due to this structural constraint, when multiple rhythms are present simultaneously, the phase of the slow rhythm(s) modulates the power of the faster one(s). This “cross-frequency phase coupling,” first demonstrated between theta (0,4 to 9 Hz) and gamma (γ, 30 to 90 Hz) oscillations,12,13 is a general mechanism for all known rhythms (.)14-16 and it undergirds a hierarchical organization of brain rhythms.17 Open in a separate window Open in a separate window
Preservation of brain rhythms in the mammalian order The spectral features of the EEG or local field potentials (LFP) recorded from animals with small or large brains are similar, and all known oscillations in humans are present in all other mammals investigated to date, γ oscillations have the same frequency range (30 to 90 Hz) and, importantly, have the same intermittent nature and likely the same mechanisms in animals with small and large brains.13 Slow oscillations (0.5 to 2 Hz)18 have been observed in the neocortex of all mammals tested. Similarly, sleep spindles have not only the same frequency (12 to 18 Hz) but the duration of the spindles is also similar.19-21 The ultra-slow (0.1 Hz) rhythm ( ) involved large areas of the neocortex and is easily detectable with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) as correlated and anticorrelated brain regions in this frequency range gives rise to the “default” patterns of cortical activity (ie, those brain activity patterns observed in the absence of specific inputs or tasks) now frequently seen in human subjects.22 The ultra-slow fluctuation of cortical network excitability is robust and has been observed also in monkeys,23 cats,24 and rats21 (Figure 3). Thalamocortical alpha (α) oscillations (8 to 12 Hz) are the characteristic dynamic of sensory and motor systems in their “idling” or non-directed state. In humans, the specific members of the α family rhythms are known as a oscillations of the visual system, mu (μ) rhythms of the sensorimotor system, and tau (τ) rhythms of the auditor)' system.17,25 Similar α mechanisms have been detected in the gustatory cortex, even in the absence of taste inputs.26 In primates with a large cortical domain dedicated to vision, eye closure induces widespread α oscillation in the occipital-posterior part of the neocortex.27 In rodents, where face-whisker representation in the somatosensory cortex is particularly large, the μ rhythm occurs synchronously over the parietal-frontal areas during immobility.28 Sniffing induces θ phase-modulated μ patterns in the olfactory bulb and cortex with similar frequencies and temporal dynamic in multiple species.29 Open in a separate window Hippocampal θ oscillations are perhaps the only known rhythm whose frequency scales inversely with the size of the brain. The 6- to 12-Hz θ oscillations in rodents30,31 slow down to 4 to 6 Hz In carnivores.32,33 θ frequency of all species investigated is slowest in humans (1 to 4 Hz),34-36 and its very existence has been questioned by some reports in epileptic patients.37,38 The preservation of frequencies in the various mammalian species is an important argument in favor of time as the most important organization principle in brain dynamics. While brain rhythms vary little across species (30% to 100%), brain size increases hundreds- to thousands-fold from the smallest- to the largest-brained mammal.39 This scaling process places serious and critical constraints on brain development. While the modular neocortex can volumetrically expand multiple-fold, time-related issues appear to have fundamentally shaped brain phylogenesis. To preserve timing in the face of multiplying cortical modules, disproportionally more long-range axonal pathways and more effective axon myelination are deployed.40 By contrast, a potential argument for the decreasing frequency of hippocampal θ oscillations In mammals with larger brains is that the hippocampus is a single cortical module,41,42 and its growth is limited by the axon conduction delays. Pyramidal neurons of the CA3 region of the hippocampus Innervate a very large volume of the hippocampus,41,43,44 connecting distant peer neurons and requiring long axonal lengths and, consequently, longer delays. The increasing delays may contribute to the slowing of the θ rhythm as the structure grows. It is critical to emphasize that preservation of cortical rhythms across species does not reflect the brain's inability to change timing mechanisms, and rhythms can adapt effectively according to the needs of given species. For example, central pattern generators for walking and respiratory rhythms vary according to ecological needs from 0.5/min in large aquatic mammals to 100/min in mice. Instead, the constancy of brain oscillations across species seems to reflect the importance of timing as well as an inheritance of the same coding mechanisms. The preservation of temporal constants that govern brain operations across several orders of magnitude of time scales suggests that the architectural aspects of the brain, such as scaling the ratios of neuron types, modular growth, system size, intersystem connectivity, synaptic path lengths, and axon caliber are subordinated to a temporal organizational priority.
Brain oscillations provide framework for a neural syntax Most, if not all, network oscillations are based on inhibition wherein populations of principal neurons are paced by repetitive trains of inhibitory postsynaptic potentials. These rhythmic inhibitory volleys provide windows of alternating reduced and enhanced excitability of principal cells in a temporally coordinated manner.17,45 Indeed, segregation of excitatory principal cells into functional groups, often referred to as cell assemblies and assembly sequences,46 is perhaps the most important service performed by the large family of inhibitory neuron classes in the cortex.47,48 Inhibition-based oscillations may do so by providing a natural means to “stop” signals of neuronal information flow by temporally silencing principal cells and “chunking” streams of messages into shorter frames, as evidenced by the observation that oscillations have well-defined onsets and offsets with characteristic maximum and minimum spiking activity in the information-transmitting principal cells.49 This stop-start parsing function of neuronal oscillators and their hierarchical cross-frequency coupling organization (see section below as well as Figure 2), in turn, can support syntactical rules, known to both sender and receiver, making communication more straightforward than interpreting long uninterrupted messages50 or stochastic patterns of spikes. In general, syntax is a set of principles that allows the generation of rich combinations from a limited number of elements using a minimal number of rules. It has been hypothesized that the fundamental element of neuronal syntax is an assembly of neurons discharging together in a γ cycle.51-53 The most important role of the cell assembly is to bring together sufficient numbers of peer neurons so that their collective spiking can bring above discharge threshold the proper population of downstream postsynaptic neurons.52 Consequently, from the point of view of the downstream (“reader” or “integrator”) target cells, collective activity of upstream neurons is classified as a single event53 only if their spikes occur within the time-integrating window (ie, within the membrane time constant of the neurons, tends to be 10 to 30 msec; if signals occur within this time scale, they will be combined as a unitary event).54 Spikes of upstream neurons which fire outside the integration time window must be part of another event, or a separate assembly. The temporal window or the membrane time constant also corresponds to the duration of the γ cycle (a 40-1 Iz oscillation yields cycle lengths of 25 ms) and is also closely related to other biophysical properties of neurons, including the time constant of γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) A and α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl- 4-isoxazolepropionic acid (AMPA) receptors55 and the critical time window of spike-timing-dependent plasticity.56-57 Multiple γ cycles, each containing their own cell assembly, can be thought of as being “neural letters” and these letters can then be combined to create “words” and later “sentences.” More precisely: discrete episodes or packets of γ oscillations, which are typically shortlasting,5,15,45,58,59 are often grouped by slower oscillations via cross-frequency phase coupling (Figure 2).12,14,15,60-62 This packeting can be thought to associate the “letters” contained in the series γ cycles to form a neural “word.” An example would be a γ “burst” which might be cross-frequency coupled to 0 and therefore present in a single θ cycle.63-66 Then slower rhythms In which θ waves nest can bind such words into “neural sentences,” ie, longer messages of information, coordinated across large brain territories. In summary, the hierarchical nature of cross-frequency interactions may reflect a mechanism of syntactical organization. Importantly, the LFP γ oscillatory episodes can be exploited as a proxy for assembly organization and for monitoring physiological and disease-related alterations of neuronal communication.
Brain oscillations support inter-regional communication As discussed above, efficient communication requires that messages are transmitted by syntactical rules known to both sender and receiver. In human-made systems, transfer of messages from source (sender) to target (reader) is usually considered a unidirectional operation in which an ever-ready recipient mechanism stands by for receiving messages. However, brain networks have evolved their own self-organized (“spontaneous”) patterns, which can effectively gate or bias whether the information conveyed by the sensors or sender network is amplified or ignored.53,67 In order to better illustrate these phenomena, we will start with sensory systems which are not “ever-ready” reading mechanisms but rather have coevolved with specialized motor systems that are dedicated to allowing those sensory systems to most efficiently operate. These dedicated motor outputs, such as licking, sniffing, whisking, touching, saccadic eye movements, twitching of the inner ear muscles, or other gating mechanisms assist their specific sensory systems by optimizing the orientation of the sensors and, therefore, maximizing their ability to sample the environment. In addition to optimizing the sensors, top-down mechanisms provide further amplification and filtering in short time windows. Such active mechanisms can create transient gain adjustments, which enhance the ability of the sensory system to process inputs selectively.68-72 Such “active gain” is perhaps best illustrated in the case of olfaction, where the detection of an odorant in a particular phase of the sniff cycle is several-fold more effective than presentation in the same odorant at other phases.71 Such transient gain adjustments are likely to play a critical role in vision, where saccadic eye movements allow for an intermittent and active sampling of the visual input. This mechanism may explain why stationary pictures evoke barely detectable spike rate changes in higher visual areas,73 whereas movie clips that are scanned by frequent saccades robustly activate those same cells.74 In summary, the sequence of sensation appears to be as follows: generation of an internal plan, corresponding motor-based adjustment of the sensor to allow selective amplification of the preplanned inputs and suppression of other streams of information, then finally detection. When unexpected stimuli impinge on such a system it of course means the initial processing of information was suboptimal, and the system adapts by replanning for optimal adjustments of the sensors and detection of key details. Oftentimes, this active sampling mechanism is referred to as attention or selective attention,75 although the biological origin and mechanisms of the effector mechanisms are rarely discussed.67 We hypothesize that, analogous to the sensory systems, higher-order areas of the brain adopted similar readerinitiated mechanisms for efficient processing of afferent information. For example, transfer of neural information from the hippocampus (the “sender”) to the neocortex (the “reader”) during slow-wave sleep can be initiated by the transition of neocortical neurons to a depolarized/active state during the neocortical slow oscillation which occurs during slow-wave sleep.21,76-78 These fluctuations of neocortical (receiver) excitability can bias the spike content of hippocampal (sender) sharp wave-ripple oscillations,79,80 thereby allowing the hippocampus to then signal back and reciprocally affect those neocortical populations that are still actively spiking in the persisting depolarized state of the slow oscillation. In the waking brain, the directionality is opposite: now the dialogue is initiated by the reader hippocampus via θ-phase control of (sender) neocortical network dynamics in the form of local γ oscillations.15 This scheme has the additional advantage of allowing the receiver to specify that the self-organized γ oscillations at the many sender modules across the cortex, can arrive at the hippocampus at the phase of the θ cycle when the reader hippocampal networks are in their most sensitive, plastic state.81 Exchange of information between different stages of the visual system appears to follow similar rules,58,82 suggesting that the reader-initiated transfer of neural messages from a sender is a general rule in the brain. This, again, is in contrast to the notion of a passively waiting receiver system, showing that the brain has evolved unique communication schemes, utilizing oscillations and their mutual interactions as a tool to aide an efficient communication scheme.
Hierarchy of brain oscillators is formed by cross-frequency coupling Brain rhythms can interact with each other by multiple mechanisms, including phase-phase, phase-amplitude and amplitude-amplitude envelope coupling (Figure 2). In the simplest scenario oscillators of similar frequency within the same or different anatomical structures can entrain each other by a mechanism known as phase coupling. Phase coupling can be measured by coherence or preferably by more advanced methods, which are independent of the amplitude fluctuations and based exclusively on phase. A well-known example of phase-phase coupling is the coherent θ oscillations throughout the hippocampus-entorhinal cortex system. Multiple regions can generate θ oscillations and all layers form θ dipoles that fuse into a global “monolithic” single θ oscillator. This occurs despite the fact that the θ rhythm generators of isolated regions oscillate at different frequencies.31 Typically, when oscillators of similar frequencies are coupled, the overall frequency is determined by the fastest one.83 The computational advantages of phase synchronization have been illustrated by numerous experiments in various species, and excellent reviews summarize those findings.4,83-85 A temporally less precise, but nevertheless important, interaction between oscillators of similar frequency is expressed by the temporal covariation of their power, known as amplitude comodulation or power-power coupling. In this case, phase constancy between the waves may not be present but, instead, the power (amplitude) envelopes of the oscillators are correlated (comodulation of power). This power-power synchrony of two or multiple oscillators in various networks can be coordinated by the joint phase biasing of the power of the faster oscillations by the slower rhythm, known as crossfrequency phase-amplitude (CFPA) coupling or nested oscillations. One reason why slow oscillations can impact faster ones in multiple brain areas has to do with the conduction velocities of cortical neurons. Compared with faster oscillators, slower oscillators involve more neurons in a larger volume86 and are associated with larger membrane potential changes because in longer time windows spikes of many more upstream neurons can be integrated.61,87 Cross-frequency phase-amplitude coupling was first described between hippocampal θ and γ rhythms,12,88,89 and extended subsequently to across-structure coupling. 14,60,90-97 Gamma power can also be phasemodulated by α,97,98 spindle,99 delta,100 switching between UP and DOWN states of slow oscillations61,77,101 and ultraslow23 oscillations.13,16,17,84,102,103 The principle of cross-frequency phase-amplitude coupling generalizes to all known frequency bands in the mammalian cortex and has been reported between all co-occurring oscillators in interactive circuits at frequencies from as low as 0.025 Hz to as high as 500 Hz.21,104,105 For example, the occurrence of hippocampal “ripples” (f 40 to 200 Hz) is coupled to dendritic layer sharp waves and phase-modulated by sleep spindles (12 to 16 Hz). In turn, the spindle-modulated sharp wave-ripple complex is phasecoupled to neocortical slow oscillations (0.5 to 1.5 Hz)77-101; and all these rhythms are modulated by the ultraslow (0.1 Hz) oscillation21 (Figure 3). Several studies have demonstrated the physiological utility of cross-frequency coupling. For example, the strength of θ-γ coupling in the hippocampus and striatum of the rat was affected by task demands.94,95 The magnitude of coupling between a 4-Hz oscillation and y power in the prefrontal cortex increased in the working memory phase of a choice task.106 In patients implanted with depth electrodes, the magnitude of θ-γ coupling in the hippocampal region varied with working memory load.107 In an auditory task, γ power in the frontal and temporal sites was phase-locked mainly to θ oscillations, whereas over occipital areas phase modulation was strongest by the α rhythm in a visual task.108 Computational models have suggested that θ phase-nested γ waves can support multi-item working memory, allowing for the discrete representation and sequencing of individual items or places.51,63 This is indeed a physiologically viable mechanism107,109 since γ cycle represented items within the θ cycle may be bound together by NMDA receptors.66,110 Yet another cross-frequency interaction is referred to as cross-frequency phase-phase or n:m coupling, when there is an integer relationship between the frequencies of the two rhythms. In n:m phase locking one observes m events associated with the “driven” cycle of one frequency occurring at n different times or phases in the “stimulus” cycle of the other.111 When multiple oscillators are present simultaneously, phase-phase coupling may not be immediately obvious. However, since the repeating sequence n:m pattern is periodic in time, the distribution of the difference between phases of the oscillators can be calculated for different n:m ratios. In the case of significant phase-phase coupling between two rhythms the distribution of n:m combination deviates from a uniform distribution because the phase differences between the two rhythms oscillate around some constant value. The peaks in the phase difference distributions are known as “Arnold tongues” or synchronization tongues,112 and are regarded as regions of synchronization.113 Phase-phase cross-frequency synchronization has been described between θ-γ rhythms in both rats and humans114,115 ( ) and between beta (β) -γ oscillations in the human magnetoencephalogram (MEG) in a working memory task.98 Open in a separate window The phenomenon of cross-frequency coupling firmly demonstrates the hierarchical organization of multiple brain rhythms in both space and time and implies that time in the brain is represented at multiple correlated scales.7,16,84,102,103 Computational models have explored potential theoretical advantages of cross-frequency coupling,4,51,116,117 and the mechanisms of cross-frequency coupling may form the backbone of a neural syntax, which allows for both segmentation and linking of spike trains into cell assemblies (“letters”) and assembly sequences (neural “words”).53
Spike content of brain rhythms While local field potentials provide reliable information about the group actions of neurons, they do not fully represent the true common currency of interneuronal communication: action potentials, or “spikes” that the cell “fires.” While local field potential oscillations can be taken as a signal regarding the action potential-generating status of a particular population of neurons, it is mainly the action potential output of the neuron that can inform its downstream partners. Interest in brain rhythms has greatly increased recently largely due to our better understanding of the spike content of oscillations.7 These combined spike-field experiments further illustrate that time in the brain is coded at multiple temporal scales and we will discuss representative experiments below. One such example comes in the form of hippocampal “place cells”: neurons (which are actually pyramidal and granule cells of the hippocampus) that show an orderly firing of action potentials specifically correlated with the location of the rat in its environment. Assemblies of such neurons provide enough spatial information that they can be used to define a particular position of space.118,119 Furthermore, in a running/moving animal there is a constantly updating process of prediction of the places the animal will visit in the future by the firing of a spatially organized series hippocampal place cell neurons representing places directly ahead of the animal along its anticipated path.66,120 Within a given θ cycle, the neurons active at the trough of that cycle appear to represent the current location of the rat, neurons active earlier in the cycle seem to represent already-visited places and later-activated neurons represent future locations ( ) The temporal relationships of these predictively activated neurons are governed by a “compression rule”: within the θ cycle, the spike timing sequence of neurons predicts the upcoming sequence of locations in the path of the rat, with larger time lags representing proportionally larger distances or travel times17,66,121 (Figure 5). The time compression mechanism has important consequences on the assembly organization of hippocampal neurons. Because of the small time offsets between the place cell spikes within the γ cycle, the summed spikes of many overlapping place neurons will generate a group oscillation whose frequency is slower than the oscillation frequency of the constituent neurons. As a result, an interference pattern emerges between the larger γ frequency oscillation and the cycle created by the action potentials of active single neurons, known as “phase precession” of place cells122 (Figure 5). A consequence of the correlation of absolute and γ phase-related time scales of spikes is that the distance traveled from the beginning of the place field can be instantly inferred from the γ phase of the place cell spikes66,120,122,123 (Figure 5). Open in a separate window The within-γ cycle time lags between place neurons are largely responsible for determining the globally coherent γ oscillation in the hippocampal system.31 -121,124,125 An important corollary of the relation between different time scales is that place cells continue to represent the same positions and distances in the same environment even when the running speed of the rat varies,126,127 since the oscillation frequency of place cells increases in proportion to the velocity.127,128 Another ramification is that the natural upper limit of distance coding by γ-scale time lags (~50cm for neurons in the dorsal hippocampus)120,123 is limited by the duration of the γ cycle (120-150 msec in the rat). Objects and locations > 50 cm ahead of the rat are initially less distinguishable on this neuronal spike-timing map from more distant landmarks, but as the animal approaches, they are progressively better resolved by the interleaved cell assemblies. The within-θ cycle temporal lags between neurons limit how many cell assemblies can nest in a given θ period (7 to 9, as reflected by the number of γ cycles per θ cycle).12,14,51,63,129 Because of this temporal limitation, the hippocampus functions as a “spatial zoom” device, so that distance resolution scales with the size of the environment; place fields are small in small enclosures and large in large environments, appropriately scaling to the information at hand.128,130,131 Assuming that place locations can be regarded as analogues to other discrete items,51,120 the temporal compression mechanism is then a limiting factor of the “register capacity” of the memory “buffer.” 51,65,110,132 Recall from long-term episodic memory can enter conscious working memory in “chunks” of 7±2 items at a time in such a way that the spatiotemporal resolution of events near to the recalled event is higher than the resolution for the far past or far future, relative to the recalled event.51,128 Only by moving the content of recall forward in perceived time, do subsequent events emerge with high contextual resolution.120 The within-θ cycle delays between place cells are secured by perisomatic inhibition.127,133 As a result of this cycle-based organization, almost the entire phase space of the θ cycle is utilized, by the firing of neurons representing, past, present and future places (Figure 5). Optogenetic suppression of parvalbumin-immunoreactive, perisomatic interneurons impaired the phase distribution of place cells and increased their tendency to fire synchronously near the trough.134 Pharmacological activation of cannabinoid (CB1) receptors can also impair the proper timing between place cells without affecting the spatial tuning of the hippocampal cells. Despite the intact hippocampal spatial map, the animal under the influence of cannabinoid cannot solve a spatial memory task, presumably because the downstream reader networks of hippocampal neurons cannot decode the time-jittered spikes.135 The above examples from work on the hippocampus demonstrate that representation of multiple time scales is a fundamental feature of cortical function. Similar coding strategies may support the emergence of “grid cells”136 (neurons found to be active not only in particular places in the environment but occupying an array of places which are regularly spaced in a grid of equilateral triangles) in the entorhinal cortex14,137-140 and other complex functions in the prefrontal cortex and other structures.141-144 Temporal compression is also at play while the network is not receiving new sensory input, or is “offline.” As described earlier, “place cells” are neurons which fire when the animal is physically in certain places in the environment and in the waking animal. During behavioral pauses just before an animal runs across an environment, the sequence of anticipated place cell firings during the animal's future run are “preplayed” in a compressed manner during sharp wave -ripple (SPW-R) events which last 80-150 ms.104 They are also “replayed” after reaching the end of the run but this time in reverse sequence, as if the path is retracted.145,146 Such compressed replay is also routinely observed in non-REM sleep.147,148 The bidirectional re-enactment of temporal sequences during SPW-Rs is critical for memory consolidation64,66,149-154 and may also contribute to creative associations in the subsequent waking episodes.155,156 Similar time-compressed off-line replay of waking activity has been also documented in the neocortex80,157-161 and striatum,162,163 suggesting that multiple time-scale representation is a general phenomenon in the brain. Thus, neuronal oscillations organize the spiking activity of multiple neurons in a number of manners, which appear to allow for prediction, recall, consolidation, and creative association. Furthermore, this appears to be a phenomenon utilized more broadly than by only the spatial processing system and may underlie a great deal of efficient neural information handling.
Oscillations can promote both spike synchrony and asynchrony Oscillations and synchrony are often used synonymously and an often-expressed objection against the utility of network oscillations is that rhythmically discharging neurons are predictable and synchronized spikes are largely redundant.164-166 In line with this reasoning, the most synchronized network patterns occur during sleep, anesthesia and various diseases, such as epilepsy and Parkinson's disease.167 In contrast to these states, the effectiveness of a representation system is characterized by high variability with minimal interactions among the constituents, furthermore improvement of behavioral performance in behavioral tasks is often characterized by increased interspike variability and reduced spike correlation among neurons.109,165,168-172 This view appears to be at striking odds with suggestions that neuronal oscillations enhance the coding ability of neurons.4,5,17,58,122 There seems to be a compromise between the information processing capacity of neuronal networks and the need for some level of synchronization of their neurons for efficient communication. Fast communication among pyramidal neurons in the cortex is established by AMPA-type glutamate receptors, which are weak and have high probability of transmission failures.173 Therefore, in order to convey information to peer neurons, pyramidal cells should come together in transient coalitions, or cell assemblies.46,53 As discussed above, the goal of the temporal assembly formation is to discharge the downstream neurons. Thus, for effective communication there is a requirement |
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